The Vibrant 'Orange Street' in Ho Chi Minh City

A bustling thoroughfare day and night, it's a beloved spot for Cambodian food enthusiasts and flower aficionados.

Orange Street in Saigon

When it comes to sightseeing and dining in District 10 for tourists, 'Orange Street' in Ward 1 stands out as one of the most remarkable places, well-known to the city residents.

The Cambodian Market or 'Orange Street' is tucked away in a narrow alley cutting through the residential area, amidst the three main arteries of District 10 - Le Hong Phong, Hung Vuong, and Ly Thai To.

Entering this area, you can take two main routes, either turning from Ly Thai To into Ho Thi Ky Street or from alley 374 Le Hong Phong. Moreover, those familiar with the area can navigate through other alleys connecting to the three main roads to reach the desired shopping destination.

The correct name for this destination is Lê Hồng Phong Market. Due to political upheavals in the 1970s, many Vietnamese-Cambodians migrated here, concentrated, and established the market. The street name 'Cam' originates from that period.

Desolate scenery, muddy and sticky, more mice and cockroaches than people, makeshift dilapidated houses... Those are the memories of Cambodia Street for Ms. Ngô Thị Bạch Cúc (63 years old), the owner of a fried cake shop, about her teenage years, following her mother and siblings back to Vietnam in 1970.

Ms. Cúc is one of many second-generation Vietnamese-Cambodians present daily at this market, mostly engaged in business, following in their parents' footsteps. Their parents are living witnesses to the vivid history of that time, now aging and many have passed away.

Cambodian specialties are the best-selling items as people here trade with each other, both for taste and livelihood. Dried Biển Hồ fish, dried beef, num-bo-chóc noodles, lap xưởng (Chinese sausage), sầu đâu leaves, grilled bananas, pumpkin sweet soup... are the earliest dishes at the market, existing for half a century.

Temporarily settled according to the arrangements of the government at that time, the Vietnamese-Cambodian community in Saigon did not live in 'phum.' Phum in Khmer means a garden, with around 5 families sharing the same bloodline living together.

“This place used to be called Pétrus Ký resettlement area. Immigrants didn't know each other, but they got acquainted and lived together. The government planned it into a neighborhood, and people intermingled freely,” said Ms. Nguyễn Thị Có (45 years old), born in Saigon, recalling her mother's words.

Nguyen Thi Ro, the mother of Sister, was renowned for selling sweet soup in Cambodia. She passed on the famous sweet soup stand to her daughter at the same location, where she has been 'restarting' in Vietnam since 1970. The successors of their parents in the business also tend to stay at the same selling spot.

Le Hong Phong Street was named Petrus Ky before 1975. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, all inter-regional buses from Saigon to the West, East, and Central regions concentrated on this road, where buses stopped for more than the length of 1.3 km back then. The bus station operated 24 hours, transporting not only passengers but also a variety of goods. Due to the need for space to gather goods, transport companies and traders entered the alleys to find a place.

'There were a few houses at the end of the alley near the bus station for renting space for goods, among which flowers from Dalat and the Western region were the most prominent. Later, from scattered to overflowing, turning Ho Thi Ky Street into a gathering place for flowers,' said the 57-year-old woman, the owner of a smoothie stand specializing in serving night traders selling flowers, living here since 1970, recalling.

According to information from the People's Committee of Ward 1, District 10, in the 1980s, there were only about 10 traders selling fresh flowers here. In 1988, the district rearranged the ground, and at the same time, households with front houses rented or self-organized business, the color of flowers covered more than 90 households around the Le Hong Phong apartment building, along both sides of Ho Thi Ky Street. Currently, Ho Thi Ky Street has more than 100 stalls selling fresh flowers and flower accessories.

Due to the trading activities, naturally, people call it a market. In reality, this place is called Ho Thi Ky Flower Street, similar to the newly established street food street of the same name a few years ago.

Not grandiose, not located in the center like Ben Thanh Market or Tan Dinh Market, the Le Hong Phong market alley or the flower and food business street still attracts a crowd. They are not only residents living around, Cambodians living in other parts of the city but also tourists from both domestic and foreign places.