Herbal medicine street and the old lanes of Cholon

A whole street smelling of roots, bark and dried flowers, a pale yellow church with a turbulent past, and a slow walk through Cholon’s quieter corners.

Area

Cholon

Start from

District 5

Distance

walking distance, about 3 km

Time needed

half a day

Best season

All year; afternoons before Tet are especially lively

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Grab to District 5, then on foot

Tickets & rules

None; modest clothing in temples and churches

Why go

Hai Thuong Lan Ong street is one of those places you smell before you see. Its shops are stacked to the ceiling with sacks of dried roots, slices of ginseng, seahorses, cinnamon bark, star anise, mushrooms and things you can’t name. Pharmacists weigh out mixtures on brass scales and wrap them in paper, exactly as their parents and grandparents did.

From there the route meanders through the older, quieter streets of Cholon: lanes of shophouses with carved wooden shutters, small community temples, lantern makers and shops selling joss paper offerings shaped like cars, phones and houses for the dead.

It ends at the Cha Tam church, a small yellow church with a bell tower that blends European and Chinese details, a reminder of how mixed the history of this district is.

The story

The street is named after Hai Thuong Lan Ong, the pen name of Le Huu Trac, an eighteenth-century physician who is remembered as one of the fathers of traditional Vietnamese medicine. He wrote a vast medical encyclopedia, and his name is still honoured by practitioners across the country. It is fitting that the street carrying it has been the city’s main herbal market for generations.

Traditional medicine is still widely used alongside modern doctors. Many families keep a favourite herbalist, and the shops serve both Vietnamese and Chinese customers, with prescriptions written in either language.

The Cha Tam church, built in the early twentieth century and dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier, served the Chinese Catholic community. It is best known for a dramatic moment in 1963, when the southern president of the time took refuge here during a coup, shortly before his death. Today it is a quiet parish church, with Chinese lanterns hanging beside its saints.

Cholon’s paper offering shops are one of the most fascinating sights in the area. Before festivals they fill with paper motorbikes, clothes, gold bars and even paper smartphones, all to be burned for ancestors in the afterlife.

Getting there

Hai Thuong Lan Ong runs east–west through District 5, near Binh Tay Market. Take a Grab from the centre, about twenty minutes. Cha Tam church is at the western end of Tran Hung Dao, a short walk from the herbal street.

A suggested plan

1. 2:00 pmStart at the eastern end of Hai Thuong Lan Ong; walk slowly, look into the shops.
2. 3:00 pmTurn into the side streets to find lantern makers and offering shops.
3. 4:00 pmVisit a small community assembly hall or temple.
4. 5:00 pmEnd at Cha Tam church as the light softens.
5. EveningStay for dinner in Cholon: roast duck, wonton noodles or a hotpot.

Where to stay

This route is easiest as an afternoon trip from District 1. If you like Cholon, a hotel in District 5 lets you walk its streets at breakfast time.

Good to know

• Ask before photographing inside the herbal shops; most owners don’t mind if you buy something small.
• Packets of dried chrysanthemum or lotus tea make good, light souvenirs.
• The weeks before Lunar New Year are wonderfully busy here.
• Combine with the Thien Hau Temple route for a full day in Cholon.