Bùi Viện on Friday Night

The city made Bùi Viện a walking street several years ago, I am not sure exactly when. The street and the area around it are Saigon’s nighttime entertainment center. A little tawdry and not really edgy at all, the area features restaurants, endless bars and beer joints, music mostly of the very loud sort, and Vietnam’s entry in the South East Asia sex industry sweepstakes, thankfully from my point of view, a far cry from what’s on the menu in places like Patpong and Pattaya in Thailand. Whatever, if you are so inclined, there are plenty of happy endings in the narrow alleyways running off of the main … drag. Pardon me, I couldn’t help it.