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Ho Chi Minh City

Lacquerware? Check. American war-era Zippo lighters? See the nearest street stall. Repro antique furniture? All over the place.

Visit Ho Chi Minh City - still known to all but the Vietnamese government as Saigon - more

than once and familiarity with its ubiquitous goodies can breed consumer contempt. But even the jaded don't have to delve too deeply to find a tasteful souvenir, a worthwhile gift or something new and unexpected in the world of lacquerware. Prices are in dong and US dollars and even small stores accept credit cards.

Because - let's face it - you'll never escape the lure of lacquer for the duration, why not cater to all your lacquerware fantasies/nightmares in one place? That place is Phuong Nam Lacquerware (219 Rue Nguyen Trai, tel: 84 8 837 0434; www.phuongnam.com). The production processes advertised at its workshop/showroom entrance include mother-of-pearl carving, eggshell sticking, varnishing, second varnishing, gauze wrapping, glass rubbing and, naturally, lacquering. These techniques fill a series of showrooms shimmering with lacquered Tintin comic-book covers (285,000 dong/$140), photograph albums (700,000 dong), rice bowls (US$10) and all manner of jewellery boxes, ashtrays, vases, bangles and Buddhas. Hefty mementos for hanging include mother-of-pearl Great Walls of China, The Last Suppers and US$2,000 Guernica triptychs.

The Shanghai Tang of Saigon is Khai Silk (107 Dong Khoi Street, tel: 84 8 829 1146; www. khaisilk

corp.com), a classy joint with serious-looking, black-uniformed staff patrolling premises divided by a carp pond and bridge. Pashmina scarves (869,000 dong), linen shirts (853,000 dong) and billowing silk trousers (790,000 dong) are all invested with a certain elan.

More ethnic are the northern Vietnamese creations at Sapa (223 De Than Street, tel: 84 8 836 5163). Aladdin slippers (180,000 dong), cotton shirts (200,000 dong) and woollen, Tibetan-style cloaks (360,000 dong) abound.

War relics are unfettered money-spinners and for a vigorous dose of impeccable propaganda, you can't go wrong with Dogma (43 Ton That Thiep Street, tel: 84 8 825 6817; www.dogmavietnam.com). According to its US$25 copy posters (the originals are not for sale), the workers are 'Ready to fight America to save the nation!' And no matter what you think of the idea that 'steadfast arms will deliver peace to the children', you can't argue with Dogma's red-hot capitalist trade in Uncle Ho ceramic statuettes (US$7) and T-shirts starring brother Mao (US$14).
The city's most schizophrenic collection of memorabilia, as its web address suggests, resides at Kito (78 Dong Khoi Street, tel: 84 8 829 6855; www.hotchpotch.com.vn), where piggy banks, pencil cases, alarm clocks and US$8 coffee mills fight for space with US$20 silk skirts and 30,000 dong plastic-weave sequined handbags.

Stop your shopper's foot rot by enjoying a refreshing snifter in an atmosphere of old Shanghainese and European chic at the vaunted Temple Club (29 Ton That Thiep Street, tel: 84 8 848 8299; www.

templevn.com; below left). It's hardly a shop, regularly sitting atop the hippest hang-out league, but almost everything is for sale (and if it isn't, you can order copies). So pull up an original Hanoi stool (US$80) or antique bar table with marble inlay (US$170) with that martini.

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