Come out, have a beer, and... watch a funeral!

Bùi Viện is a popular street in Backpacker's District in district 1 which never seems to sleep and where all imaginable action seems to happen. At any time of the day it is teeming with tourists and backpackers downing cheap grub of all sorts, booking tours in the numerous travel agencies, or buying souvenirs or stocking up on western goods not found elsewhere in the city. Night-time though is when all the excitement happens. Bùi Viện becomes the Red Sea parted on both sides by throngs of people packed up on mini chairs and tables, drinking and snacking the night away until the wee hours of the morning. Bùi Viện does not differentiate between people. You will find tourists, expats and locals from all backgrounds all happy to be part of the madness that fuels this area. As you sit with and enjoy a beer with your friends, you will not have a shortage of live motion picture pass by you: mobile vendors selling dried squid, peanuts, eggs, and the likes; young children selling chewing gum and other knick-knacks, sometimes putting on fire or snake-swallowing shows for attraction; ladies selling counterfeit guidebooks and international bestsellers; and the list goes on... 

One of the motion pictures I saw a while ago though definitely beat them all... It was an authentic funeral, happening at a local's house in the middle of the packed street buzzing with festive beer-drinkers. I'll have you know though that Vietnamese funerals contrast sharply with western funerals in that they are an occasion where family and loved members of the deceased get together and eat, drink, and celebrate with music and singing, sometimes with hired flamboyant gay singers. Yup... 

The funeral is where the green tarp on the left is.

Here is a video I took as we passed by the funeral:

Here are some photos of when I last went to Bùi Viện a week ago:

Believe it or not, here is a translation of that banner: Starting from 26/11/2013, all business/trading activities on the street and sidewalk is prohibited and against regulations. I thought it was a big farce when I saw that big banner in the middle of the mayhem that characterizes this street. (Please note that these pictures were taken about 2 weeks after the date on the banner).

They ran out of tables for us, so a beer crater it was...