Thuoc bac, and the shop with a hundred drawers
On this page
Two kinds of pharmacy sit on the same Vietnamese street. One has a green cross, boxed drugs and a counter, and the everyday errands guide covers what it is good for — as the dentists guide covers the other clinic on that street.
The other has a hundred labelled wooden drawers, glass jars of bark and root, a set of brass scales, and a man who will take your pulse before he sells you anything.
What is in the drawers?
Dried plant, animal and mineral material, weighed to order on brass scales and wrapped in paper. A shop of any size keeps several hundred distinct ingredients in those drawers, and the labels carry Vietnamese and Chinese characters together.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Thuoc bac | "Northern medicine" — the Chinese-derived tradition |
| Thuoc nam | "Southern medicine" — Vietnamese plants and remedies |
| Thang thuoc | A prescription: several herbs weighed into one packet |
| Sac thuoc | Boiling the packet down into a drink, usually twice |
| Y hoc co truyen | Traditional medicine as a formal discipline |
A prescription is not one herb. It is a combination, often 8 to 12 ingredients, balanced against a diagnosis of the whole person rather than the symptom. Buying a single named plant off a shelf misses the point of the system.
Is this a folk practice or part of the health system?
Formally, it is both. Traditional medicine is taught at universities here, practised in dedicated hospitals, and covered in part by state health insurance. A Vietnamese patient may see a modern doctor for an infection and a traditional practitioner for a chronic back problem without regarding either as unusual.
Worth knowing before dismissing the drawers as tourist scenery, and the reason the shops survive on expensive city-centre streets.
Should a visitor use it?
For the shop, yes, and for treatment only with care. Nothing acute belongs here, and that line holds even when somebody offers a remedy generously.
The line worth holding: a fever that will not break, a wound, a stomach illness lasting more than a couple of days, or anything after a motorbike accident belongs in a clinic. The health guide sets out where those are, and the safety guide has the emergency numbers.
For the rest — a cold, a stiff shoulder, sleep, general fatigue — plenty of visitors try it and it costs little. Bring a Vietnamese speaker or a translation app: a consultation is a conversation, and most shops do not work in English.
What does a packet of herbs cost?
A weighed packet runs between 50,000 and 200,000 dong, more for rarer ingredients, plus whatever a practitioner charges for the consultation itself. At about 26,000 dong to the dollar that is two to eight dollars for a course of several days.
You leave with a paper packet and instructions to boil it, usually twice, down to a small volume of very bitter liquid. Hotel rooms are not equipped for that, which is worth thinking about before buying.
Where do you go to look?
Lan Ong street in Hanoi is the destination, and it is a block rather than a shop. Herb sellers line both sides of it in the Old Quarter. Sacks stack up across the pavement, and the whole street smells of cinnamon and dried liquorice. Ho Chi Minh City's equivalent is around Hai Thuong Lan Ong in District 5, in the Chinese quarter.
The two streets charge nothing and tolerate a visitor with a camera, within the usual limits the photography guide sets out. The markets guide covers the food version of the same sensory overload.
What about the massage and bath side?
Different tradition, same worldview. The herbal baths of the Red Dao in Sapa and the steam rooms attached to many massage shops come from the same idea: that plants and heat treat the body. The massage guide covers what those cost and how to read the sign outside.
The kitchen version is everywhere too. Ginger for a cold, lemongrass steam for a blocked nose, the herbs on every plate of goi: all of it sits on one continuum. That is why a Vietnamese friend prescribes food before medicine.
FAQ
What is thuoc bac?
Northern medicine — the Chinese-derived herbal tradition, sold from shops with a wall of labelled wooden drawers. Thuoc nam is the southern, Vietnamese counterpart using local plants. Both run alongside modern pharmacies rather than replacing them.
How does a thuoc bac shop differ from a pharmacy?
A modern nha thuoc has a green cross, boxed drugs and a counter. A traditional shop weighs dried herbs, bark and roots into a paper packet you take home and boil. Both sit on the same street, and Vietnamese people use both.
Can a visitor buy something there?
Yes, and many shops are used to it. What you cannot do is get a consultation in English at most of them, and a herbal prescription is built around a diagnosis rather than a symptom, so a walk-in purchase is a blunt instrument.
Is traditional medicine regulated in Vietnam?
Traditional medicine forms part of the official health system, taught at universities and practised in state hospitals, which surprises people. Street-level shops vary in the same way small pharmacies anywhere do.
Should you use traditional medicine instead of a doctor?
No. For anything acute — a fever that will not break, a wound, a stomach illness that lasts — the health guide is the right reference and a clinic is the right destination. Herbal medicine here is chronic-condition and wellbeing territory.
What does it cost?
A packet of weighed herbs runs roughly 50,000 to 200,000 dong depending on what is in it, and a consultation with a practitioner adds to that. It is inexpensive by Western standards and not free.
What is worth seeing even if you buy nothing?
The shop itself. Lan Ong street in Hanoi is a whole block of them, the air smells of dried liquorice and cinnamon, and the drawers are labelled in Vietnamese and Chinese characters together.