Speaking of which, I've had my first experience with authentic Pho? (pronounced fuh? with the intonation of a question). It is simply noodles, beef, broth, onions, sprouts, herb leaves, seasoning and decadence. We've eaten Pho for almost each meal and it gets better. For dessert I try the Vietnamese dessert: coconut sauce, over corn cubes (or actual corn) with condensed milk. It is probably the most delciious thing I;ve had since I've had since arriving in Viet Nam. It's very light and very good.. reminds me of a rice pudding or tapioca, but with corn and coconut--so really like nothing I've ever had before!
Kristen and I stayed three nights in a small hotel, which was owen by a Vietnamese family. Over the past few days I've been keeping busy by seeing the sights from the back of Kristen's motorbike (entrusting my life to her sick skills--really, she's great on the thing, especially here). Like, look at this picture. How does one know which way traffic is flow, will flow or should flow.. it's beyond me, but I do relate because when I rode my bike around New Paltz and bigger cities you worry bout number one only, and that tends to carry over here as well:
One night we discovered the local brew, which is homemade and distributed only by vendors' establishments. The beer is very metallic-tasting but goes away once you have two liters or so. At one of the most popular " Bia Hoi" "bars" (which were actually very very small chairs without backs places next to table little children might use to each a lunch on--on this same note, in most places my head touched the bathroom ceilings. This is land of smaller people for sure) we met two fellow travelers: Efa from Ireland and Marcus from England. After we downed our liters and were forced out by the establishment (for reasons unknown..) we ended up at Eden Bar just down the road. Here we ate dinner and I was impressed by Marcus' appetite (it rivals my own). We spent the next couple of hours sharing stories and experiences. That night we also met Kristen's friend and our future roomate in Can Tho, Sarah.
The room that night was stiflled with hot, sticky air and it was hard to sleep. Luckily, our time was almost up in this hotel.
On my last full day in Saigon I visited the Vietnam War Remberance Museum. It was so powerful, and eye-opening. It should views from both sides; views not popularly shown back in the States, which proved to I was entirely exhausted when I left an hour and a half later. I learned a lot. And made some surprising discoveries.
I was going to visit the Chu Chi Tunnels, but didn't have enough time. I will save that and more for a weekend (or weekday trip) to Saigon from Can Tho, our next and final destination for this month.
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