today is the 14th of September. I've just arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. Didn't make time to write in this as i've been enjoying Ho Chi Minh city / Saigon , Vietnam very much. Will be telling about my advertures backwards as the recent past is easy for me to remember. Yesterday the highlight of was the night street food tour. to start it was me and two tour guides which made it a very private type of tour. We went to district 3 first where i made my own vietnamese pancake. this was tricky as my right shoulder still recovering from nerve issues, and mobility on my right arm isn't 100%. the tour guides went right into the kitchen and started showing me all the ingredients that were around and touching everything. oh and did i metion this was a motorbike tour @night which was fun. the guides new about the various herbs, and plants that were being used. after that we're off to district 5 where we had a pork noodle soup. then to a place in district 3, probably getting someof this a little mixed up. however there is a photo of this. next to district 3 where there was residential housing in giant concrete apartment buildings. this area i was told was low-income housing, and the area i was being shown was where some buddhist go and when there they were chanting and ringing a bells every so often. the walls were yellow, and the buddha pictures they had were amazing. driving through this residential area there was a boy maybe 9 or so naked and pissing on to the street while dancing, more specifically shaking his hips back and forth, quiet funny. Next its off to get some coccnut icecream. the owner cracked on in half poured the juice in cups and the half cocunt was used as a bowl for the icecream. an assortment of toppings were provided ranging from corn, fred coccunut, sticky bean/rice green/bown, and i think i'm forgetting something. the flavor was great, and the toppings not being sugar-ary helped with the over flavor and text. next it was pho, getting there was quiet fun as we took the highway and went over some overpass. this pho was of full flavor, more than i've tasted in the States. the owner had been making it all of 5 months and we spoke a little as i guess not many foreigners go there. the location was near the Saigon river, with the city skyline in the background. after this is to district four or more commonly known as mafia territory. i got a look from a woman as we made our way to the next food stop, that made me feel scared. the look was like you must be crazy to come here, and my eyes are wide and stare stern so be on your toes, as you may just be missing your kidney in the morning if you happen to be the lucky one. the vibe was cool, passed many hundreds of people, and i was the only foreigner. this got me thinking that these two guys for the tour all speaking a good game, my actually be after my kidneys and balls, because this four hour tour all across Saigon, food included was under $40. which is ten bucks more than a pack of smokes in Melbourne, so how is this tour even a thing. the tour guides name are Vinney, and Lee. Vinney being more friendly and talkative which i took for knowing english better. Lee was my driving, informative, but had only one emotion which was apathy, so is no emotion an emotion? i did see him laugh later and smile. he's from the MeKong river area from being on a Cu Chi Tunnel tour earlier and can only assume was bombed the fuck out of during past wars, but will get to that later. so Lee brings out this rice wine that is family and or lets get Doug passed out and take is kidney shot ready for the 3 of us. me i wasn't paying attention to the shot glass of which there are three and now there is one in front of me. they all came out of the same bottle, and Lee drinks either all of it of half of it right away. Vinney takes a sip, but the volume doesn't appear to go down in my chaotic mind. well can't be rude so i take a sip, its easily the strongest potent flavor rice wine i've had. taste like hard whiskey alcohol, but has like a nice rum flavor. super strong. Then Lee's appears a little sad/worried that i didn't drink it all. this is the 3rd emotion i've seen from him all night. He then proceeds to talk about how i should drink it for like 5-10 minutes. it cures sickness, increase labedo, makes you pass out so we can get your kidney. seriously ten minutes. i've already said no, and the vigor of him wanting me to drink all of the shot, lingers in the air. then they ask what my plans are later. ofcourse i lie. "got people waiting for me at the hostel we are suppose to go to a Sax N Jazz club tonigt" , "everyone knows where i'm at", "please don't hurt me". we drive back to the hostel i'm safe, have them almost a 1mill in the currency which is like $44 usd. talk to some of the people from the hostel, and then try to pass out for my trip to Bangkok the next day.
hostel living - the place was great Rachel an irish lady my favorite, she worked there and was very friendly. there was Lugi a Canadian who looked Italain, and a challenge to have him warm up to you. Tyson who i hung out with for like a day or two, will get into that later super cool Aussie. then Ben, Dan, and many other i meet throughout my time there.
War Remnant Memorial
this place was hard to go. many photos on the travesitys of the war that happened in Vietnam. on the way to the Cu Chi Tunnel i heard of a photographer who was allowed access to the VietCong side of the war and took photos. he saw a family or group of people about to be executed took a photo, and as he walked away heard gun shot. the photographer did not look back. many of the images captured war's effect on family live and struggle. their was one where a marine is holding part of a human who's body was in pieces and the part being held barley recognizable a human if not for the part of a face. another of note was a photo of a chopping leaving Saigon, with clearly not enough to fit everyone as the Vietcong making their way through to center of the city. Agent orange photos were grewsome. photo's of this chemical remnant left on the population being deformed with varing degrees. personally being a twin seeing two babies joined to gether at the hip of which neither had feet, amazing they were alive in the photo, but i suspect life was short. outside the museum there were a bunch of tanks airplanes helicopters. needing time to gain my composure after seeing images that invoke fear of the travesty that humans created, i got some coffee and just chilled. some of that time was spent playing pokemon go where i took over a gym briefly.
Cu Chi Tunnels
to start there was a man talking about the region. how the tunnels initiatlly were built during the french war when they came, around like ~1800. and it expanded drastically for the Vietnam war as american know it. then there was a short video i can only guess it was made in 1967, at this place in addition to the war remnant musuem did portray American in a negative light, specifically bombing of which i believe of 5MM were dropped are said to have been done by Washington DC. for which people yearly stilly die from the explosion.
Post office.
this place was cool lost of souveineers, and ofcour postcards which i mailed. the rain was strong for like a minute inside which was a spectacular view in the high archway building from french colonial times. meet a nice gay couple who used to live in san francisco, and currently reside in Austin, TX. mailing a post card cost $15000 dong.
Cooking Class with Chef Vu
this was great!, it starts out by getting picked up @ the hostel by a bicycle transportation where we go around the city to see the sights. the driver didn't speak much english, if at all but looks great with a smile on the selfie i took. while in the bike the people are friendly someone even spoke to me asking how i was and where i am from while on his motorbike. he even had a little girl i would guess was 3-4 that when i looked at her she turned away all shy as if i was the first american she'd seen or spoke to. the bicycle ended at the ben than market where i meet up with 3 other people taking the class. from here we went to get our ingredients for the night, except for the chicken and few other things for which the best time to go is during the morning. went picked tomatoes, lemon grass some pork fat, etc. then we walked to the restaurant which was a few blocks away. meet chef vu, and started chopping, smashing, the food. the knife used was really cool, and would like to purchase one back home. So smash garlic, scallions (small onions) then dice to fine. then we learned how to make small roses from the tomatoes we purchased earlier in the day. this is primarlly as a garnish or for asstetics. basically cut a roma tomato in half length wise. use half and then thinly slice afterwards proceed to roll into a rose. making the spring rolls to be fried was first, with manayise being the secret incredient. next was the pancake, mine was a little small so being sure to spread it around fast and quick to get a wide surface area is key. their was also sweet and sour soup, not my favoriate but when it Vietnam it taste better. that class was actually cheaper than the bike tour, got a free coffee make and chopsticks too.
