We racked out pretty early and we both had a hard time staying asleep. I was up by midnight and Tim slept until about 1am. Meh, jet leg. We went for an early breakfast and it was pho-mazing.
The variety seemed much more extensive early in the morning. Tim had pho and fruit and I had assorted French breads and pate. Really great breakfast.
After a bit of a rest we set out for a walking adventure. There was nothing really on the agenda, but we were confident we would have a good day.
Tim bought a Bánh Mì at some street stall and although he didn’t get a picture of it, he very much enjoyed it. The bread in Vietnam is really great, chewy and a nice simple flavour. The perfect vessel for pate and cheese!
We wandered along the river, past a few ferry stops. We stopped for a quick phone call and then a photo at the Bitexco Financial tower.
We watched the daily lives of the locals; simple and enjoying good food and company.
Fresh food :)
We wandering around a couple walking/shopping markets, the Costco of Vietnam. They had all sorts of Kirkland products, liquor and other household items. Some of the food smelled amazing but some of the meat items, brains and intestines, seemed a bit out of our western culinary palates.
The Benh Thang market was crazy busy today. We noticed far more tourists today, they were equally annoyed with the aggressiveness of the vendors. *British accent* “was she assaulting you?” yeah, I guess the pulling and prodding these young girls engage in could have been viewed as inappropriate by western standard. We aren’t in Kansas, however!
Needing a little break from the heat we headed into Siagon Centern, typical western mall, clean bright and decorated beautifully for Christmas.
The Vietnam museum was our next stop. The building is an older, French colonial building (and I’m making up a story right now) that was probably owned by some colonial lord.
The museum is lightly filled with everything from first inhabitants until the revolution; more emphasis on the revolution.
The Cu Chi tunnels diarama looked really cool and I would love to go see them. Maybe when we are back at the city at the end, it’s a whole day’s excursion to get to them and there is only so much time.
Seeing the national pride, it is interesting that our closest Ally, ones that fought so hard to escape the Western oppression of Britain, would fight so hard to prevent the state of things today. The sky clearly didn’t fall with the rise of communism in Vietnam.
Crazy trees and me getting in a quick work out in the park. Lol
Tim also got a workout carrying coconuts....than he bought two. Interesting sales tactic.
Exhausted from the long walk and clearly the workout, we headed back to the hotel for a snack and a nap.
After a couple hours of much needed sleep we were up and at it again. Setting out for the evening, night market, our hotel attendant was a bit concerned for our safety. He explained that the city would be a bit unsafe tonight because of a football game. (Soccer) Having lived through the riots and protests in Bangkok five years ago, we thanked him for the cautionary words and promised we would try to head his 9pm curfew.
We could immediately sense the energy in the city. The traffic at night is normally crazy, but tonight, every other bike had someone blowing a horn. It was electric.
We found the night market and found it quite touristy. Pretty good prices, but stuff all we didn’t want to carry around for the next couple weeks.
The locals had pulled out TVs on almost every corner; cheers erupted every couple minutes.
Our plan was to find a “nice” restaurant to have some dinner. Neither of us was overly hungry, but we found a night food market that had live music and cold beer flowing from assorted taps. The beer was great, cheap and the music was amazing.
We shared a pho-mazing large bowl of beef soup (pho, pronounced ‘Fa’). The food was a bit more expressive than the mom and pop places but the value was real. Not only was the portion generous, but the music and wait staff were great. Hey, $10 for 6 beers and a large pho, who can complain?!? Tim really thought he scored well on this date night.
Delicious, lip smacking!
After dodging the busy traffic, we arrived back at the hotel. The guys were happy to see us back safe, albeit late. As I write this at 1130, the horns are still prolific; party night in Saigon.
