We are settling in to a nice routine though still a bit jet lagged. The long nap Sunday afternoon left Ken a bit restless during the night but we headed out for our " training" walk about 7:45 am anyway.
Since it's a work day, the traffic has increased exponentially. Crossing a road in Vietnam is very much a leap of faith. You look for a "break" in the traffic and then head across dodging the myriad of cars and mopeds and hope for the best. Traffic here is insanity but so far we haven't seen an accident so somehow it works. If someone honks their horn it means I'm coming so get the hell out of my way. The louder the honk the more serious they are about going wherever they want. Lol, walking with earbuds is akin to a death wish.
We opted for a new route which had us traversing a work site and getting slightly lost. The sidewalks are awash in street vendors and people on their way to work grabbing a quick breakfast. Pho (a Vietnamese noodle soup with meat and vegetables in a fragrant broth) appears to be the most popular breakfast. We ran into a lovely girl making waffles over a charcoal fire. To take a picture, she wanted us to buy some which was not a sacrifice. Very tasty.
With various stops for photos and window shopping, we logged about 3.0 miles so we are on track. We stopped at the gourmet food store and had an American breakfast and Ken loved it. Sadly the Prince was a bit disappointed as the promised strawberry jam didn't materialize. Back to the hotel for a couple hours lounging by the pool then it was time to hit the market.
Ben Thanh Market is about a 3 km walk from the hotel so we decided a bit more walking would be good for us. As we exited the hotel, a very friendly cyclo driver offered to take us for a spin and was disappointed when we opted to go on our own steam. It's hot here but there's no humidity so it's pretty good for walking.
The market is the size of of a mall and jammed with stuff. Bayou can get anything there but you have to haggle to get a good price and I suck at that. That means I always pay top dollar and the vendors are happy. Even a bad price is a good price in comparison to Canadian prices so it works out well anyway. I bought some souvenirs and a new chapeau while Ken somehow escaped unscathed. We grabbed a cab back to a shop the other side of the hotel we'd seen on our travels earlier in the day. I am going to try to not support the Vietnamese economy single-handedly - Lol though we did pick up a few things. Then we headed back to the hotel for happy hour at the rooftop bar.
We decided on Vietnamese food for dinner. Lol, hard to believe there are Vietnamese restaurants in Vietnam but there are. We found an upscale eatery not far from the hotel, Kim Lam, and decided to give it a try. Whe we were greeted at the door by two beautiful ladies playing traditional music we knew we had made the right choice.
Our shared appetizer was shrimp, pork and beef fresh rolls; a perennial favourite of mine but a new experience for Ken. The presentation was fabulous and they tasted even better than they looked. The rice paper was freshly made so they melted in your mouth. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
For mains, I chose the seafood medley with noodles and Ken marinated pork ribs with stemmed rice. Both dishes were a big hit.
After dinner, a short walk to enjoy the beautiful evening and festive atmosphere before an early night. More tomorrow ...
No comments:
Post a Comment