Yes, final stop of my grad trip: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. All of us had never been to Vietnam before and honestly, we all agreed unanimously that we didn't have a pleasant experience there. It is hard to travel there without knowing the language. Every moment we are there, we have to be vary of the surroundings, of our wallets and valuables and even as we buy things, we have to bargain shamelessly so as to not get ripped off by the locals there. I miss Thailand.
This was the pathetic plate of rice that I got for almost SGD$4 at the stopover on the bus journey to Vietnam from Phnom Penh. We didn't have a choice, all of us were hungry. Worse lunch of the trip.
I have no idea what this thing is called but it tastes kinda nice. It's like beancurd or chendol with coconut milk and ice. The first nice thing that we found in Vietnam.
Lady preparing the dessert.
The label that we found outside the shop. No idea what it reads though.
.Dinner at Pho 2000.
Apparently, President Clinton had a meal at this Pho shop before. The whole restaurant has his pictures hung everywhere.
.Pho (medium).
.With all the (optional) condiments.
.Full of angmohs (as expected).
.Bia 333.
Product of Vietnam, it has this unique rice aftertaste that some really loved. I can't really appreciate it though.
.Curry Chicken Rice.
.Grilled Chicken Set.
.Stewed Beef (Pho).
.Fried Spring Roll.
.Nga Hang Ngon.
.Fried rice.
.Steak with Chips.
.Salted Egg Prawn.
.Crispy Rice.
.Vietnamese Spring Roll.
.Another variation of the spring roll.
.Grilled Squid.
.Happily conned.
The guy just came up to us tourists, passed the "props" to us for picture taking. He then proceeded to open up coconuts that we didn't ask for and boldly charged it at twice the price of a coconut in a restaurant. We just paid for one out of goodwill and left. Tourists, please beware of such cons.
.Remains of the duck egg.
Yup, this is THE legendary duck egg with the duck baby in there. We found it in a roadside stall. Four of us shared an egg and it was, surprisingly delicious! The Vietnamese who was persuading us to try it was very kind. He explained to us how to eat it and also, fed each one of us as well. One of the things that you definitely have to try in Vietnam.
.Vietnamese Coffee.
While some places have their famous Kopi Luwak (coffee from civet cat poop), Vietnam has their weasel (poop) coffee :) You can find this in Singapore as well. Just go to Trung Nguyen Cafe and ask for their Legendee.
.Broken Rice Restaurant.
First question that pops up in our mind: What is broken rice?! Apparently it is lower grade rice or intentionally broken rice (into rice fragments). No idea why they do it though, but it is really fragrant.
.Mai Phai.
.Preparing our banh mi.
.Banh Mi.
This is like the best subway ever. This vietnamese baguette was introduced by the French during the colonial period. You can basically choose the fillings to be added to the baguette: pork belly, chicken or pork floss, sardine, grilled meat, fried egg, tofu, vegee, cucumbers etc and condiments like mayonaise, chilli sauce, tomato sauce and more. Every bite you take, there will be this crunching symphony in your mouth, woohoo~
.Tapioca.
Food eaten during the wartime. We had this during our little tour to the Vietnamese war sites.
.Fried fish.
The chef removed most of the scales and this is the first fish that I have eaten upright. We rolled this in our own spring roll.
.Spring roll skin.
You are supposed to soak this in water and it will become this usual spring roll skin that you are familiar with.
.Menu with all the exotic animals.
Imagine yourself gorging on a grilled iguana, ewwww....
.Steamed shrimps.
.Fried Spring Roll.
.Fried Vegetables.
.Bland (Tasteless) Fried Rice.
.Honey Lemon Drink.
.The restaurant that we went for two consecutive nights.
Nice food, nice boss, awesome service.
.Some fruit that the boss treated us to.
.Favourite beer of the Vietnam trip.
There were supposed to be more pictures but I ran out of space to upload pics :)
