What a treasure trove of community life in Saigon! If you’re in Saigon and wondering how to spend a free day – and if you’d like to take a peek at “real” Saigon (rather than a tourist street or a propaganda museum), considered spending some time at Le Thi Rieng Park. A few years back, [Read on …]
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It’s 6:30 am, time for a quick breakfast before starting the work day, or the day’s tour. You’ve had phở six mornings in a row for breakfast, cơm (rice) six evenings in a row for dinner. What to do? How about a big juicy beef steak! That’s our situation a few times each month. As [Read on …]
Hai and I have a nightly ritual concerning where we will eat dinner. Each evening after work and after our respective workouts at California Wow we hop on Hai’s motorbike and head down Le Lai Street off to dinner. But where? Immediately, Hai will ask, “Where do you want to eat?” He’s driving, so a [Read on …]
I’m not sure exactly why, but it seems that food always costs a bit more in Districts 5, & 11, the “Chinese” areas of Saigon. Of course, by western standards, its not expensive at all, but by Saigon standards, I’d say it is. But once in a while, I just feel like eating something different [Read on …]
The Lunch Lady Lô C1 Chung Cư 1A1B, Nguyễn Đình Chiểu District 1 ***** Literally for years, I’ve been reading about The Lunch Lady whenever I would read backpacker online discussions about Saigon Street Food. For reasons I can’t really explain, even after living in Saigon for over 4 years, I simply never quite got it [Read on …]
Quan Ốc Hương 70 436 / 70 Tran Van Dang District 3 ************************************* I can’t believe it’s already been 6 years since I first tried eating hột vịt lộn. I remember the place and time very well. My friend Thang and I were only on the first day of what would be a 7-day motorbike [Read on …]
Phơ Hữu 58 Cửu Long Bac Hai neighborhood P.15, District 10 ***** I’m always mystified by folk who go to live in foreign “third-world/developing” countries for extended periods of time – either for work or retirement or school – and proceed to surround themselves with expat friends, go to western restaurants, and gather at sports [Read on …]