Ho Chi Minh City - Saigon - HCMC

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ok - we are in south india right now - bangalore to be exact and came across this old blog we never published. We will of course be posting more from india and we still have to post about thailand but there is always tomorrow......

We've been wandering the streets and alleyways of Ho Chi Minh City for the past two weeks and we have grown quite attached to this city. The heat controls the day. By mid-day you really shouldn't be doing anything except lazing in a cafe drinking ca phe su da (iced coffee with condensed milk) or tra da (iced tea) or cold Saigon beer. Any real exertion is met with bad consequences. We tried to walk to a market that is in Cholon (china town area) a ways away from Central Saigon and we almost went crazy. It was much further than we thought and we almost turned back twice especially after we asked two separate people at two very different intervals along the way how far and they each told us 3 km. We were also attacked by some nasty dogs. We stayed the course and finally arrived at this huge market. We were pretty exhausted at this point but enjoyed the big burlap bags of grains out for display, beautiful paints, all kinds of fabrics and silks and plethora of food stalls. We have truly come to love the food. It takes a little while to figure it all out but when you do it is as amazing as you expected and then some. We found this great place across from the Reunification Hall that has the most amazing food: Ngon. The owner has a few places around Saigon but this is his first place. He had an idea to get all the best food stall chefs in HCMC together and open a place. He did and it is so good. The chefs flank each side of the restaurant and they are out in the open behind little wooden quarter high stalls. Very cool to watch. Everything looks so fresh. We're still learning the menu but banh xeo is good, rice pancake with shrimp with the shell still on (also had it with sweet potato) and many of the dishes you wrap with a piece of lettuce some mint, basil, bean sprouts, cucumber and dip in the most delicious chili sauce, sticky rice dishes are good too. We've been there now three times maybe more?

Last week, we went to a Cao Dai temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels a few hours outside of Saigon by bus. Cao Dai is this wacky religion started in the early twentieth century in Vietnam and is a mix of Taoism, Confucism, and Buddhism mainly but there are hints of Catholicism and Islam too, our guide explained it as Vietnam's "mixed salad," super colorful church, color everywhere yellows, reds and blues expecially yellow for buddhism red for Confucism and blue for Taoism. They worship the all knowing eye which is represented all around. It is depicted within a triangle: one side for each: Taoism, Confucism, Buddhism. Lotus flowers signifying peace are repeated throughout, and other eclectic elements. They have channeled Elvis Presley and Hitler I think and Victor Hugo is one of there main saints. Need I go on. Very interesting. The tunnels were ok, a little too touristy, fortunately I started reading a book about them prior so Amanda and I had some good insight already. The tunnels were the Viet Cong's major defense against our military might. Very fascinating to learn how they depended on life underground through these intricate tunnel systems. USA tried but could never fully dismantle them and the Vietnamese took advantage of all our many mistakes even garbage we left behind, they made crude grenades out of coke cans.

We also took a great tour of the Mekong Delta that went to Mytho and Ben Tre. We took a boat to several islands: Phoenix Island and Turtle Island, saw how to make rice paper, coconut candy (which we naturally bought and Amanda can't stop eating), we drank tea at every stop, had fresh honey, rode in a horse cart. Somewhere along the way floating across the delta the tour guide began to sing, and several Korean tourists took over and the boat turned into a karoke spectacular.

We're headed to Cambodia tomorrow -- off to the Angkor temples -- more to come soon from somewhere between here and India.

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