Picture time!

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Time to show the home front a few pictures.

Sadly, I have either lost or forgotten my film camera recharger at home (or someone stole it). So I'll be saving the battery for in Ha Long Bay and Sapa.

Below, pictures in chronological order of my time here :

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Photos

Kha, my CS host and a few other couch surfers
Kha picked me up at the airport and brought me to his place where I met a few other couch surfers. From left to right (not sure about how to write the names) : Kylie, Allison, Selena, Kha and Catherine

The wiring is much like in Thailand
Catherine told me she saw a guy working on one of the wiring poles one day. He must have had one hell of a job ahead of him =)
There were much worse situations, but my phone memory was full.

Saigon post office with Ho Chi Minh painting
The Saigon post office. A number of buildings are closed quite often, so we paid a visit to the post office. It's well maintained and pretty. You can make phone calls from old-style phone booths which are air conditioned!

A delicious beef noodle soup
Somewhere along the streets of Saigon I had this delicious beef noodle soup. You can definitely eat some great food in the streets of Saigon!

Saigon - French building
The fine arts museum in Saigon is located in this old French colonial building. Too bad that the building is more interesting than what's inside. The artworks inside are in no way protected from humidity, temperature, etc.

Lise, I give you flowers
Flowers at the Ben Thanh market in Saigon. I can't bring them home, but here they are ;)

Cai Be - making coconut paste
This oven in Cai Be heats the scale above. A simple motor and chain drives the stirring rod to keep the paste in motion so it doesn't burn but only melts. The paste will be dried and cut up into candy

Cai Be - making coconut candy
A woman in Cai Be making candy. The candy is made from coconut paste. She's cutting it into strips first, then smaller pieces. The candy is quite tasty!

Tin Tin in Cai Be!
It could be one of the titles of a Tin Tin (Kuifje) strip. But it isn't. These aren't strips either, they are paintings on tiles, based on Tin Tin covers.

Mekong Delta - rowing
On a small boat on one of the smaller canals of the Mekong Delta. It's a very peaceful rowing trip, away from the busy streets of Saigon.

Mekong Delta - rambutan
Rambutan is a tasty fruit found all over Vietnam as far as I know. It's rather good, and doesn't taste like lychees as I expected. I had already eaten the inside as you can see, it has a sweet taste.

Cai Be - fried fish
Fried fish in Cai Be (which is in the Mekong Delta), after the rowing trip. The fish is gutted and then deep fried as-is. The spikes you see are actually the scales of the fish after it's been deep fried. You just tear off part of the fish and eat it, or roll it into rice paper with a few other ingredients. Not bad at all!

Saigon - dinner at Sorrento Cafe
After the Mekong Delta trip I met up with Kha and, well, everyone. We had a very exciting trip, the 6 of us on 4 motorbikes (our 2 Vietnamese friends Kha and Nguyet had their own and carried 2, for the other 2 we paid for a ride)
Kha took us to the Sorrento Cafe, a posh place we would never have found without him. My last dinner in Saigon was in style. We had a lot of fun, and the food was great!
From left to right : Nguyet, Jan, Samantha, Kha and Sarah

Saigon - karaoke!
My first time ever in a karaoke bar. And it was great fun, haha. Here in the picture with me is Jan, a French guy that arrived in Saigon that day. Unlike at home, you can rent smaller rooms to sing karaoke with just your friends in stead of a whole cafe looking at you on stage. This adds a lot to the fun!

Saigon - Nguyet and me
It seems we had been singing karaoke for quite a while, as the people who work there came to ask us to stop as they wanted to close the place, hehe. This picture was taken in front of the karaoke bar. Nguyet is a very fun girl, a friend of Kha's.

Comments

[Jelte]

Mui ne
Hi, My name is Jelte and at the end of June I also go to Mui ne. Do you have a address for coach surfing here? Best regards, Jelte Kloostra 0066865583256