Travels: Eating our way through Vietnam

We've been in Vietnam over a week and the #1 thing I've learned so far, aside from the fact that the people are incredibly kind and entrepreneurial ;) and that every street has an unexpected charm, but the FOOD is DELICIOUS!!!

First stop on our journey was to Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon. And as soon as we hopped off the plane, the eating adventures began: (Luckily, Julia provided us with a list of some of the best spots!)

"Food Tour" Stop 1: Vietnamese BBQ @ 3T

giddy school kid...

"Food Tour" Stop 2: Beef Pho @ Pho Hoa

Super tasty Pho aka. Beef Noodle Soup. Better than any I've had before. Perfectly brothy, a bit tangy and bit spicy but a whole lot of comforting.

Also, apparently you're not supposed to throw in the herbs whole, but rather tear off the leaves... we gave people a couple good chuckles as we tried to gnaw our way through.

"Food Tour" Stop 3: Nha Hang Ngon. Food here was delicious, but the other amazing part was that we were hosted by our amazing waiter named "Phuc Yu" I kid you not... But he was lovely!

 

Our first, of soon to be many, Banh Xeo: "Vietnamese Pancake" (kinda like a crepe filled with noodles, lettuce, shrimp, pork, deliciousness)

How do you eat this? Just tear off a little with your fingers? Wrong!

Cut it up, place on rice paper & lettuce. Then roll up into... well, rolls. :)

Looks like this (pic from another Banh Xeo experience)

"Che" a conspicuous looking dessert. Described as like a pudding...

we ordered the "back bean" version that the waiter recommended which that surprised us both with it's tastiness! similar the flavors of mango sticky rice... sorta...

Food/Drink "Tour" Stop 4: Catina Cafe

I love a good balcony cafe

especially with tasty drinks!

Oh, plus we did some touristy stuff in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Ho Chi Minh City (previously known as Saigon) is the largest city in Vietnam. It didn't feel like way while we were there as it's pretty spread out and the tourist areas are centrally located so for our purposes it was incredibly walkable. Saigon was the capital of Southern Vietnam and was a capitalist / anti-communist state prior to the Vietnam War. However, based upon the propaganda & stories that the government shares, you would never know it. After the war, Saigon was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City after Ho Chi Minh, communist leader, Prime Minister & President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Here's just a couple snapshots from Ho Chi Minh City:

We felt right at home with all the motorbikes.

but everyone wears their helmets here! it's amazing! safety first. :)

Ho Chi Minh City Hall

Vietnamese version of Dongtai Lu

ball marker anyone?

"Notre Dame Cathedral"

noted as a special spot for music videos and wedding shoots... so i obviously took quite a few pics here.

impossible to get a good selfie without a reverse photo bomb

"War Remnants Museum" presents a strongly pro-Communist, anti-American portrayal of the Vietnam War. I don't want to post too many pics because it was incredibly disturbing with graphic images of the generational effects of Agent Orange, the torture of "innocent" Vietnamese, and the overall devastation that the US Army caused through Vietnam. Interesting, but obviously one-sided.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum. Not a great museum, but again, a great place for wedding photos! There must've been at least half a dozen couples with their photographers here.

The creepy "Jade Emperor Pagoda" claimed to be one of Saigon's "finest" pagodas. I personally found it to be a little creepy.

see what I mean...

We also headed out to the "Binh Tay" market, which if I had read my Lonely Planet guide book more closely, I would've learned this was a wholesale market. While nothing we wanted to purchase, it was wild! Luckily, we got stuck here during  a downpour so we had plenty of time to ignore.

This is the start of the flip flop / sandal aisle. Yes a whole aisle dedicated to flip flops / sandals.

this is the hair accessories aisle. we didn't see many other tourists in this market... :)

a drive-by of Saigon Streets. I love the skinny homes in every color of the rainbow.

Colorful Saigon at night

we also appreciated the men hard at work...

Left: just a little ruler measuring ; Right: i think you missed a spot

but the real treat is the electrical work throughout the city... 

what? this can't possibly be effective... having a cluster of power lines wrapped around a pole with each line hanging over the street directly into each apartment.