Vietnam (37) Day 37 (5.3.2102)

OMG words can not explain this deliciousness. How often i ate here, how lovely this woman was, what great local prices I paid. What a lovely memory.

never got sick in Vietnam...despite some very dodgy looking food practices! never had bread as good either (and i have eaten from boulangeries in Paris)

Up and out quickly before the cartoon channel traps us in the room all day. We rode the bike to the local market for 2 bahn Mi at d10,000 each. Then i put them in the bikes basket and rode the other way for a pink ice block for little messy fish. We go to the same shop, that is fairly close to our home stay. It costs d2,000. The man cuts the top off with a rusty old knife. The shop is full of dusty kids toys, newspapers and cigarettes. The owner looks stoned, but is very friendly. he has two children and always offers little messyfish a seat, so he can sit and watch TV with his kids after school. He then proceeds to swipe the mosquitoes away from him, so he doesn't get itchy. Sweet. he also offered to show us a house for rent, at half the price we were paying at our home stay. with WiFi and TV and aircon. maybe next time I go, Ill take him up on that offer. At the time, I did not want to get on the back of a motorbike with a local and drive to who knows where with him. maybe i will check it out next time I am there with my husband? Could be a way to stay there even cheaper, and spend more time there.

The pink iceblock we found by rummaging through the stores deep freezer. I was a desperate mother, determined to get him an iceblock he liked. once he discovered this, he went back again and again for one. The shop owner tried to get him to try the other colours. But of course...this proved unsuccessful. So pink it was, and i suggested, they better top up their supplies, because we will be back often! 

I then ventured down to the little cafe on cua dai road that serves the best cap he sua da (iced coffee). Vietnamese coffee is string and west with a vanilla/chocolate/caramel type of flavour. Its served as a small shot on top of a centimetre of sweetened condensed milk. Then depending on the place a whole bunch of crushed ice, or chips from a large block, or just a really big ice cube is served in the glass. The ice is refreshing, and when you stir, the sweetened condensed milk, further enhances that caramel flavoured code. Its like drinking a sweet, but with a great big kick! its also cooling in the heat of Vietnam. Perfect. Always served too, with a glass of green tea (unless you are a tourist, and then they often don't give you that extra goodness).

Ca phe sua da

Vietnamese coffee turns into a delicious caramel flavoured high caffeine, high sugar punch. Spot on!

I was often the only one in this little cafe. It doubles as a tailor shop and who knows what else. The wife of the man who served us would put on the fan and the tv with cartoons for us. They were very kind, and never got upset if little messyfish spilled his glass of crushed ice all over the place. i would sit and eat my take away Bahn Mi here too, and they were very accommodating. I took other tourists here for the experience 9from the home stay), but no one was an impressed as me. Travelling is a very personal experience, as with everything in life. We all like different things. i will be visiting this place again for sure. I want them to meet my husband! I want him to meet them.

Then we jumped back on our bike for a trip to the local market. Bought some chocolate milk tetra packs (uht milk, bad I know, but little messyfish was not taking in much nutrition, and this was better than nothing), a great big watermelon and some chewy peanut sesame snacks for me. Ive already eaten the lot. They are not too sweet. Have a great jelly/chewy texture, and Linh says that they are a speciality of Hue, which is about 2 hours by train North from here. Delicious!

I then, almost feinted at the market. Pushing a bike and a toddler in a busy market on a hot day. I had my period. I tunnel visioned to the drinks stall where I have been a few times. I figured if i pass out, they would be kind to Little messyfish until I came too! I ordered a sugar cane juice. It came with loads of crushed ice. Much better. Then little messyfish when shopping, and I followed. He particularly loves the hair accessories. He bought 5 hairbands. They are made from terry towelling, with elastic. he bought one of each colour. He put them on his forearm. He wore those arm bands for days and days, and they provided an enormous amount of pleasure for him. He found so many different things to do with them. As I get to know him better, I realise, that the more I let go and trust his choices, the more confident he and I both become with what it is he actually likes to play with and actually likes to do. Ordinarily I would try to steer him away from the hair accessories, as the Vietnamese women giggle at a boy looking at there products earnestly. But now I know better. I encourage his interests.

here's a shot of him at the 5 star resort with the hair accessories as arm bands on his arm. I would have to take them off whilst he was sleeping at night, to get the circulation going again, otherwise, they would not come off for days.

Sydney's Cabramatta (little Vietnam) Shopping for toys and little nik nacks

We DO stop at the jewellery shops and the hair accessory shops now, back home when in China Town. He loves pretty sparkly things. He has a huge bowl of beads that he has being playing with since he was very young. Who knows? maybe his interest will develop into being a jeweller? A Diamond merchant? Something socially acceptable that his mum approved of (I am being sarcastic here) I do know, though that it wont develop into anything if i giggle and shove my shame based gender thinking onto him. Or if I hurry him through the accessory shop, or if i only take him to the "boys" aisle in toy shops full of trucks and super heros.

Just across the road from the market near the home stay

local sights from our bike

loving all that green

 Ok, so now we were off... cycling through the rice paddies, looking around, being in Vietnam. What I really love about Hoi An, is that only 1 street away from the bustling market was the country side. where we encounted water buffalo, and rice paddies as far as we could see.

waterbuffalo, right there, by the side of the road...who needs a zoo?

this is the "road" further away from the home stay on the way to the herb gardens. It looks like aqua culture on either side, large square ponds, with narrow clay bike ways'

beautiful