Yesterday we ate lunch at Quan An Ngon" just near the Reunification Palace. This was recommended to us by our tour guide along with the restaurant next door, Bantua. This was the one most crowded...by Vietnamese...it also looked inviting with big windows, umbrellas, and lots of shade. We ate "in the back" on the second floor of an old colonial building looking through a window on the patio below. The service was fabulous...smiling and helpful. We had whole crab in tamarind sauce, a beef pho (soup), steamed rice, and fresh spring rolls with shrimp that we "wrapped" ourselves...good thing for those two cooking classes. Our waiter helped us with the crab (cracking it) and explaining which sauces we should be using for what foods. Done in a very helpful manner...no tsktsking...although he could have!
There were a few tourists in the restuarants but the vast majority were Vietnamese...who always look so happy and chatty when they eat (I know that sounds like a gross stereotype...but it has been our experience). Meals are simple, tasty and a time to get together with your family and friends to chat. The menu at Quan An Ngon was very large and from what we read, it has cuisine from a number of locales throughout Vietnam...it is translated into English. It is also interesting because there is a long row of cooking stations where different foods of different regions are being made fresh, right where you can stop and look. There is also a central kitchen somewhere. It was really fun! The restuarant is within walking distance of downtown hotels but there were cylcos and taxis right out front for those who need to get to that nap sooner rather than later. We walked back along Dong Quai one of the major shopping streets (silk, art, more silk, purses, crafts from the mountain highlands near Sapa).
Showing posts with label Ho Chi Minh city. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ho Chi Minh city. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
International Saigon and Old Friends
updated on December 3rd
We have eaten primarily Vietnamese and Cambodian food on this trip (out of choice) being pleasantly surprised at the variety of styles and freshness of ingredients. I know we've only seen (or eaten) the tip of the iceberg so far. but everynow and then I'd like something off the Vietnamese path. So last night we walked a few blocks from our hotel (the very nice and conveniently located Renaissance Riverside Hotel) to Pacharan...a Spanish Tapas Restaurant. Located on Hai Ba Trung (across from the Park Hyatt) the Pacharan is a 4 story hotel with big windows that look out over the interesection. Warm tones and arched doorways with comfortable tables and a not too loud but still humming ambience. Excellent wine list reasonably priced and one heck of a red sangria!!!!. We had an excellent dinner...prawns in garlic, pork in moroccan spices on a skewer, fried potatoes, some cold dish with a mix of seafood and chopped vegetables, a toasty bread with tomatoes, garlic, and a few surprises. Then a rice pudding with glazed sugar on the top like a creme brulee (yum!). After our trip to Spain we continue up Hai Ba Trung to O'Brien's pub...which we found on the first try (this is definitely not Hanoi). Copper topped bar...several floors for eating...a beautiful bar back with my favorite, Jameson's on the shlef...a shot of jameson's and a wee bit of guiness and I was a happy ex-pat in Saigon. Walked home and got in just as it started to rain. What a lovely evening.
Other observations and experienes in Saigon (out of order...but what the heck).
First off...had a great visit with my friend Doug Knapp. He is teaching at an American School in Saigon (just started in August...still adjusting). He was a good buddy of mine in College and was the person responsible for getting me into birdwatching! All these years later (30 to be exact) we met up again in Saigon (thanks to a facebook connection). We spent a too short evening trying to get caught up on 3 decades over many beers and food from the 7th floor buffet at the Renaissance in Saigon. Great time...hope it isn't another 30 years!
Prior to going to Cambodia we spent 4 days in Saigon still with the Smithsonian group...a few tidbits from that:
Al Fresco's a restaurant (several locations) near the Renaissance Hotel offering "American fare". Good food...great thin crust pizza, what looked like fabulous ribs, egg breakfasts, salads, very helpful staff. After 3 weeks of asian food (which we love don't get me wrong), a little pizza was pretty close to heaven.
Diamond Department Store. An upscale department store complete with a food court and on the top floor a bowling alley and video arcade...which was doing good business with local in the middle of the day.
Saigon Trade Center. Kind of a cross between a mall, department store, and supermarket. Loved wondering through the grocery store/supermarket and looking at everything! Found the rice crackers/cashew brittle cookies that I love.
CuChi Tunnels. Wow...what an experience. Located about 1 1/2 hours outside of Saigon this area was known to be heavily communist during the war. And consequently was heavily bombed and attacked. As a result the creative and industrious vietnamese dug a series of tunnels and rooms over the course of decades of conflict totalling at the end over 200 kilometers of tunnels housing at one time 6000 people. Amazing. The attraction is operated by the military and not only do you get a tour, have the opportunity to squeeze your bigass western behind into a skinny tunnel made for short slender vietnamese, but you can also pay (per bullet) to shoot an AK 47 or similar (there were no takers in our group). It was a well done attraction and truly painted a picture of how horrible and terrifying it must have been for both sides in that area.
later we visited the ARt Museum of Saigon housed in an old Chinese merchants home not far from BEn Thanh market (and designed by the architect who designed the Ben Thanh market) . There was a bit of ceramics (ancient and nearer in time). But most of the interesting work were paintings and sculpture from about 1900 to modern times. Many pieces were quite thought provoking and sad. Although I know some were probably created for propaganda purposes I belive they also reflected the life and attitudes of the times in Vietnam. The museum like many (all?) others we've seen has no climate control, open windows, no humidity control and virtually no security. It is a wonder these pieces of art survive at all.
For more modern art work we visited an excellent gallery on Dong Khoi Street in Saigon...the Thanh Mai Gallery...5 (or was it 6) floors of interesting artwork from current artists in Vietnam today. Many different styles and subjects. In particular we liked the works depicting monks by Bui Van Hoan, Arresting faces of women by Nguyen Van Cuong and bright colored rurals by Vo Ta Hung.
Our farewell dinner (since some people were not going onto Cambodia) was at an excellent restaurant called the Mandarin Restaurant (11A Ngo Van Nam St District 1). It is on a small side street nestled amongst "air condioned karaoke bars" (a whimsical euphemism for places where you can arrange for female companions for the evening). We had very good crispy spring rools and some type of marinated beef that we all likes. Good wines by the glass.
We have eaten primarily Vietnamese and Cambodian food on this trip (out of choice) being pleasantly surprised at the variety of styles and freshness of ingredients. I know we've only seen (or eaten) the tip of the iceberg so far. but everynow and then I'd like something off the Vietnamese path. So last night we walked a few blocks from our hotel (the very nice and conveniently located Renaissance Riverside Hotel) to Pacharan...a Spanish Tapas Restaurant. Located on Hai Ba Trung (across from the Park Hyatt) the Pacharan is a 4 story hotel with big windows that look out over the interesection. Warm tones and arched doorways with comfortable tables and a not too loud but still humming ambience. Excellent wine list reasonably priced and one heck of a red sangria!!!!. We had an excellent dinner...prawns in garlic, pork in moroccan spices on a skewer, fried potatoes, some cold dish with a mix of seafood and chopped vegetables, a toasty bread with tomatoes, garlic, and a few surprises. Then a rice pudding with glazed sugar on the top like a creme brulee (yum!). After our trip to Spain we continue up Hai Ba Trung to O'Brien's pub...which we found on the first try (this is definitely not Hanoi). Copper topped bar...several floors for eating...a beautiful bar back with my favorite, Jameson's on the shlef...a shot of jameson's and a wee bit of guiness and I was a happy ex-pat in Saigon. Walked home and got in just as it started to rain. What a lovely evening.
Other observations and experienes in Saigon (out of order...but what the heck).
First off...had a great visit with my friend Doug Knapp. He is teaching at an American School in Saigon (just started in August...still adjusting). He was a good buddy of mine in College and was the person responsible for getting me into birdwatching! All these years later (30 to be exact) we met up again in Saigon (thanks to a facebook connection). We spent a too short evening trying to get caught up on 3 decades over many beers and food from the 7th floor buffet at the Renaissance in Saigon. Great time...hope it isn't another 30 years!
Prior to going to Cambodia we spent 4 days in Saigon still with the Smithsonian group...a few tidbits from that:
Al Fresco's a restaurant (several locations) near the Renaissance Hotel offering "American fare". Good food...great thin crust pizza, what looked like fabulous ribs, egg breakfasts, salads, very helpful staff. After 3 weeks of asian food (which we love don't get me wrong), a little pizza was pretty close to heaven.
Diamond Department Store. An upscale department store complete with a food court and on the top floor a bowling alley and video arcade...which was doing good business with local in the middle of the day.
Saigon Trade Center. Kind of a cross between a mall, department store, and supermarket. Loved wondering through the grocery store/supermarket and looking at everything! Found the rice crackers/cashew brittle cookies that I love.
CuChi Tunnels. Wow...what an experience. Located about 1 1/2 hours outside of Saigon this area was known to be heavily communist during the war. And consequently was heavily bombed and attacked. As a result the creative and industrious vietnamese dug a series of tunnels and rooms over the course of decades of conflict totalling at the end over 200 kilometers of tunnels housing at one time 6000 people. Amazing. The attraction is operated by the military and not only do you get a tour, have the opportunity to squeeze your bigass western behind into a skinny tunnel made for short slender vietnamese, but you can also pay (per bullet) to shoot an AK 47 or similar (there were no takers in our group). It was a well done attraction and truly painted a picture of how horrible and terrifying it must have been for both sides in that area.
later we visited the ARt Museum of Saigon housed in an old Chinese merchants home not far from BEn Thanh market (and designed by the architect who designed the Ben Thanh market) . There was a bit of ceramics (ancient and nearer in time). But most of the interesting work were paintings and sculpture from about 1900 to modern times. Many pieces were quite thought provoking and sad. Although I know some were probably created for propaganda purposes I belive they also reflected the life and attitudes of the times in Vietnam. The museum like many (all?) others we've seen has no climate control, open windows, no humidity control and virtually no security. It is a wonder these pieces of art survive at all.
For more modern art work we visited an excellent gallery on Dong Khoi Street in Saigon...the Thanh Mai Gallery...5 (or was it 6) floors of interesting artwork from current artists in Vietnam today. Many different styles and subjects. In particular we liked the works depicting monks by Bui Van Hoan, Arresting faces of women by Nguyen Van Cuong and bright colored rurals by Vo Ta Hung.
Our farewell dinner (since some people were not going onto Cambodia) was at an excellent restaurant called the Mandarin Restaurant (11A Ngo Van Nam St District 1). It is on a small side street nestled amongst "air condioned karaoke bars" (a whimsical euphemism for places where you can arrange for female companions for the evening). We had very good crispy spring rools and some type of marinated beef that we all likes. Good wines by the glass.
Morning in Saigon
Had a great time this morning. No world series game on the telly, so we got up and out fairly early. Took a taxi to the central market in District 1, Ban Thahn, where we were once again good humoredly surrounded by persistent young women sellling t-shirts (like attractive, smiling gnats) ...however this time we were in the market for a tshirt or two so Jerry bargained them down to something acceptable. We even got a begrudging "your husband, good bargainer". Took a look at the food stalls and "wet" (meat, fish, and vegetables) and dry markets before heading off to a restuarant we ate at yesterday.
And here is one of those amazing Vietnam stories. I've already mentioned how we recovered Jerry's camera from a restuarant in Hanoi the day after he left it there. Well, yesterday my little leather pouch with our travel dominoes fell out of the purse (or off the table) while we were eating at the Ngon restaurant on Nam Ki Khoi Nghia. I didn't discover it until late last night (when we were sipping a Guiness and a shot of Jameson at OBrien's Pub on Hai Ba Trung). Yes...once again the honesty of the Vietnam people graciously raised its head. When we went back (with a picture I drew of the pouch and a domino...in case the English didn't translate well) they indeed had our little pouch. I'm not sure which pleased me more...having our dominoes back or the honesty of the people at the restaurant!. This is how we've found people here..honest, considerate, and patient (and very confident, aggressive drivers!!!).
After recovering the dominoes, we took a taxi to the cholon market in chinatown. The Chinatown is argued to be one of the largest if not THE largest chinatown in the world (outside of china, of course). We believe it. Its in District 5...about a 5 dollar taxi ride (about 20 to 25 minutes) out of District 1. it was FASCINATING. We loved it. The central market was kind of like an Asian Costco in that many things were for sale in bulk...I needed a new set of tweezers because i lost my old ones...I had to buy 5!! Of course it only cost me 1 dollar for 5 tweezers...need one? There were rows of dried mushrooms, peppercorns, dried fruit, and lots of things I have no idea what they were. A whole roll of plastic fabrics...you know the kind you can use for outdoor tablecloths? A great fish, crab, shrimp market...fresh, fresh, fresh. Fresh fruit. shoes..shoes.shoes.shoes...The Chinese market had a small temple in the middle where people came and lit incense (to take their prayers to god on the smoke). Pots and Pans for sale. We bought these vegeteble scrapers that peel off long "strings" from things like green papaya or carrots. We did not have to buy 5 of them fortunately. Rows of bras, underwear, children's clothes, socks and more shoes (don't know if people here are especially hard on their shoes or what...maybe its the rain and dragging them along the moped)
After meandering through the market and enjoying a coca cola light in the center courtyard we took two cyclos (a bicycle driven cart...like a rickshaw) through China town. We thought we had bargained them down for 1/2 hour ride for essentially 3 dollars a piece. Turns out it was an hour ride that we bargained them down to 3 dollars a piece. Funny how that works. Worked for us. Again...streets that specialized in dried mushrooms, locks, hardware and safes, chinese celebration paraphenalia (dragon heads, costumes, banners), "fruit" streets", DVD and CD streets, children's toys streets. All mixed up with housing old and new, freshly painted and quietly decaying. We passed a mosque, many buddhist temples, and one grand Catholic Church, Cha Tam
Then it was a taxi ride back to District 1 where we had a pizza and coke (i had TWO cokes) at Al Fresco, a delightful ex-pat find. Good food, good price. And another funny story. When we walked in a young woman with a big smile who worked there looked at us and at Jerry in particular and say "hi" as if she recognized us...hmmm?. She came over to the table and in broken but passable English explained that she had just come by motorbike from the Chinese area and had seen us in our cyclos. She recognized us because jerry was wearing a bright orange checked scarf as a headband (we bought it in Cambodia) which looks pretty exotic and also a bright orange shirt. She recognized him! Very funny. At least she didn't think that Elton John had just walked into the restuarant!
Now we are back in the cool of the hotel. The club lounge overlooks the Saigon River and it looks like it will rain this afternoon. Jerry went to get a shiatsu massage...I'm going to read for awhile. Having dinner tonight with an old friend from college.
More on Saigon in a later post.
And here is one of those amazing Vietnam stories. I've already mentioned how we recovered Jerry's camera from a restuarant in Hanoi the day after he left it there. Well, yesterday my little leather pouch with our travel dominoes fell out of the purse (or off the table) while we were eating at the Ngon restaurant on Nam Ki Khoi Nghia. I didn't discover it until late last night (when we were sipping a Guiness and a shot of Jameson at OBrien's Pub on Hai Ba Trung). Yes...once again the honesty of the Vietnam people graciously raised its head. When we went back (with a picture I drew of the pouch and a domino...in case the English didn't translate well) they indeed had our little pouch. I'm not sure which pleased me more...having our dominoes back or the honesty of the people at the restaurant!. This is how we've found people here..honest, considerate, and patient (and very confident, aggressive drivers!!!).
After recovering the dominoes, we took a taxi to the cholon market in chinatown. The Chinatown is argued to be one of the largest if not THE largest chinatown in the world (outside of china, of course). We believe it. Its in District 5...about a 5 dollar taxi ride (about 20 to 25 minutes) out of District 1. it was FASCINATING. We loved it. The central market was kind of like an Asian Costco in that many things were for sale in bulk...I needed a new set of tweezers because i lost my old ones...I had to buy 5!! Of course it only cost me 1 dollar for 5 tweezers...need one? There were rows of dried mushrooms, peppercorns, dried fruit, and lots of things I have no idea what they were. A whole roll of plastic fabrics...you know the kind you can use for outdoor tablecloths? A great fish, crab, shrimp market...fresh, fresh, fresh. Fresh fruit. shoes..shoes.shoes.shoes...The Chinese market had a small temple in the middle where people came and lit incense (to take their prayers to god on the smoke). Pots and Pans for sale. We bought these vegeteble scrapers that peel off long "strings" from things like green papaya or carrots. We did not have to buy 5 of them fortunately. Rows of bras, underwear, children's clothes, socks and more shoes (don't know if people here are especially hard on their shoes or what...maybe its the rain and dragging them along the moped)
After meandering through the market and enjoying a coca cola light in the center courtyard we took two cyclos (a bicycle driven cart...like a rickshaw) through China town. We thought we had bargained them down for 1/2 hour ride for essentially 3 dollars a piece. Turns out it was an hour ride that we bargained them down to 3 dollars a piece. Funny how that works. Worked for us. Again...streets that specialized in dried mushrooms, locks, hardware and safes, chinese celebration paraphenalia (dragon heads, costumes, banners), "fruit" streets", DVD and CD streets, children's toys streets. All mixed up with housing old and new, freshly painted and quietly decaying. We passed a mosque, many buddhist temples, and one grand Catholic Church, Cha Tam
Then it was a taxi ride back to District 1 where we had a pizza and coke (i had TWO cokes) at Al Fresco, a delightful ex-pat find. Good food, good price. And another funny story. When we walked in a young woman with a big smile who worked there looked at us and at Jerry in particular and say "hi" as if she recognized us...hmmm?. She came over to the table and in broken but passable English explained that she had just come by motorbike from the Chinese area and had seen us in our cyclos. She recognized us because jerry was wearing a bright orange checked scarf as a headband (we bought it in Cambodia) which looks pretty exotic and also a bright orange shirt. She recognized him! Very funny. At least she didn't think that Elton John had just walked into the restuarant!
Now we are back in the cool of the hotel. The club lounge overlooks the Saigon River and it looks like it will rain this afternoon. Jerry went to get a shiatsu massage...I'm going to read for awhile. Having dinner tonight with an old friend from college.
More on Saigon in a later post.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Onto Cambodia
Haven't had much time to blog...will need to catch up once I get home. Have many, many notes. But quickly before we leave for airport for flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia (and Anghkor Wat). Spent last week in Mekong Delta and Saigon. Had fabulous time on waterways in the Mekong delta and was very impressed with Can Tho the largest city of the Mekong region. Stayed at the Victoria Can Tho on the lower Mekong River and it was devine! Very romantic (and had great air conditioning). Spent 4 nights in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) have had time to explore on our own as well as group touring of the War Museum, Reuninfication Palace, Art Museum, and Art Galleries. Have had some great food. Jerry and I return here on our own after the Cambodia extension. Will have dinner with an old college friend who is living here now teaching at an International School.
We continued to be impressed with the economic success of open market policies in Vietnam. Vietnamese are tenacious, hard working, and extremely polite and pleasant (except for the occasional less than honest taxi driver).
And although we are 12 time zones away...we watch the world series with a shizophrenic delight...I'm rooting for Philly and Jerry is rooting for Tampa Bay Rays. Thanks to ESPN we can catch at least a few innings in the morning before sightseeing (and thanks to my blackberry we can continue "watching" the game via internet). Go Phils...ooops Rays....oh whatever!
We continued to be impressed with the economic success of open market policies in Vietnam. Vietnamese are tenacious, hard working, and extremely polite and pleasant (except for the occasional less than honest taxi driver).
And although we are 12 time zones away...we watch the world series with a shizophrenic delight...I'm rooting for Philly and Jerry is rooting for Tampa Bay Rays. Thanks to ESPN we can catch at least a few innings in the morning before sightseeing (and thanks to my blackberry we can continue "watching" the game via internet). Go Phils...ooops Rays....oh whatever!
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