Gazette Headlines that say "Canada"

How to bike (safely) in winter

Minimum prices for bar drinks considered
(to curb binge drinking)

Search for 8th BC Snowmobiler resumes on Tuesday

It's time to re-ice the backyard ice rink

Montreal's Iciest Sidewalks

Hot Chocolate and Ice Cider: Heaven in a cup.

When we were here earlier in the month we had the yummiest hot chocolate at the Telus Winter Bar at the Old Port Saturday night fete. The bartender mixed Pinnacle Ice Cider (made from apples) with the hot chocolate...it was divine. Tonight, at home. We mixed an apple liquor (a little stronger than the Ice Cider)...about one shot, with a large cup of hot chocolate....heaven in a cup. The fire is on...the cup is empty...it is time for a nap.

Maison Indian Curry

Maison Indian Curry: 996 Jean Talon West, Montreal.. http://www.maisonindiancurry.com/

We ate lunch today at Maison Indian Curry. A small place near the busy corner of Jean Talon West and L'Acadie. We got the last 3 seats (lucky because we were starving BEFORE we walked in and smelled the wonderful food). Had excellent vegetable korma, chicken vindaloo, palau rice, naan bread, and mango chutney. We've eatern here once before and really enjoyed that meal also. Fed three of us for 29 dollars Canadian (about 24 US). Delicious.

The Ships are In!

We arrived in Old Montreal about 5:30 (after a very easy 9 hour drive including potty stops, Subway sandwich stop, and a quickie run into a Costco for chicken and bread). It is mild here...above freezing. There is evidence of recent snow, slush, and ice but not much (at least in the city). It is VERY windy however. It got REALLY windy north of Saratoga, NY. We had to play dodge'em carts with the Costco Shopping carts in the parking lot...we had to figure out where we could park with cars blocking the wind (and the carts flying across the parking lot). We have the fireplace on and are reading and blogging. Think this will be an early night. Tomorrow...we play!

The "winter ships" are docked in Old Montreal. They are always gone in the summer and when we were here in early December that weren't back in port...it looked so forlorn. I was happy to see them. We look out our windows at them and they provide color and interest in the gray and white days of winter. They are Great Lake bulk carriers designed to carry large loads while still being able to navigate through the locks in the St. Lawrence Seaway. They carry loads to and from the Great Lakes...hence their nickname...Lakers.

(photos courtesy of industry websites)

Diane's Book, Greenwich, CT

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the afternoon in Greenwich Ct while Jerry had business meetings. It was a brisk, sunny, cold day. I drove down to see Long Island Sound, had a latte at the Starbucks while reading a good book, browsed a toy shop and then discovered Diane's Books. Diane's is a lovely, well stocked, charming rabbit warren of an independent book store. Stuffed to the gills with books everywhere, well lit, great selection, and a helpful staff. They call themselves a "family bookstore" with "the largest selection of family books" in the country. Check out their website: www.dianesbooks.com. They are located at 8A Grigg Street. I found a couple of surprises that will make perfect Christmas gifts.

Back to La Cabana del Tio

In St. Pete/Clearwater area again working on house plans and construction stuff. On our way back from a meeting in Dunedin we stopped at my absolute FAVORITE mexican restaurant (which i've blogged about before...but they deserve another mention). I had carnitas tacos with freshly made corn tortillas and a "sencillo" sope...with beans, lettuce and mexican white cheese. And a coca cola from central american (made with cane sugar not corn syrup....they taste like Cokes USED to taste like).

I'm staying at the Marriott Courtyard in St. Petersburg. Its located at 300 4th Street North in an old historic building that at one time housed the Pennsylvania Hotel. For more information: http://www.stpete.org/Pennsylvania.htm. The current incarnation as a hotel is convenient, clean, quiet with excellent staff (very friendly and helpful). There is a small bar that is open from 5:30 to ?. And they have a very reasonably priced breakfast buffet with made to order eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, grits, oatmeal, cereal, fruits, breads, and potatos...coffee and juice (for 8.95). They have a hotel van that will take you anywhere in the downtown you want to go (and pick you back up).

BRRRRRRRR!!!!!

This morning we woke to a brilliant blue sky and steam coming off the water in the port. Steam? hmmm. Just how cold is it? I took a look at the weather report on my blackberry and it said -2. Jerry said, "that isn't too bad...that's only about 30 degrees (farenheit)". I said, no, it is -2 FARENHEIT...in other words -20 celsius! Yowza. And it was windy...so windchill was -15.

Yesterday was snowing (and warmer...around 28) we got about an inch or so. Very pretty. We went to Les Bouchees Gourmand for brunch...one of the best brunches ever...and certainly the best value ever. Cafe au lait, a fruit plate with cottage cheese and confits, a plate of beet salad and carrot salad...excellent. A simple green salad. Toasty bread and preserves. Foie Gras with a carrot confit which was fantabulous. Then an omelette with onions and gruyere cheese which was more like a mini souffle in a pan. And THEN a banana omelet with crunchy almond bits and a drizzle of chocolate. It was just heaven.

Then it was off to visit Costcos. Two...one we call the "english one" in Pointe Claire and one we call the "french one" in Laval. (There are 12 Costcos in the metropolitan Montreal area...all within 30 miles of one another.) Did some christmas shopping and sampled cheeses, chocolates, and such. It was snowing by the time we left Laval and getting quite cold.

Dinner was early (at 5) and we really weren't hungry yet...but we had reservations at Au Pied du Cuchon on rue Duluth so we definitely didn't miss it. I had the meat loaf topped with foie gras and a side of mashed potatoes, jerry had the bison steak frites, jeff had the (I forget the name) pork, sausage, and potato stew, peg had the tomatoe tartlet (or was that totlet?). excellent glasses by the wine. no dessert...we were just too full.

great day...several pounds heavier!

A Winter Saturday Evening in Old Montreal

Peg and Jeff flew in from Ohio late this afternoon. We had dinner at 3 Brasseurs on Rue St. Paul in Old Montreal. Good hamburgers, a quebequois Flamm (like a REALLY thin crust pizza), and a chevre chaud salad. Enjoyed their beer...I had a beer "cocktail"...called the Brit...a dark beer with a shot of Irish Whiskey in it...yummy! (Why it's called the Brit and not The Irish is, I suspect, best left uninvestigated).

After dinner we decided to stroll down to see the Ice Rink in the Old Port. It sits right on the edge of the quays on the St. Lawrence. One part is an artificial ice rink that is open all winter and the other part is a huge "circle trail" which becomes a rink once its cold enough to freeze the water thick enough. Not cold enough yet...

We heard music and saw bright colored lights. Little did we know that there was a party going on...sponsored by Telus. There was an Ice Bar (but not made of real ice...just everything white within a white senu-transparent white tent with windows) which served all sorts of things including hot chocolate with a delicious apple liquer in it...double yum. We went outside to listen to a Quebequois band for a bit. Then the lights dimmed and everyone huddled over by the ice rink. It was FIREWORKS....a spectacular display of fireworks synchronized to music...the theme Moon Dust. It was incredibly beautiful. There we were standing amidst winter trees, hats and gloves, spiked hot chocolate, faces lifted to the sky....mesmerized. What a dreamy evening. Jeff thought they were the best fireworks he had ever seen. Courtesy of the City of Fireworks!

Then to top it off as we left we saw these small bonfires (inside grill boxes for lack of better description). They were handing out sticks and marshmellows...and yes, we roasted a marshmellow to go. Fantastic.

To Font or not to Font

Is the large size better for viewing. I was thinking maybe the print is too small. Just testing. Okay and then there is font type -
There is arial...maybe too bold? Courier...boring! Good old Georgia on my mind...hmmm. maybe. luckia....I've never heard of lucida looks alot like arial? Good old new york Times...oh that would be Times Roman. TRebuchet...isn't that like a big slingshot? Verdana...sounds like a flower...seems kind of fat. What the heck is this? That previous sentence says...what the heck is this? in "webdings" font. A font for code breakers? Okay...lets see what they look like on the page.....

Where is the snow?

It was supposed to snow...we have seen 3 flakes. A bit of rain. And sun. Sun! We get sun at home. I want snow! Lots of it. Well not so much I can't get to the airport and pick up Peg and Jeff when they fly in on Saturday. But enough to have to put my boots on! Where is it?

Les Bouchees Gourmand

Once upon a time a nice Quebecquois couple owned a chocolate/pastry shop on Rue St. Paul in Old Montreal in a 200 year old building. This couple made beautiful yummy chocolates, the best apple turnovers, tarte taitin, and hot chocolate for miles (and that is saying something in Montreal). On top of that, they couldn't be nicer people...gracious, sweet, and giving (a lot like their chocolates). Then the roof froze, ice jammed the gutters, untimely and unwanted waterfalls sprouted within their store. For reasons not understood the owner wouldn't or couldn't fix the problem and leaks and hi humidity continued into the spring making it impossible to get the chocolate to set properly (it's one thing to be cold and have wet feet, its another thing altogether to be unable to make your chocolates properly). So they sadly hung the closed sign on the door for the last time and left the adorable (but leaky) 200 year building. After 6 long months (seemed long for those of us deprived of their simple yet elegant creations) they have reopened (sound of bugles and crowds cheering) on Rue St. Bernard in the Outremont area of Montreal. Hallelujah! We visited yesterday and feasted on their potage Parisien (leek and potato soup), thick creamy hot chocolate, and the best, flakiest and perhaps biggest sweet apple turnover ever!!! All is right with the world again.

Vietnam and Cambodia - tying up the loose end

We've been home almost a month now from our sojourn to SE Asia. With this entry my blogging of our adventure will be complete although I've got lots more work to do on my photo blog on Flickr. But this is fun work. Keeping it all fresh in mind! So this entry is all the loose ends I forgot to post about...a potpourri of bits and pieces of a fine holiday!

To Market, To Market. When we returned to Hanoi for the last time at the end of our trip there had been torrential rains for weeks and there considerable flooding along the Red River and within Hanoi itself. The rain had abated for a few days so we didn't have too much trouble on the main route but we saw many, many flooded fields of rice that had been just ready for harvest. Apparently farmers had been harvesting what they could in the rain in the hopes of salvaging some of the crops. What we saw were people selling ears of corn in heaps along the road into Hanoi. We hadn't seen that before. Again...an early harvest with no market for so much corn. Many, many women sitting in a drizzle with stacks of corn on plastic tarps.

Eggs Anyone? We saw all sorts of things carried on a motorcycle throughout Vietnam...cases of beer, panes of glass, several children, whole pigs freshly slaughtered. But one of the most amazing things we saw was the guy on the outskirts of Hanoi with dozens and dozens and dozens of eggs in baskets strapped and stacked onto , from and around his motorcycle. Between his legs, above his head, on the front where the head lights was. That would be one messy omelet if he took a wrong turn!!!

Evening Lanterns in Hoi An. I forgot to mention the lanterns that hang everywhere throughout downtown old Hoi An. They are strung across streets, patios, from doors. In the evening it is delightful to stroll amongst the soft light that the lanterns emit.

Aussies in Hoi An. I think one small Austrialian City decided to take a holiday in Vietnam. Aussies everywhere.

Boat Ride on River in Hoi An. We took a boat ride from Hoi An out to the mouth of the river with views of the Cham Island. It took about 2 hours and we saw many fishing boats, fishing nets strung from posts in the water (used with lights for night time fishing), coconut palm plantations, cattle on the shore, more fishing boats, a few egrets, and ferry boats (people and bikes not cars) and more fishing boats. We watched a fellow toss the local weighted fishing nets used from the long pirogue like boats. The only negative thing about the trip was that the guy tried to insist that the price was more when we got back...we weren't buying it...we paid what we agreed on and left it at that. Curious.

More on our evening cyclo ride in Hoi An. The night that we took the cyclo out to the residential areas around Hoi An was delightful. Perfect temperature...not too humid. We drove past new 2 story houses going up along the river that sat next to simple one or two room homes with fishing nets hanging outside. We passed women and men working on mending the nets and children playing with a jump rope (hi, hi, hi, hi, hi,!). We laughed at a young dog wrestling with an obliging kitten on the porch of a small home and at another dog that was being shooed out of a garden by a set of nasty geese. We drove through an area of rice paddies in the failing light and came upon the rear end of a water buffalo who was not too happy with sharing the road with cyclos and cycles...he kept trying to run back off the road into the field...his owner had his handsful. Men sat fishing at the edge of small, still ponds. And karaoke bars waiting for the later in the night crowds. We saw two young men loading a block of ice onto a small fishing boat using a makeshift wooden slide that stretched across the sidewalk (they had to move it so we could get through). A small crowd gathered around the floating gas pump haggling over baskets of fish? produce? not sure. The locals evening in Hoi An...it was nice to get a glimpse of it.

Hoi An Hotel :

Pros: a very roomy clean room, comfortable bed, good hot water, safe, good air conditioning, great pool, pleasant staff, good location, a very good value...we paid only $60 per night. Cons: the tub was SO huge, the water so slow, and the plug so antiquated that you could forget filling up the tub for a bath. The lights in the room were a little dim...but not too bad. If you want to be able to have your windows open...you'd be better off above the 1st floor.

Where are the birds? and other ruminations on Vietnam

So where were the birds? Virtually no pigeons...who doesn't have pigeons? Few sparrows. Few egrets, herons (with all those rice fields?). Only an occasional gull or two. We saw a few hawks in Halong Bay but virtually no place else. Very few places had morning chirps outside the window. I was happy that I wasn't lugging around a bird book through Vietnam. So here is my theory. In hard times people eat everything and anything and Vietnam has had a lot of hard time. So they eat pigeons and other feral birds, they eat rodents and small critters. So any kind of bird dependent on small critters for food either starve or move to better territory. Other birds dependent on the picking and leavings of people...are fair game and in close proximity. And then you add the ecological devastation of decades of war and defoliation practices...its a wonder there are any birds whatsoever!

Honda: definition: any motorcycle or scooter. Honda has become the "kleenex" or "xerox" of Vietnam. Any msall motorcyle or scooter can be referred to generically as a Honda whether it is one or not (Honda's by the way are about 3 or 4 times as expensive as Chinese made cycles)

The $68,000 Camrys: Cars are very expensive in Vietnam. Partly due to economics and partly due to political design. It is correctly perceived that the road and circulation system is not ready for an onslaught of automobiles...it's barely surviving the millions of motorbikes/scooters that have popped up like bunnies with the increased prosperity of the last decade. So import duties are very high...up to 250%. So a Toyota Camry shipped from the US costs $68.000. I'm still trying to calculate what the Porshce Cayenne I saw in Saigon would cost...I calcuate about $240,000.

Water Buffaloes don't eat rice, cattle do. One of the reasons you see so many more water buffalo's pulling equipment in the field. When they are on break they don't eat the product!

Motorbike Washing Parties. When someone is finally able to save up enough money to buy a motorbike, they will have a party where they invite friends for the "first wash". Who is bringing the Bia (Bia is the Vietnamese word for Beer....Bia Hoi...is locally produced beer...consistently good and cheap).

Hoi An

Just a quick note from Hoi An. Hoi An is a magical town on the central coast of vietnam (about an hour south of Da Nang.) Founded as a shipping port over 400 - 500 years ago by the Portuguese it became an important port with districts populated by the Portugues, chinese, japanese and other major exporters/importers. The river eventually silted up to the point that big ships couldn't come up the river and the port slowly faded into obscurity. Miraculously it was one of the few (if perhaps only) town in the region unscarred (physically) by the wars in Vietnam. It is now becoming a well visited city and spouts art galleries, great restaurants, small hotels, and silk shop after silk shop. There is still a small fishing fleet that operates out of Hoi An too. Early market is quite entertaining. Got great pictures and will provide more blog detail once I'm home. We're packed up for tomorrows flight to Hanoi and then Tuesday we leave for home...arriving JFK on Wednesday late morning.

We stayed at the Hoi An Hotel...a great find. Reasonably priced at right in Old Hoi An. Convenient walking distance to waterfront, museums, and restaurants. You can take a cyclo or taxi to the beach if you want to go (we didn't). Favorite things we did: We slowed down and spent time drinking coffee or beer watching people. We took two cyclo rides...both in late afternoon...one through the main downtown and one (the most delightful) out into the residential areas where the fisherman lives, the farmers tend their fields, the 20 something go to karaoke bars and get their hair cut, etc. It was lovely. We got clothes made (skirts, blouses, and long shorts). skirts and tops came from a place called Elegant on Tran Phu We ate well...

Ate at the Cargo Club for lunch and pastries several times, at the Tam Tam club for steak and fries, and back to Morning Glory for those wonderful crispy pancakes, spring rolls, and fried eggplant. And also riverfront dining at Brother Cafe...delicious with a view of dusk over the river.

Tidbits from hanoi

Have a moment in airport to try to catch up on blogging. Going 3 weeks back to our first days in hanoi (of which I have partially blogged).

We had coffee on hoan kiem lake early one morning. The cafe is called the Thuyta Cafe and is located at No1 Le Thai To. It is a curving old colonial style building that hugs the north shore of the lake with great views of the Bridge of the Rising Sun and Ngoc Son pagoda). We drank coffee ( I had a latte, jerry had vietnamese coffee served with its old little drip pot nestled on the top of the cup) on the open air terrace. We watched birds (something akin to our belted kingfisher and egrets) a wonderfully quiet moment.

This year is the 1000th anniversaey of the founding of Hanoi...there were many celebratory banners and balloons all around. We think that is why there were giant balloons tethered in the lake...quite a sight. But they may have been for other reasons. Pretty and festive regardless os the reason.

Hanoi is a city of motorcycles....very few private cars. They even use motobikes a strucks of sorts. A few birds but not many. No pigeons whatsoever...few dogs. We hesitate to think but we suspect the hard times in vietnam may have been even harder on small animals...perfect size for a pot.

In our morning walk, we experienced for the first time the mass of humanity eating together on small plastic chairs and door stoops...their morning pho (soup). At about 7:30 a manks voice started to blare over public loud speakers. Don't know if that is a regulsr occurrence, I forgot to ask. Could have been a weather report for all I know, no one seemed to be paying attention much.


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Dairy Queen

An open letter of appreciation to Warren Buffett (who is a principal stockholder of DQ).

Dear Mr. Buffett,
I have long shared your interest in Dairy Queen...love a good Butterfinger Blizzard and the chocolate dipped cone. Imagine my surprise and pleasure in finding a DQ conveniently located in the Phnom Penh, Cambodia airport. After 3 weeks of excellent south east asia food and drink, I still hadn't been satisfied with vietnamese or cambodian ice cream...not bad, just a different creature altogether. So that mocha almond fudge blizzard at the cambodian airport was a little slice of nirvana. And the service was excellent! The young woman proudly turned the blizzard upside down to demonstrate its firmness...with a big smile.

I have yet to have a good feeling whenever I see a KFC or PIzza Hut in downtown saigon...but the DQ was a delight.

Respectfully Yours.
Annette Baesel
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Tonh sun nhut airport (saigon)

We are waiting for our flight to Danang...plan to spend 4 nights in Hoi An where, rumor has it, it has finally stopped raining good since we got soaked there last week. I mean soaked!!!!!

Checked in with time to watch the Phillies celebrate their world series win on the TV in the gate area!!! Very fun. We are now watching championship badminton betweeb malaysia and china!! I was hoping for the chelsea/hull football game. I am afraid I can not really get into badminton...doubles at that!

Its a sunny warm day but not nearly as hot and humid as when we first arrived in vietnam...thankfully.

We are at an international terminal gate (altho we are flying domestic) as there was a fire at the domestic terminal a few days ago. Still haven't reopened...no one was hurt but it did extensive damage.

Consequently our access to airport food etc is limited as we are sequestered from the passport controlled gates of international flights. Probably not a great loss.

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Lunch the Day Before

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).

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.

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.