I am not sure I want to remember the smells of pollution combined with garbage, food and that wet smell that just comes with old rooms that try to balance ongoing humidity with lack of air circulation.
Sounds
I am amazed that the locals look so calm and peaceful amongst the ongoing sounds of honking, traffic and business all carried out in the open. Even little babies don't startle when an exceptionally loud horn goes off in their ear. If one suffers from migraines, don't come here!
Sights
....are always new yet the same, because we always seem to end up on the same street we were on just 10 minutes ago..... Never ending streets that crisscross and take you from back lanes, through markets, to main intersections with little logic to our brains causing us to add many extra miles to already full days of exploring on foot. Moving from silk street to funeral street. Cotton street to chicken street. Appliance street to noodle street. All I want is beer corner (bia hoi) where local brew is 25 cents a glass, and the rest on plastic stools while watching the people and traffic go by is oh so welcome!!!!
We did a food on foot tour one evening and had a great time navigating through the streets with our guide Lily, while she gave info on the city, the people and the food! Stuffed, educated and exhausted! Educated... Maybe a bit more as we look at signs and recognize what bun, bo, ca, nuoc, banh xeo, bun cha, vu sua might get us.....
Still don't know what this game is called, but had fun watching and cheering for the winner.
One of my favorite sights was watching and laughing while Brad got a haircut on the street. The locals had a laugh too.
Vu Sua - only found in Vietnam, means breast milk fruit.
Tastes like an apple peach combination.
Nuoc Mia - yummy fresh sugarcane and kumquat juice
Banh Cuon Gia Tryen - roll over of fresh rice milk steamed then filled with minced pork and topped with cilantro and fried shallots
Anna's favorite - dessert drink that I can't remember the name of, but it is egg whipped then combined with chocolate, rum or coffee
Bia Hoi with our food tour group.Yes we seem to be promoting drinking with our children.
Brad getting us a lunch sub.... His favorite, cuz he's just not that into noodles.
Hoan Kiem Lake. The " liquid heart " of the Old Quarter and our main landmark for navigation.
After too many extra streets and steps, we finally got back to beer corner on our own. We met some very fun local guys who bought us drinks, so we bought them drinks, which meant that we were out way longer than planned and Anna was back at the hotel waiting for us to go to dinner. Solution.... Get a cyclo and enjoy the ride home. Probably would have been better if we got two. The poor guy had to work extra hard.
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