omg this is so embarassing. four months since my last post. 'busy' would be an understatement but 'lazy' would be a more correct one. well much has happened since that glorious post day in january, namely a work fiasco, loss of a precious life, visitors to shang and the (bird) flu. all blog-worthy but alas, ill spare you my venting and just brag about my newest accomplishment.
enter saigon.
hao and i traveled to ho chi minh city (better known as saigon) for qing ming weekend, right after my sister and the kims came to visit shanghai. it was a quick, three-day affair, with a lack of planning or research. i'm kind of into this new way of traveling. hao and i have been very found of this consistently okay pho restaurant near our apartment here in shang, and so we ventured off to the land of vietnam for some food ventures. we had heard that there wasn't much sightseeing to be had in saigon, more of the beauty was in the north. well we only had three days, so beauty was not in our plans. we came to eat.
day 1 we ventured around in the 100 degree heat, hit up a market, saw some city sights and then had our first taste of vietnam. we went to a small local restaurant, tucked away in a small alley, recommended by a fellow foodie friend of ours. we enjoyed spicy beef noodle soup, rice paper pork rolls and some vermicelli with grilled pork. tasty indeed but with the heat dripping down our back and my steretypical palette thinking banh mi and pho, not impressed. the pictures say otherwise i suppose.
(just gotta end it with that pic...)
also check out http://houseofhaos.com/
enter saigon.
hao and i traveled to ho chi minh city (better known as saigon) for qing ming weekend, right after my sister and the kims came to visit shanghai. it was a quick, three-day affair, with a lack of planning or research. i'm kind of into this new way of traveling. hao and i have been very found of this consistently okay pho restaurant near our apartment here in shang, and so we ventured off to the land of vietnam for some food ventures. we had heard that there wasn't much sightseeing to be had in saigon, more of the beauty was in the north. well we only had three days, so beauty was not in our plans. we came to eat.
day 1 we ventured around in the 100 degree heat, hit up a market, saw some city sights and then had our first taste of vietnam. we went to a small local restaurant, tucked away in a small alley, recommended by a fellow foodie friend of ours. we enjoyed spicy beef noodle soup, rice paper pork rolls and some vermicelli with grilled pork. tasty indeed but with the heat dripping down our back and my steretypical palette thinking banh mi and pho, not impressed. the pictures say otherwise i suppose.
after a dip in the pool, a cold shower and a nap, we hit up another recommended spot for dinner. on our walk over, a moto thief tried to steal hao's camera right from his hands. luckily hao is a manly macho man and held on tight to his camera. the thieves drove off into the night. i was left stunned and disturbed, hugging hao at every chance i could get and evily staring down any scooter-goers aka everyone. this is me finally at dinner, giving the finger to the thieves.
but dinner did not disappoint! we had some tasty, robust flavors with unique ingredients. one of my faves was the homemade fried tofu topped with fried lemongrass + salt. mmmmmmm mmmm.
the next day we did some light walking and hit up a really cool cafe. we did some light hipster shopping and had a nouveau banh mi. this is me after enjoying my banh mi :)
then in the evening did my favorite activity the whole trip - a foodie tour! two lovely local ladies picked us up on their scooters and we drove around the entire city, sighting sights and eating eats. what a blast! we saw the city through such a different perspective and our tour guides were awesome. we stopped at some popping local joints and a street food stall. everything we ate (except the balut blleeehhhh) was delicious and fresh and so much cooler than anything we would have discovered walking around ourselves.
my faves:
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| fresh scallops topped with scallions and peanuts in hot pork belly fat. OMG |
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| fresh grilled prawns |
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| spicy beef noodle soup |
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| success! |
also check out http://houseofhaos.com/
