Vietnam, Saigon Food and Scenes (Part 1)

What a neat surprise! She put out 4 fingers. The housekeeper of this mini-hotel recognized me after 4 long years. It used to cost me USD8 for a room. Now I expect to pay USD15 (P/S actually USD12). I have not asked for the price yet! The facilities are good although the room is slightly off. Clean linen, air-con, fast running hot water for showers, cable TV (with ESPN etc), fridge and the latest amenity "WiFi"!!

The iconic conical hat that identifies the Vietnamese

This hotel is family-run. You can see 3 generations at any one time in the evening and early morning. There are still many of these family-run mini-hotels in Vietnam. Imagine when I first landed in Vietnam in the mid-1990's and was found smack in the middle of an early morning prostitution raid by the local police. They came knocking on each room to check for unregistered guests. None of this in a family-run hotel.

I hit the eating trail at the first opportunity as I really missed the beef noodles. For Beef Noodles any shop will do. It is usually good. Then the Roast Chicken at Kim Cafe in De Tham Street (everybody know this joint). De Tham and Pham Ngu Lao are perpendicular to one another and are the two most famous streets in Saigon as far as the backpackers are concern. The other one is Bui Vien which runs parallel to Pham Ngu Lao.

Pho Bo (Beef Noodles)

Plenty of Vietnamese BasilKim Cafe - De Tham StreetRoast Chicken - Tender and Roasted not FriedVietnamese Jasmine Tea - Strong and fragrant
And Soursop Smoothie - Sinh To Man CauVietnamese Sandwich - Mini French Baquette
Sandwich Stuffings