Night Out

I have not posted anything recently (not sure anyone's noticed!) because, unfortunately, my laptop is ailing from a virus, supposedly from an Asian website (damn Asian websites!). I am using The Boyfriend's laptop but I have no way of uploading pictures because I did not bring my USB cord and he does not have the little slot for my camera card. So there will be no part II of Cho Ben Thanh until I figure out another solution.

I've had in mind a couple of posts that do not require pictures. However, it does not seem as much fun! But here goes...

Last night, The Boyfriend and I went out for The Gastronomer's and The Astronomer's last weekend in HCMC (Boo-urns!). I thought it would be interesting to list how much such a night out would cost. All prices are for two people.

50,000 dong - Taxi ride
70,000 dong - Dinner of banh xeo and bo la lot (including 2 Saigon bia)
25,000 dong - Taxi ride to ice cream place (split with 2 others)
60,000 dong - Ice cream
120,000 dong - Bowling

Our total tally was 325,000 dong (about $20) for two people which I think is a great deal, considering it included dinner, alcohol, dessert and entertainment! To be clear, I would not call this typical. Dinner for two for us can range between 40,000 dong to 400,000 dong, depending on where we go. While I think it's cheap, I have no delusion that all Vietnamese can afford to go bowling. I'm sure the average Vietnamese person would find this expensive. I just wanted to show that fun can be had for a good price!


The Gastronomer was lovely enough to share this picture with me. It's a large crowd; The Gastronomer and The Astronomer must be popular... They'll be missed!


Here are some sizzling banh xeo. Can you hear all ten go "xeo"?

Chợ Bến Thành – Part I

One of the most common sights in Vietnam is food markets. Chợ Bến Thành is the best known market in HCMC. I’ve already posted about the food I’ve been eating at Chợ Bến Thành but I’ve been meaning to have a whole overview of Chợ Bến Thành since there is so much more than just the “food court”. I live a minute away so I am pretty familiar with this market. You can’t get lost like you would in a souk in Morocco but there is definitely a lot to see. I will cover the fresh food section around the market and will have another post on what’s inside.

I live by the north side of the market or by the cửa bắc (north entry). When we first started living here, The Boyfriend asked me what cửa bắc meant. Not having started my Vietnamese lessons, I had no idea. Now it’s so obvious! My Vietnamese lessons are already paying dividends (unlike my currently underperforming stocks...)! By the cửa bắc are flower vendors and fruit vendors. I find the fruit vendors here though quite pricey so I never buy fruit from them. I love going through the doors because it smells like fresh flowers!

Cửa Bắc. The north side entry of Chợ Bến Thành.

Fresh flower merchants by the northern entry.

Fruit vendors on Lê Thánh Tôn St. always stack their fruit nicely but charge a lot.

Right after the flower section, on the right and left side is the fresh food market. This is my favourite section. They sell anything fresh you can think of (and some things you would never think of): vegetables, meat, fish, frogs, seafood, eggs, etc. It is most active in the morning. Customers look at produce and negotiate. Vendors clean fish. I’ve even witnessed passionate arguments with women on the verge of physical altercations. I could learn a few Vietnamese swear words from them. For this section, pictures are worth a thousand words!

All sorts of fresh vegetables are sold.

Fresh green peppercorns. I love finding things I’m not used to seeing fresh!

The gac fruit is so amazing looking. Read all about it on Gastronomy!

Freshly grated coconut. You can find a lot of food here already prepped so you can save yourself the hassle: peeled potatoes, sliced onions, minced garlic, etc.

Tofu vendor. There’s a little girl who always helps her mom sell tofu.

Fresh seafood. The shrimps are still alive!

Fish debris. Eewwwwww!

Don’t these crabs look beautiful with their bright blue coloured claws?


Poor Frogs. Before, and unfortunately after.

This vendor only sells fake flowers.

The meat and fish rows. It can get stinky in here!

I don’t know what these are but I was told they’re from the sea…

Fresh and dried fish.

All sorts of innards. Looks yummy…!

Hooves anyone?

The crab vendor. All picked and ready to eat, or at least cook with. Isn’t this to die for?

Fresh snails and clams.

I always buy vegetables here, but did you notice what else she sells??

Yep, that's right. Some type of grub.

Philippines: Sabang (July 6-9)

On Monday morning, C2 and I headed out to Sabang, two hours north of Puerto Princessa by car. On our way to Sabang, we passed by Vietville, a village with only 7 remaining Vietnamese families, refugees from the war; most have either emigrated to North America or been sent back to Vietnam. Sabang’s main attraction, the Subterranean River, is renowned to be the longest river-traversed tunnel in the world.


On our way to Sabang we encountered this bus/jeepney. Talk about full capacity!

The whole tour of the river only takes 45 minutes but it is very unique. It is pitch black except for one flashlight in the front. The tour guide/navigator is in the back. He is very entertaining. He screams out where to point the flashlight and what the stalactite and stalagmite formations resemble such as bacon, mushroom, a sexy Sharon Stone and obviously, different people from the Bible. The cave was full of bats and I tried to shelter my camera from drops of water (or maybe they were bat droppings…). I’m not sure the pictures really capture the experience but here goes.


All decked out in safety equipment to go underground. Behind me is the entry to the cave.

Bats were flying everywhere and I was lucky to catch one with my camera.

Formation from the top is stalactite (and bottom is stalagmite - sometimes they meet to form columns).

I don’t remember what this was supposed to look like but it’s cool anyway.

This resembles a bird.

Outside of the cave were wild monkeys that were very much accustomed to humans. One tried to whack my camera away when I tried to take its picture. They do not like paparazzi! Supposedly they also like to grab plastic bags. I was lucky enough to spot atop a tree a baby monkey and its mother.

In Sabang, we met up with The Gastronomer and The Astronomer, who fell in love with the beach there. Who wouldn’t fall for the beautiful turquoise water? The sand was also perfectly fine and soft. The water was clear very far out. So we decided to stay in Sabang for the remainder of our stay in Palawan. We stayed at Michi’s but went swimming to the nicer beach at Mary’s next doors. The two owners are cousins.

The huts we stayed in had very basic amenities: electricity from 6-10 pm (run by a generator) and cold water. This is definitely not what I’m used to. I usually have the AC turned on all night in HCMC! As well, this meant we had to walk in the dark in the evening; C2 would light our path with her cell phone to avoid buffalo excrement on our path to our hut! The up side to this was that the sky was so clear, we could see millions of stars!

Michi’s “Cottages”.

This was our simple hut.

Beautiful palm trees by the beach.

View of the beach from my lounge chair.

Local kids taking a dip.

I tried to catch the sunset but it was behind the mountain.

Some pink morning colours.

On our last full day in the Philippines, we decided to hike to the Subterranean River because The Gastronomer and The Astronomer had not seen it. However, we realized we had to cross a section of water before starting the hike. Not wanting to get wet and then having to hike (ok! I’m wimpy! I also had an injured ankle from our volcano hike!), I backed out and spent my day by the beach. Supposedly, the hike was a two hour affair; I’m glad I didn’t go!

Last glimpse at the beach by Mary’s before we left.

The day of our departure, we were told that the bus back to Puerto Princessa was leaving at 10 am but we should be there at 9 am because it would just leave when it was full. We obviously did not know how Philippino time works!! We arrived at 9 am and it was confirmed that the bus would leave at 10 am. We sat in the bus well past 11 am; that's when we realized that this bus might not leave on time for us to make our flight! Supposedly, there was an issue with a lack of driver?! We finally got out to make alternate plans to rent a minivan. The Gastronomer and The Astronomer ordered breakfast. At 12: 15 pm, the bus decides to leave and we hopped on. The bus ride was over 2.5 hours, stopping for everything: people threw nipa on the roof, a tire,… Our two hour window for lunch diminished to no window but at least we made our flight!

All in all, I had a lovely time in the Philippines. I think it is an underrated destination and should be considered when in South East Asia.

The bus that would not leave...

The Gastronomer has her breakfast to go.