Chingtao beer.Gong gong.Hokkien mee.Char Kway.Sugarcane -- Checked!! :) we actually wrote a checklist of to eats in the car and got around to eating them. :)
YP asked me how come we got so close. I told her I couldnt explain to her. FRIENDSHIP is unexplainable, no? It's just like how I couldnt explain why a 13-year friendship can be so fragile. Why all the negative traits start to magnify themselves, and how come they suddenly begin to irk you. How we all I knew (think I shouldnt speak for the rest) and tolerated them in the past. I guess relationships were simpler. We chose to ignore and accept. Or we wait for time to cool down and it gets forgotten. It's all part of friendship. We accept each other's flaws and mistakes.
But I cannot stand it when people are nasty to my friends, boyfriend, close kins and me. Consistently, over a prolonged period of time. And you know she is aware and guilty but yet refuses to apologise. Ignorance is acceptable. But awareness yet no repentance and remorse is not. I ll just say I got more choosy and learnt to distinguish between good friends and people whom I shouldnt be wasting my time on.
So that said, I still cannot explain friendship. :)
Let's move on to happier times in Ho Chih Min city on Day Two, Mekong River. We booked a day tour with Sikh Tourist agency found right behind our hotel at the backpackers' street. Paid VND 210,000 (~S$16.20) which included a 500ml water, coach ride, lunch and boat ride.
On board the boat. Very old and bump but I likey!! :) Chairs are the removable kind, so you can shift the chairs around. I liked how the life vests were neatly placed on the ceiling of the boat like decors :)
The floating markets. Boat was their daily commute and where they earned a living. Pumpkin sellers hung their pumpkins high above the boat to attract buyers from afar.
We took the boat ride to the river banks that was bustling with more ethnic trading activities. Most of the industries made use of cheap and simple ingredients. You will be amazed at the mannny end products a grain of rice can make..
Stop 1 - Rice Wine Making
Dont you just LOVE the rice wine dishes that the generations above us cook for confinement??? I LOVE them to bits and pieces and my house is constantly stocked up with them. This day, I finally learnt how they were made :)
They used wood for fire to heat up the rice grains in the pot on the left. The rest is physics. Hot steam rises, condenses and cools at the highest point, then trickles down the brown pot and into the bottles. Yumss. I should tell mummy I m craving for some confinement food tonight :):) The Japs were also given a taste of vinegar trotters one of those random days they came over :):) that's how much we love confinement food at home (only mother, pinky n me la) :)
Stop 2 - Coconut Candy Making
The guide was explaining to us how each part of the coconut is used to make something.. but I was busy checking out the candies below...
Stop 3 - Rice Sheet Making
That's the rice sheet used to make Vietnamese popiah (spring roll). The husk of the grains were used as a form of energy for the fuel.
The husks of grains were swept into the hole as and when needed for burning purposes.
The grain itself was steamed into liquid form and made into rice sheets like this.
The net used to air the rice sheets
Stop 4 - Honey Making
We had a cuppa tea here. That's a honey comb FULL of bees! *eeeee*
The Viets were selling PJs everywhere.. From Ben Thanh market to this light industrial area by the banks of Mekong river...
Stop 5 - Rice Cookie Bar Making
Again, rice grains were used here..The pictures below document the chronological order ot the making of rice cookie bars. In the following order: 1. Stir the sand 2. Throw in grains into hot sand and stir 3. continue stiring and wait for it to POP/expand 4. You see the expanded white mass 5. Sieve the sand and rice mixture 6. Add honey (from the bees above) to make the grains stick 7. Cut into bars.
That's how my childhood snack is made. Popo used to buy such cookie bars from the market for us :) Reminisce...
We hopped onto the boat again for a river ride through the traditional water village to soak in the peaceful lives of the villagers. What I saw along the ride... houses of different makes and sizes :) everything during the trip was an eye opener for city girls like me... Though weather was freaking hot, I kinda enjoyed immersing myself in the different kind of lifestyles there...
Learnt that the Vietnamese are very superstitious people. They paint a face on their boat to ward off evils :)
Tour guide said the kids like to throw butters out of their cars in the morning. You know why? Diana had a very cock answer to it..
Because, butterFLY!!!
We din know what was the real Vietnamese answer tho. Perhaps the geeky looking tour guide was trying to be funny *hurhur*
River boat ride through the peaceful village ended. And we were greeted with another peaceful sight when we hopped onto the banks for luncheon.
P.E.A.C.E
You smell it?
Luncheon was quite bad though. Toughest pork I ever masticated. Hardest grains. But the view was great. We couldnt expect too much for the kind of price we paid also la...
Left the Mekong River to the main island for a half-hour break at a wet market. Here, we see the daily livelihood of most people. Most of them specialises only in few commodities. ie durian seller only sells durians
Mango seller
Flower seller
Tiniest watermelons we ve ever ever seen!
In Vietnam, must drink coffee! Mango shake also can. Prices are around S$2-3.
Now I know the secret recipe of good vietnamese coffee! The coffee powder and drip N bought for me earlier this year had been chucked aside cos it din taste good when I prepared them. During this trip, I saw how to make GOOD vietnamese coffee! See below! and be awed!
Gu ni gao gao! (Condense milk alot!) almost more than the coffee! Stir that and pour into a glass of ice. Is HEAVEN i tell u. But super sweet..
We were hungry early due to unsatisfactory luncheon. Allez Boo, a lonely planet's worthy, was right beside our hotel. And on the chalkboard outside, it wrote 1-for-1 from 6pm-9pm!!!!!
Dont be FOOLED like us k!
This is their 1-for-1. Buy 1 mains and you get to choose 1 of the 4 free dishes below. We had 4 mains, so we got all 4.
...... o_O"
So this is their idea of 1-for-1...kns..
Love the decor inside. Abit rustic. Love how they twine twigs together and place over the simple round bulb, both the ceiling light and the ball of light. And how the bar counter was made of wood..
Day 3 of HCM will be another exciting adventure where we went to the Cuchi tunnels. Another entry, another day. This post is very long already! *yawnss*
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