Vignettes from Vietnam

10 May 2012 

Xin Chao…thats hello  from here. So we landed at the Tan Son Nhat airport at Ho Chi Minh City down Vietnam South. The place has impressed me. The ride through the city seems just like any other metro in India sans pollution. The other difference being the motorists and bikers outnumbering the cars on the roads and of course the neon sign boards in Vietnamese. Its a left hand drive and less noisy traffic on the roads. Did not see people honking.

The day was almost over when we landed. Most Vietnamese eat early dinner so once we reached home it was way past the Vietnamese dinner time. I was hungry because on Thai Airways there is no choice for the poor vegetarians…and perhaps I was the only such poor vegetarian :) and all I had was a Thai desert and some lemon tea. The salad they served looked nice but it had chunks of chicken. And I gave that tempting red wine a miss too despite that endearing smile from the steward on flight.  So at home we ate Indian food…frozen pranthas and with Indian pickle and yoghurt. Yoghurt and milk is relatively new to this part of the region and hence very very expensive. The milk is about 150 a litter when converted to INR. Vietnamese have soya milk and tofu. 

11 May 2012

Had a late night chatting up and got up at leisure the next day. Started my day with a cold coffee. Had dragon fruit for breakfast and a yoghurt smoothie with ripe bananas and orange juice with some delicious low calorie oatmeal cookies made by my sister in law. Dragon fruit looks like a dragon on the outside and when opened and cut it tastes like a  bland kiwi complete dotted with its black seeds. Its a hot summer day and we have to go out. "Leave your bags at home there are bag snatchers" I am advised against flashing my handbag…so here we Indians score over Vietnam. :)

We went to the Coop Mart, a mall next to where we are, to buy groceries. The food section was a gourmand's heaven and a teaser to any gourmet's taste buds. Never ever seen such a grand display of varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. The green leafy vegetables outnumbered the ones I saw in North east of India and in Barrackpore. Probably there was every possible vegetable that existed on earth. Talking about the common varieties available in India and here, the local fruits and vegetables were much bigger in size and shape than their cousins in India and interestingly the green is a shade lighter. I am writing this while eating crunchy fruit called Man (with a twang of g') similar to which I have seen and eaten in Barrackpore. Growing wild on trees there it is called 'hare Jamun' and is green in color and very sour. The one here is  very lightly sweet, not at all sour and burgundy in color. And I am told that the tree has come to India itself……surprisingly the color and taste is different.  Even saw the Durian fruit that is known for its  striking flavor which does not  find favors with every palette. The ripened fruit smells very typical and is known to cause aversion and so is not allowed to be carried in public transports in Thailand and Singapore. Then I saw Sour Sop, the fruit that is a wonder drug to cure cancer.

Though I am a vegetarian I could not resist looking at the interesting display of non vegetarian food in the mall. The variety of eggs in various colors and sizes too is crazy. There are tiny little ones with blackish spots, there are brown eggs and white eggs and pickled eggs. There is spread of red meat and chicken but it is handsomely displayed seafood that caught my eye. There are mollusks, the crabs and fishes in various colors and sizes. There are even the live fishes to choose from. Any foodie can go crazy here and probably end up taking a few kilos in him extra. 

Awwww, I have serious plan to gorge on salads of various kinds and some sautéed dishes and shed some kilos here before I take a flight back home. Oh but the temptations a galore. The mall had a demo to promote some food mixer and liquidizer and so we tasted some hot soya milk and a smoothie with tangerine and condensed milk. Yummy….(God help my tummy) OMG, I am wanting to toss some green herb, it is called 'He' in vietnamese, looks beautiful, tastes a bit pungent like garlic and wasabi. There is passion fruit and a whole lot of other edibles.  Gosh, I am almost writing like a food columnist. Here are the mind-blowing pictures…. ….complete with description… I will add small short recipes from vietnam for all of you. 

Its become a little cloudy in the evening and its breezy. time to step out again…but not before I have my big mug of black tea with fresh lemongrass, that grows here in plenty…..

The dinner time….our Philippino friend cooked some mix vegetable dish her way with squash, honey, egg plant, okra with spices like oregano, bay leaf, dried mint, garlic and onion….that was for poor me. Especially. Then again a small ride post dinner. Three women without helmets on the bike….loved it and cops did not catch us…We sinned at Savoure, biting into those calorie full of delicious ice creams…flavored with Banana, green tea and coffee… Crazy…!!! Will I shed some weight this way???

Let me sleep over it……for now. Tam bite…thats 'bye' darlings!!