Day 16 - Last Day

I got all the videos to start working for the last 3 days, so watch them!

Aww.. Vietnam trip is coming to an end. The plane leaves in 6 hours (4pm Vietnam time) and i wont be home till like 1 am monday morning. right when i get home, i gotta hop in my car and go straight to UCSD cuz i gots school that morning. sucks...

i had a good trip. lots of good experiences and FOOD, haha. I'm kinda anxious to get home cuz i'm getting sooo many mosquito bites! i got like 10 more bites on my legs and arms since that picture that i posted and the itching is killing me.

Brittany: "When you went to Vietnam, which place was better? saigon or qui nghon?"

Well, technically, I'm still in Vietnam. haha. But, here's a lil pros and cons list if your interested.

Quy Nhon:
- Cleaner Streets
- Nearby Beach
- Less Crowded
- More Luxurious Hotel
- Cleaner Air
- Cheaper Stuff
Saigon:
- More to do
- More People = More Street Vendors = More Street Food
- More Shopping Places

iunno both places had their own pros and cons.. good question though, brittany.

Here's a lil video that i think i forgot to show. its me giving a beggar girl money. I think she'd be real pretty if she wasnt homeless and dirty.

Day 15 - Shopping & Last Supper

Today, I decided to let Anh Trieu and Chi Tim have the whole day to themselves, but we ended up having dinner together, so they only took and advantage of half the day .

In the afternoon, I went shopping with Anh Trieu's slave friend. This is him.

We pretty much motorcycled through all of Saigon. I bought a whole bunch of stuff... including this "prada" bag. Its real pretty, dont cha think?

Then we had hủ tiếu for lunch. Its pretty much Phở with a different broth.

A lady was selling Chè chuối (banana dessert) right in front of us.

How could I resist with the aroma floating around in the air.

Delicious. Simply Delicious.

At night time, we had our last supper at this really popular restaurant. Look how crowded it was, and this was only part of the first floor (theres a 2nd floor too!)

Looks like plain old quail eggs, right?

Wrong, they were quail embryos, like Trứng vịt lộn aka balut (in tagalog). Tasted like it too.

Then we had heo sữa with Banh Bao for the last time (it's illegal to kill baby pigs in the US)

I realized that i like to take pictures with my food... baby pig head.

Prawn.

Rabbit! Tasted like meat. Nothing outta the ordinary.

Seafood Hot Pot.

Then we went to MTV, again.

We got reserved seats right next to the stage!

These girls made sure our cups were always filled to the top.

And that was the end of the night. Tomorrow, we leave. Boo Hoo.

Day 14 - Crazy Traffic & Seashore Shopping

We started the day off with a big bowl of Bún bò for breakfast.

On our way back from eating, we passed by a lady selling fruits and assorted potatoes.. I had to buy some. I love potatoes.

Lookit how pretty and vibrant the purple one is! The yellow one is khoai mi aka cassava/yucca. Did you know they use the powder form of yucca to make tapioca??

For lunch we had Canh Chua Cá Lóc (sweet & sour catfish soup), sườn heo (braised pork ribs), stir-fried veggies, frog legs, and shrimp with rice.

Then we stopped by to buy some Bánh Tét Chuối. It's a baby banana wrapped in gluttonous rice and steamed inside a banana leaf. The steaming process magically turns the banana purple.

Then we were off to the beach for a little stroll and clubbing for the older people. It took us waayyy longer than expected to get there cuzza the crazy traffic. We were like stuck..

We bought some Nước mía (sugar cane juice) from the car, since we were right next to the lady selling it

Looks like 'dis.

This is when the traffic got really crazy. We were seriously in the same spot for almost an hour. Notice in the video the change from light to dark. Anh Trieu and Anh Bi got fed up and got out of the car to direct traffic. Seriously, the streets of vietnam are really unorganized.

We stopped by this long strip along the highway where they're known for selling Bánh bao (steamed pork buns). Personally, i thought these were okay. Too small and mushy. I've had better.

When we arrived at the beach, we did a little shopping.

Anh Trieu and Anh Bi played this cute little shooting game to win some candy.

The prize was pulled taffy candy filled with peanuts (similar in taste to Abba-Zabas) called kẹo kéo.

Here's a video of the people making our beach stroll snacks.


Then we sat down to eat the grilled squid and fried fish balls.

We rented a shabby old hotel room. It was horrible. There were blood stains on the wall and pee marks on the pillows. Even worse, i woke up to a cockroach crawling on my chest. I freaked out, but there was no one home to hear my screams :( .. they were all out clubbing. But waddaya expect for a $25 room.

The older peeps got back from clubbing at around 1am and did not wanna have to sleep over at the cheap hotel so we decided to go back to Saigon immediately. But before we left the beach, they all had the munchies (side-effects of drunkeness =b) so we stopped to eat.

Chao (rice porridge) with beef tongue.

Haha, lookit Anh Bi.

Day 13 - Gator Fishing & Dinner Cruisin'

Today, we went to a very popular theme park in Vietnam called Suoi Tien. This place had everything. A zoo, water park, roller coaster and more, all in one.

We went go-kart racing and i rode a bumper car for the first time. It's harder than it looks! (I was stupid again and said bumper cars when it was actually go karting. Ignore me)

We went in the aquarium. I saw the biggest fish in my life, like 6 feet!. It was amazing
(at least i thought it was).

Then we went fishing for alligators. We fed them raw meat.
"Hehe, look at me! I'm a Thao, I mean a gator." (inside joke)

Here's a fun video of my catchings:

Later in the night, we bought some corn on the cob and corn stir-fried in sugar, oil, chili sauce, shrimp and more.

And we went on a mini-cruise to have a light dinner. It was a free ride with entertainment that took us around the lake for about an hour.

Look how snazzy it was.

We ate crab & asparagus soup with fried frog legs.

Here's one of the acts they did on the boat. Fire lady. She wasn't that good but, hey, its better than what i can do.

I bought a sheet of dried pressed bananas which was roasted by a lady. It was only 20 cents and I ate it while we checked out a book store.
Then we went home!

Day 12 - Wind-down Week

Sorry, i know i'm lagging but the wi-fi here sucks!

This week is pretty much a wind-down week. We're doing a lot of fun things to make the most of the last couple of days. I'm actually spending Anh Trieu and Chi Tim's honeymoon with them, haha.

My goal this week is to try to eat as much authentic Vietnamese street food as I can cuz i'm not gonna see much of it back in the US.

This morning, we went to get a full body massage. It was crazy!! They hopped on the table with you and literally used their whole body to massge you. In the end, they did this crazy maneuver where i ended on laying on top of their legs in the air... i swear every bone in my back cracked..

Later in the night, we went out to "drink coffee" with some friends. If you guys have been reading this blog since the beginning, we went to the same place as the very first time i had coffee. Its the 3 story coffee house and its called "Windows IV".

The girl is some random beggar who wanted to be in the picture.

I ordered the Malaysian coconut jello (the same one they had at the wedding). This one was more solid and waayy too sweet, i could tell they added sugar... the one at the wedding was better.

Afterwards, we went out to eat some seafood. We went to the same place for dinner as we did on Day 4 of our trip, only this time i actually took real photos rather than use the ones i found on the internet. We started off with sea snails.

These were a lot greener and slimier than the first time I had it. It was like I was slurping on BOOGERS! Sweet and Salty. Delicious. lol jk.

Then we had these.

And then big roasted shrimp thingy.

Then these. They were huge, size of your palm.

Then crab. My favorite part is sucking out their guts. MmmMmm..

Finished off with some old-fashioned fried rice.

Afterwards, we went to this night show held daily called MTV. Its where new and up coming talented and inspired people come to perform for free to a large audience. There were singers, comedians, dancers and more.

We sipped on Kahlua and ate some fruits while we watched.

Here's a video of some of the performances.
1st performer: I thought it was cool that he did the moonwalk, but it wouldve been cooler if he werent wearing heelys.
2nd performer: reminded of me Thao's mom, Co Ha.
3rd performer: cracked me up! They came out acting all cool and then they started to dance.. just watch.