Virtue and Sin

This morning began with a Chinese-style clear soup flavoured with pak choi, spring onions, black pepper and containing 'money bag' dumplings. This was followed by a sweetened mung bean soup (chè đậu xanh). It certainly beats cornflakes for a nourishing and inventive start to the day.

We had intended to get up early and join the ranks of Vietnamese exercising in the park before breakfast, but while the spirit was willing the flesh was most decidedly weak. By 10am, when we made it to Tao Dan park, the outdoor exercise machines were largely unoccupied but the hot sun was already high in the sky. Fortunately, the clever park designers situated the equipment under a cluster of trees where it was cool.

After our workout, we chilled out in nearby café Da Lat Pho, where I, fittingly, attempted to organise our travel to the town of Da Lat later this week.

During this time, K worked on her novel and, at the end of this stint, we decided to visit the bia hoi on Thi Sach street for what will probably be the last time in HCMC.

Unlike the previous, and first, visit, we were presented with a foaming bottle of bia hoi and a dish of peanuts in their shell as soon as we sat down. This presumption was spot on and we enjoyed the fresh local beer with a few quail's eggs that were sold by a woman offering snacks to other drinkers.

Our British compulsion caused us unwittingly to gather the egg and peanut shells neatly back into the dish in which they were served. I noted this as the waitress swept the discarded detritus from beneath the vacated table opposite.
It was a fortuitously timed visit, as the heavens opened as we entered the bar. Needless to say, this prolonged our stay somewhat. I amused myself by visiting the 'gents toilet' - more a narrow disused corridor along one side of the building where menfolk could relieve themselves against the wall.

On returning home, we discovered that our host had left on an urgent business trip to Hanoi. Fortunately, she had laid in some supplies for us, so we set to making a quick dinner.

We were hungry and needed food quickly, so we dashed off a mushroom noodle soup, a mock chicken salad, kimchi, and (the horror) a curry rice ready-meal, which we augmented with a fried egg.

We had fresh fruit for afters, including green oranges (called cam sành), custard apples, and small bananas. Apparently all oranges are green but in Vietnam the chlorophyll remains in the skin owing to the high temperatures. The custard apples were bought today on a whim, and are a sweet grainy texture but have a large number of shiny black seeds, so there's not much eating on one.