Get up time is a 7:00AM one and I'm still feeling full from the night before. I skip breakfast and walk out to the ATM for some money. At 10:15AM, I rolled out to the airport with Anh Hung's family. Sonny, Momma, Hung, Sam, Hoa, and Hang are already there. We send off his family and then us seven rolled to downtown to go eat at nha hang Ngon (nha hang = restaurant). We ordered tons of food and drinks. Our order included banh beo, banh it, banh bot loc, banh nam, banh xeo, mi xao, bun thit nuong, bun bo hue, cha gio, cha, and nem chua. There was also a long list of drinks that I'm not about to try to name. The bill came out to about $70.00.
Banh nam with cha.
Banh it.
Banh beo, banh bot loc, and nem chua.
Hoa (left) and Sam (right).Freshly stuffed off a food overdose, I decided we should walk it off. Plus, it was a good chance to get my Mom and her family to sightsee the city. It's pretty crazy to think that almost everyone on my Mom's side of the family has never been to the downtown part of Saigon. They just don't go anywhere. A lot of them don't even know their way around town.
Anyway, so we started walking towards Ben Thanh Market, which draws a huge crowd on a daily basis. The market sits on a traffic circle and is a big tourist attraction. The distance from Cho (cho = market) Ben Thanh to Nha Hang Ngon is four blocks.
On our way over there, we stopped after a block because my Mom and her sister wanted to look at some watches and sunglasses. They didn't buy anything. After two blocks, they stopped to look at some clothing and accessories. Again, they didn't buy anything. After three blocks, they got stopped by a couple walking street vendors selling fans and lighters. Again, they didn't buy anything. Amazing. However, at the start of the fourth and final block, they made a purchase. A street vendor, that had set up shop on the corner of Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Le Loi, were selling gemstone bracelets and necklaces.
Once I saw what these people were selling, I knew my Mom was buying. The question was how much. She starts checking out the merchandise around 11:50AM, while the rest of us waited. The sun was out and the day was getting hot. Around 12:30PM, I went across the street to get some water. The other five started to get restless. 1:00PM rolls around and we're still at the same spot. 1:30PM. 2:00PM. Same difference. 2:15PM and she's still shopping. Finally, around 2:30PM, she had picked out $150.00 worth of stuff. After she's done, we flag down a taxi and we all went home to Nhi Sam's house. Everyone was too tired to continue. We didn't get to see one landmark ha.
Vendor of time.
When we get back to my aunt's house, Sonny, Hang, Trong, and I walked over to this spot to get coffee. We also ordered some rice and steak dishes that took forever to come out. They also charged us a bundle. The steak was spoiled. I took one bite, spatted it out, and just ate the little veggies that encompassed the plate. After that we walked back home. On the way back, on the small street to my aunt's house, I saw Tram Anh walking towards us. She said she was going to the store so I decided to walk with her to the street market. She bought some pork and spinach for a total of 21,000 Dong. That's $1.05 -- the total amount she was carrying. Smart shopper. On the way back, Tram Anh and I, stopped to get some chom chom (Rambutan fruit), nhan (Longan or Dragon Eye Fruit), and chuoi (bananas).
I had no plans for the rest of the night so I just chilled with Tram Anh and her three roommates: Nhai Hoang, Thanh Thai, and Phuong Nguyen. Tram Anh stir-fried the meat she had bought and boiled the spinach. She pulled up a small table and invited me to eat. I don't turn down food. Nor would I turn down a good talk with a woman. We ate on the floor and talked about a bunch of random things. The food was surprisingly good because I didn't see her put garlic or onion in it. One of the roommates, Thanh, came home just as we finished.
After dinner, I helped Tram Anh and Nhai with their English words enunciation. That went for a good hour. By the time the lesson was done, all four roommates were home and the deck of cards came out.
We played Tien Len. 13 Cards. Poison. Whatever you call it. Only four players can play this game so Thanh was the one that didn't play -- good thing she didn't know how to play because that woulda left one man out. Before we started, we agreed to add a rule to make it extra fun. Losers had to qui xuong (sit on your knees). Also, if you put down a deuce (heo = pig), and someone beats/poison/chops it with 3 consecutive sequential pairs or a 4 of a kind, you must kneel. Only until you win a game, may you sit down. The other way to sit back down is if you just poison someone. Instead of calling it poison, the Vietnamese calling chat heo (chat = chop). They love pork.
After Tram Anh went to go help Thanh with something, I got two teamed by Nhai and Phuong. My knees were red when we finished at 11:00PM.
Hang on the computer in Trong's room.
Thanh.
Nhai.
Before I left their room, I told them we should hang out tomorrow. Phuong suggested this spot called Binh Quoi. We agreed we would leave at 1:00PM tomorrow because that's when she comes back from a wedding.
I go downstairs to leave but the doors are already locked. They lock doors with big locks in Vietnam. There are no door knob locks. I didn't wanna wake the old folks so I went back upstairs and crashed on the floor mat in Trong's room with Monkey, Hang, and Trong.
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