Just returned to our lovely Ma Maison after a day of shopping and seeing Harry Potter!!! Yipee!
We had a lovely breakfast ~ mueslix + homemade yogurt + baguette + a slice of dragon fruit + a slice of watermelon! Yummy...and then we were off to shop at the Benh Thanh Market. It's quite a large place ~ about the size of a football field, I would guess. We started out by walking through my favorite part ~ the vegetable, fish and meat areas. I will warn you, if you haven't before read these posts, I am kind of infatuated with pictures of all of the crazy fish and meats they have here (not sure why, as I would likely not eat much of it all) and the fact that everything is sold at an outdoor market without refrigeration. So...if you don't like this kind of thing...scroll down the page quite a lot!
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| Soft shelled crabs |
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| All manner of mussels and clams ~ all shapes and sizes |
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| A larger crab ~ I love the 'rope' that is holding its claws at bay ~ it looks like some sort of 'rope-like' material that is twisted to give it strength and then wrapped around the crabs claws. |
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| Star fruit (top left), banana and other greens |
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| Squid...small ones |
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| Vegetables |
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| Not sure if this is an orange Jack fruit or what it is, but I liked the color and texture enough to photograph it. |
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| 1/2 fish, 1/2 eel ~ not sure what these are called? |
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| Fish swimming in a bucket ~ 2 types |
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| Squid ~ the large size! |
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| Root vegetables |
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| Crab with bright blue legs |
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| Morning glory ~ a delicious vegetable |
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| All manner of fish or other sea/river product is available |
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| An ice machine ~ yippee...refrigeration! |
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| Meat...all parts |
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| More BBQ options... |
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| A cool photo, I think...but it's Tripe...yuck! |
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| Hanging pampelmousse (grapefruit) |
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| Beautiful vegetables! |
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| Vietnamese 'sweets' |
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| Super-tall asparagus...we don't remember seeing this before in past trips |
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| Legumes |
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| Always have to put a photo of pig's feet, although this trip...it's the legs in their entirety! This one's for my sister (she 'loves' these photos...not really)!! :) | | | |
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| Loads and loads of fabric...all neatly folded and stacked. Amazingly, the ladies who work at this stall can pull out any piece of fabric without upsetting the others at all. |
Once we had made our way through the entire market, we ventured out to the streets to stroll along. Here's what we saw...
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| Vietnamese work, at its finest...we were walking along a pretty busy street called Le Loi and the locals were stopping to watch this activity (that's saying something). These 2 guys on the ground were holding the ladder vertically and the other guy climbed the ladder, holding some sort of wire (?). After I took this photo, he tried to stand on the top rung of the ladder to finish his task, but could not do it, so he then climbed down! Amazing!! |
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| Sidewalk repair ~ was completed in about 30 minutes by these 3 men. |
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| Anyone an electrician??? This is a common site in Vietnam! |
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| HCMC is getting ready for Christmas. These poinsettias were surrounding about 15 tree trunk bases outside of a ritzy hotel on Dong Khoi street. Amy and I wondered how these like the heat/humidity? |
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| Notre Dame Cathedral in HCMC |
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| A really funky tree |
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| Pianos for sale in HCMC |
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| The HCMC Conservatory of Music (and me in the background....oops) |
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| The Music Conservatory's Concert Hall | | |
After walking around quite a bit, Amy and I set out to find the movie theater. It's a little tricky at times, as each store has an address which includes a # as well as the street name. But...often times 2-4 or even 5 stores/shoppes/etc. in a row have the same # as their address. So, when we were walking and found #116 on this particular street, it was a pagoda. Hmm...so we kept walking and then we found it...the Galaxy Cinema movie theater. This is our 'happy' moment when we found it!!
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| Amy in her 'stylish, yet functional' hat...bought at the Can Tho market. |
We entered the air conditioned (thank goodness, as the sun was super-hot today) lobby and got on line to get our tickets. We asked for 2 tickets and then on a screen in front of us, a seating chart appeared for the theater. We then selected our seats ~ yes...assigned seats ~ and then made our way to the theater. We weren't sure if snacks were available for purchase, so Amy bought some snacks from a vendor outside the theater. Well, we found popcorn and all manner of movie snacks were available...so Amy was happy.
We then entered the theater which was nearly completely dark and was HUGE! There were staff with small flashlights who inspected our tickets and then escorted us to our seats. The theater filled up over the next 15 or so minutes with mostly teenagers and what seemed like an entire school of kids. There were some previews ~ including a preview of Harry Potter (yes, the movie we were about to see) ~ and then the movie started. It was in English with Vietnamese subtitles. When the last scene of the movie was played and over, the lights in the theater came up and everyone filed out quickly. Amy and I stayed to watch the credits, but those seemed to be shortened.
So happy we got to see it...and super-cool to see it here (for the 1st time)!! Fun times.
Upon exiting the theater, we noticed the sky turning a dark gray color, so (wisely) jumped in a taxi to return to our hotel. Good thing we didn't try to walk, as it then proceeded to start to pour rain (again). We then put our raincoats on (thank goodness we brought these...as we have needed them so much) and moved some of our purchases into our satchels to protect them from the wet. We made it back to our hotel without getting too drenched and in truth, it actually felt good to be a little wet, as it cooled me off a bit. :)
A little down time and then at 6p we were escorted across the alley to a beauty salon for a treat given to us by the owner of our hotel ~ Natasha Long. She told us yesterday she wanted to do something for us because we had been working hard and helping the children of Vietnam. So, she arranged for us to get a scalp/face massage + cucumber mask at a local beauty parlor...located literally, across the alley. :)
It was quite nice, relaxing and my hair looks the best it has in 3 weeks ~ no hair clips required. Here's a little proof...
So nice...Natasha ~ and her entire staff ~ are just lovely and so welcoming and caring. This hotel has been such a haven for us amid the craziness of working and of HCMC itself. We will definitely stay here every time we come to HCMC in the future and I would highly recommend you come to Vietnam and stay here as well!!
We decided to 'stay home' tonight for dinner and Natasha prepared a wonderful dinner for us!! First course was fresh spring rolls with shrimp (with nouc mam, of course...laced with chili and garlic). Main course was steamed sea bass with purple onions and lemongrass. Dessert was a wonderful small slice of mango cake ~ made by Mr. Trang's sister (he is the general manager of the hotel). His sister is also the person who makes the fantastic homemade yogurt too!!
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| Lovely flowers on the table in the lobby! |
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| Delicious mango cake...enjoyed with a cup of green tea. |
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| Hotel lobby which is multi-purpose ~ dining area + area to rest, hang-out and read. |
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| My favorite painting in the hotel. Do you think they would notice if I took it home with me? |
Well, time to get packing for Hue. We leave HCMC tomorrow morning at 10a and will be in Hue by 1130. Excited to see a new city!
Thanks for reading...hope you are enjoying the experience.
xoxo
Stacy
