The Phở Report II

Okay, I know that I have been in Saigon for almost a week now and I have written nothing about the city. Saigon is a huge hustling bustling town of moto bikes honking swerving through the roads with very little rhyme or reason even through the narrow alley ways that are used for guest houses and even small food stands. There are areas of the city that represent the life style of Vietnamese people in a more sobering way. Again like all big cities there are places that are built within the last year with the shiny signs that say 'Versace, Parkson, Adidas etc' that haven't shown any signs of decay. It is very much a metropolis of a city with 7 million people and a mass amounts of history.

The reason we are stationary is because we decided to extend our stay in Vietnam so we need to wait 7 days to get our visa back with our full 30 day extension.

Now the Pho report!

Pho with lean meat, from the stand at the corner of the street. This is by far the best pho restaurant that we have ate at since we have discovered the deliciousness of Pho!

Another lean beef Pho, this is from the place called Pho 24 which I did not like. It left me feeling unsatisfied I will not be going back. The odd thing about this one was that they had put garlic in it and did not give us any chili's. This was also I think the most expensive Pho we have bought upon our arrival. Costing me $2CAD

So the place on the corner provide you with fresh veggies that you toss into your hot bowl of steaming noodles. 

 Mung bean sprouts, Thai Basil, Lemon Grass, Coriander Leaves, Ngo Gai (cilantro like) and is also called spirit leaves, lime and dragon chilies.

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Beef Stew Pho! This is the best kind of Pho that I have tried it is #1 on my list as of this trip in Vietnam. The meat is beef brisket and is oh so tender. The downfall about this particular bowl is that the meat is covered in fat but is also the reason behind why I think it taste so yummy! I will try this particular kind of Pho while traveling North to Hanoi.

Jenny wearing her I love Pho shirt eating Pho to go.

Pho to go, lean meat again. This time I brought back to my guest house still steaming and yummy, they provided me with all the pho fixings and even an additional oyster and sweet chili sauce that I believe would make a great dip for veggie rolls.  Even though I had to buy my to go container this is the cheapest Pho I have purchased. Costing me 1.25CAD.

Same pho time, same pho channel....I mean website. I hope you enjoyed this Food Porn brought to you by Jenny Tam & Karrie the tester of Pho.

The Phở Song (I eat two bowls)

"I eat two bowls in the morning,

I eat two bowls at night,

I eat two bowls in the afternoon, 

It makes me feel alright.

I eat two bowls in time of peace

and two in time of war.

I eat two bowls before eat two bowls then I eat two more."-Karrie and Jen's (Sublime Cover)

The Phở Report

My first beef Pho in Saigon, Vietnam. It was one of the smaller bowls of noodles that I have had since I have arrived. The little chill's were instantly burning hot as soon as it touched any part of your mouth. 

Vermicelli, fried beef and deep fried spring rolls. I was very optimistic about this dish since it uber yummy at home. It was lacking some peanuts which I do fancy quite a bit. Luckily it did come with the I wan to say sweet sauce with tiny bits of chili in it. I love to pour it over my noodles from time to time.

Chicken Pho, the chicken one wasn't as good as I had hoped. The chicken was over cooked and I think the classic beef Pho is much better. I do however need to point out that I do love the little lime that they provide with your noodles.

Prawn Pho, I personally love prawns, yes it is more expensive but it is chump change in comparison to beef pho. In this particular bowl everything was already thrown into my noodle soup for me in advance before I got it. So no lime for me.

Vermicelli, deep fried spring rolls with fried beef. These spring rolls were evidently filled with meat I wasn't unaware since the first batch of spring rolls were veggie. The beef was much better than the previous bowl of vermicelli also. I think the next one I will be eating will be a bowl of Chicken lemon grass vermicelli.

So here is something I had to try pork vermicelli. I loved it since I haven't eating pork since Cambodia and that was only bacon for breakfast. This I believe has been the first bit of pork that I have eaten with a meal since I have left China. The best part was the fact that they had bubble tea here. Mmmmm.....milk tea. The noodles weren't nearly as fresh as they should be I couldn't finish them since they had clumped together. They did however since I have yet to seen it in action is they bedded my noodles with tons of veggies, mostly lettuce and cucumbers. This is when I realized that I liked sprouts all the more and they are more fitting for this style of food.

The one day I decided to get fettuccine Alfredo I had serious buyer remorse that I didn't get Pho. I have learned my lesson everybody I <3 Pho and I will not eat any more western food while I am here in Vietnam.

 

So I have had a hankering for Pho since I left Canada and Vermicelli. So I have decided to document all the noodles that I will be eating over the next little while. I know that this was something that is very pointless to my travels but I figured I am going to eat more noodles than I would Pad Thai's in Thailand since I have to be honest I love Vietnamese food so much more. So I have taken the liberty to take as many pictures of my food during my stay in Vietnam.

Arrival in Saigon, Vietnam

We finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)!!! We are in Nam.

We got on the bus at 8pm, stopped for a snack break at 10pm, at 12:45am it was time to switch buses from a sleeper bus to a regular bus. It was about 8am we finally hit the Cambodia border crossing and then into Vietnam. We arrived at 10am.

So here is the bad news, we had applied for our Vietnam visa and they shorted our Cambodia trip by 10 days....like this wasn't bad enough. After we got through into Nam they had only given us 14 day stay unless we want to pay more money to extend our visa. We had paid and applied for 30 days!! Darn country just wants all our dongs.

Vietnam hands down reminds me of China...minus the Pho~ Guess what I ate for lunch!!

Leaving Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Serendipity Beach

So after 3 days of painting the bar 'Dolphin Shack-Facebook Link' and after finish writing this post it will be 4 days that we have worked on it, it is time to make a move.

We will be catching a sleeper bus tonight at 8pm and skipping Phom Penh, straight to Siagon (Ho Chi Minh City) for Sunday morning.

Over the last little while I have made some realizations and have made measurable strides in who I am, and someone said that this was going to be a life changing experience. Oh were they right about traveling for a long time, talk about self exploration.

I will definitely be sad to leave my new found friends that I have made and  all the friendly faces when I walk down to the bar. The opportunity to do the painting for the bar has been another mentionable note on the fact that my art is being noticed. (Also Karrie bought a piece from me for $3US which makes me a real professional artist!!)

Okay before I leave Cambodia I have to make mentions to the two odd things I have encountered.

1. While Karrie and I were walking back to the guest house after our belated Thanksgiving dinner. Two men on a moto bike drove by. The man sitting in the bitch seat decided to stick out his arm...then he hit me straight across my chest. I felt like he just clothes lined me. After a little bit of investigation we found out that he was trying to steal my purse but was unsuccessful.

2. On our last day Karrie and I were sitting around and talking waiting for our lunch. An old foreign man approached me and asked if I would do 2 hours for 300 dollars. I was shocked beyond belief that he thought I was a sex trade worker. Is it because I am Asian?I figured that he would have gotten the messages with our strange stares to his perverted proposition. About 10 minutes later the same old man came back and asked if I would do a short while for 75 dollars.....I was like, "What are you talking about?" in disbelief.  Karrie then piped in and said out right "Shes not a hooker!" then he just walked away non-nonchalantly. Well that has never happened before.

After a handful of sad good-byes we had to go catch our bus....I think this was my most emotional parting yet since I had made friends with everyone that worked at the bar.

Here the facebook link to the video!!