hanh's day 3
it's the 4th of july today, so what better way to start it off than to go the "independence palace" in vietnam. that's where the president would live if the commies didn't take over. we took the tour, learned that the commies call the day they took over "independence day." we saw the 2 tanks that ran over the gate, and hieu hung on it, next to the sign that read "please don't touch." we took funny pics. violated rules. got the guard to come over to where we were exploring. in the end, we stood in front of the "independence palace" and flicked the place off. we were scared that the commies would come outta the wood works and shoot us off, but nothing happened. whew!
[yen, i had 2 sunny side up eyes and bread for breakfast. i would have the banh da cua, but due to the 2 headaches i've had after consuming it, i have refrained from eating the banh da cua.]
we are beginning to get the hang of crossing streets with oncoming traffic. this is what we had to do several times in order to get to the store that sells cds, dvds, and vcds. we bought a whole slew of legal and illegal ones.
then off to lunch at quan ngon (the place we ate at before). we had a table of about 20 this time, and some people had to sit at another table... and people came in groups. how crazy. we were the second batch to arrive. as i sit at the end of the table, looking at my family, watching the servers run about, feeling the fan on my face, letting my feet rest, waiting for my meal to come, the question comes back, what does it mean to live a priveleged life? i dunno... but i'm deeply grateful for everything i got.
so... what did we have? banh beo, banh cuon, banh khot, sweet soft tofu, more delicious shakes and fruit juices. we concluded the meal with coffee, vanilla, and taro ice cream.
there's 3 major shopping centers in sai gon. cho lon (translated as big store, cho is store, lon is big) -- sells food in bulk. cho an dong -- sells food in bulk as well as clothes, shoes, fabric, and souvenirs. cho ben thanh -- we went there yesterday. cho ben thanh has the most quality stuff.
i suppose today is the day of breaking rules because we broke the buying protocol at cho an dong. we told thy we wanted to buy something. she bargained, and then, we decided we didn't want it anymore. we walked away... usually the vendor would have yelled at us and made us paid for the price she agreed to, but luckily she didn't. thy gave us a bit of a reprimand for breaking the rules.
cho an dong is hella crowded. hence, the name -- dong (means crowded in viet). the space between the vendors or hallway so to speak was about a foot long. we were hot, sweaty, and feeling caustraphobic. a formula for irriabtility and not buyin anything. cho ben thanh is better.
minh-tu and minh-anh went to try on their ao dai's.
hieu, toni (uncle 11's kid -- 13 yrs old), michelle, vicki, be 2 (aunt 8's kid), bo (uncle 10's kid) went to a mall, which was a night and day difference from cho an dong. we felt much more comfortable there. then we went to the arcade. we raced on horses, fought, punched, shot away. i played air hockey. it was fun, but again weird. i'm not used such westernization in vietnam.
we drove thru chinatown on our way home. who would have thought that there's a chinatown in vietnam? but there is...
back to the uncles' pad. we had quite an event dinner. it started off by witness a man (thru uncle 10's connection) slaughter a cobra. slitting... blood in a cup... wiggling... moving about... scared faces... removal of gallbladder. uncle 3 takes it and swallows it, chasing it down with iced coffee. supposedly the gallbladder is good for your health.
one enters the dining room. this room usually has 1 table in it, now it has 4. the family has multiplied that much. tonight, we are going to a big partay! and a big partay in vietnam is not complete unless you have dog meat (no not really, but that's what we had). my dad was lovin' it. 4-5 different dog dishes. he fixed us bites and offered them to us. it was endearing. he was proud of his kids, who's not afraid to eat anything. then the cobra alcohol was introduced. my dad takes 3 shots... it numbs your tongue. burns your thoat. makes you feel hot. so the guys at the dog meat table has a couple of rounds of the cobra alcohol (it's a bottle of fermented alcohol with a cobra inside)... then the guy (my grandma's sister's sister's husband) went to all the guys at other tables and poured them a shot. hieu took the first shot. we were all cheering him on. chased it with some coke. he turned red instantly, felt a little sick, but in the end, it all worked out.
tonight was the night of werid meats... dog... snake chao (soup)... the rest was normal. steam crab. lemongrass crab. oysters. ginger chicken. pork.
then the auction -- who gets to have the snake tail (one of the best parts of the snake)? the men at the dog meat table auction for the snake tail -- whoever can do the most shots of the snake alcohol gets to have the tail. they go up to 3.5 shots. my mom, the sibs, and i band together to tell my dad to stop. luckily he listens... in the end, he got half the snake tail and took 1 shot because he shared the shot with the guy who claimed he could do the most shots.
things die down a bit. the women who prepared the meal sit down to eat. we take a break from our card games and enter the dining room in a parade of clapping hands. we thank them all in unison. we thank them all each by their name. we thank everyone who helped make the meal possible. lastly, we thank g-ma (grandma), and she did this boxer victory power move that brought tears to my eyes. it's the kinda move you make when you realize that you gave birth to 13 kids -- yes, 13. a move that exudes power! she's a super woman. yeah!
today is cau 7's birthday, which lights out, candles lit, a birthday singing parade in viet and english, and a birthday cake with lots of icing. icing not to eat... but to smear on the birthday boy (though he's 45 yrs old)... he's all white in the face. but nothing compared to what happened to uncle 10. all the cousins got a hand of icing and ganged up on him -- all smearing uncle 10's face. he's white and pink (due to the icing) in the face, and he sought revenge. scary! everyone ran for it. even birthdays are a whole level better in vietnam. they sure know how to have fun.
but that's not the end, right now they are singing karaoke and having a grand ol' time. laughter, whoo-ing, and clapping fill my ears as i'm in this room in my uncle's house bloggin about my vietnam experience. better get back to the party. thanks for reading my meanderings. sorry for the poor grammar.
my family and g-ma are headed to vung tau, city where my dad grew up, tomorrow for 3 days, so bloggin the next 3 days may not happen. not to fear! i'll bring ya'll up to speed when i return. peace out, ya'll!
it's the 4th of july today, so what better way to start it off than to go the "independence palace" in vietnam. that's where the president would live if the commies didn't take over. we took the tour, learned that the commies call the day they took over "independence day." we saw the 2 tanks that ran over the gate, and hieu hung on it, next to the sign that read "please don't touch." we took funny pics. violated rules. got the guard to come over to where we were exploring. in the end, we stood in front of the "independence palace" and flicked the place off. we were scared that the commies would come outta the wood works and shoot us off, but nothing happened. whew!
[yen, i had 2 sunny side up eyes and bread for breakfast. i would have the banh da cua, but due to the 2 headaches i've had after consuming it, i have refrained from eating the banh da cua.]
we are beginning to get the hang of crossing streets with oncoming traffic. this is what we had to do several times in order to get to the store that sells cds, dvds, and vcds. we bought a whole slew of legal and illegal ones.
then off to lunch at quan ngon (the place we ate at before). we had a table of about 20 this time, and some people had to sit at another table... and people came in groups. how crazy. we were the second batch to arrive. as i sit at the end of the table, looking at my family, watching the servers run about, feeling the fan on my face, letting my feet rest, waiting for my meal to come, the question comes back, what does it mean to live a priveleged life? i dunno... but i'm deeply grateful for everything i got.
so... what did we have? banh beo, banh cuon, banh khot, sweet soft tofu, more delicious shakes and fruit juices. we concluded the meal with coffee, vanilla, and taro ice cream.
there's 3 major shopping centers in sai gon. cho lon (translated as big store, cho is store, lon is big) -- sells food in bulk. cho an dong -- sells food in bulk as well as clothes, shoes, fabric, and souvenirs. cho ben thanh -- we went there yesterday. cho ben thanh has the most quality stuff.
i suppose today is the day of breaking rules because we broke the buying protocol at cho an dong. we told thy we wanted to buy something. she bargained, and then, we decided we didn't want it anymore. we walked away... usually the vendor would have yelled at us and made us paid for the price she agreed to, but luckily she didn't. thy gave us a bit of a reprimand for breaking the rules.
cho an dong is hella crowded. hence, the name -- dong (means crowded in viet). the space between the vendors or hallway so to speak was about a foot long. we were hot, sweaty, and feeling caustraphobic. a formula for irriabtility and not buyin anything. cho ben thanh is better.
minh-tu and minh-anh went to try on their ao dai's.
hieu, toni (uncle 11's kid -- 13 yrs old), michelle, vicki, be 2 (aunt 8's kid), bo (uncle 10's kid) went to a mall, which was a night and day difference from cho an dong. we felt much more comfortable there. then we went to the arcade. we raced on horses, fought, punched, shot away. i played air hockey. it was fun, but again weird. i'm not used such westernization in vietnam.
we drove thru chinatown on our way home. who would have thought that there's a chinatown in vietnam? but there is...
back to the uncles' pad. we had quite an event dinner. it started off by witness a man (thru uncle 10's connection) slaughter a cobra. slitting... blood in a cup... wiggling... moving about... scared faces... removal of gallbladder. uncle 3 takes it and swallows it, chasing it down with iced coffee. supposedly the gallbladder is good for your health.
one enters the dining room. this room usually has 1 table in it, now it has 4. the family has multiplied that much. tonight, we are going to a big partay! and a big partay in vietnam is not complete unless you have dog meat (no not really, but that's what we had). my dad was lovin' it. 4-5 different dog dishes. he fixed us bites and offered them to us. it was endearing. he was proud of his kids, who's not afraid to eat anything. then the cobra alcohol was introduced. my dad takes 3 shots... it numbs your tongue. burns your thoat. makes you feel hot. so the guys at the dog meat table has a couple of rounds of the cobra alcohol (it's a bottle of fermented alcohol with a cobra inside)... then the guy (my grandma's sister's sister's husband) went to all the guys at other tables and poured them a shot. hieu took the first shot. we were all cheering him on. chased it with some coke. he turned red instantly, felt a little sick, but in the end, it all worked out.
tonight was the night of werid meats... dog... snake chao (soup)... the rest was normal. steam crab. lemongrass crab. oysters. ginger chicken. pork.
then the auction -- who gets to have the snake tail (one of the best parts of the snake)? the men at the dog meat table auction for the snake tail -- whoever can do the most shots of the snake alcohol gets to have the tail. they go up to 3.5 shots. my mom, the sibs, and i band together to tell my dad to stop. luckily he listens... in the end, he got half the snake tail and took 1 shot because he shared the shot with the guy who claimed he could do the most shots.
things die down a bit. the women who prepared the meal sit down to eat. we take a break from our card games and enter the dining room in a parade of clapping hands. we thank them all in unison. we thank them all each by their name. we thank everyone who helped make the meal possible. lastly, we thank g-ma (grandma), and she did this boxer victory power move that brought tears to my eyes. it's the kinda move you make when you realize that you gave birth to 13 kids -- yes, 13. a move that exudes power! she's a super woman. yeah!
today is cau 7's birthday, which lights out, candles lit, a birthday singing parade in viet and english, and a birthday cake with lots of icing. icing not to eat... but to smear on the birthday boy (though he's 45 yrs old)... he's all white in the face. but nothing compared to what happened to uncle 10. all the cousins got a hand of icing and ganged up on him -- all smearing uncle 10's face. he's white and pink (due to the icing) in the face, and he sought revenge. scary! everyone ran for it. even birthdays are a whole level better in vietnam. they sure know how to have fun.
but that's not the end, right now they are singing karaoke and having a grand ol' time. laughter, whoo-ing, and clapping fill my ears as i'm in this room in my uncle's house bloggin about my vietnam experience. better get back to the party. thanks for reading my meanderings. sorry for the poor grammar.
my family and g-ma are headed to vung tau, city where my dad grew up, tomorrow for 3 days, so bloggin the next 3 days may not happen. not to fear! i'll bring ya'll up to speed when i return. peace out, ya'll!
posted by Pretty Dirty @ 6:52 AM
1 Comments:
At 12:50 PM,
Pretty Dirty said…
i did eat all those meats... yEah... my vegetarian ways go outta the window when i'm here. those two types of meat are just so different, and it's prepared by people i know and trust, so having a bite won't hurt, right? it's kinda fun to say that i've eaten snake and dog in the same night.
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