Chinatown market

Some additional pictures of markets in Chinatown

Chinatown in general

Just some additional pictures from around Chinatown.  Famous herb and medicine shops!  Fancy telephone booths! 

Vietnamese beer

Tried some Vietnamese beers while in Ho Chi Minh City.  Both were made by the Saigon Beer company.  Yup, it was beer, and it went well on a hot night with Vietnamese food.  At some point I'll have to visit a beer hall in Ho Chi Minh, where they serve (young) beer without preservatives right from the tank.

I was also happy to see much effort being put into getting beer around town.  Great use of a motorcycle.

Vietnamese food

Ho Chi Minh City is a great place to eat.  Lots of pho (noodle soup).  Lots of little nibblies wrapped in rice paper, and pork wrapped in leaves of various sorts.  Oh, and purple potato soup the color of Minnesota Viking jerseys.  Yum.

Good Night Vietnam

Some scenes from Vietnam at night.  Ho Chi Minh City is large and busy, and it's a very interesting place to walk around.  The cathedral is a replica of Notre Dame, and the post office was designed by Eiffel.  Radio towers and post offices - quite an architect, that guy.

According to the hotel policy manual, there are apparently limits to how late things can go in Ho Chi Minh City

Dong

The currency of Vietnam is called the Dong.  I went to Ho Chi Minh City on business in March, and not once did I get tired of puns based on the name of the Vietnamese currency.  I was (and still am) giggling like a schoolgirl.

Here are some pictures of Dong, along with a bit from the hotel policy manual regarding what one can do Vietnamese Dongs.

Speaking of potato chips

Garlic soft shell crab flavor potato chips, anyone?

Not sure why Lay's doesn't sell all their flavors in all their markets - I totally would have given their soft shell crab flavor a go before now.  Having tasted it, I sort of get the crab, but it wasn't exactly what I expected.  Still good, but...

Perhaps I answered my own question?

Ben and Megan check out the swanky digs

We had Ben and Megan over for dinner, and Sam cooked up a storm.  They checked out our swanky digs, and much eating happened.  We were very thankful to have such wonderful guests.

Oh - and apparently, as far as photo composition goes, Lays seaweed flavor potato chips are as important as both Ben and Megan combined.  Sorry about that, Ben and Megan.  No judgment of your relative worth to fried potatoes intended.

Ayuthaya - Wat Chai Wattanaram

We saved the best for last - Wat Chai Wattanaram was terribly cool.  It was very intact (perhaps it was less ruined for being across the river?) and almost no one was there with us - we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Very easy to imagine how it might have been, but the sinking ground still made for some interesting gateways and angles.  Ruined buddhas as is the norm in Ayuthaya, but some still had detail you could see.  And you could really start to imagine the fires that were hot enough to turn some bricks to glass.  Well kept lawns to finish the effect.  Stunning.  Posting all the pictures at once so you can get the full effect of walking through the complex.

Ayuthaya - Wat Phra Mahathat II

More pics from the evocative Wat Phra Mahathat