The Vietnam Chronicle Continues ...

It was pouring. Like the Mekong was hurling its body of water across town. As I stood on the pavement beneath an umbrella that was on the verge of yielding to the combined strength of rain and wind, waiting for a passenger to alight from the cab which would take me into the safe harbour of the Sofitel, one tiny mouse laid lifeless next to the taxi's tyre in a fresh puddle, its tiny body still to the whipping rain.

That was a poetic moment for me. As one who embraces life with all my heart, I think of death often. I do not wish to pass from this ephemeral world the way this poor mouse did.

This is the rainy season for Ho Chi Minh City. The months of July till November make the monsoon season which bring higher than average rainfall. As the cab made its way to the hotel, the water level had risen to ankle deep at some parts. Fortunately, the torrential rain abated soon after; otherwise, the city might just come under water.

The rain today had continued from last night. We were out for dinner at a local diner which our Vietnamese colleague had recommended. It's great having him with us on this trip for he's from HCMC itself and knows the local haunts. The place he brought us to was some distance from the hotel. We had to walk for perhaps half an hour or so. Of course, it was a casual evening walk which turned out to be quite interesting, especially the stopover at the model ship maker, where ancient sails and Chinese junks came alive as miniatures on the shelves of their artisans.

We cut through what must be the Little Japan of HCMC where the streets were lined with endless Japanese restaurants serving what looked like authentic Jap food. At least one of them was, according to Lauran, which served the okonomiyaki, a pizza-like pancake which is hardly found anywhere outside Japan. Even restaurants in Singapore, the cosmopolitan city, does not have it. So if anyone knows of any place in Singapore which cooks up this dish, hollaback ya!

At the same local deli, Nhu Lan, we had the largest mooncake ever. Haha ... the one we had was a pea next to one 5KG mooncake on sale at the counter. I wonder who will ever buy such a huge one and what for ...

As legend would have it, the founder of Nhu Lan used to be a roadside phở hawker. After years of hard work, she accumulated enough money to buy a property and founded a small phở shop. This little shop grew into a chain; in HCMC, there're at least two according to its namecard. Because she's a single woman, she's also compassionate towards destitutes of all kinds. Hence, she takes them in to help out in her shops while earning a roof over their heads and a decent livelihood in this harsh city.

The phở was simply delicious (the key reason why we asked for namecards!) We had crab paste phở which came with a small helping of rice noodles in flavourful soup topped with a lifetime supply of crab meat and roe!! Hehe ... 有点夸张 but Lauran couldn't finish her noodles after stomaching all the roe ... our cholesterol meter must have shot through the roof last night. The soup was simply delicious; the sweetness came without the help of MSG but hours of boiling the crab and God-knows-what other natural ingredients in water. (By the way, the Vietnamese diet is doing me a whole lot of good. Every meal comes with fresh and raw veges, which i duly ate. Voila ... my bowel movement is never smoother :)

We decided the night was still early after dinner (though it was already past 10 pm) so we decided to bask in some of HCMC's night atmosphere. Our friend recommended a couple of clubs, which, to our disappointment, had closed down. We finally stopped by the Q Bar, went inside and found it to be the most 'unhappening' bar we'd ever seen. There's no dance floor and the people were so listless like they were really better off in bed.

So we left. That's when the rain began; first, with a drizzle but soon it became a downpour. We were headed for a walk by the riverside but took shelter from the rain in another bar whose ice-cream parlour attracted us first. The rain never let up even after we were snug in bed after a quick drink at this cozy bar.

Today, I stood on the pavement watching the poor mouse in the rain outside the IndoChina boutique. I was there for a fitting of two tops I had tailor-made during a visit yesterday afternoon with Lauran. Tailor-made!! These are my firsts! I've always bought my clothes off the rack, having not the patience to wait. But the tailors here are incredibly efficient. It would only take two days - they'll be delivered to me tomorrow. Even Lauran's ao dai can be delivered on Sunday! I'm excited to see how these traditionally-designed tops can be modernised with my smart casual sense of haute couture :)

Tonight, we had Vietnamese chicken rice for dinner. Boy, did they give us a lot of rice! But even so, I'm feeling a little hungry now as I type ... hey, it's way past midnight alright! (Maybe it's because there wasn't much oil on either chicken or rice). Perhaps it's because of the lack of oil as in the case of Hainanese chicken which is literally drenched in oil (usually sesame oil), the steamed Vietnamese chicken was a bit tough. Perhaps it's a kampung chicken instead of a commercially-bred one. You know, a chicken which runs freely in the village builds more muscle than one that has little room to strut in its cage ... The rice was fragrant and nice, but sans the garlic and ginger which permeate the rice grains of the Hainanese version that I prefer. Instead, they served ground gralic with ginger separately, just like the chilli. The chilli sauce is also different, more diluted. So I'd say that the Hainanese wins the Chicken Rice War!

These couple of days, we did a couple of observations in the supermarket with our respondents. I almost went crazy checking out the prices of groceries and toiletries. Half price! Or even lower! For example, Lip Ice is only SGD2.50, Carefree Ultra-thin pantyliner 40s pack for only SGD 1.60! I had no intention of buying anything at all when stepping into the supermarts but ended up with 2 big bags of essentials. OK, these on top of the bags, purses and pencil cases - beautifully embroidered with Vietnamese designs that I couldn't resist picking up at the Ben Thanh market. It'll be tough packing the luggage tomorrow ... oh, the beef jerky is also friggin' delicious. Buy the Tuyen Ky brand. Very nice!