We had set the alarm again to not to miss the breakfast. Had lots of fruit, pancakes and coffee. The coffee is amazing in this country.
We had discovered on the map yesterday that there is an Uniqlo in this city, so that took the priority one for today. We ordered Grab and when the streets started to get narrower after half an hour driving, the suspicion started to grow that we might not fing the usual several story bright shop there. When the taxi stopped in front of a random garage door, it was clear that there is no Japanese clothes store there. But! Turned out that 10 meters into an even more narrow street, there was a hole in the wall with the sad attempt of Uniqlo logo painted next to it. We pushed the plastic aside and stepped in. In that, 2 meter wide and 3 meter long room, filled with stacks of clothes, the girl disapprovingly pointed at our shoes and made it very clear that the flip-flops are not welcome on her less than fancy carpet. With 2,5 minutes we had browsed through everything and we ordered Grab again to go to the most expensive shopping mall to overcome the disappointment. There were only two customers in that 6-storie building filled with brands like Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Armani etc so we got some very special attention. Reurned to hotel after that to rest some for the afternoon's food tour.
Exactly at 2:30PM as agreed, a VIetnamese guy was waiting for us in the lobby. He wished to start introducing to us Pho Bo (noodle soup with beef) and when I reminded him that we actually chose vegetarian option, he wanted to take a cab out of the center to visit a vegetarian restaurant. I failed to see a street food tour in just visiting a restaurant, so I vetoed that option and suggested to find something in our old quarter. We did start with the soup and although I wanted without meat and Helena just a smaller option, we both got one litre bowls again. Anyway, the soup was delicious and being located just across our hotel, I do plan to visit it again. The next traditional thing, egg coffee didn't need any introduction to us, because we had already met and not bonded so well, he proposed coconut coffee. Sweet coffee, served on icy coconut foam. After that he was out of ideas, because apparently the vietnamese cuisine is very meat oriented. I asked about stuffed pancakes. Turned out, those are made with shrimps (Helena does not eat seafood). He suggested the local white bread bunny, but those we have plenty in our breakfast buffet. We asked about desserts. He proposed mixed fruit with sweet milk. We decided to try it. In addition to fruits, there was also some tapioca and pieces of Jell-o. Last thing, he showed us, where we can buy some local sweet pastries, which they for some unclear reason called rotis. They can't be further from Thai and Malaysian delicious rotis. Back in the hotel we gave him 500.000 dong, which he accepted, thanked and started to leave. The cheap eastern european tourist however asked that we would like the 100.000 dong as change back. Apparently he didn't have it. Since we didn't want to üay more for 1,5 hours that they asked for 3 hours, I asked the hotel reception to change the half a million into smaller bills.
After a little planning (we suddenly had gained an unplanned 1, 5 hours of time) we decided to walk to the bridge to enjoy those incredible views of the setting sun painting the river golden and then disappearing behind the horizon. Before reaching the bridge, we had to cross a highway (watch the video!). Managed that task and while still standing on shaking legs, patted ourselves approvingly on the shoulder. Standing on the other side of the highway and looking direction bridge, it was clear that there is no way reaching that bridge by foot. The only way up there was the same highway, filled with vehicles so that there was not even air between two. Being flexible, we quickly changed the plans - Helena had just mentioned that she would like a nice walk on the river side. That she should have. We started our way in direction river through narrower and narrower streets until finding ourselves under the bridge on a path we had to walk sideways. Once we finally were through all those streets, we had a view of unendless bushes and junkyards in front of us. It seemed that there haven't been many white tourists, because local kids were standing in line, waiving excitedly and yelling Hello to us. We considered our trip to the bridge or actually under the bridge and to the riverside completed and made our way back to the center. We also crossed the highway for the second time and rush hour getting rush, there were more vehicles now.
To pay our gratitude to all the higher powers that helped us twice over the highway, we made a short stop in the closest temple to our hotel, ate some fish and chips and a fruit plate on a cute balcony and fell into beds before 9PM.
We had discovered on the map yesterday that there is an Uniqlo in this city, so that took the priority one for today. We ordered Grab and when the streets started to get narrower after half an hour driving, the suspicion started to grow that we might not fing the usual several story bright shop there. When the taxi stopped in front of a random garage door, it was clear that there is no Japanese clothes store there. But! Turned out that 10 meters into an even more narrow street, there was a hole in the wall with the sad attempt of Uniqlo logo painted next to it. We pushed the plastic aside and stepped in. In that, 2 meter wide and 3 meter long room, filled with stacks of clothes, the girl disapprovingly pointed at our shoes and made it very clear that the flip-flops are not welcome on her less than fancy carpet. With 2,5 minutes we had browsed through everything and we ordered Grab again to go to the most expensive shopping mall to overcome the disappointment. There were only two customers in that 6-storie building filled with brands like Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Armani etc so we got some very special attention. Reurned to hotel after that to rest some for the afternoon's food tour.
Exactly at 2:30PM as agreed, a VIetnamese guy was waiting for us in the lobby. He wished to start introducing to us Pho Bo (noodle soup with beef) and when I reminded him that we actually chose vegetarian option, he wanted to take a cab out of the center to visit a vegetarian restaurant. I failed to see a street food tour in just visiting a restaurant, so I vetoed that option and suggested to find something in our old quarter. We did start with the soup and although I wanted without meat and Helena just a smaller option, we both got one litre bowls again. Anyway, the soup was delicious and being located just across our hotel, I do plan to visit it again. The next traditional thing, egg coffee didn't need any introduction to us, because we had already met and not bonded so well, he proposed coconut coffee. Sweet coffee, served on icy coconut foam. After that he was out of ideas, because apparently the vietnamese cuisine is very meat oriented. I asked about stuffed pancakes. Turned out, those are made with shrimps (Helena does not eat seafood). He suggested the local white bread bunny, but those we have plenty in our breakfast buffet. We asked about desserts. He proposed mixed fruit with sweet milk. We decided to try it. In addition to fruits, there was also some tapioca and pieces of Jell-o. Last thing, he showed us, where we can buy some local sweet pastries, which they for some unclear reason called rotis. They can't be further from Thai and Malaysian delicious rotis. Back in the hotel we gave him 500.000 dong, which he accepted, thanked and started to leave. The cheap eastern european tourist however asked that we would like the 100.000 dong as change back. Apparently he didn't have it. Since we didn't want to üay more for 1,5 hours that they asked for 3 hours, I asked the hotel reception to change the half a million into smaller bills.
After a little planning (we suddenly had gained an unplanned 1, 5 hours of time) we decided to walk to the bridge to enjoy those incredible views of the setting sun painting the river golden and then disappearing behind the horizon. Before reaching the bridge, we had to cross a highway (watch the video!). Managed that task and while still standing on shaking legs, patted ourselves approvingly on the shoulder. Standing on the other side of the highway and looking direction bridge, it was clear that there is no way reaching that bridge by foot. The only way up there was the same highway, filled with vehicles so that there was not even air between two. Being flexible, we quickly changed the plans - Helena had just mentioned that she would like a nice walk on the river side. That she should have. We started our way in direction river through narrower and narrower streets until finding ourselves under the bridge on a path we had to walk sideways. Once we finally were through all those streets, we had a view of unendless bushes and junkyards in front of us. It seemed that there haven't been many white tourists, because local kids were standing in line, waiving excitedly and yelling Hello to us. We considered our trip to the bridge or actually under the bridge and to the riverside completed and made our way back to the center. We also crossed the highway for the second time and rush hour getting rush, there were more vehicles now.
To pay our gratitude to all the higher powers that helped us twice over the highway, we made a short stop in the closest temple to our hotel, ate some fish and chips and a fruit plate on a cute balcony and fell into beds before 9PM.
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