Up by half-passed six. My plan to get ahead of jet-lag seems to be going well. What did I do? After work on Thursday I pushed my sleep time by two hours each night. So, normally I would go bed around midnight. Thursday I went to bed about two, Friday about four, Saturday about six, and Sunday night I didn’t sleep since I left fort the airport at eight (sleeping instead in the first part of the flight to Korea). We shall see what it’s like later this evening.
Got out of the apartment by eight or nine I suppose. Took a three or so hour walk around the neighborhood. There are no strait streets here. Any road you find that appears strait probably curves back around on itself eventually. That being said, I did walk very far away.
Came back to rinse off and to read a bit before seeking something to eat. Now it’s noon so I’ll try that.
Visited a home cooking style restaurant called Quan Bui Garden. Had a couple of dishes.
I had Xoai, Thom, Chanh, Day & Mat Ong (mango, pineapple, passion fruit and honey smoothie) to drink and suon non sot mat ong (sauteed pork ribs with honey sauce) and green mango salad with dried gourami fishs [sic]. Also had this one thing they called ice cream but it was a lie. If there are ice crystals it’s not ice cream.
Met a couple of Dutch ladies living here. They told me about two other restaurants worth trying.
Lots of wandering. Lots of pictures. Friendly people saying hello and waving all the time.
Visited Eddie’s New York Diner. Quality real milk shakes. Banana-chocolate-salted-caramel. Met an Australian lady and her two boys. Talked about Richard Linkletter and the book I’m reading called The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got that Way. Discovered bamboo toothpicks. Wooden toothpicks are sucky fence-posts. I had no idea.
More wandering. Back to the apartment with B and M and some dinner. Albanian chicken dish, salad du jour, and some bitter soup thing (also Albanian). The soup was ok. Bill warned it’s not for everyone. I can see why some may not like it. Glad enough I’ve tried it.
Taking another walk now to see the night life in the neighborhood.
Walked over to a local brewery called Pasteur Street Brewery. Mind blown. They are one of several taprooms for the actual brewery (elsewhere in Ho Chi Minh though no longer on Pasteur Street). They have a selection of near two dozen beers. This includes a saison, a goze, a wit, and a solid variety of other classic styles. A refreshing change to see only one IPA and one double IPA on tap. Most of the beers include some local adjunct like dragon fruit or lemongrass. I tried five small pours (plus the four more which the bartender offered) and will return to see what else they have.
Met a guy who was living in Ballard then Greenwood just prior to moving to Vietnam, was it seven or eleven years ago? Great conversation with him from maybe 21:30 when I was about to leave for exhaustion until nearly midnight when I begged my leave for total exhaustion. Did get a recording of a downpour, could be good.
