Mui Ne

Only 2 hours of sleep last night, because we decided to go to Mui Ne early in the morning to avoid any rush hour. The plan worked fine and we arrived around 11 am in one of the hot spots in terms of ocean front living of Vietnam. Actually it's less crowded than NaTrang and that for still a little secret. They truly have nice resorts here, but we bypassed them to stay in a rather less luxury 'resort'. Jason promised me at least an air conditioned room. Well that was also the only equipment this place had. We were the only guests here and I felt a bit like in the movie 'Hostel'. Anyway - company is what matters and so we all went swimming and enjoyed the East Chinese Sea. Not many waves but clear and warm water. I guess the main reason for everybody to go was the luxury of having the freshest seafood you can have. Vendors right at the water were offering everything you can imagine. After you have chosen your fish or seafood of your liking they prepared it in front of yours eyes on a little portable grill. For me 'non seafood person' this certainly was not the highlight, but seeing everybody enjoying the food was good to see. The next time I will go back here, I would like to stay in a bit nicer place and spend 2 or 3 nights instead of 12 hours.
If you ever travel with a Vietnamese family of 11, be prepared to take some Advil along. The family of 'My big fat Greek wedding' is nothing compared to this breed. Oppa :-)

The night of our return we celebrated  the 16th birthday of Erik's sister at the Temple Club in district 1. A cool rooftop place with Vietnamese BBQ. After that we did a little motorbike tour around Saigon's city center followed by a little race to our famous street kitchen - see the video.

Tomorrow is my last day - time flies...

Street Kitchen

Looks like I need to do some explaining about the purpose of a street kitchen. A street kitchen is a little street restaurant with outside patio (the pedestrian way). The furniture are small kid's plastic chairs and tables of the same size. I personally request a little bigger chair, as I can't fit in one of the 'regular' ones. In a street kitchen you basically go with friends to drink and to eat some exotic food. Street food that is. Everything from chicken feet to pork brain, hot pot with squid or chicken hearts. It's all available to the valued customer. The entire food is being washed down with beer - Heineken please - chilled in the glass with ice cubes. Please remember it's hot in Vietnam - even at night. The service is similar to a 5 star restaurant. You have 1 or 2 waiters next to your table to ensure that your glasses are filled and you receive new ice cubes every 5 minutes. The food trash (shellfish) is simply being discharged under the table. You literally sit in your own trash. Once in a while they come and clean your table. I have to say - it's not everybodies place to be, but I enjoy it... basically every night. The best thing: It's cheap! $0.80 cents a bottle of beer and any major dish is $3. Can't complaint - and as long as you don't take a look into their kitchen it tastes all great....
Here you can get a little idea of the atmosphere...It's raining - but that's not really a reason not to go - it's actually even more fun 'under the rain'...



While sitting there and having a drink, a number of vendors show up to sell you anything from squid to toys and CD's as well as lottery tickets and cigarettes. It's a happening place and I guess Vietnamese like it - why would these places be filled with young customers at 1 am in the morning on a Tuesday???
The little video shows the correct eating of an unborne egg. Basically a chicken embryo almost ready to hatch... yummie... Well ... I never eaten that and if you don't like fear factor - please don't watch the video...
Bon appetite!

Almost famous

I take some time of my busy vacation schedule to do some sightseeing of Saigon. I have been to most places, but its always good to see the war museum again, which houses numerous pictures of the French and American wars. The exhibition ends with pictures of deformed babies due to the used Napalm bombs during the Vietnam War. It's all mixed feelings here and it was interesting to see first time visitors reading the shocking captions of the horrible pictures on the grey painted walls. I guess it's time to party tonight!

Saigon's Club Scene is evolving and with new venues opening almost every week, it is difficult to choose a place to 'dance the night away'. Thursday we had pre-drinks at a German Beergarden. Not that the food they served had anything to do with Germany nor the beer was German origin - it was simply the name to attract people to have a few drinks. Looks like German beer has a good reputation throughout the world.
We ride our motor bikes to Saigon Face. Eric reserved a table before hand, so we were treated as VIP's. I mean like REAL VIP's. It took 4 greeters and 3 people opening the doors until we entered the freezing cold club. A one floor venue with plenty of little bar tables and lounge corners to chill in. We are greeted by the manager who walks us over to a table next to the dance floor. 4 security guys watching behind our backs and 3 servers are available around our table to serve us the drink everybody comes to drink here: Hennessey's Cognac. Pored from a 3 liter bottle ($US 1000 - yes - no typo and keep in mind that this high quality beverage is most likely not original and has been pre mixed with water or other substances and then nicely sealed with the government tax seal which is also faked) into little shot glasses and served with a side of water or coke (Cola that is ;-)). 3 DJ's work the music and fill the place with loud tunes from the States. The entire club is filled with about 250 guests and 100 security / wait staff. All clients are in their mid twenties. Finger are being pointed to other tables and they explain me that 'this guy over there' just bought a Ferrari and the other guy on the left is a famous singer in Vietnam. I am asking myself one question: when did these 'kids' make all this money they are spending here. I guess daddy is making some money and I am getting confirmation that most of these kids do not work at all. It's custom that one person pays - here is no splitting bills in Vietnam, so Erik ended up with a nice bill but also some leftover Cognac for the next visit. It was a nice bill Erik ended up with and not too bad for current Vietnamese 'show off' clubs, but certainly an amount you could easily feed a 10 people family for a month in the house next to this club. It was a great experience and I certainly haven't had this kind of treatment anywhere in LA. We were (almost) famous.
For a little night our around time we can't miss an after hour venue. We arrived at a lounge type of restaurant with private cabanas, personal waiter and almost as attentive staff as the club before. Here meets chic Saigon for late night delights like pork brain and snake blood as well as cold beverages of your choice. I only tried the Heineken by the way. Around 4:30am we make hour way home through the empty street of Saigon. That was a nice night out!

Slumdog Millionaire

For the first time visitor to Saigon there won't be that many differences visible between the different districts. However, there are many and if you take a closer look you will see it. The other day we took a little shortcut through the slums of Saigon. People drying rice on the street and living in minimal spaces. There are no real roads and the labyrinth of little walkways has to be shared with motorbikes, people walking, chicken, street cafe's and more. The video doesn't really justify the experience, but there are a few parts which can give you an impression of the situation.
No massage today, but still a quick spa treatments with jacuzzi, sauna and steam room and certainly our favorite street kitchen Qui Thanh for late night delights... :-). It started raining later and this picture shows a street vendor next to our street kitchen.

Please wait after 10pm to use the bathroom...

We had another day in Saigon with massage, pedicure, manicure, PHO and early meetings at the local street kitchen. This time we were 8 people and after I mentioned my interest in a Vietnamese drivers license, 3 people were using their IPhones to get some more information on my request. Volker: Remember how they conducted the practical test while on the road to Hanoi...? Anyway - it's $40 and I am promised to do the test myself. Although a written test is mandatory, the 'sources' guarantee that I only need to show up. This will ensure me to pass the test and I will receive a totally official Vietnamese drivers license for motorbikes. I am totally up for that and after 2 more phone calls I hear that a 'social security card' is necessary. All for sudden the price for this adventure goes up to $140. We put a hold on this idea but continue checking other sources.
We are staying in for dinner - 17 people, a few cases of Heineken and enough food to feed an army later, we conclude one more day in Asia.

Back at home I learn that the water reserves are exhausted for the day. Guss we take running water for granted in the Western World... Not here. You can only pump water into the huge tank from the street after 10pm - thats why I had to wait a little longer today... with 11 people in the house it just takes a while until the water reserves are replenished....

There are so many details I would need to tell you, but it woul be way too much for this blog. I am happy!!

How many people can you fit on a motor bike?

So sad leaving Koh Samui and going back to Vietnam. Don't get me wrong - Vietnam is still on the top of my list, but affectioning as I am am I have to tell you that Thailand and in particular Koh Samui was a really pleasant surprise and I will go back for sure. Things are running a bit slower on this island and that is good that way. I enjoyed the people, the food and the party scene very much. If you consider Thailand in one of your upcoming travel plans, please make sure to follow through and go. We loved it.

Back in Saigon we are going out for a traditional street kitchen. Just alright food tonight, but the company is what matters, right? The best part was the drive home. 7 people on bikes... we wanted to take a cab, but decided to have a little fun on Saigon's motorbike roads.... See for yourself...

Slideshow

I hard complaints that there are only a limited amount of pictures visible on this blog. I have certainly not posted all of them, but there are more than you can see here. You will need to click on the slideshow (to your right) and it will open the web album with all the pictures I have published. Unfortunately Blogspot only allows you to show 100 pictures on their blog although there are more included in the slideshow.

Alternatively you can use the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Chris.Weike/Asia2009Slideshow