May 5: The Most Expensive Dinner Yet

Dinner date with Mon at Golf Can Tho Hotel. It's one of the expensive hotels in Ninh Kieu, near the park and riverside. Restaurant (where we ate) was an open area at the 8th floor of the hotel overlooking the river.



When we got in the lobby, there were a Caucasian couple who said "merci" when we left the elevator open as we waited for them to get in. Still no Americans in sight.

We ordered spring rolls, fried rice, and a fried crab with some weird seasoning. Mon had Tiger beer while I had pear juice (tasted like pear, really.)

It was supposedly a relatively inexpensive dinner so Mon was surprised to see the bill amounting to 554.400 dong. That was roughly PHP 1,500. Apparently, the crab was priced per 100 grams (VND 62.000, times 5, and that was a whopping 310.000 dong or 56% of our total bill). He did not notice it, and we actually thought it wasn't the whole crab that was going to be fried (hence a believable price).

I was out of cash, bringing only a little more than 300.000 dong. He didn't bring enough cash as well since the dinner was supposedly my treat. I brought one credit card (which wasn't really mine but a supplement of my dad's) and he had two cards that weren't yet used in Vietnam (and which he did not really intend to use).

He did not have a choice (even if I volunteered to use my card). His Visa card was first swiped in Vietnam at the Golf Can Tho Hotel.

Good thing he finished off the crab. I even did not like it. The oil was a bit too strong for me ("oily" was not even the word, just that I could taste the oil).

As a remembrance of that expensive dinner, here's our pic (highlighting how Mon got dark in Vietnam.)



And snapshots:


The pool


Waiting for the expensive order


Elevator shot


By Uncle Ho in Ninh Kieu Park (I haven't realized that this statue was that big until this night.)

May 5: Walk in the Park

It rained in the afternoon. But when the sky cleared up hours later, I took the chance to go to Lưu Hữu Phước Park walking along the street of Châu Văn Liêm (Nguyễn An Ninh just at the other side).

I've then noticed that in wide streets where there were islands, they tend to name the streets differently for each direction (i.e., Châu Văn Liêm for the east bound lane, Nguyễn An Ninh for the west bound lane). It got me confused for a few seconds, but figured it out anyway.



I ate a Celano chocolate-vanilla flavored drumstick ice cream in that cafe. The seller did not know how to tell the price in English, though, and had to call someone else to tell me how much it was. VND 10.000. Or was it VND 13.000? Couldn't recall, really.

While I was enjoying my ice cream, I watched a group of men play sipa. I don't know how they call that game, but I know of it as sipa. They're really good. Great. Awesome. Amazing. And these were not so young men.



When a few of them sat down, and when I was about to explore the park (it was a small park, I later found out), somebody called me, "emoy" (I was told earlier that this is how they call younger people). So I looked. He instructed (signaled) me to take a picture of the men who were playing.

I agreed, without them knowing yet that I could not really understand what they said. Though I knew I wouldn't be able to take a good shot - it was twilight and my lens just could not handle it, plus the fast movement of the players. I tried. Then told them that I couldn't take a decent shot.

So they learned that I was a foreigner. From the Philippine(s). They still persuaded me to take a shot, and pointed the person whom they call "Superman" (young compared to the rest of the group, so probably a better player than them).

They offered me water, but it was really a tea with lots of ice. I declined. They may be nice, but they were men and it was getting dark and I could not really understand them. Taking this chance of another close encounter with the locals, I asked for a photo.

Instead of me taking their picture, the guy they call Superman offered to take the shot so I could join the group. While I hesitated to give him my camera, I agreed.



Then I took a photo of the group. Weird, not all of them looked.



So then I took snapshots in the park.







Then a pagoda...



...and a shot of Ninh Kieu Hotel 2...



...all along Hoa Binh.



When I got back near the riverside near Ninh Kieu Park along Hai Ba Trung, there was this group of motorcycles, este people watching a screenplay (what do you call that thing?)



Then again a snapshot of this...



...at night, with a pair of lovers in that bench.

To top it off, here's a night shot of the ancient market.

May 5: Goat Curry for Lunch

Lunch at Mekong restaurant (near the statue of Uncle Ho). Goat curry, Vietnamese style for VND 55.000. It was served with rice, and the curry itself had rice noodles in it. I tried to ask before the order arrived, "Is it served with rice?" but the lady who got my order did not understand me. At least she understood when I asked for a "not spicy" dish, but it still was a bit spicy.



Everything in the dish looked familiar except for the thin slice of black thing that I thought was a vegetable or some plant or organism that could be found there. I tasted it, chewed it with much enthusiasm, then realized it wasn't a vegetable. It was a the skin of the goat. It was good, by the way, but I was not really open to the idea of eating a goat's skin.

I spent some idle time after finishing my food watching people pass by the street - in motorbikes, in bicycles, or on foot. It rained a bit, so a few more minutes sitting alone in that place. Then this man initiated a conversation.



He asked where I was from - Philippines. "Philippine." (They always do not say it with the "s" at the end.) He said twenty (two by hand language) men from the Philippine who work there eat or drink there on Sundays - San Mig beer. I doubt if they were Mon and Asyong for they drink Tiger beer.

I was not able to ask them their names. It just gets complicated to ask more questions. But it was nice talking with them (two other men joined the short conversation). They even recognized me on another day I walked past the resto.

-This is Kate F., now blogging from the Philpippine ;)

May 4: Riverside, Ancient Market, and Dinner

After a few minutes of walking, I was back at the riverside area near the Ancient Market...



...where I took more snapshots...



...including a macro shot...



...a shot of the Ancient Market itself...






...and the boy riding the golden carabao.



That night, we went to the cafe I first visited in Can Tho. The view was really good at the terrace at the second floor. Unfortunately, the only available table upstairs were reserved.

Snapshots again ;)

May 4: Foods and Walks

First stop: the cafe beside the one where we ate during my second night in Can Tho.

Food: Spaghetti. Meaty spaghetti.



Drink: Watermelon shake. It was written as "Melon Water Shake" in the menu. I thought it was melon, not the watermelon. Still good, anyway. And I loved the presentation. Aside from loving parsley and stars and rotondas, they also love stirrers.



I haven't been in a restaurant or cafe yet where they serve plain water. They serve iced tea here. The plain kind of tea, no sugar I guess, but I liked it. Weird, but good.



Then as I was about to leave the cafe, it drizzled. Fortunately, the rain did not pour hard yet that time. So off to some snapshots.









I was supposed to go to Can Tho museum. I asked a girl there and she said it would open at 2:00 PM. That was about 12:00 noon. Then I went to a bookstore.

Everything except classic novels for kids were in Vietnamese. It was amazing to see all their books in their own language. I saw Sophie Kinsella's novel in Vietnamese, also Freakonomics, Twilight (Cha Vang, if I remember it right), Eclipse, Harry Potter series, James Patterson books, and even magazines I only used to see in English! Amazing. And when converted to Philippine peso, they come cheap. Even hard bound economics books are cheap (especially when compared to prices in my dear country). If only they were in English, I could have bought some copies for myself.

Then I decided to have some dessert or early snack (weird sense of time) at the cafe at the grocery shop.





Ice cream of three flavors - durian, ube that tasted like kamote, and something like cheese (I couldn't figure it out exactly), with cream at the top, two cherries (I guess those were cherries. I don't eat cherries, but tried one of it, and it tasted weird, then I was not sure if it was a cherry.), and an ube mini stick-o. Great.




Going then gone =P

When I went back to the museum, I finally learned that it was closed. No museum on Mondays. So as not to dampen the spirit, I continued walking alone (despite the numerous offers of motorcycle ride, which I have not yet known how much to cost). Snapshots galore.


This really caught my eye. In a non-English speaking country (really, few people can converse beyond simple phrases), "That's something only love can do" really made me smile.

And more snapshots: pagoda. I tried to ask a lady if I could go inside the pagoda. No success. She could not understand me.





Then traversing Vo Van Tan street, I was nearing the riverside once again.

May 3: Dinner at Du Thuyen

Floating restaurant, it cruises along Hao River. With live performers singing Vietnamese songs, and a magic performance by a lolo.



At the riverside:


Ancient Market


The lights of Can Tho

Snapshots: