Saturday 16 December 2017

Chasing Waterfalls in Laos

Sabaidee (meaning greetings to your heart) from Laos!

Luang Prabang wasn’t exactly at the top of my travel list – until I started planning this trip, I had never heard of it. But I figured since I’d be so close to Laos in Vietnam and Cambodia, I might as well work it into the itinerary. While Luang Prabang may not have the name recognition of other cities in the region, it is definitely worth a visit. Here are my favorite things about it:

The town itself
European cafes and bakeries line the streets, and the architecture is a wonderful combination of French and Laotian, making it easy to see why the entire town is a UNESCO world heritage site. Dotted throughout are gorgeous Buddhist temples, gilded in gold with intricate artistic details. My hotel room keychain was even a local coin dated 1900 – about the size of a silver dollar. The entire town feels like you’ve gone back in time to colonial French Indochina (if you ignore the multitude of hammer and sickle flags flying on the main street. Fun fact: did you know that Laos is one of 5 remaining socialist countries?). The town sits nestled in a curve of the Mekong River, and is surrounded by the river on both sides so that it almost feels like a peninsula. The river views are unsurprisingly gorgeous and undeveloped.
River views of the Mekong

Vintage present day main street
The Kuang Si waterfalls
Outside of town – about a 45 minute tuk tuk ride away – are the Kuang Si waterfalls, which are without a doubt the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. The water is naturally an icy blue, and the sunlight coming through the jungle makes it sparkle. There is one main waterfall, but the real treat are a series of smaller waterfalls that empty into large pools in which you can swim. The area is clearly marked with where is safe to swim and where should be avoided. Despite the muggy weather, the water was pretty cold – to the point where a Polish woman upon entering just started screaming expletives until her body settled into the temperature (much to the amusement of the rest of us who were already in the pool and had shared a similar reaction). I would come back to Laos just to see these waterfalls again.
No swimming in this pool, unfortunately

Jungle paradise
The moon bears
Adjacent to the waterfalls is a moon bear conservancy facility, which you can visit and see the bears. Moon bears are small (for bears) – the second smallest bear species in the world (larger only than sun bears, and no, koalas aren’t actually bears). On the extinction scale, they’re listed as vulnerable, since they are poached for various body parts, or trapped and kept in horrible conditions at a farm that harvests their bile for use  in traditional medicine. These particular bears have all been rescued and don’t have the skills to live in the wild – one of them even has only 3 legs. They seem to have a pretty nice life here though – with plenty of companionship, treats, and toys. What made this such a cool experience to see is how active the bears were! Normally if you’re observing an animal in captivity, you’re lucky if they move around at all – usually they just sit there. But these bears were downright feisty – climbing all over the trees and the structures in their enclosures, looking for food, playing with each other, sniffing, eating, drinking, scratching. I stood there and watched them for close to an hour.
Unsurprising that the three legged one was my favorite
The temples
I love how different architectures for Buddhist temples have evolved around the world and over time, so each country has its own twist on what a temple should look like. Luang Prabang has one temple in particular that was stunning – Vat Xieng Thong, which apparently translates to Temple of the Golden City and served as the place for the coronation of Laotian kings back in the day. It’s a temple complex, with multiple buildings and stupas in the same area, with many of them are decorated with cut colored glass or semi-precious stones that makes everything sparkle, arranged in mosiacs depicting scenes from the sixteenth century. One of the buildings – the royal funerary carriage house - houses the most badass boat I think I’ve ever seen, which was the funeral barge for the monarchs of Laos, replete with multiple dragons with bared fangs at the bow.
Funerary barge bow
Royal funerary carriage house
Bejeweled temple mosiacs
Interior buddhas
The night market
Every night, the main street in town is closed off, and vendors set up tents with various local street food, handicrafts and souvenirs. I loved that so many of the goods being sold were clearly locally made rather than mass manufactured in China (though there were some of those things too). It’s also great how they do this every night of the year – not just on weekends. I spent all three of my nights in town wandering around the market, having a different fresh fruit smoothie (pineapple, ginger, lemon & mint was my favorite) and buying Christmas gifts for family and friends.  As for street food, the coconut “pancakes” (more like dough balls) are a favorite.

The massages
This isn’t specific to Luang Prabang – you can get cheap massages in any city throughout the region. In fact, I’ve treated myself to a massage almost every day of this trip. What I liked about the massages here, though, was that I didn’t see the evidence of the sex tourism industry that permeates the massage spas in Vietnam and Cambodia. A massage appeared to just be a massage. I’m not naïve enough to think that sex tourism doesn’t exist here, but it’s certainly less “in your face” than in those other places, where massages are advertised as $1 (where do the profits come from exactly?), and the women stand on the street whispering “I love you” and offering happy endings to any foreign-looking man who walks by.  I did my best to avoid these establishments and find (relatively) pricier, nicer places to patronize – it’s not that I’m concerned about being solicited, but I’d rather give my money to people who don’t offer those services rather than take advantage of the dirt cheap prices that their side line of work enables. Still, one of my massages in Cambodia ended with the woman kneeling between my legs, facing me and massaging my uppermost thighs for a good 3-5 minutes. I can only imagine that she doesn’t vary the sequence of her massage based on the gender of the recipient.

The butterflies
Next to the waterfalls is a butterfly park with thousands of local butterflies housed in an enclosure filled with flowers. Founded by some transplants from the Netherlands, they use the profits from tourist visits to fund programs for local schoolchildren – bring them to the park and teach them about biology, environmental conservation, and how to care for nature. In one corner of the butterfly enclosure, they have a shallow pond with chairs placed in the middle. The fish in the pond are very fond of eating indiscriminate organic matter, so if you sit on the chair and put your feet in the pond, the fish will nibble on the dead skin on your feet! I stayed in there for probably 10 minutes and couldn’t stop giggling – the nibbles tickled!

The foodThe French influence on food is very present here – even more so than in Vietnam. Croissants are everywhere. For lunch on my day in LP, I had a great local twist on French cuisine – buffalo fondue.  They brought over a red hot bucket of coals, placed a circular metal plate on top that was raised in the center and depressed around the rim, and poured soup broth into the dip in the rim. They gave me a piece of fat to place on top of the hump in the middle, which ran down and lubricated the metal below it. They also gave me a basket of ingredients for soup – glass noodles, carrots, mushrooms, leafy green herbs, green onions, cauliflower, tomatoes, and fresh garlic and chilis to season it. The idea for the fondue was that I would grill the meat on the metal hub in the middle, then put the soup ingredients on the side to cook and enjoy at my leisure. Combine that with a great view of the Mekong River, and it was one of my favorite meals of the trip so far.
Buffalo fondue
The hotel
This is the only city on my trip that doesn’t have an SPG property, so I was forced to look elsewhere for lodging. I stayed at a wonderful boutique hotel called Villa Maly and would recommend it for anyone who’s traveling to the region. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful – upon arrival, a very nice French woman (possibly the owner?) walked me through a map of the town and explained my options for common activities or day trips. The building is old – I’m guessing it’s from the colonial era, but has been well cared for.  It’s within walking distance from the main shopping area and night market, though far enough away to be quiet (except for the occasionally ambitious rooster who needs his voice to be heard). The beds were European style, but included mosquito nets, which I very much appreciated. I will admit I had a vivid dream my second night that I was being chased and almost captured by a man with a human-sized butterfly net, and awoke to find I had thrown my pillow across the room in the “struggle” with the mosquito net that must have prompted the dream (not to mention my visit to the butterfly park). Anyway, crazy dreams aside, the hotel was lovely.
Villa Maly Boutique Hotel

Tuesday 12 December 2017

Wat's Up, Angkor?


Many don’t realize that Angkor Wat is more than just a single temple in Cambodia (and apparently the largest religious monument in the world!). While the namesake temple is probably the most famous, it’s surrounded by miles of land containing many many more temples that make up the Angkor complex. The entire area was built up by various rulers of the Khmer Empire from the 9th century to the 13th century. The temples served important religious purposes but were also political in the sense that the presence of such a large complex added to the grandeur of the area as being the capital of the empire. 

If I have only one recommendation to make about Angkor Wat, it’s that you should go see it at sunrise. Yes, getting up before 5 am is never pleasant, but in this case, it’s worth it. The only downside is that you have to deal with other tired tourists who get (more than) a little cranky if you are perceived as encroaching on the turf they staked out from which to view the sunrise. You’d think that viewing such a beautiful spectacle in such a peaceful place would mean everyone would chill out a bit, but apparently not. Oh well. 
Angkor Wat at sunrise
The rest of the temples of Angkor Wat may not be as famous as the namesake, but they are all beautiful and interesting. I spent close to 3 full days exploring the complex and still feel like there was plenty more to see. Some of my favorites were: 

1. Bayon Temple
At the center of Angkor Thom, the last capital city of the Khmer empire, this temple is distinctive for its many towers (~54 of them), each with 4 faces of the Buddha aligned in the cardinal directions. According to my tour guide, the 4 faces represent compassion, equality, sympathy, and charity. The temple was built by king Jayavarman VII, who was responsible for or contributed to an enormous amount of the temples built in the complex. He was Buddhist, so the temple was originally built to honor Buddha, but a later king was Hindu and converted all of the Buddha statues to statues of Shiva or Vishnu. Later Buddhist kings didn’t change them back, so you can still see the Long ears of Buddha and the third eye of Hindu gods on the same stone. The name of the temple comes from a mispronunciation of the banyan tree, under which Buddha reached enlightenment. 
Banyon Temple

Relief carvings at Banyon Temple - showing troops marching off to war with the Mongols
2. Ta Prohm
Otherwise known as the “tomb raider temple” because of the scenes filmed here for the 2003 movie, this temple inspires even the dullest imagination. Ancient trees and vines are interspersed throughout the ruins, making it seem like the temple grew from the jungle itself. 
Ta Prohm 
3. Banteay Srei
One of the cool things about the temples around Angkor Wat is the mixture between Hinduism and Buddhism. This particular temple was built in the 10th century to honor Shiva, and its red sandstone exterior shows a surprising amount of detail in the carvings, given how old they are. It's farther away than most of the other temples - about 45 minutes away from Angkor Wat by tuk tuk - which means I got to see some beautiful Cambodian countryside.  They've also developed the site around the temple to include some other things - a local musical group, shopping, and an incredibly scenic boat ride with the option for fishing.
Banteay Srei

Pop quiz: Cambodian countryside or Microsoft Windows stock background photo?

Just think of me flapping in the breeze..

Side note: I started the day wearing these new comfy pants that I bought at a market the day before - they're basically these light cotton pajama pants with an elastic waist, elastic ankles, and vibrant colorful prints. All was well...until I maneuvered myself onto the boat, and heard a loud 'RIPPPP.'  Turns out the seams in the $3 pants weren't built for a lot of movement, so the entire crotch ripped, leaving my ass hanging out for all to see. So when you look at the photos from that halcyon boat ride, I hope you can share a giggle with me that those were taken amidst an inner monologue that was freaking out about how on earth I was going to exit the boat gracefully (note: I didn't). In that moment, I was extremely grateful that 1) I always carry a scarf in my bag when I travel, and 2) the aforementioned shops next to the temple carried an abundance of unripped $3 pants.

As for Siem Reap, it was clearly a city that runs on tourism. The night market area was a lot of fun to explore and reminded me a bit of Thailand. It even had the weird critters roasted on sticks for tourists' consumption. I decided I would be adventurous and try something new, so I ate snake (!!), but decided I'd rather eat one that was prepared by an actual restaurant rather than sold on a stick on the street. The snake wasn't bad, but it also didn't have a lot of flavor itself - it just absorbed the flavor of the sauce. The unpleasant thing about eating snake was that they didn't (perhaps couldn't?) remove the spine, so you had to pick around vertebrae to get the meat, and the meat was scarce nonetheless.  We ran into another group of Germans later that evening who bought and ate one each of the critters on sticks - apparently the crickets were the tastiest. Probably the only competition a cricket will win against a scorpion, right?
Sauteed sssssssssssssnake

Spiders and scorpions and snakes, oh my


Monday 11 December 2017

The Arrogance of Victory

Ho Chi Minh City's tourism activities focus around the Vietnam War and not much else. I remember studying the causes and progression of the war in high school and during my political science studies in undergrad, so was excited to be on the ground and see with my own eyes the current day perspective and remaining artifacts of such a formative conflict for our country and theirs.

First, I signed up for a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels outside the city. I opted to take a speedboat there on the river rather than a bus on the roads since the hotel concierge assured me it was worth the extra cost. The cruise was indeed quite scenic - it took ~90 minutes for us to get from downtown HCMC to the tunnels, and in that span of time the banks of the river went from densely populated industrial sites and city dwellings to lush greenery and the occasional home made of tin sitting on stilts. We passed by plenty of other boats - some carrying tourists like us, other larger ones carrying grains or metals piled high on top of their long flat hulls, and small fishing boats carrying one or two men each, sometimes with a motor, sometimes not, and often with a rope strung across the bow with laundry hanging to dry.   Indeed the concierge was right - the boat trip is the way to go.
View from the boat
The Cu Chi tunnels are one part of a sprawling network of underground tunnels dug by the Vietcong during the war, many of with precede the American war and were built during the war with the French in the 1940's. The tunnels were a way to hide from the GI soldiers, but they were so much more than that too. There were underground kitchens, medical facilities, and space for munitions production. The tunnels were also used as a way to ambush or escape pursuit from the Americans in the middle of a firefight - with tiny openings only known to the Vietcong that they could slip into a disappear.  Some other tunnels were built as decoys to trap US soldiers, or booby trapped to kill them. The entire woods system had been booby trapped, actually.

Demonstration of the small, hidden tunnels

Diagram of a typical tunnel system
I'm not sure what I had been expecting from the tunnel tour - something about the ingenuity of engineering and the resilience of the Vietnamese people, but the experience was much more upsetting than I had anticipated. First, the entire area is laid out like a tourist site, but the remnants of war are clearly still present, which feels...incongruous. The landscape is littered with holes - some large, some small, from bombs that were dropped here (some are even labeled).
Crater from a bomb dropped by an American B52 plane
Secondly, while the guide's narrative did indeed center around the impressive ingenuity of the Vietnamese people during the war, it came across not as "look at how smart we are to survive and win" but instead "look at how smart we were to kill so many GIs." It's an important distinction in my mind because the latter lacks the solemnity and respect due to the people who died fighting on these grounds.

At one point in the tour, the guide showed us a fake tunnel that had been built to lure in American soldiers, with booby traps promising a slow and painful death awaiting anyone who entered, regardless of which direction you turned. The guide smiles as he explains this to us, and invites us to jump in the hole and pose for photos. 

A few minutes later, we come across a US tank that has remained in the same spot in these woods since it was destroyed by the Vietcong in 1970. The tank is riddled with bullet holes, and I try to imagine who was inside when it was destroyed, and what may have happened to them. Then I turn around and to my horror, the guide is taking a family photo of some English people, instructing them to give the thumbs up sign as he snaps away. Do they not realize that a great tragedy took place here?
American tank, in situ
Later in the tour, the guide brings us to a place where they have set up examples of all of the different kinds of booby traps that were deployed across the woods and in the tunnels. As he triggers each trap with a bamboo pole, he squeaks in glee and says things like "whoops - that one would really hurt!" After that, he brings us to a shooting range within the grounds where you can pay to shoot various machine guns and rifles at a ridiculous mark-up. No, thank you, but my countrymen shot enough bullets here - I don't need to pay tourist prices to simulate the adrenaline rush for myself.
A long line of different deadly jungle traps
I was thankful to see that the other Americans on the tour weren't engaging with the guide on these activities either, and none of them posed for the cheesy photos at the upsetting points of the tour. In chatting with a few of them on the boat ride back to HCMC, I found out that they found it similarly surreal and upsetting.  At least I wasn't alone in my reaction.

I'm sure that at various points in American history - probably even today - we have institutionalized a tone-deaf, callous narratives about various wars that don't properly honor the sacrifices of the people who fought on the other side. History is written by the winners of conflicts, after all, and it's rare that America has found itself to not be the one holding the pen. How much of my reaction is fueled by unfamiliarity? Am I being a sore loser? 

I don't think so, despite the complicated nature of the war's causes, political motivations, and execution. While I wasn't alive at any point during the war in Vietnam, I've grown up in a world shaped by it. The war looms large even to this day in the minds of veterans, our military, our government, and the immigrant and refugee populations who remain in our cities. The political scientist in me understands at a high level why we engaged in conflict here, but I doubt many people would disagree that a lot seems to have gone wrong in the process. 

The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City took a similarly myopic view on the war. Unlike the tunnels which highlighted the "winning" strategies of the VC, this museum focused on the victimization of the Vietnamese people by American forces. Exhibits had titles like "Historical Truths" "Agent Orange Effects" and "War Crimes." The courtyard had a "tiger cage" on display, where Vietnamese soldiers were apparently kept in confinement as punishment. I could have sworn that I had learned in high school that American POWs were forced to spend time in these too. Photos displayed horrible birth defects caused by exposure to Agent Orange, and a handicapped man was sitting at the entrance to the exhibit like a living reminder, begging for money. Other exhibits named the specific American officers who led attacks on civilians. The wall would display their military portraits side by side with the faces of the civilians killed in the attack as a way of permanently shaming these officers or holding them accountable. I have no idea if these names and accounts have been independently substantiated, but the effect is sobering regardless.
Tiger cages
One of many exhibit captions with a similar tone

One interesting exhibit focused on the American anti-war movement. The overall message was something to the effect of "even people in your own country agree that you were a war-mongering, imperialistic force who attacked us unjustly." It showed photos of American men burning their draft cards, and called people like Roger LaPorte and others heroes for self-immolating in protest of the war. The entire exhibit reeked of self-satisfaction and failed to take into account the complexity and nuance behind the anti-war movement. It also ironically failed to acknowledge the beauty of the American system - that our citizens can freely express their views on a war their government is fighting. There's no way that the northern Vietnamese citizens could have enjoyed anything close to the freedom of speech that Americans did and do today. Nonetheless, I can only imagine how powerful these images of protest were to the Vietcong during the war itself.

Even to this day, the Vietnamese don't have the rights that I as an American take for granted.  I encountered one example of this during my day trip to Halong Bay outside Hanoi. I had paid a higher price (about double) to be placed in a small group tour, which the tour company defined as 12 people or fewer. The tour itself turned out be 17 people - I'm guessing that the tour company didn't have enough bookings to fill up the "small group" tour, and they didn't want to pay for an additional boat for just me so they could satisfy their promise to me, so they just put me with a slightly larger group (aka everyone who had booked that day) and hoped that I wouldn't notice. By the end of the day, I had figured out that everyone else on the tour had paid the lower price, and I felt like it was only fair that I email the tour company and ask them to refund the difference between the lower price and the price that I paid, since I didn't actually get what was promised. I tell the tour guide of my plan as I'm getting off the bus, and he pulls me aside - very concerned.  He tells me that he is a freelance tour guide, and if anyone complains about anything, this tour company will stop hiring him. I assure him I will make it clear that he did a great job, and I'm just frustrated about the size of the group, which was clearly the fault of the company, not him. He tells me that the company is run by "important people" and that they don't care what the cause for complaint was, or who was at fault - that they will always hold the tour guide accountable. He repeated several times "Things are different here than where you come from - you have to understand they don't listen to reason." He told me his total salary for the day had been $20, and he begged for me to take his salary instead of asking for a refund, so that he could at least retain the right to future jobs with this tour company. Of course I didn't take his salary, and I assured him that I wouldn't complain if it meant him losing his job.  We parted with him telling me he applies for a US lottery green card every year, and hopes one year he will actually win. The whole interaction left me feeling frustrated and sad for him, and served as a good reminder to me that I need to be more flexible with my expectations about things like customer service when I'm traveling in other countries.

As another reminder of Vietnam's socialist past and present, I visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum in Hanoi. Fun fact: according to my tour guide, Ho Chi Minh didn't actually want to be embalmed but specifically requested that he be cremated. After his death, the Soviet Union made a casual suggestion (read: instruction) to the Vietnamese government that it might be good for worker morale to have a mausoleum to visit, and since they're so adept at embalming (read: Lenin), they'd be happy to do the honors. So Ho Chi Minh is embalmed - against his wishes - and his body makes an annual trip to Russia even to this day from September 5 to December 5 for maintenance.
It's surprisingly difficult to find an appropriate facial expression for a selfie in front of a socialist dictator's mausoleum
All in all, I would highly recommend Vietnam as a place for Americans to visit. It's full of amazing food, gorgeous scenery, and friendly people. But it's also full of relatively recent and sometimes painful reminders of the role America plays in shaping world politics, and illustrates the hefty price that we pay for our freedoms. To me, these reminders only enriched my visit further, despite surprising and upsetting me along the way. I'd prefer to see history for what it really was, rather than what we'd like it to be, and seeing the other side of the story is necessary to gain that kind of perspective.

Halong Bay views













Tuesday 5 December 2017

The Ups and Downs of Globalization

I'm in Vietnam! My bag, on the other hand, is not.  So while I've spent today - Monday - exploring Ho Chi Minh City, I'm doing so in the same trusty leggings and t-shirt that I was wearing Saturday morning when I got dressed to go to O'Hare. Oh well - such is life. As my sister lovingly pointed out over text today, one benefit to traveling alone is that there isn't anyone to tell you how bad you smell. 

The Flights:
There's nothing like a 14-hour flight to make you lose faith in humanity's ability to pee accurately into a toilet. Aside from the stick floor situation on the flight thankfully I had everything else I needed to get through a long haul trip: an aisle seat, a decent movie selection, about a gallon of potable water, and my natural born ability to sleep in most circumstances.

I'm still unclear as to the rationale behind why you have to unplug your personally owned headphones from their entertainment system as part of preparation for landing, though the entertainment system is free to continue playing the movie for you.  You can still hear the announcements because the movie pauses for those. Maybe they're worried you're going to trip over the headphones if you had to evacuate? Hm. Either way, the choice that China Eastern Airlines made to not deliver my baggage because "there was too much luggage for the flight" is the most frustrating part of the entire experience - everything else is about par for the course.

The Layover:
This was my first time flying through Shanghai, and I admit I had a moment of "uh oh was I supposed to get a transfer visa" panic when it appeared that the directions for transfers were the same as people heading through immigration (turns out I was fine). 

Two of my items were pulled from my bag during the security scan - nail scissors from my makeup bag and my small Deloitte pocket USB charger. Apparently they won't let a lithium battery on the plane unless it is clearly market with its power capacity, and since this one was privately branded, it didn't make the cut. Ironically, the scissors did.

For those who are interested, you can purchase what appear to be recently deceased crabs from a glass case in the Shanghai airport. I'm still unclear on which countries have customs policies that would allow you to bring them with you, so maybe they're intended to be a mid-flight snack?



The Shopping:
I wasn't able to get to sleep until ~5 am, so I slept in as much as possible, then signed up for an afternoon tour.  I had just enough time before the pick-up to grab a coffee and then walk to the nearest lingerie store to buy some fresh underwear.  I google "lingerie store," see that one is 0.2 miles away and walk there. The building is a skyscraper with a few chain restaurants in the first level, so I look at the directory for a minute or so, probably looking confused about where to go. The security guard approaches me and asks if I need help, so I show her the name of the store I'm looking for on my phone. This confuses her a bit, so she brings over another security guard. Trying to be helpful, I say "shopping" and point to the name of the store again. This helps it "click" for them, so they then bring me to the security desk and ask me to sign in and get a visitor's badge, all the while giggling. I'm assuming that maybe lingerie is taboo, or perhaps the store I've selected carries a more risque type of product, but I remain hopeful I can find something that will suit my needs, since I don't have time to go to another store.

Fast forward to me being buzzed up to the 21st floor, where I exit and find myself in what appears to be the headquarters of a lingerie company, apologizing to the receptionist for wasting her time. Keep in mind I haven't seen a hairbrush or a fresh change of clothes in about 36 hours. Oh Google Maps, you rarely fail me, but when you do, at least it's entertaining.

A later shopping excursion in the afternoon to finally get a change of underwear reinforced my support of globalization, as I was able to find the same brands I buy back home. The Vietnamese people at the mall oddly didn't seem to be buying anything, but instead had a fascination with taking selfies in front of the Christmas decorations. It's been a while since I've been to a mall in the US, so perhaps this isn't just a local phenomenon?

The Food:
Vietnamese food in the US is usually represented by some combination of pho (for all of you wondering - it's pronounced "fuh") and bahn mi. As my first day here has confirmed, and my travels to other regions of the world have similarly illustrated, the American version of foreign foods are usually a watered down, selective perspective on the real thing. It's like we play culinary horseshoes where the stake in the ground is whatever appeals to the broadest possible American palette. 

We're not alone in this transgression - my instructor at my Vietnamese cooking class today told me that in her previous job at a local restaurant branded as a Canadian steakhouse (that's a thing?!), they would prepare the steaks in a marinade comprised of Vietnamese spices rather than traditional North American ingredients (presumably butter and cheese).

Anyway, the food here is wonderful! Between a giant hybrid Eastern/Western hotel buffet breakfast, lunch served as a family style smorgasbord shared with my tour-mates, and a private Vietnamese cooking class - I haven't had the same dish twice, and all of them have been amazing. What's more - none of them have been pho or banh mi.

Breakfast seemed to be catered to more Chinese tastes than Vietnamese, though they did have a custom noodle station (similar to an omlette station), along with dim sum, fried glass noodles, wontons, and more. I couldn't name the dishes I had during lunch, but they were some sort of fried fish, stir fried vegetables, a peanut chicken dish, some chicken wrapped around vegetables and served on top of a sweet sesame rice cake, and veggie spring rolls.

Dinner was a lot of fun - my instructor learned everything she knows about Vietnamese cooking from her mother, and was quick to keep me in line when I didn't follow her instructions to the tee. I learned that southern Vietnam (where I am now) tends to use more sugar in their cooking, the center of the country tends toward spicier, chili-based dishes, and the northern part of the country cooks things with more salty flavors. Tonight I learned how to cook three different dishes - a morning glory salad, crab/chicken/pork/sweet potato/mushroom spring rolls, and a caramelized pork in a clay pot. Everything was absolutely delicious, and I'm now trying to figure out which ingredients I need to bring home with me to recreate it accurately. Any suggestions on where I can buy morning glory (a vegetable) in Chicago would be much appreciated.

Spring rolls fresh out of the fryer

Salad in all its (morning) glory

The finished product


Update: My bag arrived early Tuesday morning, just in time for me to head to the airport to fly to Cambodia. 

Second post to come shortly about what I did during my stinky day in Ho Chi Minh City