Vibrant Vietnam in Outlook Money magazine

September 2017 issue

Food Trail

I ate my way through Vietnam and Cambodia, can feel the impact when I button my jeans. It was definitely one of the most drool worthy trips I have been on. My favourites, highly recommended:

1. Coconut Coffee, Hanoi  - If you're in Hanoi, a trip to Cong Caphe is a must. Their coconut coffee is the perfect refreshment after a long day of sight seeing. It is right beside St. Joseph's cathedral so the convenient location helps you tick off more one place from your 'To See' list.

Coconut Coffee

 2. Beef Pho, Hanoi - The Beef noodle soup at Pho Ly Quoc Su came highly recommended and did not disappoint. I'm not really into soups but this one was decadent. I could barley finish the entire bowl. I did manage to finish the beer :)

Beef noodle soup

 3. Chicken rice, Hoi An - Luckily, I came across a local that the chicken rice, Hoi An's specialty, at Com Ga is the best. It was a bit of a walk but well worth it. Chicken rice is served with salad and soup, definitely a wholesome meal.

Chicken rice

 4. Fresh Tra Que Salad - I rented a cycle and explored Hoi An's neighbouring villages. Tra Que Village, a herb garden has a lovely restaurant. On my server's recommendation, I tried their salad which contained fresh veggies and herbs picked right from the garden. It had a light, delightful flavour. This was the first time that I had just salad as main course!

Tra Que salad

 5. Fish Amok and a chilled pint of Angkor - After visiting a couple of somber attractions back to back, I needed a change. While walking on the Preah Sisowath Quay close to the Royal Palace, I decided to have lunch at Kings' restaurant. The waiter highly recommended Fish Amok - a Khmer specialty. It came in a coconut shell bursting with flavours.

A pint of Angkor helped me cool down.

Fish Amok

 6. Khmer Green Curry - I could not wait to get started on my all time favourite  -  seafood Green Curry. The Khmer version was flavourful, full of fresh veggies and chunks of calamari, prawns and fish. The picture says it all.

Khmer Green curry

7. Bear pudding - After a long and tiring day in Hue, I came across this busy little Cafe called Toto's close to the Night market. It was buzzing with locals and I thought of checking it out. Their unique chocolate flavoured Teddy Bear pudding is lip smacking good.

Bear Pudding

Street Culture

Spoilt for choice!

Although Vietnam is not the first South Asian country that I have visited, it is the only place where I felt that life really thrives on busy city roads. From gold fish to meat to flowers to fruits to food to clothes, you can get it all, on a sidewalk. As part of Tet traditions, I saw many Vietnamese even burning paper goods on the road side.

Burning paper - Tet traditions

The variety of food and sweets' options that you can get on the side of the road are plenty and delicious. I tried mango cakes, doughnuts, sweet garlic bread, the famous bahn mi (sandwich) and other dishes that I cannot remember the names for, from street sellers/ vendors while travelling through the country. In fact, I went overboard and slightly over budget because of this.

Chicken feet!

The eating spree continued in Cambodia. There were road side food stalls here and there but not as many as Vietnam. Seeing meat being sold openly in a vegetable market was an unusual sight. That would never happen in India. Perhaps, the vegetarians there were a lot more relaxed or never ventured to such local markets. Barbequed beef was being sold on a few busy road corners next to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. 

My favourite road side treat was nutella pan cakes from a street vendor on the busy intersection of the vibrant Night market street and Pub street. I went and had those every night while I was in Siem Reap.  Highly recommended!

Given the high temperatures and humidity some of these places experience and how the meats are kept outside for a long duration, the food was impeccable. I did not fall sick even once. 

Now back in India, I see plenty of road side vendors selling eatables every day. The irony is that while growing up, I was told not to eat from any of them for fear of falling ill.

Of Flowers and New Beginnings

Bringing in 2017 with roses

Vietnam has a unique way of bringing in the New Year, ushering it in with flowers. It is also one of those few countries in the world where there is a complete shutdown for a week around this time. 

I was advised against travelling around Tet, the Vietnamese New Year because of this. Restaurants, tourist attractions, shops, transport - everything comes to a halt as people go home to celebrate with their loved ones. In hindsight, it is THE best time to visit the country. 

Of course, I would still advise making your travel plans in advance for the two days leading up to Tet and a couple of days following it. Prices for everything including transport shoot up at this time.

The festivities, lights and bright flowers draw you in. Flower markets pop up everywhere, roads are lit up (similar to the Western countries around Christmas), Christmas trees stand tall with their decoration in late January which is a very rare sight, peach blossom trees in the north and apricot blossom trees in the south are lined up for sale pretty much everywhere.  As soon as I headed out of Hanoi airport, I saw this pink flowered, lean tree being carried by people on their bikes, trucks transporting them and each shop and house having it at the entrance. I was curious and asked my driver in sign language and a few words in English about the tree's significance. He told me that they believe that the peach blossom tree keeps evil spirits away.

Flowers to be planted in the city centre

Later in the day, I walked around the city centre visiting a couple of tourist sites, spotting this gorgeous tree many times. While sipping into delicious coconut coffee at Cong Caphe, I met Irma, a chemist from Holland. We got talking and decided to explore the bustling city together. 

Flowers around Hoan Kiem lake

Hoan Kiem lake is situated in the heart of the city. It was beautifully lit; the pagoda in the middle bursting with colourful hues of light from a distance. We walked around the length of the lake taking in the sights and sounds along the way. We even came across five different newlywed couples getting clicked at various points along the lake. Was that a sign? Irma and I joked. We could not get enough of the blanket of flowers along the length of the lake. It was a spectacular sight.

Wedding season or so it seemed

Another newly wed couple

When I arrived in the otherworldly town of Hoi An, the flowers welcomed us.  Apricot blossom trees were lined up on both sides of the road along with many other varieties, up for sale. I cycled through the flower market, breathing in their sweet aroma, a welcome relief from the motorbike smoke.

Passing through the flower market

Paul Theroux has recommended the train journey from Hoi An to Hue in one of his books. This is the only reason I went to Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam. The flowers on my way from the train station brightened up the otherwise dreary day. After a cruise down Perfume river, I went over to the ancient town. There was a huge flower market right outside the citadel full of hustle and bustle.

The citadel in Hue

While we tend to bring in the new year with parties and get together's involving a lot of booze and food, the Vietnamese add these pretty flowers to the mix. Keeping away evil spirits or not, they definitely do brighten up the day which would inevitably lead to a good start to the year.

2017: Year of the Rooster

New Year sign in Hanoi

I just got back from a much awaited trip to Vietnam. Although our New Year was long over and forgotten; while there, I would come across multiple 'Happy New Year' or 'Happy Tet' wishes in the form of large billboards or flowers everywhere on a daily basis. I was visiting close to the Vietnamese New Year: Tet and the Chinese Lunar Year after all.

Flowers of all colours and varieties; varieties that are hard to come by in a large country like India. All major roads and monuments had been lined up with multi coloured lights and beautiful, freshly cut flowers. Besides all the lovely flowers, there was something else that kept reminding me of its forgotten presence (at least in my world). The rooster. 

Chilling with the hen folk in Hue

I saw it walking around uninhibited on busy side walks amongst  hoardes of people, with an army of chicks in the quiet country side or simply lazying around inside houses. I am not sure if it was because this is the rooster's year or if it is that common or a lucky sign that I kept seeing it. Nevertheless, it surely made its presence known. No matter which part of the country I was in, I would wake up to its crow at the break of the dawn. Instantly reminding me that I was somewhere else.

At the airport check in counter

And when it was not waking me up, it would show up in the uncanniest of circumstances!

Follow the chicken - Cu Chi, Ho Chi Minh city tour guide