In HCMC... Still here... Still hot!

I didn’t think it was possible for it to get hotter in HCMC. It rained today. Holy crap it’s humid here!

Being the creatures of habit we are we returned to our favorite French bakery for breakfast. With some food in our belly we headed to Notre Dame Cathedral. It is the smaller much more watered down version of its French predecessor. We saw two wedding parties having their pictures taken out front. The bride’s dresses were no good at all. In total, on this entire trip, we have seen 8 wedding parties. Last Saturday in Hong Kong we saw six. After trying on my suit coat, last night, I decided it was too big. We headed back to the tailor fomr some alteration. After some pins were placed and some chalk marks were made we finally found the proper fit. The alterations would take five hours, so it was time to take in another sight or two. We headed to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. This truly was an amazing sight! The beautiful and intricate woodwork was amazing. I tried to capture its beauty with my camera, but I think this is an impossible task. The incense permeated the interior and made for a very exotic ambiance. After our holy experience we headed back towards the market area. On our return it began to pour rain... and I mean pour! We ducked inside a restaurant, had a seat, and ordered some beer. Neither Angi nor I speak a lick of Vietnamese. Our waiter spoke hardly any English, but some how we started a very slow conversation with him. He would stumble through a question; we would translate an answer. This went on for quite some time before his friend who spoke better English joined us. It wasn’t too much longer before the restaurants manager joined the conversation. It was still slow and steady. It was like a scene from The Foreigner. Before we knew it there were six restaurant employees standing around while we tried to make conversation. It was quite a spectacle. I would ask them a question... there would be lots of chatter amongst the group... The waiter that spoke better English would answer our question and ask one in return. Angi and I would chatter amongst ourselves and then answer their question. This went on for quite some time. We could have sat their all night, but my finished suit jacked was waiting, so it was back to the tailor for us. It ended up raining for about an hour.

Tomorrow we depart HCMC at 2pm bound for Hanoi. I think we are both ready to leave this cluster fuck! I want to get a T-shirt that says: I went to HCMC and didn’t get hit. Anyone that has been here before will understand. Crossing the street here is a grueling and heart pounding experience. The traffic never stops there are only lulls. This means you just have to cross with traffic rushing around you. This was very unnerving the first three days we were here, but now it is almost fun to cross the rushing river of mopeds, busses and bicycles.

If you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen!

After a quick snack at our favorite French bakery it was off to cooking class. After a twenty minute cab ride we arrived at The Vietnam Cookery Center. Our teachers name was Jasmine. Luckily, there were just four of us in the class Angi, me and a really nice couple, Monica and Cam, from Perth. We prepared three courses. I am proud to announce that I now know how to make spring rolls, and I have the certificate to prove it. The second course was sour fish soup and the third course was caramel fish. Our creations were delicious; however they gave us sour stomach. We both find it ironic that the only time we have cooked in the last week made us feel icky. The class was a wonderful experience that we will soon not forget. After class we headed back to our room for some reprieve from the heat. At 5pm we had an appointment to pick up our garments at the tailor. I now own a suit. It’s very classic and sharp. Tonight, we had a craving for bland western food. A couple we met from Missouri during our fitting at the tailor shop recommended Mogambo. The restaurant is owned by a loud, heavy set Vietnamese woman who once lived in Honolulu. The place was full of white people from all over the Northern Hemisphere. Angi and I both had chicken cordon blue and a 7up. We feel much better. Tomorrow is our last full day in HCMC, but we do not have any plans yet. I am sure some new and exciting adventure will find us!

Hot & sticky in Ho Chi Minh City

We are in Ho Chi Minh City. We departed Hong Kong on Tuesday evening at about 9:30pm and arrived in Vietnam at 11:00pm. We got to experience the new international first class seat and internment system. It is really nice! The entertainment system is a huge improvement over the current system. I think we both suffered culture shock upon our arrival. Going from clean, couture Hong Kong to this mess is a shock to the system. After checking-in at the An An Hotel we were ready to test our beds. They worked.

We awoke Wednesday morning ready to tackle HCMC. The city is as tangled up as the phone wires that hang above every sidewalk (a photo will be posted to explain upon my return to US.) We did not have to look far to find the French influence. Breakfast was at a smart looking French bakery not far from our hotel. After a lovely Croque-monsieur it was off to the Ben Thanh Market. It was here that I found the perfect tailor to make me a suit. After discussing fabrics and styles we were escorted across the street to a small tailor shop not far from the market. Rebecka aka Flowerhead had sent me a picture of a classic looking simple suit. I showed the tailor the picture and specifications and left the rest in his capable hands. I pick the finished product up tomorrow at 5pm. After measurements were taken we headed towards Reunification Park. Unfortunately, the park was not open yet so we headed to a nice restaurant for refreshments and spring rolls. I forgot to mention this but it is ficken hot and muggy here. Even the Vietnamese say its hot and they are accustomed to this shit. After our light lunch we headed back to the park and to Reunification Palace. The palace once was the capital of South Vietnam. It was built in the 1960’s and the architecture portrays that. After 1 one hour tour it was off to the War Remnants Museum. It is a documentation of the Vietnam War told from the Vietnamese prospective. I must admit some of the pictures, portrayals and stories are hard to swallow others are purely communist propaganda. After the very heavy experience of the war museum it was off to the Rex Hotel for beer and what turned into an improtu bland dinner. I had been feeling queasy all day so I had a club sandwich. It was terribly bland, but probably right what I needed. After dinner, it was back to the tailor for a quick fitting of the jacket which was half done. We were back in our room by 9pm. Time to relax in an air conditioned environment.

Today we awoke with plans to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. We boarded a large tour bus with about 30 other people and began the 1.5 hour journey to Cu Chi which sits just a short distance from the Cambodian border. The Cu Chi tunnels are a series of tunnels built by the Viet Cong during the war to hide from the Americans, The tour was very interesting. We got to see torture devices devised by the VC to use against the “aggressors.” On the bus ride back to HCMC we met a couple of guys from Farmington, MN. They were on a two month long journey through Asia. Sharing stories of all of our travels abroad helped the bud ride zip along. Back in HCMC we headed back to the tailor so Angi could have a tunic made. While she was discussing the design I got to try my finished pants on. Oddly, they fit like they were designed specifically for me. Dinner was at Quan An Ngon, a delicious Vietnamese restaurant. Angi accidently ordered crab. Getting the meat out of the crab shell is an obscene amount of work, but it was delicious. We ate the crab as an appetizer. I had beef and noodles and Angi had shrimps. The food was very good. After dinner we decided to head to the Caravell Hotel. The Caravell offers cooking classes. We must be in class tomorrow morning at 9:30am. I am really looking forward to learning some Vietnamese cooking technique. As we were leaving the hotel we ran into this group of four kids from New Zealand that we had met at the tailor yesterday. We all decided to have a drink at the top of the Sheraton. The bar sits on the 23rd floor and the Sheraton is one of the highest buildings around, so the view is quite good. We certainly enjoyed the company of our new kiwi friends. Another lovely day in Vietnam!

Hong Kong Day 3

Breakfast was at Luk Yu Tea House. It is a small dank second floor dim sum restaurant. Call me dim but I have never dined at a dim sum restaurant where you order your “pieces” like you would in a sushi restaurant. We sort of botched our order. I just assumed all servings were of one piece. I don’t know why on Earth I though this. So there I was putting a number 2 under quantity for each item. Needless to say what we got was a shit ton of food. At one point one of the waiters smiled and said too much in a heavy Chinese accent. It turned out to be our only meal of the day, so perhaps we did order the right amount in the end. Along with tea and dim sum we had a couple of beers which was refreshing.

Much to our surprise and pleasure the weather turned out to be the clearest it is has been since we arrived in Hong Kong. We decided a trek up Victoria peak would offer better viewing than on our previous visit, so we headed for the Peak Tram. The wait for the tram was significantly shorter compared to the wait we experienced on Saturday. Our decision was smart. The viewing conditions were dramatically better. We could see the whole of Kowloon. The conditions continued to improve while were up there. We could begin to see further and further away. After 45 minutes on the terrace we decided to relax and have a drink. Just two floors down was a nice bar with an amazing view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. After our refreshment we headed back down to the city.

It was time for more relaxation in our room. After our exhausting day in Kowloon on Sunday we were ready for some ass time. We got caught up on our Oscar news. At some point we both fell asleep. When I woke up it was dark our and Angela had a sour stomach. She decided to stay in, but I wanted to stroll around a bit.

I headed towards the Central District. After quite a long walk I stopped at this nice bar, Volume, had a couple beers, got a couple of new facebook contacts, and met some natives. The night was complete with a brisk walk back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel and some shut eye.

Kowloon

We got an early start Sunday Morning. We walked from our Hotel to the Flying Pan, yes, a play on words, a small 24 hour eatery serving authentic American and English breakfast food. It was tasty. Their coffee is quite thick and bottomless.

Hong Kong is home to the world’s longest covered escalator. It’s actually a series of 29 escalators and moving sidewalks. It was built to accommodate commuters who live in the mid level, hence its name, Central-Mid-Levels Escalator, and work in the Central district. We jumped on Escalator, just around the corner from the Flying Pan, and were able to utilize the escalator in conjunction with Hong Kong’s unparalleled skyway system to get from the eatery to the Dock of the Star Ferry.

The Star Ferry is basically a bus on water. It is the mode of public transportation that connects Hong Kong Island with Kowloon. The cost of the ride is about 20¢. We arrived in Kowloon and were almost instantly solicited to buy watches and have clothes tailored. This was the beginning of a trend that seems standard in Kowloon. We immediately headed toward the Tsmi Sha Tsui Promenade. The Promenade is where the famous pictures of Hong Kong are taken; you know the ones, with the fantastic Hong Kong skyline sitting behind a sailboat with three very oriental looking sails. We tried to enjoy the view, but it was so very hazy that it was possible to barley make out the outline of the skyscrapers.

Directly in front of the promenade sits the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We entered the museum right at opening thus becoming, for a few minutes at least, the only patrons in the museum. My favourite installation was a series of about 10 mailboxes that the artist had “gathered.” Inside each mailbox was some sort of audio device. When we held our ear up to the mailbox we could hear the sounds that the artist heard from the location where the mailbox was found.

After the museum we decided to stroll up Nathan Road, the artery of Kowloon. Nathan Road is chalked full of shopping and on this Sunday afternoon was packed. I would compare Nathan Road to NY’s 5th Avenue but I feel that Nathan Road is quite a bit shabbier. We found reprieve in Kowloon Park. Also, very busy, but very nice. We relaxed our feet before proceeding to the Yue Hwa Chinese Emporium. The emporium is six blissful stories of crap. They had everything from dragons carved from jade to wheelchairs. It was a bit overwhelming. After taking in as much of the emporium as we could we decided to head to the Peninsula Hotel.

The Peninsula Hotel is apparently the oldest hotel in Hong Kong. It truly is elegant. Our main reason for visiting the hotel was to take high tea. At precisely 2pm we were sat at a small table in huge lobby of the hotel. We ordered a specialty cocktail, high tea for two and an order of spring rolls. My cocktail, I don’t even remember what was in it, was so completely refreshing I cannot describe it justly. The spring rolls were probably the best I have ever had. The high tea was very traditional. A tower of three platters was delivered with dessert on top, finger sandwiches in the middle and the best looking scones I have ever seen on the bottom. The service was impeccable. We relaxed at our tea table for two hours. We both decided that we need to hang out in Kowloon until nightfall so we could hopefully see the awesome view of Hong Kong Island at night.

We set out to explore Kowloon. We walked for a while until we came upon a small tranquil city park with a soccer field and a game in progress. After finding Nathan Road again we headed deeper into Kowloon in search of the Goldfish and Flower Markets. It took us a while but we finally found the block long goldfish. I can safely say I have never seen so many goldfish in my life. Along with goldfish it is also possible to purchase other household animals at the market such as dogs and cats. A block beyond the goldfish market is the flower market. His market extends for many blocks. After surveying what we think was the entire market we purchased a flower for our hotel room. Night had fallen by this point so we decided to head back to the harbour to enjoy the view of Hong Kong at night. Kowloon, at night, is set ablaze in neon. As we reached the harbour we were disappointed to see that it was still too hazy to clearly see Hong Kong.

Once again we jumped on the Star Ferry and headed back to Hong Kong Island. Kowloon is very vibrant and we really enjoyed our time there but both of us agree that we prefer Hong Kong Island.
We figure we put on about 20 miles walking all over Hong Kong. Our feet are still tingling this morning. Its about 10am Monday morning and we about to head out for dim sum. Today, we are going to take it easy and explore neighbourhoods closer to our hotel.

Hong Kong

After the 16 hour flight from Chicago we arrived in Hong Kong at about 6:15PM on Friday. I was quite surprised that the flight didn’t feel as long as I thought it would. Immigrations and customs was a breeze. The Hong Kong airport is very nice! The train to the city is about 300 feet from the exit of customs. We didn’t get to experience that whole groggy, glossy eyed, where the fuck is the train to the city, feeling you normally feel when you arrive in a foreign land. Very clear signage! Thank you Hong Kong.

The duration of train ride to the Hong Kong station was about 30 minutes. We walked of the train, walked outside and there was the shuttle for our hotel. Geez! Could this get any easier? Twenty minutes later we were checking into the Cosmopolitan Hotel. The first room they gave us was on the 18th floor, which we thought was exciting, until we got there. There was a window but it had a thick protective frosted layer. It looked like something one would install in a bathroom window to prevent voyeurs. We rang the front desk and inquired if the perhaps had a room with a view, they did, we moved. Now we are on the 21st floor with a room of Victoria Peak and Hong Kong cemetery. The bell-hop explained that the hotel’s Chinese quests get freaked out by the view of the cemetery, so they have glazed the windows in certain rooms.

We woke up several times during the night and finally decided to actually get up around 7. We left the hotel and headed towards the Central District. On our way down the hill we walked through a market. There were absurd amounts of fresh fish. I mean fresh fish as in they were still flopping. I would have to say the amount of fish rivalled the offerings at Pike Market in Seattle. We found a small bakery in the middle of the market and got a couple of small sandwiches. Mine was a square egg with ham on soft sweet breads. Angela’s was beef with lettuce on soft bread with sweet mayonnaise.

We left the market and headed to Statue Square. The square sits directly in front of HSBC’s world headquarters. Ok, I never knew this but HSBC stands for Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation. The Hong Kong dollar bills have the HSBC logo on them. This bank is very important to Hong Kong. The bank issued the colony’s first bank notes, so I suppose the HSBC name has always been on HK bill. The building is quite impressive, but not quite as impressive as the Bank of China building which is just to the left of HSBC. The Bank of China building is probably the most famous buildings in Hong Kong. It looks like a finger pointing at the sky. It has a criss-crossing pattern that works up the side. Apparently it’s supposed to represent bamboo, but I don’t see it. We walked through Chater Garden, which is one of many beautifully maintained parks in Hong Kong. They had some sort of live matchmaking stage show. We watched it for a few minutes then darted as they were speaking Chinese, we didn’t know what the hell was going on. When we walked by the park an hour later everyone on stage was wearing a cowboy had and they were line dancing. We headed up the hill and snaked our way to the HK Zoological and Botanical Gardens. It was really beautiful. Oh, I forgot to mention.. The weather here is perfect.. Perfect temperature, perfect amount of humidity. We had been walking all morning and decided we were hungry.

We ate at Zen in the Pacific Place Mall. The mall (and I hate malls) is beautiful. Very upscale. Everyone seemed to be enjoying dim sum but we ordered meals. I had some sort of spicy chicken peanut dish and Angela ordered deep dried chicken. They were both good. I enjoyed the ambiance of Zen very poshy shiek. The restaurant is circular. We sat on the outside of the circle. Dividing the inner circle from the outer circle was a series of taught wire with big green emeralds all the way around. It was very pretty.

After lunch, we decided to head up to Victoria Peak, the highest peak in Hong Kong. To get there you must take a tram. The tram is on cable system. So there is this big thick cable which latterly pulls your tram up the hill. At one point in the ride the tram is almost vertical. That section made me slightly uneasy. I took comfort in the big sign at the tram station that said they have gone 100 years without an accident. By the time we waited in line and rode the tram up the weather had turned really hazy so the view was not that good. It was still very worth the trip. We spent about 45 minutes on the promenade and then decided to head back to the hotel. Down the hill via the tram. I closed my eyes on the vertical portion and hoped for the cable to stay intact.

We planned on relaxing, taking a nap, and then taking in HK night life. I don’t remember this but when the alarm went off (around 8PM) I swore, turned it off, and rolled over. The next thing I remember is waking up at 3AM! Oh well, tonight we will try again.

Classic

While investigating a crime scene McNulty & Bunk express themselves using only one word.
The Wire. I, along with a lot of other people, highly recommend it!

Biscuits

Before


After

I had a craving for Luciles's baking power biscuits, but with the current economy I simply could not justify walking down there and frivolously spending money on biscuits! I pulled out the encyclopedia of creative cooking and taa dah on page 102 is a recipe for biscuits and lo and behold ! I had all the ingredients.

Biscuits
2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
About 3/4 cup milk
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Mix in shortening only until mixture is crumbly. Add most of milk; stir to mix. Add more milk as needed to make the dough soft but not too sticky to knead. Knead dough gently on lightly floured surface 10 to 12 times. Form into ball. Pat or roll dough to 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Cut into squares with knife. Place on un-greased baking sheer: 1 inch apart for crusty biscuits ; together for softer biscuits. Bake at 450F 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.