What it is I do not know. Nor do I want to find out, right now. Wildlife is best left alone, methinks. Vung Tau, Vietnam 2019
Month: November 2019
Why does ‘good’ often taste so bad?
The lovely ladies here reckon I need something healthier than iced coffee, BBQ scallops and Tiger beer.
Hence: rau má, AKA pennywort or Centella asiatica.
I gave it a go: ever imagined what the water would taste like after you’ve hosed underneath the lawn mower?
I doubt even vodka could save this stuff.
I’m now viewing Australia’s V8 juice in a whole new light …
– Vung Tau, Vietnam 2019
Fare’s fair: travel smart
#TravelSmart: why give that extra money to Qantas if the flight is Jetstar anyway? If needed, buy a Jetstar fare with extra baggage allowance.
Always check the better offerings from Vietnam Airlines, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Australia to Bali etc.
Travel smart and travel happy.
Virgin Air’s Bali bargain
Anyone for Bali?
Virgin Australia has fares $299 one way and $499 return Melbourne to Bali to mark the launch of the airline’s new route. It includes 23kg of baggage – that’s a great price. The economy fares are on sale until Monday November 25, for when the flights start March 29 next year 2020.
If you’re Bali bound, I’d be checking it out:
Website: virginaustralia.com
Instagram: @virginaustralia
Sold on the performance
Olivier, Gielgud, Jacobi, This Old Duck: the great performances of our time. The weathered, forlorn face and the old, crooked body … irresistible to the successful young couples in Vung Tau on their weekend break from HCMC – they just have to stop and buy a bag of peanuts or fruit. And insist she keep the change. After they leave, Old Duck cracks a knowing smile and has a little giggle to herself, strategically rearranges her basket of goods, and then returns to pose: forlorn face, crooked body … When she has only a few bags left, a couple will do her a favor and buy the lot. Old Duck then collects her baskets, hobbles around the corner with surprising speed, and returns fully reloaded with peanuts and fruit. The show goes on. Hahaha Bless her soul!
Monkey versus Flea. Flea is winning.
“Whose idea was it for me to wear ‘hair product’?” A pet monkey would be fun … but I believe they are best left in their natural habitat, where we can still watch and enjoy them. Vung Tau, Vietnam 2019
Where locals live, laugh and eat together
Wood smoke, big pot boiling meat, cool sea breeze: stroll down a narrow hem (laneway) off the busy main road, and discover an open enclave where the locals live, laugh and gather to eat as a community. Hidden in the heart of tourism, Back Beach Vung Tau, Vietnam
The taste test: pass with distinction
Does this look good to you? It sure tastes good to me.
See the bowl of sweet chilli dipping sauce? It packs a tickle more than a punch, but the red/orange chilli bits can be little “Smokin’ Joe Fraziers”, and best treated with respect.
The pork chops are thin, juicy, almost boneless and grilled with a salty/sweet marinade (brown sugar and fish sauce?).
The SE Asian egg is full of taste (think of Australian fresh farm eggs pre-1980s) and, mixed with the steamed rice, is a meal in itself.
Cucumber and tomato (yes, again with flavor) are the healthy bits.
Good lunch for USD2.15/AUD3.15.
– Vung Tau, Vietnam, 2019
The old ways are still good ways
Sometimes the “old ways” are best: a cyclo rider and his passenger stop to buy fresh produce from a street fruit vendor’s hand cart. Vung Tau, Vietnam 2019
An apple a day … goes well with iced coffee
She’ll be apples: crunchy, not too sweet, and delicious. Vietnam’s little green apples, táo, add “healthy” to the breakfast of iced coffee with sweetened milk, and trà da (weak iced tea). I’ll skip on the little sachet of dipping chili salt mix (muôi ót) that South-East Asians cherish on their fruit.
Haxtrax 