One of my most enjoyable evenings in Saigon recently had me go out for a evening scooter tour of the city. It was so much fun! As you may know, there are a good few motorcycles to be found in Ho Chi Minh City, and although the traffic is awful for locals it can be quite an amazing experience for visitors. So when the opportunity came along for me to join the throngs and go out on the back of a Vespa motorbike I was in! Wiihooo!
After being picked up at 6pm by my trusty driver off I went to join a group of seven others and together we would spend the evening going between small bars and wonderful local restaurants.
There were no menus, and no choice of food was given as each place provided a local delicacy or local dish which it specialised in. After looking over the available ingredients, which included a range of shellfish, crabs and frogs etc. we were served an amazing range of beautifully prepared noodles and shellfish soup; and that was just at the fist restaurant!
After our first ‘course’ we hopped back on the bike and zoomed across town to a bar for a refreshing cocktail, and I enjoyed a lovely Mojito! Lush. After the quick break off we went again, this time stopping at an amazing local pancake street-restaurant. I have never seen a place quite like it! Surrounded by metal tables and a sea of blue plastic chairs locals seemed to be enjoying the most beautiful prawn and salad pancakes I have seen. The simple kitchen was run by two (seemingly heat-proof) ladies who masterfully wielded a number of saucepans and batter above their relentless flaming stoves.
We all watched for a while before being ushered to our table and served an amazing spread of delicious crispy, salty, fresh seafood pancakes. Our guide explained how to prepare and enjoy each mouthful, and told what to wrap in what order. Apparently there is a fine art in creating the perfect mouthful, which I am not sure any of us really mastered, but we thoroughly enjoyed trying anyway!
After finishing our meal, which included not only pancakes but also a never ending supply of drinks, fried spring rolls, fresh spring rolls, and bbq beef we finally finished – stuffed but happy. Time then to get back on the bike to a small cafe for a local coffee before finishing at a local disco! Fun!!
What an awesome way to finish my trip to Ho Chi Minh City – even the frog was tasty! I seriously can’t wait to go back!
Tyler did a video of his Vespa trip with the Magnificent tour earlier this year.
[wpvideo iNlHuNJ3]
That looks like a lot of fun.
If you like Vietnam, Hanoi, culture and coffee, then it is huge fun 😉
Vietnam is a wonderful country. I lived there for 5 years and married a Vietnamese woman (and am going back soon).
I built a Vietnamese language course which I’ve used to help dozens of expats learn Vietnamese quickly. Check it out:
http://www.udemy.com/learn-to-speak-vietnamese-like-a-native
Reblogged this on A Love For Vietnam.
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