My day...

Today has been an amazing day. It's not very typical but now that I know it's there I aim to make it so.

Aubrey woke me up at 7am this morning because we had a few things we wanted to before they left. Their flights were at 11:30am and we didn't have much time before they had to check in so we headed out pretty early. Early on Cao Đạt is pretty amazing. There are so many things that happen on our street in the morning. For example, there are so many more street food vendors. They all serve breakfast, some form of noodle soup, and there are so many Vietnamese people who stop for a bite on their way to work. Taxi drivers who'd rather sit and eat than accept a fare. Women in their beautiful Ao Dai's on their way to work. Xeom drivers who would gladly throw away their food in order to take you somewhere but fight with you while you negotiate a price. AND..and...a market in a nearby hem. It's amazing. There are women selling vegetables, fruits, fresh meat and cured meat, fresh fish, squid, shrimp, clothes, dishware, lacquerware. It's pretty amazing. What's even more amazing is how cheap everything is. I know I constantly say this but my mind was blown today. I bought cucumbers, a dozen limes, zucchini, parsley, chives, AND an entire red snapper. It was swimming around miserably in a tiny tank with 4 other fish so I decided to rescue it from its misery and eat it. It was delicious. For $2usd they cleaned and cut it for me, after they saw me visibly freak out when handed a freshly bashed (yes they bashed it's head to kill it) fish. Helen and I spent the entire day eating fish and watching movies. It was so simple and relaxing.

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Update: As of today Monday, March 19, I'm even more in love with this hem. I took Helen there this morning. We had Bun Cha Hanoi, which is Hanoi style vermicelli with grilled pork, for breakfast. Normally each part of the dish is served in its own bowl but at a street food stand its easier to put it all in one bowl. She also served it with a cha gio (fried spring rolls with pork and seafood) and I thought Helen might die of happiness. I wasn't AS happy only because we sat on the street (almost literally because the stools were so low to the ground) and there was barely any room for my legs and I kept thinking about my pins and needles. Other than that this morning was fantastic. I bought another red snapper and a pork loin along with some carilla (bitter melon). The carilla is an entire meals worth and it was only 2000VND. I can't even be bothered to do the math to convert it to USD.