Today was a day for a tour to three markets in the city. The first stop was the Ben Thanh market, but before we explored the area we went to a restaurant called Pho 2000 for our lunch. The restaurant sells Pho, which was generally beef or chicken noodles in soup. You can then dip the meat pieces in fish sauce (another of vietnam’s iconic food item) and also mix in lime juice or mint leaves they have provided for you on a plate. It was my first time trying pho and it was really delicious: it is a must try when you come to Vietnam. The restaurant was named “Pho 2000” as 2000 was the year Bill Clinton ate at the restaurant during the 2000s.
After our fulling meal of noodles, our team strolled around the market. Thinking it was going to be like a nice stroll and browse afternoon for us, we were hassled by shop owners and assistants; most of the times asking us what we wanted and also pulling our hand. Some were really rude whilst we were just browsing while some treated us great service with a smile. My two friends bought Ao Dai, which is a traditional costume in Vietnam (looks like a cheong sam). I just bought two t-shirts.
The next market we had to visit was called the Binh Tay market. This market was different from the first as it was rather cramped and the items sold were really, really cheap. It might be a place where stocks of items are sold out to people in wholesale for them to sell them on their own in their stalls. As usual, the girls bought lots of accessories and bags whilst Muhammad and I just stood by watching over them (bored and sweating).
At night, we travelled back to another night market nearby the Ben Thanh market. As my team had two muslim students, they were not really able to experience the whole “eating sessions” we had during the trip as foods were mostly halal. Thus we decided to head to a halal restaurant for a change. Bao, our tour guide, brought 7 of us (Ms.Wan, my 5 group members and I) into a taxi as the restaurant was not far away.
As we arrived, the restaurant’s name was called “Halal @ Saigon” Saigon being the place’s name. We settled down and looked through the menu and saw some really appetizing pictures of the many foods they serve. After some consideration, I just chose a dish of fries and beef cubes with a side of eggs and crab meat. It was heavenly.
