This morning I went down already knowing I want a bowl of pho ga again.

The pho ga was good but it wasn’t as good as yesterday’s. I wonder if it is because Chef Kim Chi wasn’t working to make the pho ga today! It was a guy and he said she had the day off. I was disappointed but maybe I’ll see her tomorrow instead.

Grilled fish with sate. From the hot foods station, this was the new dish so I tried it. It was good! Some parts of the fish were fatty and that were the good parts. The sauce was also tasty.

For dessert, I tried their coconut jelly with pandan? It didn’t taste like it though.. it was just okay.

Then we took a taxi to my aunts house. My other aunt got me two banh gio. I was going to save it for later because I was still full from breakfast, but it was still hot from being freshly made so I decided to just eat it. It was soooo good! I think it’s even better than in America!!! The outside jelly part is so soft. There were two quail eggs. The minced pork and black fungus mushrooms were plentiful and moist.

Then one of my cousins Chi Trang ordered hot soy milk because I was thirsty and craving freshly made soy milk. I wanted to walk to a nearby stand to buy it myself but Chi Trang said she knows a lady and will phone call it. A man brought it via moped later. I noticed that no matter where or what, each drink is always in its own personal small plastic bag. I realized it’s probably for the convenience of carrying via the handle of a moped, which is the majority of transportation here.

It was so good!!! My only hesitant thing about it is that they poured it in a plastic cup part of the cup crinkled… Ugh… I didn’t want to be rude… next time I will ask for just iced soy milk instead..

Afterwards, we went to a sieu thi (super big grocery store) to buy souvenirs and snacks and whatnot. Then we headed back to the auntie’s house and my cousin, Chi Trang, took me for a ride on her moped to go buy dried shrimp and squid and then, sugarcane juice!!!! Thank you Chi Trang!!!

I really love drinking sugarcane juice but everyone warns me to not drink it in Vietnam because we don’t know how long the sugarcane has been out in the sun for and may have spoiled. Chi Trang says “don’t worry, I know a place with really good nuoc mia; don’t worry, you won’t get a tummy ache.” I said “okay!”

It was really good! Felt very naturally sweet. Tastes slightly different from in America but better!!

Right when we got back to the auntie house, there is a neighbor who makes banh xeo for a living. Apparently a lot of peoples “restaurants” are just cooking in their own homes and the nearby neighbors support and eat. That’s how it works is what my mom says.

Banh xeo is a crispy, rice pancake with shrimp and mushrooms. It’s usually also stuffed with bean sprouts but some of us hate bean sprouts and asked for no bean sprouts. I usually don’t eat banh xeo but these are really good!! Very thin, light and crispy. You lightly dip it in fish sauce dip. You usually wrap it with lettuce, mint leaves and rice sheets, but I don’t do that either.

We sat on the ground of the “living room” (small living room space that’s literally 5×7 ft) and laid out newspaper. The neighbor, one by one, will slide plates of banh xeo over as he makes it. We ordered 7 total.

After taking a short nap, Chi Trang took me to do a short walk around the neighborhood to buy banh trang tron and banh trang cuon for an early dinner.

It was from a neighbor lady’s house where she just set up a stand right in front of her front door. It is dried rice paper, lightly sprayed with water, and layered with peanuts, quail egg, Vietnamese herbs rau ram, green mango, fish sauce and mayo?

I was skeptical about whether or not I would like it, but I was still open minded to try it especially because it is recommended by a family Vietnamese local and this is as much cultural as it gets.

It was tasty!! I enjoyed it but not enough to seek it myself. It was very light and easy to eat even on a full stomach. The rice paper gave it a light crunch. It was almost like a spring roll.

Even though today wasn’t as full of touristy sites as I would typically like, I got to be enveloped into more of the local life with food and of course, family time.