EATING GOOD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Yesterday evening we went back to the street where we had eaten lunch earlier and found that it was completely transformed. Tons of tables and tarps and lights had been set up and street food was a-plenty. We walked to the end of the street and looked to see what everyone was eating. We finally chose some fried bread and dumplings with a sweet brown sauce poured over top. The fried bread tasted like, well, fried bread, but we noticed that everyone was dipping it in a bowl of white sauce so we looked around and found the source of this magical looking liquid. Derek bought a bowl and we were quickly disappointed as we realized it was just like condensed milk or something equally unflavorful. But the dumplings were really good.

After this quick, not quite satisfying meal, we mosied on down the street where we saw that the street vendors were grilling seafood (clams, lobsters, crabs, etc.). It looked interesting so we ordered a clam and calamarie on a stick. The clam was out of this world amazing. But since it was kind of expensive, we stuck to just enjoying one and then continued on. A few vendors down, we came upon the other specialty food the Lonely Planet guide book had mentioned we should try: it was like a crepe stuffed with something unidentifible and covered in either a brown sauce or a red sauce that tasted like the sweet and sour sauce found in American Chinese restaurants. I really liked it, but Derek wasn't a fan.

The whole meal reminded me of A Taste of Edmond since we were just walking up and down the street tasting food from different vendors. It was fun and a nice way to sample a lot of different types of foods.

After dinner we headed over to one of the coffee shops to enjoy (or suffer through) one of the worst cups of coffee we have ever had. But it was cheap so I suppose we got what we paid for. It was nice to sit down, too, after two days of walking through this city.

In about an hour, Janice and Yvonne will arrive at the train station where we'll be waiting to pick them up. We have several travel arrangements to make today so that we can set off early for Vietnam tomorrow morning.