Culinary Delights in Saigon

From timelessly popular street food, high-quality Phở noodle soup chain to classy restaurants, the good food and culinary experience that Saigon has to offer are appealing even to the least food-inclined travelers. Here are some suggestions to delight your palate in the biggest city in Vietnam.

Saigon Food 1
Start your day with phở noodle soup, aptly known as the national dish of Vietnam, at one of the Pho24 outlets or Pho2000 near the Binh Tay Market.

Saigon Food 2
Wrap and roll your own gỏi cuốn, yet another famous Vietnamese dish, at the recommendable Wrap & Roll.

Saigon Food 3
Head to the streets for local delicacies and pick and choose your favourite dessert drink from a lineup in Binh Tay Market.

PS: You can still carry on after the dessert!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES OF SAIGON

Related link:
|

Saigon Cable Chaos

Saigon is wired by a perplexing network of cables hanging above the city streets. They are interesting elements of the city and amazing to watch although walking under the masses of cables can be quite daunting at first. The task of maintaining the network must be a horrendous one.

Saigon Cable 2
Saigon Cable 2

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES

Related link:
|

Saigon Street Vendors

Like many other Asian countries, street vendors are a common and unmissable part of street life in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. The vendors here usually carry their goods on a shoulder pole and many are seen wearing nón lá (the traditional conical straw hat). The mobile stalls sell a variety of stuffs and are the best places to sample local foods! Pictures (from top to bottom) show street vendors near the Binh Tay Market, Ben Thanh Market and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Saigon Street Vendors 1
Saigon Street Vendors 2
Saigon Street Vendors 3

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES
|

Strathclyde Jedi Police

The force is with the Strathclyde Police. A recent survey revealed that at least eight police officers serving the Scotland's largest force were affiliated with the Jedi. Who said Glasgow is unsafe?

Buchanan Street by Night
Buchanan Street, Glasgow (Nov 2007)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES

Related links:
  • BBC: Force is strong for Jedi Police
  • Times Online: The Force is with them: Strathclyde Police has Jedi Knights on staff
  • Wikipedia: Jedi Census Phenomenon
|

The Batak People and Culture

Horas! Welcome to the Batak heartland that centres on Samosir Island and covers the surrounding areas of Lake Toba. Sites of cultural and historical significance to the Batak people can be found on the island at places such as Tomok, Ambarita and Simanindo (see Lake Toba Album). Batak houses, with distinctive saddle-shaped, twin-peaked roofs, are eye-catching and unmissable. They can be found all over Samasir Island in all shapes and sizes, from elaborately decorated traditional houses preserved in museums to practical zinc-roofed village houses or resort cottages by the shoreline.

The following excerpt from Sumatra-Indonesia.com gives some ideas on the Batak architecture and symbolism built into the design:
"The roofs of the house are designed so the back of the roof in higher than the front. The father of the house always sleeps at the front of the house and the children in the back. The higher roof in the back signifies that the father wants his children to reach higher in life than himself. The steps leading up to the small entrance are always atleast 4, 5 or 6 to signify how many children the family wants to have. The small entrance into a Batak house are designed so you have to bow down to enter the house paying respect to the people inside the house."

Batak House 1
Batak House 2 Batak House 3

Batak culture is also known to be rich in customs and rituals. This 53-sec video clip, taken at the Museum Huta Bolon Simanindo, aims to give a sample of traditional Batak dance. The performance (Mon-Sat 10.30-11.10, 11.45-12.30; Sun 11.45-12.30) is not to be missed by culturally inclined visitors to Samosir, Lake Toba.




CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES

Related links:
|