The last week and a bit

Well since Sunday last week I would have to say that life has been turned upside down. It seems every where I go people know that I am leaving. I can not help to feel a little down as more than two years of my life have passed here in this quiet town. I feel for a quiet town it does have a lot to offer. The people here are what I will miss the most.

Last Sunday I was invited by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and Agifish to go to some pagodas and an ecotourist restaurant. One pagoda was a place where people hoped to receive a great fortune in life. The other was commemorating a great general. It was a weird feeling discussing the general’s life. He was responsible for expanding much of the south of Vietnam to its present day area. I was at a loss trying to think if we had anything like this in Australia yet I couldn’t, the closest I could imagine was the explorers who went over the mountains and claimed the land for the crown.

The ecotourist restaurant was also a hatchling nursery for tra fish, a type of catfish found in the Mekong river. We also saw a variety of other animals there including my most scariest land reptile, the crocodile. The crocodiles were quite small only about 1.5 m. The food was really good at this place, very traditional Mekong Delta food. It was good for a farewell.

Monday and Tuesday were low key however Wednesday was a big party. I had invited many of my closest friends here to have a big party. We went to Truyen’s once again and I enjoyed the spaghetti, fish, and beer. I stayed quite late as the atmosphere was amazing. I must admit I was mixed as I was sad to leave yet happy to see all my friends there.

The next day one of my colleagues and my students organised a farewell party. Each class prepared a dish. Once again the mixed feeling overwhelmed me. It was good to join them and talk about what they will do next. I felt proud that they can now speak English, as I remember when I first met most of them that they were very shy and didn’t utter a word. Some of the students tasted brandy for the first time and it was interesting to watch their faces screw up as the heat from the brandy went down their throat. I still get that feeling when I drink brandy.

Last night I went with Eric to the no name for a quiet one. I did really want to meet Son, as he had been away on Wednesday. I gave him call and he said he just got back and would join us. At the restaurant was an over eager student who wanted to practice her English. I would say she was cute, except her constant hovering at our table was wearing me down.

After that Eric and I decided to return to the house in hope of watching 24. I felt that in the state I was in I didn’t want to watch tv, so we finished off a 6 pack each. I woke up at 6 this morning in ok kind of state, which surprised me. It was not long for this to change, the workmen arrived at 630 and started to bang the wall, the machine next us started up, noisier than living inside a rocket engine, and the kids starting to play. I thought I would go out to breakfast yet the repairmen came 2 hours ago to fix something. My broken toilet, no they came to fix the working air conditioner. Just glad I don’t have a hangover.

O’brien’s Factory

Eric and I eagerly followed Jeff to a restaurant that he said was close to the best in town. I had seen the front of this restaurant for a few times and had wondered what it was as I had not been able to decipher any name on the outside. I thought it might have been a liquor shop. When we were inside it looked liked an English pub. It was not too crowded and the atmosphere was welcoming.

We sat down got a few beers and looked at the menu. I was in heaven as there were two pages of choices which I wanted to try. After looking through the menu 4 or 5 times I had settled on a choice. I wanted something small as I had already eaten a pizza and kebab that day and most of the servings here looked decent size. The waitress came and Eric, Jeff, and I gave our orders and they both seemed puzzled by my order. I chased the waitress down to change my order and found that there was a whole back section to the restaurant waiting for us. We moved table into the games room and listened to the sound of pool balls ricocheting of each other.

When the food came it looked good. First, was Eric’s Philadelphia beefsteak. It smelt good and from all accounts it tasted good. Next was my Cajun chicken. It was more than what I had expected. It was a sandwich with salad. It smelt good and tasted wonderful. Last was a woodfired pizza. This place must be the only woodfired pizza shop in town or maybe even the country.
We were all stoked with what we ordered and were ready to move on to live music at Sheridan’s Irish bar to keep the British Isles theme alive. I suspect in the short time left I will be returning there sometime

Coming Home

I have made a number of trips to HCMC recently to secure an airline ticket home. My original plan was to go to Brisbane however that did not work out and I will fly to Melbourne and then go to Rosedale, Gippsland.

I will leave Vietnam on the 29th of June and arrive in Australia 30th of June. I feel lost as from there I do not know what I will do. I have applied for some jobs yet no luck has come about it (already 1 rejection). I hate applying for jobs as you feel that you have to really show up to people which I don’t like to much, although I have been known to do it. Will keep all of you in the loop as things develop. You can contact me at 75sparks@gmail.com.

Mon Ngon Ha Noi

For lunch the next day after going to skewers (Sunday 10th) I went to meet another friend who lives in HCMC for lunch. We were going to go for pizza however she was not up for the idea. After the previous nights dining disaster I was not in the mood for another bad eating experience. I asked her where she suggested and she said she knew a place.

We drove to 54 Dinh Tien Hoang St in district 1 to a restaurant called Quan Mon Ngon Ha Noi. They had some specials listed outside such as bun and cha (noodles and spring rolls). I was told the food was good and it was late on a Sunday and the place was still crowded. As I walked into the restaurant I felt that my fly was undone or something worse since the place went quiet as everyone stared at me. I guess not too many westerners come to this restaurant. As we sat down everyone returned into their own world of chatting and eating.

As I looked at the menu nothing really seemed familiar, except for a few names of meats and spring rolls. My friend asked me what I wanted and I said to her that I trusted her to make some good choices. She ordered one of the specials (something in fish sauce yet I really don’t know first pic), some chicken and noodle soup (second pic) and spring rolls (third pic).

One thing about eating this kind of food is that it uses all your senses. With this food you make it, you use the lettuce leaf or leaves to form the base of your roll. You proceed to put ingredients on to your liking. I prefer the sweetness of pineapple and mint with the meat and noodles. Here I had something I had not seen or done before spring rolls with the fruit and noodles. Well I wrapped it up and it got messy yet tasted fantastic. The spring roll really contrasted the freshness of the other ingredients. Tasting them all the dishes though I thought the noodle soup was best. If I was going to stay in Vietnam a bit longer I would definitely venture back and eat here again.

Jeff

Well luckily Eric keeps tabs on everybody’s moves so we know where to go and when. Last week we went to HCMC and met Jeff. I thought that last time I would see Jeff was in LX when I was cursing about no Gatorade. It seems the whole country has run out as I haven’t found any in HCMC either. Jeff is based in Long My with VIA and was on his way to Nha Trang, the long beautiful beach.

I got a message from Jeff to meet at the Eden restaurant. At this restaurant I met one of Jeff’s co-volunteers from Can Tho. Just as we were leaving the waitress came over and started to tell Jeff to cut his beard. I was quite amused to watch this yet I needed to be careful or it may happen to me. Sure enough Jeff betrayed me to the waitress however she said only he should cut his beard. I had a good laugh and decided it was time to go.

We met up a little later and proceeded to view the art show. Afterwards Jeff was starting to feel hungry and was convincing us to look for this really good restaurant. It was worth the search. We ordered our food and I can say I was impressed with what we got.

Next we headed out to Sheridan’s Irish bar. We sat there and drank Amberstout most of the night. I must admit I like this beer more than I like Guinness. We talked about nothing for a really long time, yet it was not boring. At 11 Jeff got a reminder to make our way to Go2 bar.

We jumped into the taxi and met up with his friends from earlier today. We found that Amberstout was cheaper here than at the Irish bar and decided to stay for a few more. It was not long that we had put down quite a few and I was starting to feel bloated. I couldn’t put anything more into me after a pizza, a kebab, a huge chicken sandwich, and a large amount of beer. It was time to go home and crash.

The Artshow

Eric, Jeff, and I finally got to see the art show that I talked about previously. The art show was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, yet it had a roomy feel to it. I found it easy to see Tinh’s work as he had showed me previously on his phone. I was amazed at how different it looks real compared to the pictures. You do miss some detail. I took quite a lot of pics yet I just put the pieces that I really liked here after a picture of the artists. Tinh's piece is the first one. It was a shame he was out of town as he could have explained his inspiration to us over a few drinks. Enjoy!

Skewers

Skewers is a restaurant in District 1’s expat area in HCMC (Thai Van Lung St). I had seen that they did Mediterranean food there and had wanted to visit since I found it about 2 years ago. I invited my friend to go with me and we headed out. After getting a little lost we arrived and were greeted by a nice bike attendant he quickly put the bike away. As we walked into the restaurant a feeling of dread came over me. It was the kind of place which is just to uncomfortable. Hard to put into words, yet I knew I was not meant to be there, a place were the rich and famous go to eat. I guess the way I felt about the atmosphere was dead, like a library rather than a restaurant, really stuffy.

Looking at the menu I was hoping to see something that I had been missing about for a long time. Hendrik had reminded me of this every time he went to Hanoi – the kebab. Looking through the menu the closest thing I could see was gyro- not quite the same. It appears that there were more choices from European Mediterranean dishes than Mediterranean dishes. There seemed to be quite a lot of good choices on the menu yet the prices of some things seemed a little out of my league. Then looking at the drinks menu all the prices were in US dollars and I knew that I had come to the wrong place (no locally brewed beer should cost US$2 in VN).

My friend went to order and it became apparent that the waiter had no idea about what the dishes contained. Given that they are not common dishes in VN you would still expect the chef to give a run down of all the dishes. I thought great we can go to another restaurant one with more atmosphere and wallet friendly prices. However my friend wanted to stay and then I convinced her to tell the waiter exactly what she wanted and make them get it for you.

At this restaurant I felt that this should hardly be a problem since they had all the ingredients for spaghetti and meat sauce anyway. I proceeded to order the spaghetti with chicken in cream and mushroom sauce.

The order didn’t take long to arrive given how much time it took to get the wait staffs attention to order. It looked like the bolognaise slapped together quickly without much care for presentation. I thought the cream sauce was a little bland and needed something. The chicken though was melt in your mouth lush. I never tasted the bolognaise yet I know it was not the Vietnamese way.

As we left I felt a little disappointed. The bike service boy had the bike ready and was the one of the best things so far for the night at that restaurant. Overall, I didn’t like this dining experience. I put it down to two things. First the wait staff not knowing the menu enough to make my friend uncomfortable and second the lack of an atmosphere. I think if you are in HCMC and want to eat try something Vietnamese or if you really need Mediterranean food go to Arab Kebab next door or O’brien’s factory (to be updated).

The Australia Vietnam friendship foundation of An Giang

The Australia Vietnam friendship foundation of An Giang is something my boss dreamed up when I first arrived here. I am not sure what it is yet always provides a good excuse to have a beer or two. Occasionally there is a reason like Australia day or sometimes there is not. This time it was to introduce two new members to our club – Kirsty and Jack.

I had met Doug, an old timer here in LX working with Ausaid, when I first arrived. He was working on a water engineering project and finished last year.

He returned to Australia and just arrived back a few weeks ago to finish the old project and start a new one. I met him once already yet this time he was required on more official duties. He arrived with a consultant from his project. Mai, my bosses wife, had ordered the food for us which was coming out as we were sitting down. It started off fairly slow as the group was a little too big. I found it was hard to hear what was going on the other side of the table.

Just as we finished the food I and everyone else was in for a big shock. Dr Rang had just arrived. He had studied at Melbourne University and just came back from visiting Australia were he attended his daughters engagement party. Yet even though his presence was a shock to me, the next thing left me floored – a bottle of Penfold’s cab sav.

It was the best wine I have tasted in years. Now I will not profess that I know anything about wine yet this was good. After we finished the wine we were about to go when it was suggested that I get a photo with the waitresses. Well in this picture I look a little too excited, maybe even scary, definitely creepy. I will blame the wine and beer combo.

Just as we left Dr Rang asked if I would like to have a few more at another place and as I hadn’t seen him for a long time I thought why not. He invited his friend who had also just returned from Australia. Well after a few, I saw the picture of Larue beer (terrible hangovers in the morning) and the Sydney opera house trying to put them together. I couldn’t and just figured that it was all the beer and wine again.

Tai

Tai is a friend of mine from the faculty of economics at AGU. He was one of the first people I met in the faculty who took me out to show me Long Xuyen. I admire his determination to be the best in all that he does. So last Monday I was surprised that Tai looked sad when he saw me. I asked him what was wrong and he said that this might be the last time he sees me. I was taken aback a little as there was still quite a bit of time left I thought. He told me that he was going to study English tomorrow in HCMC for 6 weeks. He asked if I was free that night to meet him. At the time I was busy and didn’t really think it through so well and said call me later.

Well later came and I called him to say lets go out to a new restaurant, well new for Tai anyway. So we headed to Truyen’s after a few false starts and proceeded to organise a party there. We ordered some food and beer and discussed future plans and dreams, and past stories. Later, Thinh a policeman in Long Xuyen arrived, to join the party. Both Thinh and Tai went to school together and have been friends since the beginning of time. When they get together you can see a real connection between them.

Afterwards Eric arrived, followed by Thinh’s younger brother. From here the discussion started to veer towards how to improve language and we told Tai his language should be good enough. Yet he feels more practice is needed so we kept talking with him. As this was the first of my going away parties I was starting to feel a little nostalgic. Also the restaurant seemed unusually empty for once, although this didn’t stop Eric from making new friends. As the time to go arrived I told Tai and Thinh that they would see me one more time. Thinh at the farewell in Long Xuyen and Tai to the farewell in HCMC if possible.

Whisky and green tea

I read about a new drink which is popular in Asia called whisky and green tea. It is described as taking the harshness out of the scotch. Well I wasn’t really sold on the idea until the weekend of Tyler’s farewell, when I was talking with Jeff about it. He thought the flavours of the tea would add to the complexity of the scotch making it surreal drinking experience. Now after some advertising like that I was a fool not to try.

I had organised some different types of green tea and a bottle of Glen Fiddich. I was really excited after the discussion with Jeff and a little sad that he was not here to enjoy it. The night before Hendrik had told us he had never had Glen Fiddich before and we thought we might as well let him have some on his last day in LX. After the unknown farewell party, Eric and I headed back to the ER to try the drinks.

After what seemed a long time to we were able to dispense with the photographing ceremony and proceed to open the bottle. The first drink we had was with the traditional Japanese green tea. Eric searched the web to see if there was a special way to do this yet we came back empty handed.

So we just mixed them as you would any drink with whisky and proceeded to drink it. The taste was all green tea. It overpowered any of the delicateness the scotch had. We both decided that the next one had to be different.

The next one was the honey green tea. Now I thought this would compliment the scotch due to a drink known as Drambuie, a scotch liqueur. So this time we measure a lot less tea with the scotch and proceeded to taste. This was about equal parts and it still just tasted like tea. I was disappointed and wondered why does anyone want to do this to scotch, especially one like this.

Eric and I had one last chance, tonic. Of the drinks so far this was the best one. It had a citrus taste which was not so dominant. If there was one thing I learnt that night, is the best way to drink Glen Fiddich is on the rocks. Oh yes there was some left when Hendrik arrived back as well.

National Geographic

Today as I came back from lunch I noticed out of the corner of my eye a branch on the steps. As I was about to pick it up I realised that it was not. It was one of my worst fears, a snake. I detest snakes. I was scared stiff. As I walked up the stairs I was unsure whether to get my camera and photograph it. I have always wanted to get a snake picture with my camera.

I reasoned that it was small and if it tried to strike me it would be slow and not be able to break my skin. I decided to go for it and grab the camera. I noticed that I was a trembling a little, and generally feeling uneasy. I found the camera went down stairs hoping it was still there, and luckily it was. I moved into position to take the snake snap, mindful not to get too close. It was about 80cm long and the thickness of a finger. It had an intricate design on the back similar to some of the vegetation I have seen here. It’s head definitely looked like a leaf.

I took the first photo however it looked to far away, so I was trying to keep the same distance while taking the second. All of sudden it moved, slowly to turn around and look at me. My heart raced as I was putting a bit more distance between me and it. I took the second snap as it was about to leave, and tried to get a third. I was wrong about the speed of the snake, it could really fly. Beside the bike shed it went, and I was not brave enough to chase it down for the third pic.

The next time I will use the tap next to the greenhouse I will be petrified. Who knows what is hiding in the grass there. Well anyway, mission accomplished 2 pictures of the little snake.

Unknown Farewell

Thursday last week saw the English department have a farewell party for …? I wasn’t sure who it was for, either Scott or Lillian. I knew it was on, and was invited yet I did not know what time, and consequently missed the important speeches. I think it might have been for both, yet Lillian will come back after the northern summer and Scott doesn’t leave for a while.

When I arrived I saw the presentation of the gifts. Then it was time to eat. I usually don’t look forward to the food at the English faculty’s parties as I feel the food is far from adventurous. Eric and I earlier in the afternoon were trying to guess what the food would be. I was surprised to find that only two were right: a type of salad (Goi) and soup (Lau). This time they had a fish (Pink Tilapia) which was really fantastic. The flavour wasn’t strong and the flesh melted in your mouth. To top it off we had mangos like at home, sweet and orange. Most of the mangos here I feel are too sour and green.

Throughout dinner the guys were playing a game. Whenever we wanted to drink someone would say oooh chilli, and we would drink. We had to hide it as the Rector, Dr Xuan, doesn’t like drinking much. When it was time to go I was ready to escape to the next place.

Hendrik

For the last 9 months Hendrik has been with us here at AGU. He was a postgraduate IT student doing a project with the library. I learnt a lot of things about Germany and German culture. He really was a great guy, not what I would expect from an IT student. I also learnt the correct way to drink those German beers. The big ones. At Oktoberfest last year, which coincided with Hendrik’s birthday, we went Lang Toi and ordered litre beers. Metta, a Danish girl was also there and they wanted to have a proper Oktoberfest drinking comp. After much instruction I followed their lead and found myself with a sore arm. How can these guys lift a litre of beer with one arm. I thought it was crazy. They proceeded to tell us that there were barmaids capable of carrying 8 of these glasses through a tent of drunk Germans doing there slap dances.

Occasionally when the mood was right Hendrik would do a slap dance. Of all the crazy memories I have of Hendrik, one dance he did etched in my mind forever and when I picture Oktoberfest I am sure this is what all the people are doing.

Saturday Hendrik departed for the Middle East then off to Germany. We heard he arrived safely and did some things we wanted to do. On Wednesday last week was his official send off. He had a private dinner with his boss and the head of the university. By about 7.45 I was starting to feel my stomach eat itself as I could no longer wait for the food at the after party. I went to contact Eric yet his yahoo message was perplexing making me feel that I should not contact him.

Eventually Eric was starting to feel the pangs of hunger and contacted me and we quickly made our way to Truyen’s. At the restaurant Lillian and the family were there waiting. Next along was Sabrina. She is from Switzerland and is working for the pesticides department of the department of agriculture and rural development. She is doing her internship for here degree here in Long Xuyen.

Truyen had cooked up too plates of beef. If the beef had of been Australian it would have been divine. All the same the flavour was great if a little chewy. There were some really good deep fried mushrooms as well.

After everybody had arrived, I started to wonder if Hendrik was coming. He contacted us to tell us he was on his way yet this was about 30 minutes ago, and nothing takes 30 minutes to get to in Long Xuyen. I met Jack for the first time that night, he is the long term defacto of Kirsty, the other AVI who is newly arrived. She is working with the English dept. Jack kind of reminded me of my uncle Mick, a good bloke to have a drink with.

When Hendrik and his girlfriend Thu, arrived they were carrying a special present, a bottle of Johnny. We continued to eat and Truyen was well and truly beyond the great unknown expanse of drunkenness and kept ordering food. We kept drinking and then left at the latest possible moment.

Saying goodbye to Sabrina, with Truyen watching.

At the guest house the party continued and we drank the whiskey empty. Hendrik was even brave enough to pick up a guitar and play. I was starting to feel tired myself as I did not sleep well the previous few days and by this time I could tell Hendrik had had a long day and the whiskey was taking its toll. We had a mission to complete, finish the bottle. I struggled through the tiredness and together the three of us finished the bottle and called it a night.

Playing the Guitar

The evidence makes us guilty

Lang Toi

Lang Toi (my village) is a restaurant that I feel is in the upper end of the restaurant scales here in Long Xuyen. The tip off is the fact that is a Nha Hang. Most restaurants are Quans, and this gives an indication about the prices inside and supposedly the size. It is one of the restaurants that brew their own beer in two flavours dark and gold. In Vietnamese Bia Den refers to dark beer. As you enter through the parking ground you look to the left and you see the brewhouse.

When you look to the right you will see the seafood and other live specialties on offer. I generally find it is a mixture of fish, eels, prawns, and snakes. The black snakes in the picture are the best snakes for eating yet I didn’t find it enjoyable. The meat was really rubbery and you had to be careful not to eat the stomach or the backbone. And then there were the rib bones, I felt that if I was starving I might eat it again, yet most often I would give it a miss.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is quite pleasant. The owners and host are quite friendly and will often come and chat. Occasionally they may also give us some free fruit. I often find it awkward though as the ability to communicate is limited by language, however the new host appears to have a good grasp of English. They are nice good natured people who try to enhance our dining experiences. They also own another restaurant called Tre Xanh (young bamboo) which is similar to Lang Toi, although I am yet to see this for myself.

The restaurant has been through a number of renovations since I have been in Long Xuyen yet the decore is generally the same. It use the bamboo outdoor theme which makes feel like you are a prince dining in a private jungle. There are 3 levels ground, up a few stairs and upstairs. I find that downstairs is the most enjoyable yet dangerous as most people will pass you by, and occasionally be brave enough to try out their English skills. I feel upstairs seems to have the worst service as you are far from everything.

Now the bathroom here is the most interesting I have ever been too. I and the other volunteers here used to refer to it as the disco toilet as it was like walking through a nightclub. Loud music blaring with videos of fashion shows. Under the last renovation it got larger and seemed to lose the speakers. It also became more modern.

The day Eric, Hendrik, Tyler, and I came we were in the mood for spaghetti. This was the only place we knew at the time to sell it. We also ordered some garlic bread. I find the garlic bread too oily or too dry. I think it is because they don’t use butter and grill it on a bbq. The spaghetti is also strange, good in a way with really strong Asian flavour influence. There was one herb there that just does not belong, and it affects the taste of the rosemary. I don’t think the others agree with me about the taste description, yet they agree that it is strange.

Although the European food is not the best, their Vietnamese food is good. I have sampled many dishes here and found them to be good. I really liked the basa (catfish) served in a lemongrass and chilli sauce. They do good tofu as well if you are not into eating any meat. Lots of grilled dishes, rice, and of course the specials you see when you walk in.

This particular day we were interested to drink the brewed beer yet they had run out or something. This is the first time I recall that this has happened here. Never the less they do have a large selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The last time I went we sampled the dark and gold beers and found them to be quite good, if not better than before. I feel if you are in Long Xuyen and you are looking for something popular and swanky this should be considered highly on your list, just stick to Vietnamese food.

What are they doing?

Well the Coop Mart has done it again. After asking them to stock cheese they finally did. I felt elated about having cheese, and relieved not to need to ask for cheese every time my friend goes to Can Tho. After rectifying the cheese issue it has done one worse.

Now when you are hungover there is nothing like lemon-lime Gatorade (or even orange). It just peaks you up. So I felt that now everything is set, drink all night and one bottle of Gatorade for breakfast. Such a sweet deal.

Now they have decided not to stock it. Why? If there was ever a place that needed Gatorade outside of a sports venue it is Long Xuyen. Drinking is a national sport here. And I have seen some guys at work looking like they fought a truck at high speed (I have even seen it in the mirror sometimes too). I guess I am disappointed. No really disappointed. You see Jeff rocked in from Long My yesterday and we started a little early and finished a little late. And today I woke up feeling like I had survived a nuclear detonation in my head. I really just wanted to go and vege out and have some refreshing, life giving Gatorade. As I write this my mind is ticking (loudly) about how to get more Gatorade into LX. (pic is from Wiki)

The end of the line

This is the name of the last story mission in the game GTA San Andreas. GTA (grand theft auto) is the name given to the crime of stealing automobiles. In this game you are a criminal who tries to help out your brother. Interestingly enough I felt the missions with your brother are not that good. Once he gets arrested after about 10 missions, you start to work for some triad gangsters, and this is where I thought the game got really excited.

It also involves a lot of racing. Usually away from the cops though. I loved two things about the chases, when you were at top speed the screen got a little blurry representing real life at high speeds and this just added to the realism of the chase. The second as frustrating as it was, when you took your car over the cliff, it really gave me an anxious feeling of falling off the cliff, my stomach at times felt like it had left my body.

So throughout the game you move up in the criminal world and you feel like you have achieved something. Starting in Los Santos you are a common street thug, in San Fierro you move more into car theft, in the desert you meet a government agent who asks you to do some missions for him, and by the time you leave Las Venturas you have a stake in a casino. After returning to Los Santos you give it all up to be a street thug all again. It was disappointing after achieving virtually so much.

So the game is mostly based on movies like Colours, Boyz in the Hood, New Jack City and Menace to Society. Yet certain missions where direct copies of other movies like The Usual Suspects, the Fast and the Furious, Goodfellas, and Ocean’s eleven. The music is what drew me in the most. It just added, what I felt, an incredible feel to the game, like a soundtrack in a movie just adds the oompf. They selected well known tracks from 1992 (the year the game was set in) and added the nostalgic feel to the game.

So after 45 hours recorded on the games statistics, more in actuality, I finally completed all the missions for the story game. This means there is still 40% of the game to complete.

I have started the next game in the series Liberty City Stories I feel it lacks the appeal of San Andreas, due to the soundtrack not being as good. The cars in the game don’t seem to handle as well, and the targeting of enemies is not as good. I have completed a few missions yet can not see myself playing this as much as the GTA San Andres (Pics from wiki and gtasanandreas.net).

Hai Lua

Early in April I went to Hai Lua with some English teachers. This restaurant is an interesting place as the name means second brother or country bumpkin. This restaurant is good for two reasons, 1 the owner speaks English and really wants to make sure you have a great time there and two, if you like boats you can take one out in the middle of the canal, although I have heard reliability is a factor. I was the second person there and ordered a beer, Sai Gon Xanh, much to the dismay of the Coors Lite girl.

While waiting for the food and people to arrive I noticed that they had not cleaned up after a previous wedding. Here is a glimpse of the stage they use in such things. When I mentioned that the wedding decorations were still around I was filled with dread as I saw the eyes of my inquisitor flash and the wedding question asked. I am really irritated by this question and it seems like such an important issue for people in Viet Nam. I will let you guess this question.

Not long after the first dish arrived some kind of tofu. Now I use to think tofu was this horrible, nasty, crazy vegetarian food yet I have seen some amazing things done to here. This particular dish (made with egg and butter possibly) was great, you eat it with a mild chilli sauce and it just melts in your mouth. The taste was like a light brown omelette, ahh magnificent. This is my favourite tofu dish to date and I got to learn how to make this so I can make it in Australia.

The great tofu dish of unknown name half eaten

A few more members arrived and finished the tofu just as the second dish came grilled beef in fish sauce. Now this is one, if not, my favourite Vietnamese dishes. Essentially marinating the beef in fish sauce (sometimes with garlic) and quickly grilling it and eating. I could only imagine how great this would taste with good Australian beef. This dish didn’t disappoint. It was all that I expected and more with the red tomatoes, a rarity here I can promise you.

My favourite VN dish

Next up was the so (blood acra in English yet can not find the spelling anywhere and the dictionary translates them to baby oysters) drizzled in oil grilled and sprinkled with green onions. I usually have them salted or grilled till dry, however these I found were fantastic. The oil and green onions were the perfect mix to bring out the taste of the sea. When putting them with chilli salt and lime I thought it was utterly divine.

The so dish

Lastly we had chicken. We put away our fears of chicken flu (no cases reported for a while) and ordered a chicken. For $8 you can have a whole chicken butchered (vn style = with a cleaver and no precision) prepared and cooked for you. And when I mean a whole chicken I mean all, you can see the head. The head, the chicken and insides are cooked together. Luckily one part is missing. We ordered this with chilli and salt and it gave a nice crispy skin. The chicken arrives with some little pastries which are fried and I think really enjoyable. Some parts of the chicken where dry which was disappointing. On the plus side however I really loved how it made the beer taste good. Definitely would be interested in doing a beer and chicken night.

The chicken with the head at the top of the body

On the way out I saw this Heineken sign. I just had to take a photo of it for all to look.

Tell me when you will be mine (corny commercial)