August 27 - Call Me Miss Saigon

In Saigon, Christi indulged in many of the dishes that Tauru has been waxing poetically about for years - his native food. Then she toured the city with a cyclo driver who is a war vet. They call it the American War here, and the propaganda in the museum leaves much of the story untold, but it's educational in its own way.

Pho bo and Saigon beer - hello, Vietnam!

Meet my cyclo tour-guide. After the war, former South Vietnamese soldiers were sent to re-education camps and then forced out of the city. They were allowed back in the city, but the best job they could hope for was to ride a cyclo - hard work for little pay. He is 61 and pedaled me around all afternoon.

Banh xeo! Banh xeo! A sort of rice flour omelet filled with bean sprouts and shrimps.

That's not tea. (Nuoc Mam = Fish Sauce!)

Modern-day Vietnam hardly seems like it could ever have hosted such a brutal war.

Let's just say the war museum wasn't exactly un-biased.

The language became rather frustrating for me. Also, I didn't find any mention of the South Vietnamese at all.

Dig the facial hair - in a Chinese temple.

Notre Dame is actually in Saigon.

Ho Chi Minh, the man who united Vietnam and led the country to its independence.

A demonstration of the front door entry. Elaborate tunnel networks were used during the war with the US to get inside enemy lines.

Booby trap.

Wax men give me the creeps.

From a food stall tucked in a rarely-visited alley. Tofu and egg.

She was so happy I was eating and enjoying her food. She brought out a dragon fruit for me for dessert - yum!

The Saigon super-market.