Good Food

Saturday, Sept. 9, 2006--Nha Trang (Cont.)

For dinner, I wasn't very hungry. I had eaten some peanuts as a snack in the late afternoon, so I went to a local sidewalk stand and bought two steamed buns with meat patties inside. I ate them in my room.

Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006--Nha Trang

Breakfast is included with my hotel here. I had a banana shake and a bacon omelete with a French baguette of bread. It was tasty and fine. Then I walked to the beach and spent all morning there. I took the book I am reading. I sat on a bench in the shade and read. I had to move at one point because I was within the line of sight for a TV program they were filming. But it was nice relaxing there. The seabreeze felt good and kept me from getting too sticky and hot. The book I am reading is Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. It is an academic book which became a best seller. Because it is an academic book, it is a slower read than a novel. It's frustrating at times, because he repeats information he has already given, especially when summarizing a section. And some of the stories are too long. But it is interesting for the most part. As far as a rating for the level of writing and the interest it develops for the reader, I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of 4 now that I am 2/3 of the way through the book. I hope to finish it within the next 2-3 days and move on to a more interesting novel.

Clouds starting developing around 11:30. I may have heard thunder. Anyway, I left the beach. I wasn't too hungry, but I walked around a block looking for a place for lunch. My guidebook frustrates me sometimes with its recommendations. It can be very good, but I can tell that it isn't for Nha Trang. Some places, including Nha Trang, develop a tourist ghetto of hotels and restuarants. In the case of Nha Trang, my guidebook only lists the restaurants that are a part of the tourist ghetto. I prefer local places. Yesterday, I ate at the place that sounded the most like a local place of all the listings in the guidebook, and it was over-priced and probably hasn't seen a local diner in years. Today, I found a place FULL of local diners only. And the plates looked so good. So I went in. It was so crowded that I had to share a table with a local man who tried to look after me, making sure I had a napkin and knew what to do with the sauces. I got a plate of rice with pieces of pork, a small omelete, and green beans. It came with a small bowl of chile sauce and a small bowl of meat juices. I poured both over it all and began eating. It was so tasty. It had much more flavor than what I ate yesterday. And the green beans were so much fresher than the vegetables seemed to be yesterday. And yet the meal today cost 10,000 dong (about 60 cents) vs. 35,000 dong for yesterday. They also brought me a big mug of iced green tea which was so refreshing to drink with the meal (and was included in the cost of the meal).

I have been taking photos of some of my more impressive meals while traveling. I got one of lunch today. It always makes the owners of the restaurant so proud when I take a photo. If they can understand English, I always tell them that it is to show my family and friends what good food I have been eating while traveling.

I'm probably going to leave Nha Trang tomorrow for Da Lat. I'll stay inside this afternoon and relax. Then I'll go out for one last visit among the people at the beach tonight. I may go back to the same restaurant for dinner.