Better Know a District: District One

Situated smack on the banks of the Saigon River, HCMC's original district - the very first place to be called 'Saigon', though the distinction has become somewhat blurred recently - and still known as the epicenter of the sprawling metropolis.

It is in District One that you find almost all the old French buildings, including Notre Dame Cathedral, the Hotel Continental, the People's Committee Hall (nee the Hotel de Ville) and the Opera House.

The district forms a backwards L shape, with Ben Thanh Market at the juncture. To the north is the French Quarter and to the southwest is the Tourist quarter, where backpackers on package tours live in relative poverty compared to the Parisian-style splendor which starts along Le Loi Street.

Although it has been getting some recent competition from District 7 and even Districts 2 and 3, District One is still where most of the action is and where I spend most of my time when I'm not at home.

Back in Town

So my vacation is over and it's back to work (at least until Tet...) expect more updates soon.

Angkor What?

I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. the Parents are in town and need constant guidance. Off to Cambodia soon!

Of Spikes and Smells

Behold the durian, King of Fruits:



This fruit is widely available across Vietnam. Practically everything about the durian is distinctive, from its large size to it's numerous thorns to, above all, it's powerful and dangerous reek.

For durian smells bad, and there's no way around it. If there is a single durian for sale in the supermarket you will smell it the instant you walk in the door. Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain employed a rather vivid simile to describe it: 'it takes like you'd buried someone holding a big wheel of Stilton and then dug him up two weeks later'. Travel writer Richard Sterling goes even farther, claiming that the smell 'is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.' I'm not sure if I'd describe it that way but the message is clear enough.

So, how does it taste? Rather like a mix between mango, Gouda, and cream custard. Does that sound disgusting? I rather like it, but not raw. Only in smoothie or ice-cream form does it become palatable.