We decided to follow (sort of) the walking tour highlighted in our handy Lonely Planet guide. We made it to the neo-gothic St. Joseph Cathedral which was inaugurated in 1886. Shortly afterwards we called it quits due to a combination of heat, humidity and inexpensive shopping directly across the street.
That evening we enjoyed another local delicacy (cha ca) at Cha Ca La Vong which has been owned by the same family for five generations. Cha Ca La Vong is about is rustic as it gets - you arrive and are seated at a communal table (we shared ours with an older French couple). Then they bring you a miniature camp fire with red hot embers heating a pan filled with grilled fish (cha ca) and oil. One thing is for sure, there's nothing like having a miniature furnace on your dinner table when it's 90 degrees outside and the air conditioner is set at a cool 80. Anyway, along with the fish are sides of rice noodles, peanuts, scallion, cilantro and hot sauce. You throw the scallion and cilantro into the scorching oil (then it spits all over your clothes and skin). When everything is nice and crispy you pour it over some noodles, add some hot sauce (if you're not a sissy) and top it with some peanuts. Good stuff for $10!
We then returned to the hotel and enjoyed some homemade iced tea (which was horrible despite being their house specialty). Chris then followed it up with an even worse pina coloda (which tasted like a cross between a margarita and their lousy iced tea).
If you're keeping score; that's fish off the street, frog legs, raw vegetables and fresh Vietnamese ice cubes within 24 hours. Mysteriously, Chris would spend a considerable amount of time in the loo the next night (more on that later).
