We hit the HCM runway at around 4PM, my stomach, which had been primed to consume vast amounts of food, was already demanding to be fed. We hopped on a taxi in search for street food, the best way to be introduced to a country’s culinary scene, and found a stall just a stone’s throw away from Saigon Square (HCM’s equivalent to Greenhills). The attending lady, glad to have a gawking tourist point at the marvellous morsels displayed on her glass counter top, showed us into a bright alley that served as her dining area. She immediately served us a bowl of what appeared to be rice noodles with fish cakes, fried tofu, crispy shallots and nouc mam (a Vietnamese fish sauce staple), and a spring roll stuffed with shrimps and roasted pork. “Well, hello, Vietnam!” exclaimed my satisfied stomach, which was literally bursting with flavours—salty, tangy, sour and sweet. It is just extraordinary what you can buy there for P50! I washed it all down with refreshing young coconut juice.

We went around to look at the goods, and my wife did what most wives do. She had me do the bargaining, which was okay, as that kept me preoccupied till dinner. It was a welcome respite from the eating which went on throughout the day.

The next day we went to see Notre Dame and stopped for a coffee break (just an hour after gorging at the buffet) and had a morning snack of fried spring rolls and salted lemon juice. The Vietnamese love the sweet-salt flavour. I later saw a Vietnamese lady peddling colorful goodies down the street. She had different morsels of what I assumed were rice and cassava cakes. What I had tasted so similar to pich pichi, which I love, especially with the grated coconut on top.