Weekend update

FRIDAY

The big news last Friday... San Antonio Spurs win the NBA Finals. Tim Duncan MVP. Time for me to eat crow as my earlier predictions saw the Miami Heat taking home the trophy. Seeing how the Heat didn't even make it to the Finals, I admit that I had made a blooper of a prediction. Hope I didn't cause anyone to lose money!

SATURDAY

Saturday was pretty tiring as I had to get up at 4 plus am for a 4-hour drive down to Can Tho to attend a groundbreaking ceremony (building new hospital). Can Tho is a city situated in the Mekong Delta region. The highway (more like a one-lane road) leading to the Delta region is rather busy and overtaking on that stretch is an experience on its own. When I first arrived in Can Tho, I noticed the I had gone from a 20:1 motorcycle to car ratio in HCMC to a 50:1 ratio in Can Tho. Ironically, the roads in Can Tho are wider than HCMC. I suppose the Can Tho People's Committee had a vision - building wider roads to accommodate more cars in the future - which is good!


The symbolic digging of dirt


Girls in Ao Dai (national dress) releasing balloons

After the groundbreaking ceremony, I went to the Golf Can Tho Hotel for lunch. This hotel is supposedly the largest and best hotel in the city, but it looked more like an old Holiday Inn joint. Lunch was alright as I replaced quality with quantity - I ate the most at my table (my dining companions were all ladies who got full after just a few several courses). Lucky me.


The Golf Can Tho Hotel

Anyway, I returned to HCMC bearing fruits from the Delta region - durian, mangosteen and custard apples. It's a strange wonder how I could spend 8 hours sitting and occasionally sleeping on the car, and still feel dog tired at the end of the day. Hmmm...

SUNDAY

Spent the morning chilling at home with Linh before heading to Chinatown for food. I don't go there often because 1) it's not convenient to go around that place on foot, 2) I have no idea where to go to buy what, and 3) it's pretty chaotic and unorganized (as in any other Chinatown in the world). However, I must admit that there is some tasty food in Chinatown. I ate a huge plate of fried oyster bee hoon at a Taiwanese restaurant for around S$4. I also had suckling pig and chicken rice for S$4. I wanted to try a recommended braised duck noodles but unfortunately my stomach wouldn't let me.

After Chinatown, we went to Ham Nghi market to do grocery shopping for dinner. Linh cooked macaroni with pork rib soup and I prepared some crabs. Mmmmm....

Here's how it's done!