cute guys in Vietnam?

before i left, a friend asked me to take pictures of every cute guy i see in Vietnam (with their numbers) for two reasons; to disprove Mislang's statement about Vietnam guys and so he'll know who to contact when he goes there hahaha!

all four of us were on the lookout for the cute guys, even master hahaha. sometimes he would tell me, "cute yun o!" or "puwede yun o!". hahaha!

we did see some cute guys but it was quite rare, like once a day :( i only got one picture of a cute guy below:

Diether look-alike (sorry for the big headroom) 

osh will send me one more picture of a Vietnamese guy whom they met with his Pinay girlfriend. but in my opinion, this guy is the best-looking of all though i think he's not pure Vietnamese because he's tall and looks Chinese.

i noticed that most of the guys there have small built so they look smaller than they really are. i didn't see a fat Vietnamese while i was there. maybe because there's vegetables in everything they eat. their food is really healthy.

anyway regarding Mislang's statement, i have to agree. the thing about Vietnam is that there aren't too many half-breeds there unlike here in Pinas where you can see so many American, Chinese, European mestizo everywhere that's why we have so many cute and tall guys around. Vietnam managed to stick to what they have and what they know.

it's a country of contradictions actually. after what the Americans did, they accept American dollars everywhere and they even have Vietnam Idol. despite that, they don't have McDonald's! first time i ever went to a country without eating McDo! no foreign fast food outlets, just one local burger place (Lotteria). plus, everything is made in Vietnam. they have lots of products and food that are uniquely Vietnamese, unlike in Pinas. but i have been asking myself, why are they a poor country? poorer than us because PhP1 is equal to 450VND. why is that?

last 2 days in Ho Chi Minh

4th day was a blur. i think we woke up late and then went out to write. we had lunch at Pho 24. i wouldn't recommend this place. it was the cheapest eat at only 90,000VND (P200+) which included fried spring rolls, 1 noodles, 1 rice meal, one Coke and one coconut juice but the meal was forgettable. then had dinner at Vietnam House where we met up with Bianca and Osh. the food wasn't great but i liked the ambiance of the restaurant and i didn't feel hurried which was good. 

5th day - we checked out at 12nn then went out for last minute shopping. wala na kong nabili kasi wala na kong pera. we decided not to have Vietnamese food for lunch so when we saw this Armani Caffe in Vincom Center, we decided it's time for some Italian!

Armani Caffe

eggs benedict with overcooked egg

the pasta i ordered was fettucini with baby scampi and arugula salad. i loved it! i started taking the pictures above after i devoured all of it. 

then we transferred to Paris Deli where i tried to write. but the most pleasant surprise came when i discovered that they serve passion fruit! i remember tasting passion fruit 10 years ago but i couldn't remember anything except that it was delicious. so i was really excited to find the fruit while in Vietnam to remember the taste again and so that Erik can taste it too, since we just watched it being used as ingredient on Master Chef. 

they serve the fruit with honey. if you want it a little sweeter just like me, put a little honey before you scoop the fruit inside with teaspoon. it tastes of guava but better! 

passion fruit with honey!

gooey but delectable passion fruit!

then we walked around, took some pictures. aimless while killing time. 

motorcycle nation

street vendor

dinner came and we decided to go back to Com Nieu Saigon where we ate lunch on our first day.  i didn't get to eat the first time we were there because i was full but this time i was hungry so i sampled everything. Anthony Bourdain was right to recommend it! i would love to eat here again!

crispy soft shelled crab

clams, tofu with mushrooms, shrimp in red sauce

now i'm back in Pinas. if asked if i would want to come back to Vietnam, i would say NO. 5 days is more than enough to spend in Ho Chi Minh. actually, 2 days is enough. i love the shopping but how many times do i need to buy North Face and Crumpler bags? once is enough.

though i would understand why Anthony Bourdain almost decided to live there. it could be very enticing for Westerners but not for Asians. Philippines is still better for me. 

1st day in Ho Chi Minh

we arrived at 12:30am in Ho Chi Minh which is an hour ahead of behind Manila. when we arrived at our hotel, i immediately started finishing my TV script. ngarag grabe. 

i finished at past 3AM then when we got hungry and couldn't sleep, erik and i decided to venture out of the hotel at 4AM. we ended up in an eatery by the river where we ate instant noodles and coconut juice! sarap!

he woke me up at 11 and i was forced to get up. we went to this coffee place where Anthony Bourdain had coffee. it's like their Starbucks coffee shop but i don't remember the name and i didn't even bother to look because it's hard to read. 

ang sarap! it has condensed milk in the bottom then there's filter for the coffee but it's strong enough so even though it's mixed in with the milk, it's not too sweet but just right. we love it!

yummy vietnam coffee

i think one should be enough for a day if you want to sleep at night. 

then we went to Ben Thahn market. it's like Divisoria but cleaner. we just bought slippers but we're going back to get coffee and i want some dried fruits too. we didn't spend too much time there because it was so hot so we went to a restaurant where Bourdain also went. i wasn't too hungry so i just had another coconut juice and played The Creeps hehehe. 

after that we looked for a mall but ended up in a grocery instead where i found Missha BB cream! 

i already ordered another brand from Amazon (L'egere) but i wanted to try this one too and anyway it's cheaper here (475,000VND, about P1K) than in the Philippines (P1600) so i bought one. 

after that we went to a mall. malls here don't compare to the ones we have in Manila. they're not as complete or as big so we weren't impressed. we then went to a BBQ restaurant in Saigon center where we were given an hour and a half to eat. they have so many customers and the food is actually good and cheap.

now we're back in the hotel. i have to research on some Vietnamese phrases (don't know a word) and where else to go. it's only been a day but it feels like we don't have any more places to go. so i'm going to look for some out of town deals later. but first, i'll download The Creeps, the new Plants VS. Zombies!