VIETNOM

We sit by the hotel dining room table, still full from lunch, and are informed that one of the dishes we'll be having for dinner is dog, a delicacy in area that we're currently staying in. Mmmm. Undecided whether I'll taste it or not, they bring it out and as I see it I feel slightly sick. We had this yesterday, and ate a lot of it, believing it to be beef.

The joys of language barriers, eh.

Apart from this incident, I can only say good things about Vietnamese cuisine. Delicious, fresh and varied, we were permanently full on the trip. The food must also be very healthy because I was convinced I would've gained at least 4 kilos over the 9 days and so was pleasantly surprised when I weighed myself at home & it wasn't the case.

I quickly realised that my dreams of 'authentic street/hawker food' (mainly thanks to Luke Nguyen) wasn't going to become an immediate reality. You only had to be in one of the markets for a couple of minutes to realise that refrigeration (particularly of meat) was largely non-existent and while the Vietnamese stomach might be more tolerant, we'd be more likely to get sick from food sitting in the sun all day (as delicious as some of it looked).

Amazing breads and pastries from the French influence in Vietnam. Each morning we had the choice of traditional breakfast or 'Western-style', and while I loved their Pho, I prefer sweet things for breakfast and so loved this sweet bread we'd get every morning. And yes, I ate one of those whole loaves for breakfast.

The fruit. Oh my goodness the fruit. The tiniest, tastiest mandarins you'll ever come across. Durians that smell awful but taste delicious. Fresh pineapple, mangoes, bananas and pomelos were often served as dessert which is probably why the Vietnamese stay so small compared to us with our rich & heavy Western desserts. I write this while devouring a huge bowl of leftover Christmas trifle.

Last Vietnam post, promise.