From Penthouse to Pavement

I dragged myself from the comfort and luxury of the penthouse to pound the pavements of Chinatown. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon, and while a day on the couch with Claire's awesome selection of books, art and music would have been a brilliant way to spend the day the sights and smells of Ho Chi Ming were beckoning, and the thought of a bowl of tasty Pho finally forced me to take the boat ride into the city along the Saigon River.

At An Dong Market I found fragrant steaming Pho, and fortified I set about exploring the markets..the Vietnamese sales girls in the market are crazy, they push you, they pull you, they force things on you and when you say they are 'ok' or 'nice but..' they have little pouting fits..It was quite amusing to see how far they would go to push me into something obviously ill fitting..and quite ugly, who makes all this garish fake silk stuff anyway..It was an Imelda Marcus/ Rose Porteus heaven of vile prints on even viler material..I ducked out of there onto the streets, even though it was raining it was more pleasant that being harrassed by sniping girls.
I came across a lady selling creme caramel, it looked so soft and custardy, just what you crave on a rainy Saturday, so I indicated I wanted to buy one..It was a creme caramel , it is just that it gets served unusually. Take a big tumbler, place ice in the bottom, upend a little perfect creme caramel, plop it over the ice, add more ice, take a second perfect creme caramel squash that over the layer of ice and pour on black liquid..there, it's yours for 50 cents!

Feeling undeterred by the first market I headed over to Binh Tay Market in Cholon, Chinatown. It is a huge wholesale market and sells more items of anything than is possible to comprehend..everything that can possibly be sold, is sold, and in bulk..
just look at all the bras!