So happy, eating in the market!!

13 Oct 2006
Early in the morning I wake up and it was raining hard!... There goes my chance to experience the breakfast in the beautiful terrace…… So I was just waiting there for the bus to pick me up. At 8 the bus came and all the way we went…
Arriving at 9.30 we then headed for the site of My Son, a ruins of temple from the Kingdom of Cham, dated 7-13 A.D. It was in the middle of jungle, and they were quite not in a good form despite all the restoration project. Maybe they were just buried in the jungle for too long. Not to mention the bombings by the American during Vietnam war in the ‘70s, but the scenery along the way was just amazing.
We finished at 12 o’clock and headed to Hoi An city. Then we took the boat on the way back and was given a little snack of sticky rice. After visited the carpentry village, we arrived at the boat pier of Hoi An near the central market.

I was so hungry then and went straight into the market to find something to eat.
I stopped at a food stall inside the market. In Indonesia we would call it “warung nasi”. It was a small plate of rice and the lady just filled it up with all the vegetables and meat. Feels like home ☺ all for 10.000Dong. With only 3000 Dong left in my wallet I just had to find a bank to change money :p, and then, because the rice was not too much, I stopped by a lady by the street in front of the market selling cao lau. This time it’s just fabulous! Cost only 5.000 Dong!!! There was an old 70 year old granny sitting next to me actually and she was so curious about me, looked Vietnamese but in fact I’m not one. She kept asking me questions in Vietnamese and I responded with a blank and confused look hahahha. The order of the food itself was done in the tarzan language, pointing here, there and smile ☺. The seller understood and there I go, enjoying my delightful noodle of the day.
Suddenly the old lady took a 5000 Dong note out, pointed at my almost empty bowl, and put the money down. “Noo”, I said cause from my understanding she was going the pay for my noodle. How could I? I just could not accept it. I mean, how much would this old granny earn a day? So at the end of my meal, I took my money out, gave it to the seller while showing my 5 finger (“this is 5000, right?”) and pointed my bowl and the old granny’s one. “Two” I said. The old lady shouted, “Noooo..” but then she smiled ☺ and saying “Cam En” which means thank you in Vietnamese. It was so wonderful. That’s why I like to eat at the local market, meeting the people, and they are just too nice persons….
While passing the market, on returning to the hotel, I bought a little snack wrapped in banana leaves. Seemed it was steamed. Hmm curious….
It was some kind of otak otak ☺ but steamed…. 2000 Dong.