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How to Cross the Road in Vietnam and More Lessons from the Streets of Hanoi. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

How to Cross the Road in Vietnam and More Travel Lessons from Hanoi’s Streets

How to cross the road in Vietnam and more travel lessons from the streets of Hanoi, starting with why you need to linger, look up and look more closely, stroll in small doses, take lakeside breaks to recuperate, and make time to perch on a plastic stool to partake in a glass something.

I’ve just returned from a few weeks in Vietnam which ended with a week in Hanoi. Once again the country and its capital took my breath away. On my Vietnam Cuisine and Culture Tours we spend the last three days in Hanoi, where some participants leave us, while others continue on a Halong Bay extension.

But this time our three-day Halong Bay cruise was curtailed after the first night due to a typhoon heading our way and I and the last few participants left on the trip found ourselves with an extra day and night in Hanoi, which gave us two more days in Vietnam’s capital.

As the tour had officially ended, the four of us just hung out in Hanoi, wandering the streets, shopping, eating, drinking, and attempting to get lost (I’ll save that story for another post). And after they left I had another four days in Hanoi to myself before my flight home to Siem Reap.

As we walked Hanoi’s streets, I was reminded why, back in late 2012, Terence and I went to Hanoi for a few weeks to do some magazine stories and ended up renting an apartment and settling into Hanoi for a few months. I was also reminded of my first lessons on how to cross the road in Vietnam, which I learnt in Hanoi.

How to Cross the Road in Vietnam and More Travel Lessons from Hanoi’s Streets

Lesson #1 – Linger Longer, Absorb, Experience, Savour

It was the start of the holidays in Vietnam when we arrived in 2012 and while tourism in Vietnam was beginning to boom and buses disgorged visitors outside one of Hanoi’s main sights, the lovely Temple of Literature – the country’s first university, dating to 1070 – the Vietnam capital (fortunately) didn’t have the crushing groups that overwhelm Beijing’s Forbidden City, nor the crowds that swarm Bangkok’s Grand Palace every day.

It was the same at Hanoi’s other star attractions – Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, and the One Pillar Pagoda. When we visited Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, there were just three tourists. And on our visit to pretty 11th century Quan Thanh Temple, Terence and I were the only visitors.

Come evening in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, and even on Ta Hien, a lane lined with narrow bars selling bia hoi, cheap fresh beer, that attracted as many young locals as it did backpackers, there was nowhere near the number of budget travellers that throng Khao San Road.

It seems that most tourists ‘doing’ Vietnam or travelling around Indochina on a trip that will invariably include Cambodia and Laos, allow only one or two nights in Hanoi before making a beeline for UNESCO World Heritage-listed Halong Bay to do a cruise, to Sapa in the north for hill tribe trekking and markets, or to the south to the tourist hot spot of enchanting Hoi An in central Vietnam.

Little has changed in seven years, despite a recent surge in foreign tourists. For most visitors, Hanoi is still little more than a stopover city with a handful of highlights to be ticked off a list. Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body? Check. Water puppet show? Check. Old city cyclo ride? Done. Then they’re out of here.

Yet Hanoi, as we discovered during three months renting an apartment in the city in 2012, and on subsequent visits for stories, is a destination that isn’t about its sights at all. What makes Hanoi special is its street life. Hanoi is also a city that shouldn’t be rushed. Hanoi is a place where you should linger. Hanoi must be slowly absorbed, experienced and savoured – on its streets.

So what should your priorities be? Stumbling upon secret alleys as you get lost in the lanes of the labyrinthine Old Quarter. Slurping steaming bowls of pho bo (beef soup) or bun cha (barbecued pork with noodles and condiments) from a tiny plastic stool. Nibbling on nuts as you down cheap icy beers at a boisterous bia hoi joint. Battling the battalions of motorbikes, seemingly intent on running you over, each time you attempt to cross the road. Okay, so not every experience is going to be a positive one, but that’s part of Hanoi’s chaotic charm.

Lesson #2 – Walk the Streets

Hanoi is a city where life is lived on the streets so you need to walk them. Oh yes, we say that about a lot of Asian cities, but in Hanoi life is truly lived on the streets and when you travel here you’ll see for yourself. The streets are where people sit to chat, eat, drink, and even sleep on a hot and sticky night when it’s far cooler outdoors than in.

Hanoi’s streets are where families share meals; where neighbours gather to gossip; where strangers share a tiny table to sip glasses of tea and smoke cigarettes; where toddlers play unsupervised, riding plastic toy bikes in circles on the pavement; where vendors sell countless kinds of wares from carts, bicycles, wheelchairs, and their shoulders – food, fruit, fashion, fake flowers, and potted cumquat trees.

When we lived in Hanoi, I bought a blue and white porcelain vase from a mobile sales woman who passed along our street at least once a day. She had dozens of the things delicately arranged around her bicycle like florets on a dandelion. When I pointed to the one I wanted, buried deep within the complicated bouquet, she plucked it out as you might pull a petal from a flower.

All of this means of course that Hanoi is a place to be walked. You need to be on the streets engaging with locals to have these encounters. Yet for a city of wide boulevards, slender lanes, leafy parks, and serene lakes, Hanoi is not always a city that’s suitable for walking. Because everywhere you look in Hanoi there are motorbikes.

Lesson #3 – Pause and Take a Deep Breath

A whiff of fresh, fragrant herbs – coriander, dill, basil, and Vietnamese mint – wafts my way as a petite woman in floral patterned pyjamas and a conical shaped hat passes by me pushing a bicycle, balancing a round rice basket on the handlebars piled high with fresh vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Plumes of heady incense drift in my direction as I wander by a dimly lit temple where two rosy-cheeked old ladies in headscarves light incense sticks at a shrine. I smell shampoo. Water drops onto the street from a small balcony above where a teenage girl bends over a red plastic tub to pour a jug of water over her long jet-black hair.

A scrawny white kitten meows incessantly at the entrance to a skinny shop-house where his owner has tied him to the barred security door to prevent him running away – or getting run over. Because just steps away from his living room is a constant barrage of motorbikes, bicycles, cyclos, and cars. The din is deafening.

I stop to take it all in, the smells, the sights, the sounds, the colours. Kaleidoscopic colours: scarlet, cobalt, crimson, emerald, and canary yellow. This is what assails my senses each time I leave the hotel to hit the streets in Hanoi.

Lesson #4 – Take a Closer Look

At first glance, Hanoi seems just like any other Asian city, with its gritty streets, crazy traffic and footpaths sprinkled with food stalls. It’s frenetic and alive. At first sniff, it smells like car fumes and barbecued food, and, on bad days, sewerage from the old city’s drains.

But take time and you’ll discern some distinct differences between Hanoi and other Asian cities. For instance, the streets of Hanoi are lined with the world’s skinniest houses – four or five storeys of rooms more narrow than their floor to ceiling height – the most splendid colonial villas with elegant balconies and grey-blue shutters set in palm shaded gardens, and colourful temples with courtyards strung with red lanterns and dark interiors with gleaming gold Buddhas.

Yet aside from the restored French mansions, many now home to embassies, ambassador’s residences, restaurants, and art centres, no single building seems to have remained in its original form. Look up and you’ll see remnants of what was once a mustard-coloured colonial home, with the addition of a boxy peppermint-painted floor that was likely added in the Nineties. On street level there’s a sleek twenty-first century glass-fronted shop, painted in fuschia, its shelves inside stacked with modern candy-coloured motorcycle helmets.

Hanoi is a city that rewards close scrutiny. Its idiosyncrasies lie in the details. Take a closer look. And don’t forget to look up.

Lesson #5 – Stay Off the Streets and Footpaths During Rush Hour

Scooters cram the footpaths where temporary bike parks form outside office buildings and schools where parents wait to collect their kids. They mob the streets, ten abreast, bike abutting bike. It’s surprising there aren’t pile-ups, particularly during peak times when the lights change and hundreds of the wheeled beasts charge forward. Crossing the road in rush hour can be frightening.

During peak hours it’s best to stay off the streets – and off the footpaths, where you risk getting knocked over by a bike reversing out of an alley to hit the road, or by frustrated riders fed up with the gridlock, who jump the kerb and dart along the pavement to the next set of lights. Once one guy does it, they all follow. The footpaths here are just less congested traffic lanes.

Lesson #6 – Stroll in Small Doses and Take Lakeside Breaks to Recuperate

You must stroll Hanoi in small doses so you are at your most alert and when it all becomes too much take a break to recuperate. Make a beeline for the nearest park or a wooden bench with tranquil water views. Hanoi is a city that’s dotted with lakes, but Hoan Kiem in the historic quarter is my favourite.

Stroll around the lake and you’ll spot elderly ladies in a line massaging each other’s shoulders, people power-walking and practicing Tai Chi, and men huddling around watching a game of Vietnamese checkers. Newlyweds pose for wedding photos, the groom in a white shirt and suit, the bride in an elegant ao dai, the traditional long silk tunic dress, or a big flouncy, gem-encrusted Western-style wedding dress.

Lesson #7 – Perch on a Plastic Stool to Partake in Something

When you need a break, go perch on a plastic stool somewhere to sip a glass of something: a lemon tea perhaps, or Vietnam’s robust yet creamy coffee made with condensed milk, or down a cold beer with the locals at a rowdy bia hoi place, from where you can watch the traffic chaos on the streets in safety.

There are tea stands, cafés and beer joints – along with street food stalls and roaming vendors pushing mobile carts – on every city block in Hanoi. Making a decision as to where to drink and eat can initially be overwhelming – which is why it’s best to recruit a local expert or join a specialised tour during your first few days in Hanoi.

Lesson #8 – Hit the Ground Running with the Help of Local Experts

When we arrived in Hanoi in late 2012, Terence and I decided to hit the ground running as we often do by signing up for some private tours with local experts. On our first morning in Hanoi we were sitting on small plastic stools sipping nau da (coffee with ice) and feasting on street food: bun dau (tofu with fermented shrimp paste), banh tom (fried prawn fritters), pho tiu (pork noodle soup with peanuts), and trung ngai cuu (duck egg omelette with herbs).

We took things seriously and did not one street food tour but two, the first with food writer and culinary guide extraordinaire Van Cong Tu and then with cookbook writer and chef, Daniel Hoyer. Another day we learnt to cook street food with chef Duyen Phan and owner of Hanoi Cooking Centre, Tracey Lister, learning how to shop the local markets for produce and how to prepare the delights we had sampled on the street. Three months later we were still discovering new treats.

But there’s more to Hanoi than food, of course – although for people who love to eat, that can sometimes be enough – and we endeavoured to scratch the city’s surface through its music and art, its culture and traditions. We met young artists and curators, musicians and maestros, craftspeople and performers – and quite a few local characters in our neighbourhood bia hoi joint we made a habit of frequenting.

As wonderful as all of those encounters were, for me the best experience of all was simply being on Hanoi’s streets. On my recent trip, every time I stepped outside – and almost got ran over – I wondered why more travellers weren’t here, negotiating the intoxicating obstacle courses that are Hanoi’s footpaths and roads.

How to Cross the Road in Vietnam

For most foreigner travellers to Vietnam, how to cross the road in Vietnam is terrifying due to the sheer volume of traffic as much as the apparent chaos of motorbikes, scooters, cars, cyclos, and bicycles darting here and there, ignoring traffic signs and lights, appearing out of nowhere, driving on the wrong side of the road, and even treating the footpaths as streets. While the traffic is particularly mad in Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), it’s not much better in smaller cities and towns such as Hue and Hoi An, so don’t let your guard down. You need to take caution crossing streets everywhere in Vietnam.

Here’s How to Cross the Road in Vietnam:

When there’s a break in traffic in both directions, walk directly across the road while maintaining the same pace.

Do not slow down or speed up – unless it’s a matter of life and death. Pace is important as motorcyclists and drivers will make judgements as to when and where to deftly move around you based on how fast or slow you’re moving.

Avoid stopping if you can, as vehicles will manoeuvre around you and if you suddenly stop they might smash right into you.

Stay alert and look in both directions – it’s common for vehicles to drive on the wrong side of the road and for motorcyclists to ride on the footpaths if it’s a short cut or they can get around gridlock.

Don’t take comfort in pedestrian crossings and traffic lights and walk straight across the road, as you would back home. Most drivers simply ignore crossings and drive straight through lights, regardless of whether pedestrians are walking across the road or not.

Do as the locals do – watch where, when and how they cross the road and join them.

If you’re with a group of friends or family, walk together in a straight row rather than a huddle or line, so vehicles can more quickly get around you and don’t have to slow down or stop.

Whatever you do, don’t hesitate – and don’t stop to take a photo!

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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