When your not travelling Oz, its……

This is the first of three, maybe four posts about the culinary delights of Vietnam. Now straight up, this is NOT a Michelin style Vietnamese food blog. The only things I will be waxing lyrical about will be the taste and the price. Waxing lyrical about the texture of the sticky rice is above my paygrade. In between these gourmet adventures will be a sliver of Vietnam, hopefully enough to whet your other appetite.

Now, before every meal comes ‘The Prep’. So before you step onto the plane to Ho Chi Minh City these are your essential ‘ingredients’.

1. Passport -Duh, you say rolling your eyes. I know, but just to advise that you must have at least six months left on your passport to travel overseas. If not, down to the PO with your soon to expire. (allow three weeks).

2. Visa – there are scammers out there, so let Google AI direct you to the official site. Be VERY careful when completing the form. Do not let auto-fill near this form. Your passport name and your visa name have to be exactly the same. The form is relatively easy. If you have made a mistake, they will contact you to advise. My experience was a three working day turnaround but…. (allow two weeks).

3.Travel Money Card – I bank Commbank and this is truly a marvel. You can transfer from existing accounts onto the card in real time, in the currency you are going to use overseas. It does the conversion automatically and shows the value in the new currency. You can store several currencies on the card. It makes it easier if you advise the bank in advance of your travel plans.(allow three weeks if applying).

4.E-Sim – just this once, I didn’t mind Google listening in to my plans. Sure, all hotels have internet access, but a stranger in a strange town needs this. There are many brands but after reviewing I chose Holafly (Play Store) – $88 a month for unlimited and so far it’s been brilliant. You just nominate your country of destination and it’s there when you step off the plane. It’s important that you activate in Settings before you leave Oz and that you switch off your other SIM when you arrive. (allow three days)

5.Grab – nothing sharpens your will to live like being a pillion passenger in Ho Chi Minh City peak-hour traffic, but it’s by far the cheapest from of transport and available through the Grab App.(Play Store). Very important that you activate before you board that plane as the Activation Code will be sent to your phone number, not via your e-sim. You can also get taxis through the app but you’ll pay three times as much for the same trip.(allow 1 day)

6. Survival Foods – it’s perfectly OK to bring in unopened dry goods (tea, coffee, chocolate, biscuits, spreads) if you need that gentle reminder every so often.

I arrived very late on a Jetstar flight. Customs was a dream run – I could have brought in so much more meth (lol). I was expecting a quiet run to the apartment, but Ho Chi Minh City was well and truly up for it.

This city has a population of 9 million. Every third shop is a cafe, every fourth is a foodery of some description. In between are the street sellers who cater mainly to the motorcyclists and casual walk throughs. My street was only 800 metres long, but I could have fed myself for a week and not visited the same place twice. As it was, my first toe in the water was a cafe in the heart of the city. I’d just did a currency exchange and felt emboldened.

Now bare in mind, you’re lucky to strike anyone who speaks ‘Strine’ so the pictures in the menu was the language we had in common. I went looking for a dish that I recognised (most) of the ingredients. Here we go…….

It was really tasty and lunch for less than $5. I learned early on that the locals eat mostly cooked meals morning, noon and night, which is fine if you don’t notice the humidity. It seems counter intuitive, but they do love an iced coffee.

Over the next 2 days I sampled a couple of nearby restaurants and was similarly delighted.

Perhaps the greatest ‘discovery’ of these first few days was a gourmet deli that not only stocked heaps of local goods but also treasure from around the globe. Luckily just around the corner, I was able to put at least few things in the fridge that brought some relief from the punishing schedule of hot and spicy.

In the next post, I go looking for a big produce market and find a classy restaurant not 10 metres from my doorstep!