After leaving the temple we went to lunch at a street food restaurant called Ngon Restaurant. I was in hog heaven. The vendors were around the perimeter of restaurant with bustling tables in the center. While waiting for the table I walked around ogling the food, drinking in the smells. We asked Giang to order for us and that he did. Here's our menu:

1. Bang seo-pork and shrimp pancake, it was allright

2. Bun cha-bbq pork with rice noodles, signature dish of Vietnam and pretty tasty

3. Fresh Spring rolls, obv amazing

4. Cha ca Hanoi-special grilled fish of Hanoi, the catfish itself was good but the way you're meant to prepare it made it disgusting. You add shrimp paste to it. Shrimp paste is grey and looks like wet concrete. It tastes like the part of shrimp you sometimes accidentally eat if you don't peel it right

5. Com lam ganuong-Cooked bamboo rice with bbq chicken, Very flavorful

6. Oc hap xa-steamed snail with lemongrass, Huge fan of this one. Anyone who eats escargot knows that it's the garlic butter that we love and the actual snail is really just the vehicle for it. Some may not like this for the texture but I love the chewy texture of snails. Chicken hearts also have a great chewy texture incidentally.

7. Pho xao (Stirfried pho), Delicious

8. Rau muong xao Stir fried morning glory, Not bad

9. Com tam (broken rice with roasted pork rib and shredded pig skin; My favorite. So much flavor. Loved this

Interesting fact: Giang says chopsticks are longer in Vietnam and China than in Korea and Japan because they have more of a food sharing culture.

After lunch Giang took us to a homemade ice cream place. There were a lot of people there to try this ice cream. They only sold one flavor, vanilla, on a cone, one scoop only. It was all right but no Jeni's (best ice cream ever).

Then we Went to Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, where the body Ho Chi Minh lies. Giang says he wanted to be cremated but the French didn't allow it so he was not. We then went to the Presidential Palace where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked. French colonial influence was all about.

Ho Chi Minh was the Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader and is revered by all in Vietnam. He led the Vietnamese independence movement from 1945 and was the first President of Vietnam when Vietnam became independent in 1954. Between Dad and Giang I got a decent history lesson on the French Indochina War, Vietnamese independence, the rise of communism in the North, and fighting the South. Essentially the US were involved to help France who was trying to stop communism and fight the North and meanwhile Vietnamese people just wanted independence from France, Japan, and whoever else were trying to control them. Vietnam is so rich in history and culture, the story of which is also extremely complicated. To really understand it, watch the Ken Burns documentary on the Vietnam War. Or ask my dad but if you do this, make sure you're sitting down because it'll be a while.

We ended the day looking at a crash site of a B52 plane. It was in a pond. We were exhausted so that's about all I have to say about that.

Back to the hotel and crashed. Macaroons for dinner. Twila had some milk.