Delicious long thin crispy bread sticks with tasty pork, onions and spices. A lady making her own rice noodle to wrap the tasty pork in with coriander and a dipping sauce. We went to a little place that had people sitting on low plastic stools on the footpath with a gas ring on a large silver tray sitting on a stool to form a table and cooker. They brought hot plate with a variety of shish kebab and chilli sauce and a pepper sauce. Nine of us sat around with our chop sticks and our long legs eating. Unfortunately we couldn't fit on the footpath so we sat back in a shop cavity. We certainly had a glow on, in fact Lance looked like he had been in a sauna with his face covered in tiny beads of sweat. Spotting some Hanoi beers in the fridge we thought it may do the trick. Alas, it was warm, but did a good job of washing down another delicious course.
The guide took us through the Old Quarter, right in the middle of Hanoi, we visited the market and saw people choosing their dinner, a live fish, big brown frogs, eels and two types of egg. One a fresh farm egg, the other with a baby chick inside. Fortunately he did not purchase one of these for us to sample. However we did try a variety of market fruit, some nice and some not so nice.
Our next food stop was desert. A delicious combination of jack fruit, pink and white water melon, dragon fruit, papaya and a sticky sago type of rice. Mixed through this treat was coconut cream and condensed milk. Crushed ice was available to mix through but I worried about where it had come from. And anyway, it was delicious just as it was.
Last stop was a secret coffee house down a long passage between buildings and through a couple of shops we entered a courtyard area, very ancient looking with vines dangling and concrete statues. Up some steep tiled stairs and past heavy carved doors that looked like an entry to an alter. Still climbing, this time up an old spiral staircase and finally out onto a vine covered balcony looking out over the lake. Lance had a beer and myself a lotus tea. The others had an egg coffee, coffee with an egg in it and whipped until thick. It did taste good. Sort of like an eggnog or a zabaglione.
Walking through the Old Quarter we experienced close up the small shops. Each building is only about 3 meters wide, on the lower level is the shop, open completely to the street and only about 4 or five (sometimes less) metres deep. There is a narrow staircase to the next level which is so small the family really just sleep there. Hence the cooking and sitting on the street on little plastic stools. Shops that sell other things just stack it all back like Tetris into the cavity and roll the door down when closing. And who knows when they close, because it was all still humming when we left for the train station just after 10pm.
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