Fruity Saigon - Part Two

Sunday morning.
Beautiful morning, with sunshine, but not very hot.
Traffic is not that heavy!
I decided to do a ride on my bicycle around the city.

Following my old itinerary when I still rode my super light racing bike Giant, I start
my journey from Nguyễn Văn Cừ street, then across the bridge to district 7.

But before the bridge, in front of me a row of fruit street hawkers!


Japanese pear (Lê Nhật) 100% from China, for sure!.
These days people seems to dislike more and more products, especially foods, from our big neighbor! "Chinese pear" on board could be difficult for sale?


Thai mandarin (Quýt Thái) mixed probably with Thai species?


Mango "Keo" (Xoài Keo) originated from Cambodia, mostly cultivated in province of Ta Keo, that's why "keo") When ripe, different from our yellow skin mango, "keo" mango's  skin in dark green, mild sweet taste, bright yellow flesh, crisp, good for making salad.

Pear melon (dưa lê - variety of muskmelon!)
I don't know why in our language when we say to someone "buôn dưa lê" (literally means trade in pear melon), it doesn't mean any business here, it means "talkative","chit-chatted"!
Better don't trade in this fruit!
The taste is good if sweet, but if not, I feel like eating cucumber!  

Continue my ride, across a new bridge Nguyễn Văn Cừ, I met another row of fruit street vendors.
This time mostly jack fruit or mít in Vietnamese. Very popular fruit snack, with starchy and fibrous flesh, sweet, strong flavor, even stinky for someone!
The fruit itself is very big and heavy, it could weigh up to 20-30 kg!
I quite like this fruit's smoothie with condensed milk!

After Nguyễn văn Cừ bridge, another bridge - smaller!
And I reach a new quiet residence area "Trung Sơn", here another fruit street vendor!
I wonder is it fruit? Probably, yes!


Coconut (dừa). Most visible and preferable in any tourist place! 
You can drink chilled coconut for only 10,000 VND or buy and take it away!
Near to the Presidential Palace (Dinh Độc Lập or Hội trường Thống Nhất) many coconut street vendors, they charge not 10,000 VND (equally 50 cents!) but 2-3 USD!

From Trung Sơn I continue my discovery ride to district 7, where is famous for new and nice landscaping residence area Phú Mỹ Hưng. But as I guess no any street vendor is allowed in this area, I decide to go back to Sài gòn center but by another way.

And here I met a very unique fruit street vendor!


Sugarcane (mía). Again is it fruit? No?
It belongs to the grass family, same as maize, wheat, rice! In Vietnam, the sugarcane juice is so popular! Fresh, sweet juice, to me it's like a life potion, esp. during the long, bright days of Summer!  
My mother, she used to love this sugarcane, she can peel off sugarcane's  skin with her own teeth, when she's already in her 60s!

You may wonder how we eat sugarcane?
Peel off the skin, chop into small pieces, the vendor will do it for you!

Your turn ? To chew & to extract the juice! Then simply throw the left-over!

Not far from this sugarcane stall cart, another fruit stall on Honda "Dream"
(Honda's motorbike is so popular in Vietnam, we call "Honda" to refer to all brands of motorbike!)
Muskmelon (dưa gang). I have to say, living in hot tropical country is not that bad, especially during summer, as we have so many "cool" fruits.
Muskmelon is one of them. You chill this fruit, then cut into pieces, simply mix with brown sugar and enjoy! Excellent refreshment!

And then I saw another fruit cart! This fruit used to be favorite, I tried many times in my childhood but I didn't like it. It's sour with quite big seed. I didn't get any sweet "dâu da" as we call it in Vietnamese. When  peel off, we see nice shining 4-5 sections with seed!

Actually I prefer another species of this fruit - bòn bon or langsat. Sweeter esp. species originated from Thailand. In Vietnam bòn bon has another name - nam trân (literally precious fruit from South). I never heard, probably only in the books in the old days!

You already saw jack fruit (mít) in the beginning of this post, now another "mít" - mít Tố Nữ.
Despite the ugly look and strong smell - this fruit has very nice name "Tố Nữ" (literally means beautiful lady!).
The taste is similar to something between jack fruit and durian, very juicy! Try it you may like it!

Leaving district 7 behind, I'm going back to downtown, on the middle of my way, on a quiet street, I saw a man sitting next to his motorbike-stall, he keeps peeling off the pomelo (bưởi) - my favorite fruit!  

In Vietnam we have a different species of pomelo, most famous could be Bưởi Năm Roi, the pomelo below I got from that motorbike stall is another species - Bưởi da xanh (Pomelo of green skin!). Pink inside , sweet and juicy!
I paid 80,000 VND for this green-outside-pink-inside pomelo (less than 4 USD!)!

 

Durian. Durian. Durian. In Vietnamese we call "sầu riêng", literally means "own sadness"!
But in fact this name is just a Vietnamese variation of pronounced word "durian" or "turen" in Khmer.
Eating this fruit can be a never-ever-forgettable experience for many people.

Considered as The King of Fruits, I don't think I will limit my thinkings about this fruit within this post. Will come back to this fruit another time!

The only thing I can say right now:
"PLEASE EAT DURIAN, IF NOT YOUR LIFESPAN IS SHORTENED FOR 10 YEARS, 
  IF YOU STILL RESIST - 20 YEARS!"    

I met durian street vendor near to Bến Thành market, at the corner with Lê Thánh Tôn street.
Turn left and right. I'm in Trương Định street. One of the most green streets in town.

And here I see Her Majesty the Queen! Banana!

Banana. King of sweet street foods.
I never count how many species we have in Vietnam. Many, many! I love this banana cart.
Shining yellowness. With the roof!

The vendor seems relaxed, joining or hearing how other guys are "buôn dưa lê" (chitchatting) near by!
He seems no worried about ripe banana that he has to sell fast, otherwise by the end of the long summer day, too much ripe banana is no longer in demand!

It was good Sunday morning!
Back to my Gym, taking a shower and enjoy my Vietnamese Turkish kebab that I will tell you another day!