Dragon fruit - a fruit from the fairy tale!

Snow White and 7 Dwarfs - my all-time favourite fairy tale, and from my mother's stories - she used to play "Blanche Neige" in her old-time school, I always wait with excitement for any movie version based on this story. Not long ago I saw "Mirror, Mirror" with Julia Roberts on HBO. I suddenly noticed one detail - the "dragon fruit" was one of the ingredients for the Queen's potion. I still saw this fruit in another Hollywood fairy-tale movie. So a sudden idea crossed my mind - why don't we talk about this "fairy tale" dragon fruit?

                 Red dragon fruit but to us the name "Thanh Long" means blue dragon! 

Hawaii - the helicopter tour and the hiking in the Volcanoes National Park - Part 2

We, a group of 5, stayed few days in Waikoloa, two among us went for the Mauna Kea observatory, up in the mountain, very cold and it's interesting to know that Hawaii is one of few best places in the world to observe the stars, the galaxy. Me and another colleague went for diving, it was not a real diving but we were able to see the underwater world by lying on the life vest, face down, the water was crystal clear, so everything in the water was terribly beautiful in our eyes, honestly I had a kind of fear, feeling that my feet touching those coral reefs, colourful sea creatures.

Next day we moved to Hilo, the "biggest small town" in another side of the island for the helicopter tour. Hilo located at the foot of the two volcanoes and overlooking the spectacular Hilo Bay. Days before we all decided to book a tour to get up close with the active lava flows. We were patiently waiting hours at the terminal until we got the confirmation that our helicopter could take off. It was very boring terminal, almost empty, no activities.

                   Hilo -"biggest small town" in Big Island with Kilauea volcano in the background.

Hawaii - Waikoloa and my walk down into the Waipio Valley - Part I

Every journey to a new destination is always special, it will leave in my heart with some feelings that I keep for long. I've never been to Hawaii before. In 2009, when I first joined a small group of individual investors, some member suggested to celebrate the new business marriage by a trip to this Paradise - Hawaii. Everyone excitingly agreed, rushed to prepare for the trip, but no one predict what could be the end of that union. It was a long sad story!
Today sharing with you about my trip to Hawaii, my pain, my sadness already healed, those people who accompanied me in this trip seemed disappeared forever, without any track.

                   The view from the street to the apartment where I stayed in Waikoloa...

28 years later...the memory of student time!

In some of my first posts I did mention my first foreign language was not English. I studied French when I was a little kid, both of my parents speak French, esp. my mom, she's very good at speaking, my father - at translating, writing. But the destiny took me not to the "Les miserables"'s shelter but to the land of the fairy tale's Snow Princess - the Russia.

Russian language is really difficult to learn, the calligraphy, the pronunciation, the grammar could terrify you from the beginning, especially the "gender" of the words - not only male, female,  they still have "middle" words, but I feel quite comfortable with Russian as many words from French so it was easy to remember, for verbs - Russian is much easier than French, French conjugation of verb was one of my childhood nightmares...

         My old classmates with some "senior" friends who also spent their student time in St-Petersburg

Rice noodles with paddy crab paste - bún riêu

What could be the right translation for this favourite rice noodles in Saigon? It's hard to say.
Not glorious as "beef noodles", not classy as "beef noodles in Huế style" but "bún riêu" could be one of the most favourite, the most down-to-earth dish in Saigon. Much cheaper than "beef noodles", but "bún riêu" has a special place in our heart and I don't know why. When I was a little kid, after the midday nap, bún riêu was always my dream snack.

             A paddy crab cake, traditional ingredient for bún riêu...

Angkor Wat - the City of Temples

I totally forgot my promise…it was almost year and half ago, after my post about the bizarre street food in Cambodia. I promised to share my first visit to this sacred place, my impressions about the unbelievable site, the architecture, the passage of time...at nearly 1000 year old temples.

To describe the Angkor I need to borrow the words from very first Western traveller to this place, back in 16th century - Antonio Da Madalena: " ...is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of…"

Living in Saigon, I, of course, heard about the Angkor Wat long time ago, but for certain reasons I turned down several chances to visit this place in the past, until I first came here, to witness the great site I completely shocked about the scale of this complex - surely the largest religious monument in the world.

Flower festival at Tao Dan park during Tết

When our Lunar New Year approaching, livimg in Saigon, I probably have few things to enjoy: firstly the unusual quiet atmosphere in the city, especially in the morning - a beautiful quietness, secondly - the floral festival at Tao Đan park as I'm quite interested in few things displayed here. Lastly, it could be my great ability to spend money for something that I never pay attention to in my everyday life.

Two days ago I just ordered online from Hanoi a dish called "Stewed fish from village Vũ Đại", 40 USD per clay pot of 2kg. It's expensive! I always love stewed fish but the most important here is my curiosity, my childhood memory for the character that I used to know in my school time. I still order  online another speciality named "Five colours ham", I will have another review in my blog about this unique ham later. It's quite unique recipe and delicious dish, esp. for special occasions.