Eating and Shopping in Quy Nhon. 4th May 2008.

Some typical street scenes around Quy Nhon

We have a lovely housekeeper/cook (Hanh) who makes delicious lunches for us on weekdays but with the public holidays and weekend I have only had two of her meals so far. For our other meals we need to buy something from one of the street stalls, go to a café/restaurant or cook for ourselves. I have discovered just how limited my knowledge is about cooking food different from standard western fare. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

I have just returned from the produce market that is located about 2 minutes walk from home, once again with some lovely fruit and vegetables but little else. The market is still quite a daunting experience for a woman used to buying her meat and fish in sanitized, plastic wrapped parcels that little resemble the original beast. The food here is real!

There is an amazing variety of seafood available, fish of every description; tiny orange and blue fish that look like they belong in an aquarium, crabs with bright blue pincers, large fish spotted like a leopard, shrimps of all sorts, squid, some that look like mackerels, stingray and many more. My problem is that they all come whole, innards and all, and I really don’t know how to choose and what to do with them. The meat is also a bit of a problem for me – I have eaten two nice meals with some meat in cafes but I cannot face choosing it in the market yet. Too real and too many flies for me.

I am doing much better with the fruit. There is a vast range available. Many are familiar such as– pineapples (invariably pre-peeled), melons, bananas, grapes, passion fruit, mangoes and oranges (ripe but with bright green skins). I have also been enjoying other tropical fruit. I love the papaya and have had it several times for breakfast. I have also enjoyed mangosteens which are about the size of a large passionfruit with a thick red/purple skin and flesh – you split them open and inside there is a white part shaped like a garlic bulb that you eat. Custard apples are a nobly, greenish fruit sort of resembling the shape of a pine cone. They taste a bit like fruit salad. I enjoyed one the other day but one of the other volunteers told me that they are almost invariably full of worms – I didn’t notice them! One of my favorites so far are pomelo – they are like big grapefruit with thick green skins. The flesh is pink, not as tart as a grapefruit but not sweet which is a pleasant change. I also bought something that looked like a potato on the outside and a brown plum on the inside – I have no idea what it was and won’t bother with them again. There are many more fruits that I am looking forward to trying.

The market is an experience in itself. It is a long, open-ended building. Out the front are the flower sellers with gorgeous bright yellow chrysanthemums. Running the length of the market are tables joined in a long rectangle. The women selling the produce squat on the tables amongst the fruit and vegetables wielding large knives and weighing everything on small scales. Many of the women are old. I don’t know how old but with their tiny work worn bodies, crinkled faces and gappy grins they look older than Methuselah. As I move through the market they call out offers that are lost on me. When I point at an item it is quickly grabbed, stuffed into a plastic bag, along with a number more that I don’t want, weighed and the amount of money required communicated by the holding up of fingers. No amount of protesting lets me get away with only one or two pieces. The whole process is done with much amusement on their part and bemusement on mine.

Out the back is the meat and fish section. The fish is incredibly fresh and the area is not too smelly, unlike parts of the beach devoted to fish trading which bloomin pong. I do look forward to becoming more confident at the market – hopefully I will be home one day when our housekeeper goes so I can accompany her and learn some more.

Five minutes away we have a supermarket – it may be less ‘authentic’ shopping there but I do find it easier. I can peruse the aisles undisturbed and examine the unfamiliar packets trying to work out what the contents are. There are a few ‘western’ items like peanut butter and biscuits available if the need arises. I have been pleased to find yoghurt, even though it, like so many other things is very sweet. Even though they are all tiny the Vietnamese seem to have a need to maximize the calories in their food. There is loads of sugar in lots of things, including the ‘bread’ (yuck) and fruit juice. Many dishes in cafes seem to include added fat. I have yet to find anything that is wholegrain – crackers, rice, cereals etc are all very processed. Enough! That sounds like I am whining – the food is fine, I just need to learn more about choosing and preparing it.

There are all sorts of other shops in my immediate neighborhood and further afield. I have enjoyed buying some practical things like a reading light and a spare pair of reading glasses but I certainly haven’t seen anything else to tempt me so far. “Fancy” does not begin to describe most of the things like ornaments and clothes. It seems that if there is room for some decoration then - golly we might as well go the whole hog and add some more. Shiny, cute, colorful, ornate – everything and more.

Those of you who know of my stationery fetish will understand my pleasure in finding a big stationery shop down at the mall. Just had to buy some paper and pens – I know I will be back to find some other treasures. I also bought a publication of the Very Hungry Caterpillar in Vietnamese for a few dollars. I have bought my copy with me so there might be a way I can use the two together. I have checked out the music CD’s too. They are dirt cheap but there was a limited range in the shop – unless I suddenly develop a passion for Celine Dion or Brittany Spears I am unlikely to be buying them any time soon!

My biggest purchase to date is a fancy cell phone. It cost me over a million dong – about $80 NZ and works fine here but will only text some numbers in NZ. Apparently there is nothing I can do about it – it is a compatibility problem with the networks. I can receive the texts – just can’t send them back. Bugger! Apparently it might work when I am in Ho Chi Min.