Last day in HCMC

This is our last day in HCMC (Saigon) it has been 6 weeks here...tonight we leave for Nha Trang by train at 11pm. It cost us about $54 for all of us on the overnight sleeper train cabin....its a 12 hour trip...we thought it would be a good experience and at least the kids can sleep through the night. I think we feel happy about moving on to our next destination...It has been great though, we have met some beautiful people.

On Matt's last day of school the whole class went to a local eatery for their breakup lunch, I went a long as I have also made friends with those on the course with Matt. It was really busy and the food on the tables looked great, all locals customers (good sign) and about 200+ people...big, busy, cheap restaurant. Well, it was the best food we've had...and for the first time I ate whole frogs with lemon grass...Matt has eaten them before in Philippines...Matt and I went back the following day and we ate a plate full of them, very tasty and lots of meat on their little legs, tastes similar to chicken.

We have got to know the owner of the guesthouse, and yesterday they wanted to treat us by preparing us a farewell lunch. When the lunch arrived the staff asked Matt if we wanted to eat it in our room or out in the courtyard in front of them...well...we regretted opting for 'out in the courtyard'. We sat at the table and I tell you my eyes nearly popped out of my head. It was all very traditional northern provinces food consisting of blood sausages, raw meat covered in a dirt like spice, liver, intestine and other delicacies...and one which we were convinced could have been dog, this is a treat for guests!!!...they said it was pork but it smelled strange and did not look like pork at all!  The worst thing was they were there watching us and asking if we liked it all...it was hard for us to smile as we chewed :)!

Matt ate a lot of it so that we didn't have to (good man)...but I still tried the sausage and ate a piece of liver mmmmm and the kids just ate the rice and noodles, poor things!