Tết — a trip to the remote island of Dao Phu Qui ❹ (written by Ho)

Arriving on the island, off to dinner on the first night. The restaurant was recommended by the owner. Hải sản Hải Thắm Quán https://www.google.com/maps/place/H%E1%BA%A3i+s%E1%BA%A3n+H%E1%BA%A3i+Th%E1%BA%AFm+Qu%C3%A1n/@10.513954,108.9409755,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x3177b15b5b09b8c3:0x4309608a07b21093!8m2!3d10.513954!4d108.9431642?hl=ja-JP We got a bit of a late start because of a little party with the fishermen, and the restaurant was packed with families. Well, it is Tết, after all. So, as expected, the staff were run off their feet. Every time we tried to order, item after item was sold out. So we just pointed at a big fish swimming in the tank inside the restaurant and said, this one!! The rest we left up to Vy, our Vietnamese friend, along with her little sister Oanh and Oanh's boyfriend Hao Hao. We had a high-class fish, black snapper (apparently). Half of it was simmered and stir-fried with glass noodles and aromatic vegetables, which we wrapped up with fresh vegetables in rice paper to eat. Let's make the other half into a hotpot! That was the choice of the Vietnamese, who love hotpot even when it's hot out. "Nice, nice!" we said, our anticipation building. But it just wouldn't come. Vietnamese people don't stay quiet at times like this, so they told the waiter properly, something like it's still not here, hurry up~~. And then a plate of nuts arrived at the table. As if to say "eat these while you wait," they kept coming, one after another. Is this on the house? No way, right? we laughed, munching away on them crunchily, along with beer. And while we were at it, here it came~ the half-fish dish!!

Once you cook this and wait a few minutes, the glass noodles soak up the soup and go soft and tender, and the white fish plumps up too — it looks so delicious~ You'll immediately want to poke at it with your chopsticks. The young pair, Heo & Hao Hao, work away busily to make it for their elders.

The two of them were really skillful — I could tell this was something they do all the time. They quickly dipped a thick, sesame-studded sheet of rice paper into water, then piled on leafy lettuce, all sorts of herbs, and plump, springy fish that had been simmered and stir-fried. On top of that, they added glass noodles soaked full of flavor, and wrapped it all up.

The moment you take a bite~ Wrapped inside crisp, fresh greens, there's a fatty, rich white fish, and chewy, springy glass noodles that have soaked up the fish broth, as a refreshing hint of mint wafts up softly~~~

Oh, oh, oh, so delicious!! You know, I get to eat lots of vegetables too, so I'm happy — white fish wrapped in mint and vegetables. The mint does a wonderful job.

Personally, I've got my eye on one of those folders with a divider that lets you store the rice paper and the water separately... I really want one. I'll try to hunt for it in Ho Chi Minh City. The hotpot arrived too, but... I got so absorbed in eating that there's no photo. Even though we drank and ate plenty of beer and nuts, we just kept on eating. When I checked the receipt, they'd sneakily charged us for the nuts. But the amount of Tiger beer was clearly less than what we'd had, so I pointed it out. Since Vietnamese people assume mistakes are going to happen, they always check their receipts carefully. This is nothing to be embarrassed about at all — if anything, it's important. That said, you can't check if you're too drunk, so be careful. And if you can't speak Vietnamese, you won't be able to get your point across, so watch out for that too. I'm feeling the importance of language skills so keenly. English doesn't get through here either — this is truly Vietnam. Let's bathe in Vietnamese every day and train our ears. Now, tomorrow we head further south by boat to go island-hopping. Apparently we'll be diving too. To think the beaches would be this beautiful and walkable... I should have brought proper outdoor shoes for beach walking. My husband, walking around in rubber sandals, is already sunburned. But he says he's perfectly comfortable... He loves Vietnam so much he's gone numb to it. Relocated-life ranking