It was late when we arrived at Saigon central market, and most of the stalls were shut down for a well-deserved Sunday evening rest, but we were relieved to find several of the food stalls in the middle not quite shut yet.
We were keen to get our dinner there having feasted earlier – bbq pork with rice and bits, and sauteed beef and rice with bits, plus a water and a Saigon beer, both wonderfully freezing, in the muggy heat of the day – but we could see people were on their last legs, so we ordered quickly and simply: two bowls of pho, one chicken, one with prawns. 30,000 dong apiece – a tad over a pound.
Hurrying me to finish, on account of the obvious local enthusiasm to clear up and go, V wasn’t impressed by my doggedly tapping away on my phone. But the ragged exhaustion on the face of the young man collecting the last bowls of the day was replaced by a beaming smile when he read on my translator app:
“I have eaten well in London, Paris and New York, but I have never had a tastier meal than that”
And I wasn’t just being nice.
We never did get to grips with the language. No-one does. According to our helpful guidebook, the word Ma, depending on pronunciation, can mean ghost, but, horse, grave, cheek or rice seedling. Which gives you some idea.
We fell back on pointing at menus, or at what other people were eating. Which worked a treat. It is really not at all difficult to get a meal for two with beer, and change from a fiver, and the food is delicious, just like everyone says. A simple meal – egg fried rice, say, will be plentiful and about £1.50. Beer is 80p. For anything but exotica you’ll struggle to spend more than £5 on a meal almost wherever you go.
Many prices are bonkers low. We spoke to an English couple whose ‘perfectly nice’ room was £3 a night. We hired a scooter for five days – £30 all told. It’s not cheap to get here, but once you do…