Thursday, June 29, 2006

Pavement Pounders - Saigon II

Agar

Laying on the sofa right next to the window at my sister’s house I heard so many people walking past trying to sell their stuff from sticky paper to catch rats to tropical fruit like durian. My daily snack or desert while I was there was Agar which only costs 1000Vnd and the lady’s very friendly. She also sells creme caramel. She told me that she earns 50,000Vnd everyday by selling those sweets, having started her business 5 years ago. She starts at 8am and continues until she's sold everything, walking through every alley trying to finish her day as early as possible.

Agar

Every time she came around, I couldn't resist. I just have to buy one, sometimes two or three!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one of my favorite reasons for living in Viet Nam -- although it adds to the noise in the hem, I love the different calls that the vendors make to entice buyers, and the wide variety of food that literally walks up to your doorstep.
-- Mel

Preya said...

When I lived in Saigon, my sister's husband's family would always make agar for us to eat after school---mmmmm:)

Writer and Nomad said...

isn't street food rather risky in terms of making you sick (inadequate refrigeration, etc.)? i know in philly, it can be. you never know who's stand is clean until after someone tells you they got sick. is it the same for you there?

shaz said...

hey tu, you mentioned sometime back you coming to Singapore in July, so is that happening? Leave a note on my blog.

Monika said...

mmm I love agar

Anonymous said...

yum! I love agar! :)

junebee said...

Oh, her day will be done in short time with a couple of customers like you!

Van Cong Tu said...

I think I kept her in business while I was down in Saigon.

Cergie said...

Coucou ! My mother used doing agar-agar without sugar and she did also syrup (just water+sugar) to eat with. It's simple to do and refreshing to eat.

Thuy said...

Mmmm! Creme Caramel is my fav.

Van Cong Tu said...

thuy, same here
Cergie. Yes, so true.