Chau Doc

To find Chau Doc on a map you would need to find Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on a map and run your finger to the southwest toward Cambodia. You can't get much closer to the Cambodian border then when you are in Chau Doc. My first impression of the town was that it was like going back in time to an old west town. Obviously there are loads of motor bikes and other modern touches but the feel is there. It is a bustling, lively place. For a rural town it is quite crowded. But to live here for even a few days is to immerse yourself in Vietnamese culture. A good example of this is the sit-low. This is like something out of an old western movie about the gold rush. The kind that have the token Chinese town people running around pulling people on little carts. Here the carts are hooked up to bicycles and they act as taxi's as well as a means to move almost anything through the town. In any other place you might think they are touristy but there is no real tourism out here and they are the real deal. Here are some sit-low pictures.
This picture is just ridiculous. How many Americans can they squeeze onto one of these things. I has to sit like Buddha the whole way back to the house. Here are the kids on a sit low in front of Marie's mom's house. Ready to head out shopping.
The other part of the Vietnamese culture that I always thought was a total stereotype and isn't is the rice paddy hat. They are everywhere. In the market, the fields, and on boats. People here wear them like westerners would wear a baseball cap. Very cool.
Pho - where do I start. If I was forced to name my top 5 favorite foods it would easily be on the list. I love this stuff. Beef noodle soup. And lucky me-here they eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Chau Doc has managed to take a food stand or restaurant and shove them into every nook and cranny in the city. Right at the end of the driveway is the stand that takes fresh sugar cane and puts it through a press and gives you this delicious sugar drink that is literally fresh from the cane. Just up the block is the Pho stand. Most Americans that try to pronounce this word will say "FOE". Nope that ain't it. It is pronounced Fa. Like a long long way to run. An man is it good. On one or two days I had it twice a day. But on most days here in Chau Doc we had it for breakfast. This little hole in the wall place called Cole. I am sure it is pronounced Co-Le or something like that but I will just call it Cole! I have had a lot of Pho in my life but nothing like this. For starters the noodles are fresh. It is like eating spaghetti with fresh pasta. I suppose I could go on forever about this but it is getting late and I will let the pictures speak for the soup. Let's just say that I am typing this in Cambodia and I can't get it here and I really miss it a lot.

This picture is problematic. Marie would say that since this is my bowl of Pho it is not the real deal. I suppose there are lots of ways to make it. I like to simply use bean sprouts, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and peppers. Thinly sliced beef, chop sticks and a spoon. Delicious. Marie would tell you you need to use basil or it is not Pho. She is a Vietnamese snob!! She also says that the kids and I use too much hoisin sauce. Whatever. In the end I love it. Here is MY bowl of Pho from my favorite place in the world to eat it - COLE

We rented motor bikes for the week and used them to get to breakfast each day. We would throw Sarah and Jack on and all take off to eat. It was a lot of fun.Here we are eating breakfast. The two guys at the end of the table are Marie's cousins - Tinh and Thom. They are brothers and two really nice guys. Even though I did not speak Vietnamese and they spoke no English we all got along great.