Black Cat

Last night we enjoyed a filling dinner at Black Cat Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. Reviewed by CNN as one of the top 10 places to eat in the world in 2006, the small cafe is known for their massive burgers--17.6oz patties to be exact. (Thats over 1lb!!) The 'Big Cheese' Burger, as it is called, is prepared with 4 slices of cheese, 6 slices of bacon, 3 whole tomatoes, one whole onion, an entire head of butter lettuce, and one large pickle served on a jumbo toasted sesame seed bun... all for $12!!! Hailey and I forced her brother to order it just so we could try it out...

Hailey's 'normal' sized burger, getting a piggy back ride from the Big Cheese

The Beach

Hailey's mom treated us to a four day beach vacation last weekend in Mui Ne, a coastal resort town located in an arm of the South China Sea. Considering that we are in the middle of monsoon season, we lucked out with beautiful weather, and I am sporting a beautiful tan (finally!). Mui Ne's strong breezes make it a popular destination for kite surfing and wind surfing.

Above: A picture of a kite surfer (the guy on the top--his parachute is out of the frame) and a wind surfer. The kite surfers would get so much air!!

Below: Our resort, The Sailing Club. We stayed in thatched roofed bungalow's and our bathroom was outside, so we got to shower under the palm trees. Absolutely beautiful.

These are squid boats. There are so many lights from the boats out at night that it looks like a never ending bridge stretching across the horizon.

We took a tour through a beautiful tropical rain forest an hour out of Mui Ne and rode a gondola to the top of Takou Mountain. In 1879, a pagoda was built at the top of the mountain. A statue of a reclining Buddha lies at the highest position on Takou Mountain. The statue is about 160 feet long, and is the largest reclining buddha in Vietnam. Although tourists are no longer able to climb in the statue (access was through the Buddha's ear), we were able to climb on top. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries once we reached the pagoda at the top, so the three pictures of the Buddha shown are taken from the internet to give you an idea of its massive size.

Above: the gondolas we rode to the top


Above: Hiking up to the reclining Buddha

Elephant Ear Fish

Last week, our co-worker Kevin took Hailey and I to a restaurant to sample a local delicacy--the Elephant Ear Fish. Our lunch place was just off the Mekong Delta-- the murky, still, river that snakes through the city. Part of the river flowed through the outdoor restaurant, and our lunch was freshly caught and prepared right before our eyes. There were dozens of Elephant Ear Fish captured in nets that were submerged in the river, anxiously awaiting their deep fried death sentence. When we arrived, Kevin ordered two fish and we watched our waiter net one of the large, flat creatures, slap it onto the concrete, and whack it several times with a stick. Lucky you, I got some footage of the action! The fish is then cleaned and placed in a deep fryer--skin, eyeballs, bones and all. The Elephant Ear Fish is traditionally eaten in a rice paper roll with vegetables, rice noodles, and various sauces. We prepared our own rolls at the table and ate the poor fishy up. I wasn't particularly fond of its taste, but I swallowed it down regardless... Needless to say, I opted for the vegetarian version the second time around and prepared my roll with noodles and vegetables only. (DISCLAIMER: Don't look Jenny!)

Click here and here for footage... if you only have time for one video, the second one is better.