That's all pho now

We had the morning in Hanoi before moving on to Cambodia, and we made the most of it. I’ve been wanting to try egg coffee, so we searched out a shop with the drink on the menu. We ended up at Civet Coffee, where the woman opened the shop for us. Russ and Kim decided to try the civet coffee, while I went for the egg coffee and Carolyn had a frozen coconut milk cappuccino thing. Carolyn’s came out first, and it was like a dessert. Then, the barista brought out all the implements necessary for the civet coffees. There was the packet of the coffee, which is pre-measured, and then there was the coffee drip, the cup, the plate, the spoon, and the large bowl, into which she put the coffee cup. She filled the large bowl with boiling hot water to keep the coffee cup piping hot, as the coffee dripped in. Whilst the civet coffee was brewing, she stepped inside to start the egg coffee. What is egg coffee? Apparently during the war, Hanoi suffered a shortage of milk. Being cappuccino lovers, they discovered that an egg, whipped properly, could provide a foamy alternative. I watched the barista whip up the egg. She added some vanilla syrup and whipped some more. Before adding any coffee to the cup, she lined the bottom with a healthy portion of sweetened condensed milk. She then poured the robusta coffee into the cup, scooped the whipped egg onto the coffee, and sprinkled finely ground culi coffee on top. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the civet coffee was finishing up just before mine came out. Russ and Kim took a sip and...made some serious faces. The coffee was quite bitter and strong; “Stronger than espresso,” said the barista. No kidding. I had a taste and that was enough for me, but I had my egg coffee to get back to. Mine was also served in a larger bowl, with boiling hot water keeping the coffee hot. I was told that it is better to drink it quickly, while it’s still fresh, so I did. I stirred the contents, which seemed to be just fluff. I couldn’t even see any coffee in the mug, then I gave it a try. Oh my goodness! It was like a big, toasted marshmallow. It was amazingly delicious. I am going to scour the internet to find that recipe!

Once the coffee was done, we needed to walk the caffeine out of our systems, so what better than to do more shopping. I ended up getting a NorthFace gortex rain jacket, which Kim informed me will be my Christmas present. I also got a pair of Chacos. Everything was $20. I’m so glad a I brought an empty bag to stuff full of all these purchases.

We enjoyed pho one last time before heading to the airport. Our flight was about two hours to Siem Reap. We had to get a visa upon arrival, which was one of the most bureaucratic processes I’ve ever witnessed. We handed over our passport and the visa application, as well as $30. The immigration officer then handed the passport and paperwork to the guy next to him, who looked at it, then passed it to the guy next to him, who put the money in the drawer. From there, it was passed down 14 more people before I saw it again. As I waited for the passport, the immigration official at the end called me up to the counter. He said, “It should be about an hour,” and then laughed. It really only took about five minutes to move down the long counter before the second to last official did some stamping, and the last guy handed it over to me. His job was very important; making sure the right passport went to the right person. He opened my passport to the picture, showed it to me and said, “Is this you?” I replied affirmatively, and his job was done.

We all made it out fairly quickly and met Dom, our guide, with little trouble. He, and our driver, Ton, will be with us the next two days. Dom has the best English of any of our guides so far. Apparently he was a monk, when he was younger, and his temperament confirmed it. I’m looking forward to spending a couple of days with him. In the meantime, we took a tuk tuk to the night market to top off the evening. Although there was a lot going on at the market, it was nothing compared to the frenetic pace of Vietnam.

Before winding down tonight, I hopped on google and noticed an interesting google doodle. I clicked on it and learned that today is Cambodia’s Independence Day (from the French in 1953). It is clearly not celebrated like July 4th, but yea for them.Read more