KFC

In the morning, we saw Co Ha to the airport so she could fly back to America. She only took two weeks off, so she had to go back earlier than us. Unlike the San Francisco airport, only flyers could make it past the front door.

In the afternoon, we went to Maximark, a large supermarket that sells international names, including several known in the U.S. such as Dove, Toblerone, Hershey's, and Gillette. If you walked in carrying any items, you had to leave them to the care of the staff at the locker area before security would let you past the turnstiles. The prices are about expensive as in the U.S., so not a lot of locals shop there. At the entrance, there was a little platform advertising crackers with a koala logo similar to Hello Panda. The advertising staff was giving out free samples, and for some reason, the Chicken Dance song was blaring through the stereo--and that's not a fun one to get stuck in your head. At every station (sunglasses, shoes, handbags, etc.), at least one saleslady stood by, waiting to offer service to any customer showing the slightest bit of interest in the merchandise.

There's great little "restaurant" a few steps away from where we're staying. In the afternoons, they sell combination rice where you can pick which dishes you wanted to eat; in the evenings, they sell fried chicken drumsticks "roti" style with sauce to die for. The few times when we're at home, we like to drop by to buy some rice to-go and eat in our room.


Tung, however, wanted to try the 5-story Kentucky Fried Chicken in Vietnam. We ordered 25 pieces of chicken and 5 pieces of fried fish cakes, which shocked the hell out of the young workers there because apparently no one visiting that KFC usually orders that much. They gave us complimentary Cokes and asked us to sit and wait while they prepared the order. The ironic thing is, of all the Vietnamese food that Tung ate, he didn't have to break unto his prescription stomach meds until KFC night. I'm glad to say that the rest of the party were unaffected.