Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City

We met up with our law school friend Bao in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and he graciously showed us around the city. Vietnam is soaring economically along with China, and there were nice restaurants, cafes and stores abound, but all still comparatively cheap. It was like for me how it was for Bill in Buenos Aires - endless great food to be had at good prices:
This is at one of the street restaurants that open up only at night. The restaurant may be on the street, but it has uniformed waitresses and water tanks filled with live fishes:

We ordered the fish hot pot (lau). The fish, picked out from the water tank only seconds ago, twitched a bit despite being cut in half. Now, that's FRESH!:

The fish is put in the pot with vegetables and boiled right on the table:
I forgot what these fruits were called, but I have never seen them before and it's eaten with salt & chilly:

We even had the infamous durian, which is banned from many hotels due to its smell - it smelled and tasted like sour milk:

I think Bao took us to at least ten different cafes and clubs in two days (thanks Bao!):

Outdoor terrace cafes that blasted techno music were very popular:

If you haven't already guessed from my obsession with the 55SF sun block, it is considered more beautiful to have pale skin in Asia. (Something about not looking like a peasant.) But the ladies here go to extreme lengths not to expose their skin to the sun, donning a scarf around the face like a bank robber with even gloves in the scorching hot weather!: