Thursday, January 25, 2007

Banh Bao, Vietnam

This banh bao stall by the road brought drive-through takeaway to a whole new level for me. Whilst we were driving back to Ho Chi Minh from Vungtau (on a highway mind you), the driver said he'll pull over for some banh baos. So he stops the car by the road and signals this lady across the other side for his order. I looked around for a pedestrian crossing, but there was none in sight, so... unless this girl could fly, she was going to cross a busy highway with a bag of baos; and that was what she did!

Look left, look right and look left again (actually she did none of the three)...

Climbing over the road divider...

Now she's on our side, steady girl, just a few more steps...

And there we've got it. Bao in hand. Banh baos are basically very similar to the Chinese paus that we get in dim sum joints. Nothing spectacular really, but the fact that a life was risked so that I could have this indulgence definitely warranted me finishing every crumb.

D

3 comments:

Lord Dianabol said...

Do they have dim sum in Vietnam mate?

zhengning said...

wah! that's so dangerous to have just crossed the highway like that! haha.

what's inside the pau?

D said...

lady dianabol: Not as fine as the ones we get in Hongkong, Sydney, LA or even Singapore.

zhengning: It's red bean paste =) well, the pau overall was really only pretty average.