Two football fields, servers on roller skates & bicycles, karaoke & a shoe store...all in one restaurant...and, oh by the way, are we still in Saigon???

So, Saturday night, Amy and I put on our finest Saigon-wear (well, we put on something that was clean and wasn't a t-shirt + capri pants) and we awaited the arrival of Yen, who was assigned to be our escort to the hospital dinner + party in our honor.  Yen arrived and we all got into a taxi, at which point Yen told us the restaurant is far away, so we 'will have a nice tour of the city.'  Hmm...wonder what this actually means??

What it meant is that with all of the rush hour traffic, it took us about 45 minutes to get to the restaurant.  Now, normally this would not be a problem, but there was something problematic about the taxi's air conditioning system, as it seemed to be pumping in only the polluted air from outside the taxi and although it was cool, the smell and taste of exhaust within the taxi was profound!   It was not good.  Amy's eyes were burning and my throat was burning by the time we arrived.  We both catapulted ourselves out of the taxi and took in some of the 'clean' (not really), cool air!

We later found-out that we weren't even in Saigon any more.  We were in an outlying area or different town...probably like a suburb???

So we arrived at the restaurant and to call it a restaurant doesn't seem to do it justice!  Let me see if I can describe it to you adequately?!?!?! 

• It was at least 2 football fields in size.
• There was a shoe store attached to the restaurant and if you dined at the restaurant, then you can purchase shoes ~ buy one, get one free!
• There was a HUGE stuffed crocodile at the entrance of the restaurant.  Not sure why, as it didn't seem to connect with anything going on.  Really, no idea!!
•  The waiters (only the waiters) were carrying trays of food while riding either a bicycle or on roller skates, as this place was so large!  The waitresses were serving directly at the tables...apparently cannot ride the bikes and/or roller skates.
• As is common in seafood/fish restaurants here, there are large tanks of live fish and/or seafood and the therapy staff wanted us to take photos 'posing' in front of these tanks.  It was weird,  but very Vietnamese.
•  There was then a pond in the center of the establishment with a GIANT, very glitter-y Christmas tree, in front of which Amy and I had to take several photos.  
• As we were standing on the 'gazing bridge,' we were told there were fish in the pond.  One of the therapists said he likes to fish and I told him I liked to fish, and I nearly was handed a pole to start fishing.  There was also a boat/canoe along the side and one of the therapists asked Amy if she knew how to paddle a boat.  Amy replied 'yes' and was quickly offered the opportunity to jump on in the canoe to go for a ride.  She politely declined!
• This restaurant was chosen for 2 reasons ~ (a) Amy and I primarily only eat fish/seafood while we are here in Vietnam and it is a fish/seafood restaurant, and (b) one of the therapists brother-in-law manages this restaurant.  So this therapist's in-laws were dining there, so we were presented to them to say hello and have a little conversation with his mother-in-law who lives in Melbourne, Australia.  They were all so nice.

 Oh...and there were 40 members of the therapy staff and their children in attendance.  AND, there was lots and lots of Karaoke!  It was already in full-swing by the time we arrived and was only in Vietnamese, as you'd imagine.  So, once Amy and I got settled at the main table, with our 'concierges' (each of us had a therapist assigned to us to help us eat, etc.  It's a very Vietnamese thing.  Amy's 'handler', asked her if she drinks beer.  When she said 'yes!', he said 'WOW!!'  We were then both poured a beer and the festivities got underway.

The food began to come out and oh my lord, there was so much food!!  We both are feeling a little high on our mercury levels, as all we have been eating is fish and seafood and so, this evening was a bit of an overdose, but the food was delicious but quite plentiful!

The 'main' table.  In the foreground is Giao...the director of the rehab department.

The cute kids table!!

Soft-shell crabs

Me and Huong...my 'handler' for the night.  She is lovely and has a 22 month old little boy who is adorable.

Amy and her cute little bag.

The final course...placed over heat and eventually all of this will be pushed down into the center of this 'bowl' and cooked in a broth to make a soup.

This is Yen (to my right).  She is the former director of the Rehab department.

The view across part of the restaurant from our tables.

Sharks...

Amy...

Waiter on a bicycle...delivering food.

A little blurry, but another person on a bicycle (in blue shirt).

Tray full of food + bicycle = the need for good balance!

A little 4 year old singing karaoke...and quite well!

Hung, Amy and Giao

Calamari with pineapple

Seafood spring rolls with pickled vegetables and shrimp

Thuc and Amy

Crab, covered in a marinade.  This was tricky to eat...required lots of napkins and some assistance from our 'handlers.'

Mushroom and seafood dish...with peppercorns.

Beef with vegetables

Amy...doing a little singing

The crowd...with the karaoke at the far end of the table

Some pointy-nosed fish

Prawns with blue legs

Posing (???) in front of the fish???

Octopi

Crab

Soup with noodles and shrimp, mussels and mushrooms

Dessert.  The circular fruit in the middle looks like this (see below)

Tastes like a cross between a lychee and a rambutan...quite delicious

Lemon gelee

While we were nibbling on the 1st course, they asked us if we would do karaoke.  We both said yes...if it was in English.  Then Thuc, one of the therapists that does all of the casting and makes all of the orthotics (braces), thrust his iPhone in Amy's hands because he had a catalog of all of the restaurant's karaoke songs on it.  Amy then thumbed-through (or more accurately, scrolled down) through the list and we decided to sign a song together...thinking it would be less humiliating.  I think they didn't think we would actually do it!

So, we popped-up and sang 'Summer Nights' from Grease.  It was hilarious and although Amy has a nice voice, it was pretty rough over all.  They clapped for us, but think that after this song and then singing 'Say you, Say me' (I think???) by Lionel Ritchie (their choice, not ours), we were done and then the Vietnamese karaoke got back into full-swing.  Many of them had really nice voices, so it was fun.  The best part was that the karaoke continued during the entire time we were eating, which provided for some very spirited dinner music.

Then came time for presents!  They had a big container with 40 numbers in it and we had to pick a number.  So, we picked and then 2 presents arrived for us.  Amy and I both got little bags in which you could put makeup, use as a small purse for a night, etc.  At the time, we didn't think anything of the fact that we both received cute little bags.  Then all the other folks, including the children, began to open their gifts and it ranged from Laughing Cow cheese to a 4-pack of toothpaste, to some tea with a bag of sugar to the largest bottle of body wash I have ever seen.  It was pretty funny and very nice for them to have gifts.

This morning (Sunday...the morning after), Amy brought-up the fact that we both got these lovely little bags and that it was unlikely that we pulled the correct numbers, so there was a little maneuvering going on, we think.  So fun and nice...always nice to get a present.

Here's some more pics that give you a sense of the restaurant and our experiences there...

Our photo in front of the really bright tree

Giao had some questions about my upcoming lecture on Tuesday, so we were discussing what some specific words meant, so that he could finish the translation.

More discussion and I love that Thuc's son is so engrossed in our conversation too.  He's 9 years old and was great!

The pond in which I could have gone fishing

Cuteness

Some rousing karaoke

More karaoke

Having a great time!!

Party is winding down now...thank goodness!

Lots of scenery

 So, then the party seemed to continue with it consolidating into 1 table (from the original 3 tables) and some of the more enthusiastic gents, who really liked beer, were ready to party.  There is a 'game' here in Vietnam, called '100%.'  It's what you think it is...you drink 100% of what is in you glass.  Amy and I kept saying '20%' and that seemed to be working, until (the aforementioned) Thuc came over to me and said 'Amy...only 20%...you 100%!'  Thank goodness, I only had a little beer in my glass, so I did the 100%.  From there on, we both were kind of chatting with some other folks and avoiding eye contact to avoid the 100%, which we did successfully.  Shortly thereafter, the party came to a close and so then we walked back out to the front to await the arrival of a taxi.

So, what do you do after you've had a huge meal...you shop for shoes, right???  There is this quirky little shoe store just to the side of the entrance way of the restaurant and so Yen told us that if you are guest of the restaurant, after your meal, you can purchase shoes ~ buy one, get one free.  So interesting!  So we had a little time to kill, so we went to look.  There were a couple of nice styles, but not in my shoe size.  It was almost challenging to find shoes in Amy's shoe size.  Whenever we walk into a store that sells clothes or at the Market, the 1st thing the shopkeepers say to me is, 'We have Australian sizes.'  Basically means, bigger sizes, but it's so funny.  This shoe store didn't seem to have Australian sizes!

Here's a video that gives you a little tour of the whole place...concluding with a shot of the shoe store...

So, we decided not to buy any shoes amid the frenzy of patrons buying shoes and awaited our taxi.  Just as Amy and I were hoping it was a DIFFERENT taxi from our previous, exhaust-laden experience, our smiling driver from before pulled-up, jumped-out and opened my door!  Egads...I didn't want to get back in the taxi!

This is a view from inside our taxi.  It's blurry, but you can see the amount of traffic we were amid.

So, get back in we did and traveled back to our hotel in crazy traffic, trying only to breathe every so often so as not to inhale so much  exhaust.  It was awful.  I was coughing much of the time and Amy's eyes were burning.  Again, we jumped out at the 1st possible moment, said goodnight to Yen, and then slowly walked back through the alley to Ma Maison, breathing in the 'clear' night air.  I don't even want to think about what I ingested in that cab, but it wasn't so great!  Glad that ride was over.

It was a fun, fun night and Amy and I were just blown-away by the entire experience.  Hope I have done it a little bit of justice, as it was such a wild ride!

xoxo
Stacy