Bangkok Week 116 — Mika's Photos

An awesome Mexican restaurant in Bangkok, before shuttling off to Ho Chi Minh City for the balance of the week. Too bad it was all work and zero time for photos while there!

Special Saturday morning pastries. The big green monster is "green tea" with red bean filling.

Returning to our weekly lunch at Chula, after a 2-week hiatus.

Pink ice dessert is still number 1.

Some famous Thai star shows up at Chula with a bunch of fans in tow.

"Fresh milk." I didn't know fresh milk is green!

We celebrated the (long-awaited) new work permit with a dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant at the end of a dark alley.

Must be Mexican! A cactus and lots of Coronas.

Good thing we reserved a table -- there are only 5 total.

These guys were timidly hiding behind a wall, hoping to escape their fate.

An appetizer of tortilla chips and fresh pico de gallo.

A big vegetarian quesadilla.

Holy smokes, that's huge!

This "wet burrito" was basically a burrito, with the insides of another burrito plopped on top of it. Somehow we managed to finish all of it!

The ultra-thin chocolates that we brought back from Bracebridge ... from Chris?

Yup, that's ultra-thin!

Sunday lunch - fresh waffles with 100% PURE MAPLE SYRUP, baby!

He's been waiting months for this!

Finally busting open the Shreddies I brought back from Bracebridge. The CAD $3 box costs $8.40 here.

My hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City. It was located in the outskirts of the city, so we could leave easily without getting stuck in (too much) traffic.

The mini bar had Thai instant noodles. So far, and yet so close to home.

I was on the 8th floor of 10. The hotel was built around a central atrium.

The view from my window. No tall buildings in this area (yet).

This is in a small town about 1 hour outside Ho Chi Minh City. We had some time to kill before our next interview.

So we went into a grocery store to browse.

These Vietnamese-style rambutan look like Thai ones that have had a short haircut.

They just have a heap of durian for sale... but they're still green, so they look very unripe by Thai standards.

My big purchases from this trip: Dried vegetarian pork and squid meat, vegetarian hot dogs in tomato sauce, vegetarian sardines in tomato sauce, and instant vegetarian curry. Total price: $2.40.

Lunch at a local food court: real Vietnamese spring rolls, made with really fresh, really thick rice paper. I've never seen such dense ones in the west.

Another view from the hotel. It was located next to a small park. No shortage of motorbikes in this country!

During our drive out of the city on the last day. The streets are mostly filled with motorbikes. In 2008, Ho Chi Minh City had about 3 million motorbikes -- or 1 for every 2 residents of the city.

At major intersections, there's usually just a huge swarm of people driving in every-which-direction. You just have to hope you don't crash into 10 other people. We saw a handful of crashes that day.

A cafe on the outskirts of the city.

Note how the motorbikes seem to be going in all directions. In all parts of the street.

This big bridge over the Mekong just recently replaced a ferry boat service.

This very small town about 4 hours south of HCMC could have easily been a small town in Thailand.

Souvenir chocolate croissant from the HCMC airport - bigger than a BlackBerry!