Despite this past week being full of ups and downs, lots of tears and pensive chats with family back home, we tried our best to get out there and have a bit of fun on my four-day weekend. It began with dinner and drinks at our beloved 24G.A stop by the Russian Bar's "Forever Russia" closing party on Friday night. Another great space in Saigon meets its end and a collective groan leaks into the heavens. We ate vegetarian pho at Pho Chay Nhu @ 54 Truong Quyen St, District 3, and went to acupuncture to settle our thoughts. We stopped by my favorite cluttered western market, Thai Hoa, for supplies including oatmeal,...
Head (South) East
Newlywed twenty-somethings living, eating, and teaching in Saigon, Vietnam. Restaurant reviews, Vietnamese cuisine, recipes, music, and observations of life in South-East Asia.
Latest Food Blogs from Head (South) East
Bangkok: The Amulet Street Market & Soi Samsen Area
Chicken Pad See Uw at Jenny's RestaurantBrown riceVegetable CurryAn array of spice
Bangkok: The Grand Palace Complex (Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang)
Apparently shorts and tank tops don't fly, so we borrowed appropriate clothing. Tired Traveler
Films About Music: Until The Light Takes Us (2008)
Norwegian Black Metal isn't for everyone. A scene more renowned for the arson of thousand-year-old churches and murder than the brutal sounds it created, this doc sheds some mottled light on the ideology behind the madness. Articulated by most of the pioneers in the film, I figure it to be a twisted conflation of homophobia, neo-fascism, paganism, anti-consumerism, and Tolkien mythology. Basically, if mega-churches and McDonald's...
An Evening in Bangkok
Green Mango SaladYam Paldook Foo (crispy catfish with green mango salad)
An Afternoon in Bangkok
The streets of Silom: quiet in the day, a veritable Gomorrah when the night settles.Streetside chicken and mushroom curry Streetside fish curryTuk-Tuk The Jim Thompson House: the original Thai silk magnate and his expansive, teak-wood complex.Along the Saen Saeb Khlong.
Primitive: An Art Exhibition by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Unmitigated excitement gushed from Gavin when he discovered that renowned Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's exhibition Primitive was showing at the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok. Being a big fan of Weerasethakul's 2010 work Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Gavin was quite pleased when we inadvertently stumbled upon his latest mixed-media installation.The video projects exhibited were commissioned in 2009 in the...
A Weekend Recap: The Last Days of the Tet Holiday
Mapping our routeA return to ChinatownSomeones dinner?Markets empty in the middayRefreshmentsLots to see"Look at the size of those cherries!"Monkey maskBrunch at Black CatToad-in-the-Hole for meThe Ben Thanh (fried soft-shell crab sandwich) for GavinAn afternoon beer/orange juice at La Cantina with friends
Siem Reap: An Array of Meals
Beef Loc LacTofu Curry Steamed rice Tofu AmokChicken Skewers Various pieces of pork at a soup stallChicken Feet Spicy stir-fried frog and vegetables Vermicelli noodle salad Vegetable Amok served in a coconut Papaya saladFresh spring rollsStir-fried glass noodles with vegetablesBBQ ChickenOne of our many breakfast feasts @ Terrasse des Elephants, a lovely boutique hotel Papaya SaladFish Amok Catfish Kor...
What Were Listening To: Youth Lagoon
Youth LagoonThe Year of HibernationFat Possum Records; 2011Another fuzzy, warm album to carry your weary head back to those halcyon days of youth. Simply crafted and doused in reverb, this is music to soothe frayed nerves and spark nostalgia.
