day two ...

for today's lunch we went to a pretty touristy restaurant right in the middle of ha noi, i was lucky enough to find the pho xao bo, or crispy noodles, on the menu, it was ordered vegetarian and looked like this:



it is covered in mustard greens, which is really popular in southeast asia, the crispy noodles (which is the vietnamese version of mii khrop--the brown chunky thing in the center of the plate) was really really good, i think they were fresh wide kuay tiew noodles that were deep fried together all in a sticky bunch, which means that it had a crispy outside and an almost gooey inside ... delicious or ngon ngọt!!!!

below ...




... is vietnamese style som tom, the thai green papaya uber-salad with all its overwhelming spicy tartness, this particular dish was neither really all that spicy or tart, but it was still pretty good!