Visited mum’s colleagues & chatted with a Viet Cong war heroine.
Went to Ben Thanh market to buy lacquer ware and Seasonal fruits. The fruit-seller travels 2 hours from the Mekong Delta every morning! She gave us some soft tapioca with coconut cream. Nicer than the tapioca they gave me in the Cuchi tunnels.
Then we bought tablecloths in another part of town. We learnt that takes about 2 months to embroider each cloth.
We had dinner at another lovely French restaurant (note to self: I am never going to order foie gras as a main course, ever again).
I spoke un petit peux de Francaise avec le Monsieur owner, an almost comical man with floppy hair. It started with him saying “Bon Apetit” to all of us, before walking off. I responded with a ‘Merci”. Five seconds later he walked back to the table, and asked if I had just spoken French.
I guess I was really asking for it when I replied, “Oui!” because he rattled off in his native tongue and I confessed I had lost him. Turns out he was telling me that the salt on our table was specially imported from France and I could try it except I should be warned that it is exceptionally salty (imagine it said with zee heavy accent).