Experience Vietnam in Hamilton, Canada 2009

What is better than eating a bowl of pho bo (yes, pho again) and going grocery in a Vietnamese supermarket?

In a cold Christmas' Eve noon, Giang took me, her brother and cousin to "the best pho restaurant in Canada" (her direct quote). Well, as long as the pho is good, I dun care if that's true or not. And the experience was great, eating a hot bowl of noodle soup in a cold day, plus a big cup of avocado milkshake. Nothing could beat that.


"Pho Dau bo" restaurant in Hamilton


Inside the restaurant


Pho tai, my fav type of pho


A yummy glass of avocado milkshake


After the lunch, we headed to a Vietnamese super market to do some grocery shopping for our Christmas' Eve dinner. And I was glad that I had gone there. I found many things that seem to be extinct in Vietnam. Again, ironic, right? Overseas Vietnamese communities preserve our culture better than those in-country. Or am I too into the past?


Unassuming treasure haunt


Quail eggs


"Banh in", a traditional Vietnamese rice cake


I dun even know where to find this in Vietnam and Singapore. Even if I could find it, I dunno if it's safe to eat. This is best to cook with porridge ("chao long") or "banh canh".


Another pho restaurant, next to the supermarket


And a "banh my" shop

Hamilton in winter, Canada Dec 2009

Hamilton is where my best friend is staying and I spent more than a week to visit her there. It is not the type of the city I have been living in, i.e. Saigon and Singapore. And I am a city girl through and through. That's why it was interesting for me to stay here in December. But not unfamiliar as I had spent sometime before in Sunnyvale and both places kinda have the same atmosphere.

Anyway, Hamilton looks old and weary (partly because I visited it in winter). I guess the best part of staying there for my friend is that it has a Vietnamese community there, which of course means the availability of pho bo, Vietnamese supermarkets and other Vietnamese related stuff. That asides, I think I won't be able to live there. Guess I'm so used to the convenience and noisiness of the big cities I have been staying.


Hamilton viewed from my friend's apartment








Somewhere around my friend's apartment

A cold but merry Christmas in Canada

I have partly fulfilled my wish for having a cold Christmas last year. But it wasn't a white Xmas. I blamed myself for being such a human heater. But the atmosphere was amazing, first in Chicago, then Canada. My friend had put up a beautiful Christmas tree which I couldn't take my eyes off it the first time I saw it.



We spent Christmas' Eve on the road to Giang's aunt's house. Then the whole Christmas day going grocery, cooking and singing karaoke. Then Christmas night at another Giang's aunt's house for a hotpot dinner. Yeah, I know, not quite your typical Christmas dinner but the atmosphere and companionship made up for that.

2009 was my best Christmas so far...

My virgin snow experience in Canada

It was in Hamilton (Ontario, Canada). I was visiting my bestest (does this word actually exist?) friend who has been staying in Canada for 10 years. Yeah, I was so happy it was snowing on my second day in Canada cos I didn't get to enjoy much snow in Chicago before that. Apparently, my happiness was short-lived as it stopped snowing after a few hours.

I am such a human-heater.