Monday, April 27, 2009
go! go! curry
inspired by the village voice, I decided to head all the way down to west 38th for a japanese curry shop called Go! Go! Curry!
not too bad and quite filling (I had a medium sized katsu curry for $7.50, but there are smaller and larger portions too): basically a pork cutlet laid on top of a generous serving of rice and covered in pork curry sauce (cute, by each menu item they note "* contains pork").
they have a tv showing japanese food/game shows, and pictures of baseballer Matsui all over the walls. but the best part was this poster I saw in front of me, while I ate at the counter:
Biggest Curry in US as far as we know!
WORLD CHAMPION CURRY
Can you finish it?
HUGE!!
$25
WOW!!
Weighs 5.5lb.
Even that Hot Dog Eater would be overwhelmed!
(that 'hot dog eater' of course being the japanese dude that keeps winning the coney island hot dog-eating contest)
Go! Go! Curry
273 W 38th St, New York
www.gogocurryusa.com
xanawu . 12:04 . comments (0)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
new york city
sorry for the lack of updates. my contract in hanoi ended prematurely at the end of march, due to cash flow problems at the NGO I was working for. so after finishing up and a bit of traveling (ninh binh, vietnam & seoul, korea), I am now writing you from the big apple! looking for a job, just like everyone else around here...
but anyway, this is where I live: the skinny building in the middle. on the left is the bridge for the subway!
xanawu . 10:08 . comments (0)
Friday, February 27, 2009
driving in hanoi - 2
actually, this is me cycling on my way home from work. traffic is the number one thing travelers to Hanoi notice most, and it took me a month to get used to cycling before I got the guts to go for the motorbike.
this is fairly light traffic, but hopefully gives you an idea... note the lack of traffic rules and the liberal use of the horn. my roommate makes the apt analogy with downhill skiing: just mind what's in front of you, not what's behind you (signaling is rare, and lots of people actually remove the rearview mirrors because they just take up space on the bike). heck, people don't even follow traffic lights when there are any. and they don't look down the road when shooting out of alleyways: a colleague claims this is a remnant from the French, who had some weird traffic law giving right-of-way to those coming out of side streets. some advice: don't ask yourself questions like, "why is the car parked horizontally across the road," or "isn't this a one-way street?"--you'll just confuse yourself endlessly. and never, ever get road rage. no one else cares.
xanawu . 06:52 . comments (0)
Sunday, February 01, 2009
temple on kim ma
spent a day with my roomie, Seth, wandering around town, shopping, eating at our fav veggie restaurant (Ha Thanh), and also... visiting the temple on kim ma street.
it was fairly quiet (well, compared to the chaos outside on the street), though there were a few people inside for the mid-month worship. like the other temples around town, this one had a chinese design (must be from the 1,000 years of rule and all). a lot of the time these temples also have really cheesy and ugly chinese sculptures... this one wasn't too bad though, and even better: there was vietnamese AND chinese characters on the gate. cool!
close up:
xanawu . 08:34 . comments (1)
Monday, January 19, 2009
lotteria
do you know what's amazing about hanoi? no McDonald's. no Starbucks. ok, granted there is KFC, but can you imagine such a glorious thing?
do you know what's not amazing about hanoi? Lotteria.
out of sheer curiosity (and a bit of boredom), I decided to try the lotteria a couple of blocks from my place. as opposed to most establishments here, it's actually hard to miss, being 3 stories of modern looking fast-foodieness on a major street (good advertising for language link, too).
it sucks. 54,000 dong for orange flavoured water and a bulgogi burger (it tastes about as good as it looks--they even skimped on the sesame seeds atop the crappy bun). in addition to that, I had to wait forever to get the damn thing, though in typical vietnamese style there were about a gazillion workers to serve 3 people. what a let down.
it hurts to know I could have had 3 bowls of pho at that price.
xanawu . 09:54 . comments (0)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
goldfish on a bike
the funnier sight may have been me trying to take a picture of this guy while cycling myself.
xanawu . 05:54 . comments (0)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
here comes Tet
Tết (essentially chinese new year) is coming, and the shopping frenzy continues. the shops are full of new year's baskets (cookies, tea, wine, etc.):
...but everything is on sale. including orange trees (I saw at least 20 motorbikes like this pass by today.)
more heavy shopping:
and those ridiculous balloons that I still don't understand:
xanawu . 23:40 . comments (0)
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
bun cha, part 2
very fine bun cha place on my street.
close-up on the meaty goodness:
bun cha apparatus: bucket o' coals, meat in a grill clamp, fan to keep the (amazing amount of) smoke out of your face and into the street (good advertising), little bia hoi stool to do it all from.
Doi Can street (just west of Van Bao, next to the school), 15,000 dong.
xanawu . 01:57 . comments (0)
Sunday, January 04, 2009
driving in hanoi - 1
where sidewalks are apparently passing lanes.
xanawu . 00:04 . comments (1)
Saturday, January 03, 2009
so good
seems to be a cheaper version of
this was a super popular place on doi can, but as of yesterday has been replaced by a skater shop of all things. poo.
xanawu . 10:45 . comments (0)
