Long An.

On my way back to Saigon after a shooting trip, I found a beautiful sunset behind my back. I stopped and turned around to shoot a series of this end of the day panorama. This shot is the best among other so so ones. To repeat this shot, one has to live near the location to catch a similar sunset the next few days provided there won't be clouds or rain that change the scenery. Otherwise, it's impossible because the sun will move to either left or right of the highway's end and won't be at the same spot again until next year, I think.


'Che`' (Sweet liquid dessert). One wet and chilly night, after riding for hours in the rain I wanted something hot to keep me warm for another long ride back to Saigon. Coincidentally, I was not too far from my birthplace and I remembered that I used to eat various hot 'che' at a time like this. Too bad that it was hard to find what I wanted at the marketplace, since the people nowadays seem to consume only cold liquids even on chilly nights. Not to be discouraged easily, I then checked with my most reliable source: 'the honda om' men (motorbike taxi). I was told that there was an old woman selling hot bean che nearby.
My favorite che is always black bean che. Don't take this lightly because most of the time you will eat the wrong black bean che, it is the cheap variety of bean that they cook and claim it to be black bean. The authentic black beans are small in size and when cooked right will produce a thick black liquid with a pleasant aroma. There is a trick to its recipe. People, not knowing how to cook, will still have their black beans hard as rocks after hours of cooking. That's what I have heard. To make the beans tender, baking soda must be added when boiling the beans. This woman vendor told me that she cooked her beans four hours in the simmer mode, thus making her che tasted extremely delicious. One thing I don't like much about her che although it is excellent: to me, the black bean che should be pure with only sugar added. Here, she adds coconut milk that makes the che too creamy and also modifies the black bean aroma in a way.
This woman claims that she has been selling che for 38 years starting from 1967 when the fightings escaladed forcing her to move from the countryside to this small city of Tan An to eke out her living. In the beginning, she had to peddle her good all over the city until after the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, she then sell her che uniquely at the present location.