It's weird, it's fun, and the food is amazing.

Here at the Smudge, we love pho. As you can see on the right. So to brighten up our Monday, from Khoi Vinh's account of his recent trip to Saigon:

I was born here but I left when I was three and a half. So just being back, in the midst of the quotidian and the unremarkable, is profound in a very private, intimate way. It's more than just being a visitor to a place one cherishes; it's like playing tourist in another course of events, sightseeing the attractions of a life I might have led if it weren't for, you know, global politics and war and all. Everywhere and everything is a could-have-been for me, superficially strange and foreign but, in an emotional way, also deeply familiar. It's weird, it's fun, and the food is amazing.

No recipes. A link to photos on Flickr though.

http://www.subtraction.com/archives/2005/1123_first_day_ba.php

Please enjoy.