After waiting for what seemed like a lifetime for Leigh’s bag to come onto the conveyor belt, we made our way through departures to our transfer. A nice looking man with a big PARTIN sign was waiting for us. We duly followed him to the car and began our journey into the city centre. That was if we were to make it in one piece! The taxi driver turned out to be very impatient and there don’t seem to be any rules on the road, except you generally move over for something that is bigger than you. There are also hundreds of mopeds on the road and most of them seem oblivious to everything. After the driver stopped and asked for directions 3 times we finally arrived at our hotel. (stepped out of taxi to stand on squashed dead rat on road!) It was late so our options for food were limited. We were pointed in the direction of a local noodle bar but it was shut. The area didn’t look very inviting so we decided on a short stroll if not we would go hungry. We came across a place selling food although you definitely wouldn’t call it a restaurant. A very old looking lady was cooking chicken soup in a big vat on the pavement with a table of foods behind her. We sat down and nice young lad brought our soup and beers. He then brought over some lamb (or so he said) spring rolls with dipping sauce & fresh mint and then another bowl of sliced chicken. He then squeezed a lime into a bowl of salt and added chillies and began to dip the chicken into the salt dip and drop it into our soup. He stood over us the entire meal, and every time we got a bit low, he would fill our bowl again with the lamb and chicken. I felt so full but it was quite weird having a stranger feeding us, but it was our first night so we didn’t want to upset anyone! (typical English – Leigh) He seemed quite pleased with himself.
Here is the picture of the gourmet cafe we took the next morning. But the food tasted amazing, even if our bartering skills need some work! - Leigh
