What's a pho man supposed to do?

Just trying to think straight after a 22 hour flight and having my time zones turned completely upside down.

I have already been here for three nights and haven't had any actual Vietnamese food at all.

What's a pho man supposed to do?

Now, the first night doesn't even count, as I arrived past midnight. The second night we went out for yakitori and sushi. Last night it was Indian food.

To maintain my no Vietnamese food streak, yesterday I searched out dim sum for lunch. Not so easy to find. This is Saigon, not Hong Kong.

First, I looked in the phone book Yellow Pages. They had listings for dog meat restaurants and KFC, but there were no listings for Chinese restaurants.

The solution was to take a taxi into Chinatown and then bother Chinese-looking strangers until we were pointed in the right direction. It helped that I had my pal Ha Trang along. Ha had nothing better to do than to help me find steamed pork dumplings.

We eventually found just the right place hidden away on the fourth floor in a down-on-its-heels mall. Once inside, it looked like any typical banquet restaurant that you might find in Oakland Chinatown.

I ordered enough dim sum for four, each dish costing slightly over $1.00 They paced the arrival of the dishes, but I snapped a photo of the first round. This shot could have been taken anywhere, so you will just have to trust me that the above photo is what the first part of our meal looked like.

I will be sure to let you know when I have an actual adventure.