BANGKOK, THAILAND 🇹🇭 STREET ART: “MY SPOT”

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25jan26

BANGKOK, THAILAND 🇹🇭 STREET ART: REDRUM!

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25jan26

BANGKOK, THAILAND 🇹🇭 STREET ART: PROTECTION

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25jan26

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: THIS WEEK IN STREET COFFEE AND SPECIALTY COFFEE

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Cà phê bơ. Avocado coffee. Or more accurately, an avocado smoothie with coffee blended or poured on top.

The drink itself: ripe avocado, sweetened condensed milk, ice, and sometimes a splash of regular milk, all blended into a thick pale-green smoothie. Then a shot of strong Vietnamese drip coffee (cà phê phin) is poured over the top, or stirred in. The coffee cuts the sweetness. The avocado softens the bitterness. The condensed milk binds it all together. You drink it with a thick straw or a spoon because it’s closer to a milkshake than a coffee.

I wanted to drink straight iced black coffee all week, but I’m too addicted to the rich Ca Phe Sua Da now. 😆
Perfect mornings are Vietnamese coffee and writing ✍️.
This week, I visited more hem (alley) coffee stands , off of the main streets.
I love the coffee stands with graffiti around. 😊
Pouring the condensed milk 🥛 into a cup, preparing the Ca Phe Sua Da.
Quynh Coffee Stand in my hem.

April 2026

BANGKOK, THAILAND 🇹🇭 STREET ART: “THE REAL ONES STAY QUIET”

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คนจริงไม่พูดเยอะ

“Real ones don’t talk much.”

or

“The real ones stay quiet.”

This is a common Thai street phrase. It implies:

authenticity over performance actions over words confidence without noise

Very street. Very Bangkok.

It pairs perfectly with the character’s grin — loud visually, quiet verbally.

25jan26

BANGKOK, THAILAND 🇹🇭 STREET ART: NATURE

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15jan26

SAIGON, VIETNAM 🇻🇳: WEEK 2 OF THE STREET COFFEE LIFE

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If Week 1 was about finding my bearings, Week 2 was about finding my seat—usually a red or blue plastic stool no more than six inches off the ground. In Ho Chi Minh City, the best views aren’t from the skyscrapers; they’re from the curb.


The Liquid Gold: Egg Coffee at Eggyolk
I started the week treating myself to a masterpiece. Cà Phê Trứng (Egg Coffee) is less of a drink and more of a dessert. Watching the layers of creamy, whisked yolk sit atop that intense Vietnamese coffee is a ritual in itself. It’s the perfect “slow” start in a city that rarely hits the brakes.

There is a specific kind of peace found at 6:00 AM across from Bến Thành Market. While waiting for the currency exchange to open, I sat with a Cà Phê Sữa Đá and watched the city wake up. At that hour, the air is still relatively cool, the motorbikes are a steady hum rather than a roar, and the coffee hits just a little bit harder.

One of my favorite captures this week was outside the Central Post Office. I caught two local guys posing for photos while I sat with my own iced milk coffee. It’s a classic Saigon scene: the juxtaposition of grand colonial architecture and the effortless, cool street style of the younger generation.

The uncle at the “Cold Drinks” stands in his plaid shirt smiling and he is as warm as the coffee is cold. Pham Ngu Lao.

The latter half of the week took me to The Simple Cafe.
Coconut 🥥 Coffee

There is something incredibly grounding about buying a coffee from a stainless steel cart on the sidewalk.
Peace, ✌️, Peace ✌️

In Saigon, you don’t just drink coffee; you inhabit it. You sit, you watch the traffic, you study your Vietnamese notes, and you realize that the “simple life” is actually quite vibrant.

Quick Tips from the Sidewalk:

• Cà Phê Sữa Đá: Your best friend for 90°F (32°C) humidity.

• The Stool Rule: If there’s a plastic stool, it’s a legitimate cafe. Don’t be shy!

• Timing: Hit the markets early. The energy at sunrise is unmatched.

April 2026

BANGKOK, THAILAND 🇹🇭 STREET ART: SIKH ON A SCOOTER

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25jan26

SAIGON, VIETNAM: 12 DAYS OF FOOD IN MARCH

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Bánh mì. The French left behind Catholicism, colonial architecture, and the baguette. Vietnam kept all three and improved at least one of them. The Vietnamese baguette is lighter and crispier than the French original because they cut the wheat flour with rice flour, which makes the crust shatter when you bite into it. Inside for me: pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, cilantro, eggs, pork or whatever protein you point at. I bought mine outside a Circle K because that’s where the cart was. It cost 20,000 VND. Less than a dollar. I ate it sitting on a red plastic stool on the sidewalk like everyone else. The Circle K behind me sells sandwiches too. Nobody goes inside.
Cơm tấm sườn. Broken rice with grilled pork. This is the one. If you forced me to eat one meal for the rest of my time in Vietnam, this is it and I wouldn’t complain. A plate of broken rice, a slab of pork chop grilled until the edges go dark and sweet, sliced cucumber on the side, and then the woman pours green onion oil over the whole thing from a small bowl like she’s anointing it. If she doesn’t do it, I will. The rice isn’t broken by accident. It’s the fractured grains left over from milling, originally poor people’s food, now the signature dish of Saigon. Every neighborhood has a cơm tấm stall. Every one of them thinks theirs is best. I haven’t found one that’s wrong. The pork is marinated in lemongrass and fish sauce and garlic and sugar, and when it hits the charcoal grill the smell travels half a block and pulls you in by the stomach before your brain can object. It costs about 35,000 to 50,000 VND. That’s less than two dollars. I eat it almost every day and I’m not tired of it.
Phở. I’m not going to pretend I have something original to say about phở. Everybody writes about phở. But nobody tells you what it feels like at 7am on a plastic stool in District 1 when the broth has been simmering since 3am and the woman hands you a bowl so hot the steam fogs your sunglasses. You add the herbs yourself from a plate on the table. Tear the basil. Squeeze the lime. Drop in the chili. The noodles are flat and soft and you pull them up with chopsticks and they never quite make it to your mouth without dripping broth down your chin and nobody cares because everyone around you is doing the same thing. Phở in Saigon is not the same as phở in Hanoi. Southerners add hoisin and sriracha. Northerners think this is a crime. I’m not getting involved. I just eat it.
Cơm tấm sườn

What I’ve been reminded of about eating in Saigon: the best food is never inside a building. NEVER. The best food has no menu, or a menu you can’t read, or a menu that’s just a woman pointing at what she’s already made. The best food costs less than two dollars. The best food finds you.

Canh bí đỏ nấu thịt bằm. Pumpkin soup with ground pork. This one showed up as a side dish at a com binh dan place, one of those everyday rice-and-whatever restaurants where you point at trays behind glass and they load your plate. The soup is clear broth with chunks of golden pumpkin, loose ground pork, and chopped green onions. Nothing in it is trying to impress you. It’s the kind of thing someone’s mother made because the pumpkin was ripe and there was pork in the fridge. It was ok and I’ll drink the broth if it is served on the side again. It isn’t something I would order as a standalone.

March 2026

BANGKOK, THAILAND 🇹🇭 STREET ART: MUEBON

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25jan26