a lunchtime adventure

I usually eat lunch with co-workers from Action for the City. We go out to a local restaurant and have a full meal with rice, meat, vegetables and peanuts that costs about 75 cents. Today, however, everyone else was away in meetings so I was on my own. I set off with 30,000/ dong, about $2 to find some food. I tried going to the place that's close to the office, but they were nearly out of food. Then I tried a more Western-looking place, but the food cost more than I had in my pocket (it was maybe $5 for lunch--what a rip-off!). But then I remembered a "bun" (noodles with springrolls or meat--they serve a watery soup that you put the noodles and some greens in, then use chopsticks to slurp it up) restaurant that I went to last week. Well, I remembered that the place exists, but I didn't remember exactly where it was. As I was wondering around, I walked by some cyclo-drivers who are used to working with tourists. Ah, perfect, I thought--they'll know where the bun place is! This is what I understood of the conversation:

Me: "I eat not yet. Bun cha is where?"
Group of men: "It is far. We can take you (pointing to cyclo)."
Me: "I don't have money. Bun nem is where? (pointing to nearby shops)
Men: "You have how many years? Your name is what?"
Me: "22 years, I am Anna. Bun is where?"
Men: (discussing among themselves) "There is a place there." "No, they don't have bun." "Yes, they have it." (then to me, pointing down a small ally) "Go there."

So off I went, not really sure where I was going. I saw a small low table set up on the side of the road with people eating around it and a woman serving white wavy noodles... bun! Yes! The sign behind her said "bun a;sdlkj." Yes! The lid to the soup came off and the woman pointed to its contents, then pinched her skin. hm, ok.. She had already served me a full bowl when I realized that the "a;sdlkj" was chunks of bones and skin. I'm not really sure what animal it came from, but I'm guessing a chicken. It's not the right time of month for dog. It tasted like the goat intestine I ate in Uganda. mmm When I finished, I asked how much it was. 20,000/, she said. When I handed her my two 10,000/ bills, she looked surprised and showed me that my 10,000 was actually 100,000. Whoops! Too many 0's on these bills. I gave her the right amount and hurried back up the street, laughing at this little lunchtime outing. It is precisely this kind of adventure that makes living life overseas exciting and gives it the unpredictability that I love. I've become an expert at laughing at myself--I certainly have plenty of practice!