Mekong Market

A few days ago we visited an Asian market here in Mesa. What a fun experience that was.

We learned that the Lunar New Year had begun and that particular day was the beginning of the Vietnamese New Year so everything focused on the Vietnamese celebration.

Although it's not the only New Year celebration in Vietnam, it's the biggest. It's called Tiet or Tet and it means "joint of a bamboo stem" (literally!) or, figuratively speaking "the beginning of a period of the year".

Mekong Plaza, as it’s called is really a mall. There are several restaurants, retail shops and a huge supermarket all Asian in their design and content.

I LOVED that the name one of the restaurants is UnPHOgettable! Get it?? What a sense of humor!

Pho, in case you’re wondering, is a Vietnamese noodle soup. Pho actually means noodle. Although we didn’t eat there, I’m assuming the restaurant is a soup restaurant. It sure sounds good. If we ever go back, I’ll let you know.

Hundreds of people were milling around the vendor booths. There was a stage so I figured that there would be entertainment from time to time.

I noticed two girls dressed in identical costumes and asked if they were going to perform. They said that they already had and the next performance wouldn’t be until 4:00 p.m.

We’d be long gone by then so I asked permission to take their photograph. Just going to have to imagine what the dance was like…I’m sure it was lovely.

These three young ladies were dressed in traditional Vietnamese costumes. They were happy to pose for a picture.

One other interesting thing…this photo with the yellow-leaved tree? That’s an apricot blossom tree and it marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring and will bring good luck to the family.

Cards and good luck symbols are usually hung from the branches much the way Christmas trees are decorated at Christmas time.

Besides the apricot blossom trees which are traditional in the South of Vietnam, the kumquat tree and the peach blossom tree are also significant during Tet. Peach blossom is more traditional in the North.

We also met Miss Vietnamese Arizona, who attends Arizona State University. She's featured in a calendar that we bought (Jack's a sucker for a pretty girl) and the proceeds all go to the Forgotten People Foundation...an organization that cares for lepers in Vietnam. Apparently these people live in poverty and are literally forgotten by everyone...it was founded by a Catholic priest and is supported by Western Oregon University as well as the Vietnamese students at ASU.

Then there was the supermarket. It was amazing. Every kind of Asian food you could ever want, I'm pretty sure.

Some of it looked just delicious like the mangoes, every sort of pepper you can imagine, coconuts all peeled and ready to shred into a yummy concoction. There's lemongrass which I know very little about except that I think it's healthy and is used to "cleanse" the system of toxins. It's probably tossed into recipes, too. Some time I will research that, but not now.

There is fresh seafood including crab, salmon, and a lot of fish that I've never even heard of! Rabbit fish was one that comes to mind. Rabbit fish?? Who knew? Something else to look up some time when I'm thinking of it.

There's a huge meat section that would be the envy of any supermarket worth it's salt. They even sell a fresh seaweed salad and it says, "ready to eat", for heaven's sake!

Some of the stuff looked just awful! There were some frozen bugs...have no idea what kind they were and lots of meat & fish "body parts". We won't go into that...trust me, you don't want to know.

Have you ever heard of Jackfruit? This is a picture of a wedge of it. It's enormous! It's actually a native of India and I read that it's the world's largest fruit!

It grows on an evergreen tree and one single fruit can grow as large as 3 feet and weigh as much as 100 pounds!

If you get a hankering for it, you can buy it here at the Mekong Plaza Supermarket!

Then there's Durian. I don't know what the Creator was thinking when he created this...but it's apparently really popular in Asia. There were dozens of them for sale here.

Here's what The Asia Food website has to say about Durian:

"A good durian is sweet and has the texture of smooth, rich custard and the flavour, while quite unlike anything else, hints at banana, mango, pineapple, pawpaw (all somewhat over-ripe) and vanilla. Some call it the king of fruits, regard it as an aphrodisiac and break hotel rules by sneaking it into their rooms."

The description goes on to say that "unless you have smelled ripe durian, it is hard to imagine an odour as invasive." Seriously. If you can get past the odor, it's supposed to be delicious!That's what it says.

Michael told us that there are restaurants that absolutely will not allow it in the building.

So that's just a smidgen of the many exotic offerings of the Mekong Plaza. Quite an experience right here in Mesa, Arizona.

It was a fun afternoon and I wish we could have stayed for the entertainment.