One Hour and a Bowl of Bún Bò

This week was finally fall break, and Nguyên, an older friend I met here who has become like a sister to me, had the perfect idea to help us shake off the stress, a bowl of bún bò. So Nguyên, Điền, Uyên, and I headed to Vua Bún Bò.

The drive there was not as cheerful as the rest of the day. On the way, we passed a car that had been in a crash, and for a moment I felt a little scared. It reminded me how quickly an ordinary afternoon can change, and it made me hold on to the rest of the day a little tighter.

We walked in at exactly 4:00. The restaurant closed at 5:00. That left us one hour, and we did not waste a second. We ordered almost in one breath, and when the food arrived, it somehow turned into a race, each of us eating as if we had challenged the others to finish first. The food was delicious, and by the end we could not stop laughing at how seriously we had all taken it.

After dinner, we stopped at HeyTea. Everyone had told me their fruit drinks were worth trying, so I finally ordered the grape one. It was so good that it truly rivaled my longtime favorite, the creamy cheese foam grape tea at Molly Tea. Uyên chose the triple matcha and said it even had mochi inside. Nguyên went with the mango sticky rice drink, the one that went viral after Lisa from BLACKPINK tried it.

Our last stop was Teso Life, where we picked out snacks and candy. I also grabbed some candy for Kye’s birthday, because sometimes a small sweet thing says more than a long message.

Looking back, the day was not about any one place. It was about a friend who felt like a sister and knew we needed a break, a bowl of noodles that tasted like home, and the kind of company that makes even a one-hour dinner feel like enough.