[RD] Backpacking Việt Nam (2019)

[warpus]

Cát Bà Island Cycling Tour
Continued

Our group was not that big to begin with and about half abstained from the cycling tour.. It seemed like the recent rain and the antique looking bicycles would not have made this a fun activity.. but the bikes ended up working out great! Not that many tourists from other cruise ships seemed to have made it out at this time either, so at times it did feel like we had the island to ourselves.. Mind you the island is quite large and we only saw a small part of it, but the whole excursion did take several hours..



Occasional stops along the route allowed us to learn a bit about the history of the island; replicas were used to demonstrate how local ingredients used to be processed.



Details of this escape me now, but from what I remember rice paddy workers would smoke in a communal setting in order to keep warm. They used a sort of hookah for this purpose.

 

[FriendlyFire]

You can see that the crêpe is served after it has already been cut into wedges. The way to properly eat this dish is to wrap one of these wedges in rice paper along with some of the other ingredients it is served with. These can differ depending on the restaurant and part of Vietnam you happen to be in, but lettuce, mint, and Thai basil are popular options.

??? I eat them as pancakes and just dip them into the sauce
Normally dont have them with rice paper rolls, maybe thats a north thing. I think rolling them in some lettuce as the pancake is oily from being fried is also quite common

 

[warpus]

I thought I remembered wrapping them into a roll in central Vietnam as well, but I'd have to check the pictures.. It's gotta be regional

 

[FriendlyFire]

I thought I remembered wrapping them into a roll in central Vietnam as well, but I'd have to check the pictures.. It's gotta be regional

I had a look via the google
Banh Xeo is served by itself or with Lettuce, herbs for wrapping it up

It might be regional, or might have been adapted for the tourists
(such as more meat and seafood inside, less beans and sprouts)

 

[warpus]

Rượu Rắn
Cobra Wine

Rượu Rắn more accurately translates to Snake Wine and is a kind of traditional medicinal liquor (Rượu thuốc). These beverages are consumed in an effort to increase someone's health and virility. The main ingredients are a type of distilled liquor made from rice, animals or animal parts, and/or herbs.



Snake wine is made by infusing a whole (often live) snake in rice wine.



According to our guide this Cobra had its poison drained before it was thrown into the rice wine.. However, this is not what was done traditionally! In the past the poison was allowed to seep into the drink, allowing its proteins to become unfolded by the ethanol.. usually rendering the beverage safe to drink (but not always)

These days it is not uncommon to use a fake plastic snake in order to fool unsuspecting tourists.. In this case.. who knows. The sample was free and there was nothing else for sale, so for all I know it was real.



Drinking this concoction is supposed to increase your virility and performance with the opposite sex, something I was reminded of several times, as I was the only single/solo person in our group and the only person willing to try the cobra wine.

What did it taste like? Basically sort of like sake.. Just a regular alcoholic drink really.. Nothing that tasted curious or vile. Nothing special either, but it did give me a bit of a kick!

If you're curious how the rice wine part of this drink is made, we learned a bit about that too:

 

[Birdjaguar]

By following that recipe, I should have my rice wine by the weekend.....

 

[FriendlyFire]

These days it is not uncommon to use a fake plastic snake in order to fool unsuspecting tourists.. In this case.. who knows. The sample was free and there was nothing else for sale, so for all I know it was real. Drinking this concoction is supposed to increase your virility and performance with the opposite sex, something I was reminded of several times

The Aphrodisiac of snakes is just ancient mysticism and dosnt have any real medical science behind it. The consumption of animals blood and hearts is quite common belief in many Asian countries
You would need to examine the snake closely to see if it were faked

 

[The_J]

...brr.... okay, that actually sounds really unsanitary (despite the alcohol).

 

[warpus]

The Aphrodisiac of snakes is just ancient mysticism and dosnt have any real medical science behind it. The consumption of animals blood and hearts is quite common belief in many Asian countries
You would need to examine the snake closely to see if it were faked

Oh yeah, for sure. I did not think that drinking this concotion would make me any more virile.

The reason I think that it might have been fake is because from what I gather a cobra is not exactly cheap. A Vietnamese website that had some information on this did say that tourists are sometimes tricked with plastic snakes. However, in this case we weren't being sold anything and the array of rice wines that were presented to us did seem to have been produced for local consumption. So it's tough to say really.. I am tempted to say it was real, but it could have been easily just for show.

...brr.... okay, that actually sounds really unsanitary (despite the alcohol).

It does, doesn't it.. From what I understand the main danger is leftover poison that did not properly break down.. I wasn't able to find any stories of people getting sick from snake wine in any other way.. but it does seem like it could happen from time to time, given how this is made.

Now that I know more about this.. including the realization that cobra snakes are actually an endangered species.. I would not take this shot again if I was given the choice.. In the moment though, it seemed like an interesting drink to try

 

[warpus]

Goodbye to Cát Bà Island

I quite liked it here and wish we had more time to explore more of the island. There was virtually nobody around, giving Cát Bà a sort of mystical feel, even though about 13,000 people do call the island their home. Even the kindergarten we visited was deserted at the time - apparently the kids were sleeping in another building. When we stopped for lunch there was also nobody around except for a handful of locals who brought the food out to us.

The island's landscape is reminiscent of the sort of dramatic geography present on other islands and islets in the bay, although this did not really affect our cycling route. The route we stuck to was more or less flat, with only a bit of elevation change here and there. And even though it had recently rained, we did not find it slippery at all; our bikes were able to handle the slightly wet asphalt and other surfaces just fine.



Unfortunately after several hours it was time to head back so that we could rendezvous with the boat that was due to take us back to the cruise ship.

 

[FriendlyFire]

including the realization that cobra snakes are actually an endangered species.. I would not take this shot again if I was given the choice.. In the moment though, it seemed like an interesting drink to try

Almost certain it was a farmed snake. Its possible it might have been wild but the chances are very small
Even the snake that Bourdain ate is certain to be farm raised. If you ate any snake meat during your travels in Asia chances are it was farm raised. (Even if the seller tell you its caught in the wild) So put your mind at ease in that regard.

More than a thousand households in Vinh Son breed and export around 200 tons of venomous snakes each year.
breeders sell the snakes across Vietnam and to other Asian countries, mostly China. People buy these snakes as food or for soaking them in alcohol (rice wine) to drink. It is believed that such wine has medicinal properties. One of the most famous feats by late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was eating a beating cobra's heart in Vietnam in his "A Cook's Tour" series, aired in 2002.

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel-life/cobras-bring-home-the-bacon-in-vietnamese-town-3759333.html

 

[citizenofdoom]

Oh, nice. I'm Vietnamese. I'm happy to know that your experience here quite good.

I made things even more interesting by booking a capsule hotel at the Hanoi airport.. at the wrong terminal.. causing me to fall prey to a $10 USD rideshare scam.

Yeah, rideshare there is scammy, they usually go around and around the street to cheat you. Two years ago, when I went to Hanoi to study for a competition, I got scammed pretty hard.

It's probably not a good idea to photograph such buildings

Nah, you can photograph those buildings if it doesn't have the sign to forbid cameras.

The pho here was not the best. The broth was alright but the meat not so great.

iirc, there's a good Phở restaurant in Hanoi is Phở 10 Lý Quốc Sư, probably you haven't tried that.

Three people on a scooter are pretty illegal here. Would cost a niche amount of money for the traffic police.

Thăng Long Water Puppet Theatre

Nice bro, I haven't gone to that place before. I remember 2 years ago I stayed all night long to solve something and slept while everyone went to that.

By following that recipe, I should have my rice wine by the weekend.....

Definitely! I made some in lunar new year and it tasted great.

chances are very small

Probability depends on the price!

I am looking forward to seeing more of my country in your perception. Have a nice day!

 

[warpus]

Almost certain it was a farmed snake. Its possible it might have been wild but the chances are very small.

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for sharing!

iirc, there's a good Phở restaurant in Hanoi is Phở 10 Lý Quốc Sư, probably you haven't tried that.

You're right, I didn't visit this particular restaurant. My favourite Phở in Hanoi was at Phở Sướng

 

[warpus]

Kayaking Hạ Long Bay

After returning from the cycling excursion to Cát Bà island we ate lunch and got ready for the next excursion.. a kayaking trip around Hạ Long Bay!



The conditions were not the best so about half of the group did not participate again. They missed out if you ask me!

 

[warpus]

Hạ Long Bay Kayaking Video

It isn't much, but you get a better look at some of the scenery

 

[Samson]

Hạ Long Bay Kayaking Video

It isn't much, but you get a better look at some of the scenery

That made me think of the man with the golden gun, but that is a completely different bay.

 

[Cutlass]

It's funny to see little bits of Westernizing creeping in, like kayaking.

 

[warpus]

That made me think of the man with the golden gun, but that is a completely different bay.

That is actually a bay I visited on my 2014 trip to Thailand! Took a boat right by "James Bond island". The limestone islets and cliffs are indeed very similar, but there is a larger concentration of them in Hạ Long Bay.

It's funny to see little bits of Westernizing creeping in, like kayaking.

I tried to figure out when kayaks were introduced to Vietnam, and it's tough to say.. but it seems that the first Kayaks originated with First Nations/Native North Americans, specifically the Inuit and other tribes who live in Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland. European explorers tried to duplicate the designs and so eventually we ended up with the plastic kayak designs we see today.

From what I've been able to figure out the first kayaks were introduced to Europe in the 1860s, although they weren't that popular at first. By the 1930s there were half a million kayaks in use in Europe. This time period corresponds to the French colonization of Vietnam, so I wonder if the French had introduced the kayak to Vietnam at this time, or if it's something that came later in order to offer more activities for tourists (or both).

Since Vietnam has such a long coastline and major rivers like the Red River, the Perfume River, and the Mekong River, the country has a very long history of water navigation... although from what I can gather traditional Vietnamese boats either look like sort of circular baskets.. or something similar to a canoe (which I saw firsthand in the Mekong Delta later on in my trip)

I would bet the French did introduce kayaks to Vietnam, but that they didn't really catch on with the Vietnamese since they've been navigating waterways using canoes and other water capable craft for a millennia. Foreign tourists have been allowed in Vietnam since 1997, so I would guess travel and tourist operators began introducing kayaks in the early 2000s or so.

It's a bit of a guess, but two older Australian ladies I met on the cruise had been travelling around the world for decades together told me that they visited Vietnam about 20 years ago and that it was a very different place. The way they described the differences you could imagine a Vietnam with very little western influences at the time (not including all the French influences of course). They said that the country was more "raw" from what they remember, with not really that many tourist operators offering activities for tourists. So I bet when they were there, you couldn't really rent a kayak anywhere in the country yet. But with the explosion of tourism (2.1 million visitors in 2000, up to 18 million in 2019) you can imagine operators beginning to scramble to offer more and more activities for tourists, such as kayaking.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

love this thread! I was at Cat Ba just a few years ago and am really longing for a vacation rn

It does, doesn't it.. From what I understand the main danger is leftover poison that did not properly break down.. I wasn't able to find any stories of people getting sick from snake wine in any other way.. but it does seem like it could happen from time to time, given how this is made.

Now that I know more about this.. including the realization that cobra snakes are actually an endangered species.. I would not take this shot again if I was given the choice.. In the moment though, it seemed like an interesting drink to try

the poison would be the last thing I'd worry about. moreso the bacteria in the poop and digestional tract of the snake, potential diseases, impurities and toxins in the grain (these can be hallucinogenic, lethal, or both!) and so forth.

I would still definitely drink it though. iron stomach, baby.

 

[warpus]

Phở gà
Saturday, March 9, 2019

Breakfast on the cruise was served buffet-style and usually included the same items. The chicken phở (Phở gà) was one of my favourites, but I could of course not say no the bacon, which was actually quite good by western standards. The rice dish you see could be Xôi, a popular Vietnamese sticky rice breakfast item made out of glutinous rice.

The coffee was as always exceptional, so I usually had multiple cups.