[RD] Backpacking Việt Nam (2019)

[The_J]

I wonder, do they have any sweet breakfast options?
(or is that an entirely western thing?)

 

[warpus]

I wonder, do they have any sweet breakfast options?
(or is that an entirely western thing?)

Vietnamese breakfasts are usually savoury, but there are a bunch of sweet varieties of that Xôi sticky rice dish. Here's a recipe for a sweet coconut version

From what I remember my hotel in Hanoi had some western style breakfast options, but I can't really remember which ones

 

[Birdjaguar]

I think most of Asia is all about savory breakfasts. The west is the place that has the sugar fetish.

 

[Samson]

I think most of Asia is all about savory breakfasts. The west is the place that has the sugar fetish.

It is really mostly america isn't it?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

It is really mostly america isn't it?

In my family - mostly my dad and I - breakfast is savory and cereal is for a bedtime snack.

At one point cereal was also to play a joke on his girlfriend. She had a habit of ordering him to make her stuff to eat while she watched TV, so when we happened to have some Toast Crunch cereal (that she didn't know about) and she ordered him to make her a sandwich, I told him to get two pieces of cereal and put a minuscule piece of ham between them. The result was a ham sandwich the size of a thumbnail.

She wasn't amused. That woman had no sense of humor whatsoever.

 

[Camikaze]

The west is the place that has the sugar fetish.

Well Vietnamese coffee exists so I'm not sure this is entirely true (see similarly iced Milo in Malaysia).

 

[warpus]

Vietnamese coffee is indeed usually quite sweet (and quite strong). Other than that most sweet Vietnamese dishes tend to be desserts or dipping sauces that have a sweet element to them.

Southern Vietnamese cuisine is generally slightly sweeter than northern Vietnamese fare.. although if I wasn't told this before heading south I would have probably never noticed. Even phở is slightly sweeter in the south, although I could just barely taste what the locals meant when they pointed this out to me.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

I think most of Asia is all about savory breakfasts. The west is the place that has the sugar fetish.

There are some notable exceptions, for example the most popular breakfast in Thailand is sticky rice with mango.

It is really mostly america isn't it?

Many European countries have sweet breakfast items, too. Germany, Austria, France. Also Jam is popular virtually everywhere as a breakfast item. Also all the other anglo countries: Britain, Australia, Canada.

But outside of "western" countries I think sweet breakfasts are far less common.I am trying to remember what it was like in Latin America, but I didn't see many sweet breakfast items that were not American

 

[warpus]

Hang Sáng Tối
Dark and Bright Cave

After breakfast rowboats took us to the Dark and Bright Cave, which was an interesting experience.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I didn't realize that "Backpacking Vietnam" was all about boats! Good stuff though.

 

[warpus]

Chả giò
Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls

We had a quick cooking class on deck where we learned how to make our own Vietnamese style fried spring rolls.. The process involves rolling ingredients like seasoned ground pork, mushrooms, and carrots into a sheet of moist rice paper.. It's not that easy to get right! We took turns trying the process (with gloves on). When we were finished the chef in the kitchen deep fried our creations until they were golden brown.

 

[warpus]

I didn't realize that "Backpacking Vietnam" was all about boats! Good stuff though.

There will be more boats

 

[Zardnaar]

It is really mostly america isn't it?

Not that much better in most anglo-sphere.

 

[Samson]

Not that much better in most anglo-sphere.

This is the classic English breakfast:

Spoiler Fry up :

The bottle of spirits is not so traditional, but not unknown.

 

[Zardnaar]

This is the classic English breakfast:

Spoiler Fry up :

The bottle of spirits is not so traditional, but not unknown.

We have that here.

Our cereal is full of suger and sometimes fat. You have to go out of your way to avoid it or default to weet bix.

I've been eating oats for breakfast last year+.

Used to be able to eat that daily in the army.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Vietnamese coffee is indeed usually quite sweet (and quite strong). Other than that most sweet Vietnamese dishes tend to be desserts or dipping sauces that have a sweet element to them.

Southern Vietnamese cuisine is generally slightly sweeter than northern Vietnamese fare.. although if I wasn't told this before heading south I would have probably never noticed. Even phở is slightly sweeter in the south, although I could just barely taste what the locals meant when they pointed this out to me.

The French colonization brought with them coffee drinking and other influences
You can make your own Vietnamese style coffee using a drip container and condensed sweetened milk

 

[warpus]

Dark and Bright Cave Video

I've gone back through some of my social media posts and was able to grab a couple videos I took on the cruise.

 

[FriendlyFire]

We had a quick cooking class on deck where we learned how to make our own Vietnamese style fried spring rolls.. The process involves rolling ingredients like seasoned ground pork, mushrooms, and carrots into a sheet of moist rice paper.. It's not that easy to get right! We took turns trying the process (with gloves on). When we were finished the chef in the kitchen deep fried our creations until they were golden brown.

Where is photo of your abomination of a spring roll ?
(The Americans with their giant egg rolls )

If the spring roll burst, you can always double wrap it with another skin, double skin spring rolls are just as nice.

 

[warpus]

Where is photo of your abomination of a spring roll ?
(The Americans with their giant egg rolls )

If the spring roll burst, you can always double wrap it with another skin, double skin spring rolls are just as nice.

I dare say I actually had one of the better rolls out of everyone who tried At least based on what I remember our teacher saying.. We got our rolls a bit later during dinner time (from what I remember), so no photos

I also remember being skeptical at the time that the chef would actually cook all of our rolls. Most of them didn't look great if I'm being honest.. The problem wasn't that they were too big either, most of them were actually kind of too small and misshaped. Was a fun exercise nevertheless

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Hang Sáng Tối
Dark and Bright Cave

After breakfast rowboats took us to the Dark and Bright Cave, which was an interesting experience.

What are the nets on the ends of the boats for?

This is the classic English breakfast:

Spoiler Fry up :

The bottle of spirits is not so traditional, but not unknown.

What are the round black things?

Where is photo of your abomination of a spring roll ?
(The Americans with their giant egg rolls )

If the spring roll burst, you can always double wrap it with another skin, double skin spring rolls are just as nice.

Way back when, Saturdays were my book-hunting days. I'd make the rounds of all the downtown second-hand stores, the bookstands in a couple of pharmacies and a department store, and the independent new book store. Then I'd head up to the mall and check out the bookstore and bookstands there.

Lunch was usually an egg roll (yes, a large one) and a large pop or fruit juice. The cost for this back then was $2.00.

You can't even get that size of drink for $2.00 in some places now, and good luck finding anywhere to get decent egg rolls. The food court restaurant and its sit-down counterpart closed years ago.

I dare say I actually had one of the better rolls out of everyone who tried At least based on what I remember our teacher saying.. We got our rolls a bit later during dinner time (from what I remember), so no photos

I also remember being skeptical at the time that the chef would actually cook all of our rolls. Most of them didn't look great if I'm being honest.. The problem wasn't that they were too big either, most of them were actually kind of too small and misshaped. Was a fun exercise nevertheless

I guess the taste buds didn't mind how they looked.

There's a series of cooking-themed computer games where you learn how to make various international dishes. Of course you have to make the motions with the mouse, but the directions are also usable if doing it for real.

Turns out I'm just as klutzy with raw eggs in a computer game as I am in RL.