We apologize for not having blogged for so long. We are now all back in the United States. Towards the end of the trip, internet access became very limited, and were very busy. Even though the trip is now over, we will finish with blog posts for the last week. This is both for the enjoyment and entertainment of our blog readers, but also for ourselves to have a record of all the details of our adventures forever.
Be on the lookout for blog updates from our adventures in Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hong Kong + Macau. There is also a possibility that Guider may grace us with a blog entry from his independent adventures in Phuket (he left for Phuket when we left HCMC for Hong Kong as his return flight was from Bangkok while the rest of us were to return to the US from Hong Kong).
Once again, sorry for being MIA and we hope that no one was worried (we realize that first posting about eating cobra heart and drinking cobra blood and then not blogging for about a week may have been a bit alarming to some...)
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Legend of the Boxer Wrangler and the Beating Cobra Heart
After finishing up our Bia Hoi session with the locals, we flagged down a cab and asked the driver to take us to Le Mat village (10 minutes east of central Hanoi on the other side of the Red River). We knew that this place was famous for a unique type of cuisine...
When we stepped out of the taxi we were greeted by a guy our age who immediately snagged two 6-foot cobras out of a cage and began playing with them. We can't remember his name, but we affectionately refer to him as the Boxer Wrangler for his fearless/crazy handling of these lethal snakes in just a t-shirt and boxer shorts. The snakes would repeatedly strike at his face and neck, and we were all a bit nervous at this point. Adrenaline was truly pumping during the entire time in "Snake Village," as the Le Mat community is known.
Our hostel manager in Hanoi had told us that a whole snake would run us about 800,000 Vietnamese dong (VND). The Boxer Wrangler told us that they would kill the two cobras and prepare 10 different dishes for us. However, this was going to cost us 3,500,000 VND! This is the equivalent of about $200. We told him that we had already eaten and weren't that hungry, and that we just wanted to try some snake. We tried to negotiate the price and told him we didn't have that much money, but he would not budge, saying that catching these deadly snakes is very dangerous and that they have to charge a premium. The Boxer Wrangler maintained that we could maybe get a different snake (a non-cobra) for about 800,000 VND, but that this place only sold cobras and that cobra was a much tastier snake than other kinds. He also said that they cannot cook part of a snake - once they kill it they cook the whole thing and they only sell whole snakes at their restaurant (something which made sense to us). After pooling all the money we had together we were able to come up with something close to 3,500,000 VND in a dollar-dong hybrid payment.
While we were talking to the Boxer Wrangler about the price of our cobra, a Vietnamese family of about 10 people came into the restaurant. The Boxer Wrangler, who was the only person at this family-run restaurant who spoke any English, kept telling us that this was a very rich man. He said that this man was a president for one of the biggest banks in Vietnam, and sounded very proud to tell us that he only eats at their restaurant and comes in 5 times a month to eat King Cobra. "He is very rich man, that is why he can afford king cobra." A 6-8 foot King Cobra sells for a cool $8,000,000 VND (about $450). To put this in perspective, the average meal in Hanoi goes for about $1.20 and the workers in the rice fields withstand back-breaking labor in the humid 95 deg. F weather for less than $ 0.15 an hour. This Vietnamese banker was truly a high-roller... Petey or Jeremy in 5 years perhaps???
The restaurant had an 18 kg king cobra on mounted on the wall which had been preserved for 25 years. It was an impressive beast, and Jeremy cringed more than once as he looked up and was met by this venomous monster's gazing stare.
Back to the cobra negotiations...
***NOTE: THE FOLLOWING STORY IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. KEEP READING AT YOUR OWN RISK...
After coughing up the 3.5 million VND for the cobra, the Boxer Wrangler took the live snake and made a small slit in what I guess would be the equivalent of its throat/chest region, and drained the cobra's blood into a pre-prepared glass of Vietnamese rice wine (calling it "wine" really doesn't do it justice, this is more like vodka, at 40%+ alcohol and a ruthless burning sensation as it goes down). He then made a small cut in the snake and pulled out its still beating heart, which he placed in a shot glass filled with rice wine. Next, he made another small slit in the snake's underbelly and pulled out its gall bladder. He drained the cobra's bile into a second glass full of rice wine. We were then led to the table, where we sat staring at a glass full of red liquid, a glass full of bright green liquid, and a shot glass with a beating cobra heart in it.
The Boxer Wrangler poured us a shot each of the snake blood drink. There was some serious tension in the air, with not much talking going on around the dinner table as we anxiously anticipated what was to come. The first dish was a cobra soup. The rich Vietnamese banker, who must have been very entertained by the sight of four terrified Westerners about to embark on the snake eating/blood drinking journey (especially when the party includes a terrifying 6'5" Norse God with flowing blond locks), raised his shot glass of King Cobra blood to us in a toast, and the rest of his family followed suit. At this point, we could not delay taking the shots any longer, and we raised our shot glasses in response, and then threw back this lovely combination of blood, venom, and strong alcohol (this will certainly put some hair on your chest... even if you're a hairless being like Petey).
The cobra soup was followed by stir-fried cobra, fried cobra, fried cobra-skin, cobra spring rolls, fried cobra spring rolls, cobra ceviche, cobra foie gras, sticky rice with cobra fat, and another type of cobra soup.
The consensus was that the stir-fried cobra dish, cobra foie gras, and the fried cobra were the two best dishes. After a few more shots of cobra blood, the red glass was empty. We were now facing the ominous bright green glass. There was definitely some reluctance at this point. "There is an elephant in the room," Guider accurately stated. We poured our bile shots and threw them back. This drink definitely had a stronger flavor, and we all grimaced as the green liquid made its way down to our stomachs.
It was then time for legends. Cometh the moment, cometh the man. Jeremy stepped up to the plate to take the shot of rice wine with the whole cobra heart in it. No need to describe it, check out the video below:
Post-game commentary from Jeremy: Thanks for calling me out on not being adventurous, pops. I felt this was the only way I could outdo my 10 year old sister who was in Vietnam last year and ate crickets, kangaroo and other interesting dishes. Anyhow, if you pay attention you can actually pinpoint when I swallow the heart. First, I took the shot and only the rice wine went down. At this point, I realized there was a beating cobra heart in my mouth and either it was going down soon or it plus a whole lot more was coming back up. I choked it down before giving the issue too much thought, but feeling a beating heart on my tongue definitely made it a struggle... "I just kept telling myself you can do this, you can do this and I went out there and gave it my all. And you know what? I did it. I really left it all out there that night. Mom, Dad, you should be proud. So, that's really all there was - it was 80% mental 30% physical..." But seriously, I found out that the only way to make rice wine seem smooth is by putting a beating cobra heart in it.
The Boxer Wrangler told us that the children in the village are taught to catch harmless snakes when they are 5 years old. As they get older, they start catching bigger and more dangerous snakes. That way, when they are 16-18 they have already been dealing with snakes for many years and can begin to catch cobras and other poisonous snakes. He added that every year, 10-12 people in the village die while trying to catch cobras. Also, we were informed that many of the villagers have had fingers amputated as a result of being bitten by cobras (actually, Petey had noticed that the Boxer Wrangler's dad was missing a finger). Comically, the Boxer Wrangler told us that even his girlfriend is well-trained in the art of snake catching. Naturally, we asked if she specialized in wrangling the one-eyed snake or perhaps the trouser snake, but they must not be indigenous to this region because he had no clue what we were referring to. The Boxer Wrangler claimed that if you are bitten by a king cobra, you will die in less than 5 minutes if you do not get antidote. Luckily, there were no casualties on this night... After dinner we headed back to our hostel in central Hanoi and went to sleep. Everyone was exhausted after the long day.
When we stepped out of the taxi we were greeted by a guy our age who immediately snagged two 6-foot cobras out of a cage and began playing with them. We can't remember his name, but we affectionately refer to him as the Boxer Wrangler for his fearless/crazy handling of these lethal snakes in just a t-shirt and boxer shorts. The snakes would repeatedly strike at his face and neck, and we were all a bit nervous at this point. Adrenaline was truly pumping during the entire time in "Snake Village," as the Le Mat community is known.
Our hostel manager in Hanoi had told us that a whole snake would run us about 800,000 Vietnamese dong (VND). The Boxer Wrangler told us that they would kill the two cobras and prepare 10 different dishes for us. However, this was going to cost us 3,500,000 VND! This is the equivalent of about $200. We told him that we had already eaten and weren't that hungry, and that we just wanted to try some snake. We tried to negotiate the price and told him we didn't have that much money, but he would not budge, saying that catching these deadly snakes is very dangerous and that they have to charge a premium. The Boxer Wrangler maintained that we could maybe get a different snake (a non-cobra) for about 800,000 VND, but that this place only sold cobras and that cobra was a much tastier snake than other kinds. He also said that they cannot cook part of a snake - once they kill it they cook the whole thing and they only sell whole snakes at their restaurant (something which made sense to us). After pooling all the money we had together we were able to come up with something close to 3,500,000 VND in a dollar-dong hybrid payment.
While we were talking to the Boxer Wrangler about the price of our cobra, a Vietnamese family of about 10 people came into the restaurant. The Boxer Wrangler, who was the only person at this family-run restaurant who spoke any English, kept telling us that this was a very rich man. He said that this man was a president for one of the biggest banks in Vietnam, and sounded very proud to tell us that he only eats at their restaurant and comes in 5 times a month to eat King Cobra. "He is very rich man, that is why he can afford king cobra." A 6-8 foot King Cobra sells for a cool $8,000,000 VND (about $450). To put this in perspective, the average meal in Hanoi goes for about $1.20 and the workers in the rice fields withstand back-breaking labor in the humid 95 deg. F weather for less than $ 0.15 an hour. This Vietnamese banker was truly a high-roller... Petey or Jeremy in 5 years perhaps???
The restaurant had an 18 kg king cobra on mounted on the wall which had been preserved for 25 years. It was an impressive beast, and Jeremy cringed more than once as he looked up and was met by this venomous monster's gazing stare.
Back to the cobra negotiations...
***NOTE: THE FOLLOWING STORY IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. KEEP READING AT YOUR OWN RISK...
After coughing up the 3.5 million VND for the cobra, the Boxer Wrangler took the live snake and made a small slit in what I guess would be the equivalent of its throat/chest region, and drained the cobra's blood into a pre-prepared glass of Vietnamese rice wine (calling it "wine" really doesn't do it justice, this is more like vodka, at 40%+ alcohol and a ruthless burning sensation as it goes down). He then made a small cut in the snake and pulled out its still beating heart, which he placed in a shot glass filled with rice wine. Next, he made another small slit in the snake's underbelly and pulled out its gall bladder. He drained the cobra's bile into a second glass full of rice wine. We were then led to the table, where we sat staring at a glass full of red liquid, a glass full of bright green liquid, and a shot glass with a beating cobra heart in it.
The Boxer Wrangler poured us a shot each of the snake blood drink. There was some serious tension in the air, with not much talking going on around the dinner table as we anxiously anticipated what was to come. The first dish was a cobra soup. The rich Vietnamese banker, who must have been very entertained by the sight of four terrified Westerners about to embark on the snake eating/blood drinking journey (especially when the party includes a terrifying 6'5" Norse God with flowing blond locks), raised his shot glass of King Cobra blood to us in a toast, and the rest of his family followed suit. At this point, we could not delay taking the shots any longer, and we raised our shot glasses in response, and then threw back this lovely combination of blood, venom, and strong alcohol (this will certainly put some hair on your chest... even if you're a hairless being like Petey).
The cobra soup was followed by stir-fried cobra, fried cobra, fried cobra-skin, cobra spring rolls, fried cobra spring rolls, cobra ceviche, cobra foie gras, sticky rice with cobra fat, and another type of cobra soup.
The consensus was that the stir-fried cobra dish, cobra foie gras, and the fried cobra were the two best dishes. After a few more shots of cobra blood, the red glass was empty. We were now facing the ominous bright green glass. There was definitely some reluctance at this point. "There is an elephant in the room," Guider accurately stated. We poured our bile shots and threw them back. This drink definitely had a stronger flavor, and we all grimaced as the green liquid made its way down to our stomachs.
It was then time for legends. Cometh the moment, cometh the man. Jeremy stepped up to the plate to take the shot of rice wine with the whole cobra heart in it. No need to describe it, check out the video below:
Post-game commentary from Jeremy: Thanks for calling me out on not being adventurous, pops. I felt this was the only way I could outdo my 10 year old sister who was in Vietnam last year and ate crickets, kangaroo and other interesting dishes. Anyhow, if you pay attention you can actually pinpoint when I swallow the heart. First, I took the shot and only the rice wine went down. At this point, I realized there was a beating cobra heart in my mouth and either it was going down soon or it plus a whole lot more was coming back up. I choked it down before giving the issue too much thought, but feeling a beating heart on my tongue definitely made it a struggle... "I just kept telling myself you can do this, you can do this and I went out there and gave it my all. And you know what? I did it. I really left it all out there that night. Mom, Dad, you should be proud. So, that's really all there was - it was 80% mental 30% physical..." But seriously, I found out that the only way to make rice wine seem smooth is by putting a beating cobra heart in it.
The Boxer Wrangler told us that the children in the village are taught to catch harmless snakes when they are 5 years old. As they get older, they start catching bigger and more dangerous snakes. That way, when they are 16-18 they have already been dealing with snakes for many years and can begin to catch cobras and other poisonous snakes. He added that every year, 10-12 people in the village die while trying to catch cobras. Also, we were informed that many of the villagers have had fingers amputated as a result of being bitten by cobras (actually, Petey had noticed that the Boxer Wrangler's dad was missing a finger). Comically, the Boxer Wrangler told us that even his girlfriend is well-trained in the art of snake catching. Naturally, we asked if she specialized in wrangling the one-eyed snake or perhaps the trouser snake, but they must not be indigenous to this region because he had no clue what we were referring to. The Boxer Wrangler claimed that if you are bitten by a king cobra, you will die in less than 5 minutes if you do not get antidote. Luckily, there were no casualties on this night... After dinner we headed back to our hostel in central Hanoi and went to sleep. Everyone was exhausted after the long day.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Hanoi Again
The night train back to Hanoi was not quite as nice as the original Hanoi-Lao Cai/Sapa leg. There must have been something wrong with our train car, because it kept making ridiculously loud noises. We were so tired that we eventually passed out anyways, and woke up in Hanoi around 5 AM the next day. We took a cab to a hostel that Guider and Jonas had looked up on Wikitravel/Hostelworld and checked in. We got one big room for four people with A/C.
After checking in, we started our day off with the customary 6 AM bowl of Pho Bo, and set about our adventures for the day. We got our hands on a map and just wandered around the city all day. Hanoi is a very busy place with almost 7 million people and a whopping 4 million motorbikes (rush hour traffic here must be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen). The Old Quarter (where we stayed) is filled with lots of markets selling clothes, handbags, and trinkets, and the streets are lined with street vendors selling food and fresh produce.
Pete bought a SIM-card for the phone he brought (I think he bought it in Spain 2 summers ago) and Jonas bought a cell phone and a SIM-card for the amazing price of $32. Pete has since lost his phone, sorry mom!
We had all decided that we wanted to eat dog in Hanoi (northern Vietnam is famous for its dog restaurants, especially Hanoi). After a long day of walking around the city in the extreme heat/humidity in search of a nice plate of "man's best friend" without much result, we decided it was time for a little bit of relaxation (we decided that we did not have enough time and/or money to eat both dog and snake, Vietnam's two most expensive dishes, in one day, so we decided to prioritize snake, which we will get to later...)
Hanoi is famous for its Bia Hoi. This literally means "fresh beer," and is a type of draught beer that is made daily. Each restaurant/establishment makes its own Bia Hoi every day and you buy it by mug or pitcher. One large mug of Bia Hoi will run you a heavy $ 0.25... The locals sit on tiny plastic chairs on the sidewalk outside the various Bia Hoi establishments and drink beer and watch the people/traffic passing by during the evenings. We found a packed Bia Hoi place and began ordering beer.
After a few pints Jonas and Pete led us in some Swedish drinking songs (Pete will soon surpass Jonas' Swedish language abilities... a true linguistic genius... a legend of our time... Pete didn't actually write that, I just want to give him some props since he has been taking some heat on the blog previously...) This caught the attention of some of the locals at the table behind us. This was a group of five Vietnamese men in the 50-60 range who were just enjoying an after-work Bia Hoi session. After a few joint cheers and toasts to Vietnam/Hanoi, we decided to buy them a round of beers. They were very excited and grateful for this, and toasted to us multiple times. Jonas then moved his chair to their table and used his growing Vietnamese vocabulary to make some small-talk. We all eventually moved to their table and had a few more beers. Around 8 pm the locals at our table began leaving. We were a bit worried about them driving their motorbikes home as they were obviously hammered, but our fears were eased by the memory of Pete's improvement as a driver after his shot of rice wine in Sapa... We stayed for a few more rounds before heading out on one of our biggest adventures yet...
After checking in, we started our day off with the customary 6 AM bowl of Pho Bo, and set about our adventures for the day. We got our hands on a map and just wandered around the city all day. Hanoi is a very busy place with almost 7 million people and a whopping 4 million motorbikes (rush hour traffic here must be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen). The Old Quarter (where we stayed) is filled with lots of markets selling clothes, handbags, and trinkets, and the streets are lined with street vendors selling food and fresh produce.
Pete bought a SIM-card for the phone he brought (I think he bought it in Spain 2 summers ago) and Jonas bought a cell phone and a SIM-card for the amazing price of $32. Pete has since lost his phone, sorry mom!
We had all decided that we wanted to eat dog in Hanoi (northern Vietnam is famous for its dog restaurants, especially Hanoi). After a long day of walking around the city in the extreme heat/humidity in search of a nice plate of "man's best friend" without much result, we decided it was time for a little bit of relaxation (we decided that we did not have enough time and/or money to eat both dog and snake, Vietnam's two most expensive dishes, in one day, so we decided to prioritize snake, which we will get to later...)
Hanoi is famous for its Bia Hoi. This literally means "fresh beer," and is a type of draught beer that is made daily. Each restaurant/establishment makes its own Bia Hoi every day and you buy it by mug or pitcher. One large mug of Bia Hoi will run you a heavy $ 0.25... The locals sit on tiny plastic chairs on the sidewalk outside the various Bia Hoi establishments and drink beer and watch the people/traffic passing by during the evenings. We found a packed Bia Hoi place and began ordering beer.
After a few pints Jonas and Pete led us in some Swedish drinking songs (Pete will soon surpass Jonas' Swedish language abilities... a true linguistic genius... a legend of our time... Pete didn't actually write that, I just want to give him some props since he has been taking some heat on the blog previously...) This caught the attention of some of the locals at the table behind us. This was a group of five Vietnamese men in the 50-60 range who were just enjoying an after-work Bia Hoi session. After a few joint cheers and toasts to Vietnam/Hanoi, we decided to buy them a round of beers. They were very excited and grateful for this, and toasted to us multiple times. Jonas then moved his chair to their table and used his growing Vietnamese vocabulary to make some small-talk. We all eventually moved to their table and had a few more beers. Around 8 pm the locals at our table began leaving. We were a bit worried about them driving their motorbikes home as they were obviously hammered, but our fears were eased by the memory of Pete's improvement as a driver after his shot of rice wine in Sapa... We stayed for a few more rounds before heading out on one of our biggest adventures yet...
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
More Adventures from Sapa
The second day in Sapa, we opted to split into two groups. Pete and I (Jeremy), wanted to do another day of trekking, while Jonas and Guider had some housekeeping things to handle (Note from Jonas: Due to wet clothing/shoes from the day before we opted to stay in town, bum around the market, and hit up an internet cafe to plan ahead for our return to Hanoi, the trip to Ha Long Bay, and our continued journey towards south Vietnam). So, PJ and I met Chum at 10 that morning and went over our itinerary: go see a big waterfall, hike around Vietnam's tallest peak (Fan Si Pan), then go see a local village of one of the various ethnic minorities surrounding Sapa. Unfortunately, Chum would not be taking us around, but he'd replaced himself with his younger brother, An.
The weather was nicer than the day before but still foggy and overcast. However, this weather only ads to the mystique of Sapa, so we didn't mind. After a short ride and a few flights of stairs to climb, PJ and I reached a huge waterfall. There were a few other groups of tourists also there. They seemed more in awe of the 6'5”, blonde hair, blue-eyed Pete than the waterfall though. One Chinese tourist even asked PJ to get in a picture. Best part: It was a dude who asked him, and he made his girlfriend take the picture of him and Pete. Don't worry, I jumped on that shot just as quickly:
HAHAHA. Pete and I also bought hand-knitted hats from the Hmong ladies. Pete looks very much like Brad Pitt in 7-years in Tibet (unlike Brad Pitt, it seems that men find Pete more attractive than women). Again, Pete is going to get the brunt of all of our jokes as he is not only not helping me to write this, but also he is still sleeping.
After the first waterfall, we were taken to the Bamboo Forest near Fan Si Pan and hiked to a more remote waterfall. To get there we had to hike a trail that had been washed out by all of the rain the day before and was extremely muddy. It was definitely worth it though as this second waterfall was much more stunning – it was roughly 70 feet high and fell into a tiny pool of water. What was so awesome was that this created a huge wind and sprayed a mist of water all over us. It reminded me of being in a tropical storm/hurricane in South Florida and for Pete it was a total novelty. I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures though, because my camera lens was soon covered in water, but we were able to get a few nice shots.
After hiking back up the trail, we went back towards Sapa and had lunch in the market. There were some interesting cuisines in the market, some you may recognize, some I would hope you don't:
Don't worry Connie, we weren't adventurous (that day) and opted to just have Pho Bo. While eating lunch, one of the older men eating near us was very happy that we had chosen to eat here (or just intrigued by PJ's blonde hair) and bought us our first shot of Vietnamese rice wine. Rice wine is totally a misnomer as it tastes more like vodka or baijiu, if you've been to China (Al, you may (or may not) remember that taste). The shot definitely made Pete more adept at driving a moto like a local though. After lunch, we raced down to the nearby Black Hmong village. On the way, we saw a group of villagers planting rice in one of the terraces. I guess they thought Pete and I would be good at planting rice since we're both pretty large... They were wrong. Pete and I pulled our shoes and socks off and hopped in the paddy. It took us a little while to get the technique down, and when we looked up they had easily quadrupled the amount of rice we had planted. We like to think we boosted morale and brought a lot of intangibles to the work force, despite our lack of specialized knowledge. Next time you eat rice, just think it could have been a product of this:
Anyhow, we were on a tight schedule so we could only help out for a little while, although we know we were dearly missed... We got to go into one of the villager's homes and check out how they live. It was pretty interesting to see, and I wish we could have had more time in Sapa to do a homestay. There was a little kid in the house who must have been about 2 years old. He was running around in just a t-shirt, no shorts. Every time he looked at Pete his eyes would get really big and he would let his jaw drop. It was hysterical and the two of us got a kick out of it every time he did it. We thought it would be impolite to try to get a picture of it though, so you'll have to use your imagination. After getting hassled yet again to buy handmade Hmong clothing/bags, we headed back to Sapa to meet up with Jonas and Guider. The four of us then had dinner in Lao Cai and caught the overnight sleeper back to Hanoi.
Here's one of my favorite pictures thus far on the trip. While Jonas and Chum were fixing their bike on the first day, Pete found an old lady in need of a ride home. Pete later told me that he almost wiped out taking her home, nonetheless, she was grateful for the help...
- Jeremy (without the help of Pete, as usual...)
The weather was nicer than the day before but still foggy and overcast. However, this weather only ads to the mystique of Sapa, so we didn't mind. After a short ride and a few flights of stairs to climb, PJ and I reached a huge waterfall. There were a few other groups of tourists also there. They seemed more in awe of the 6'5”, blonde hair, blue-eyed Pete than the waterfall though. One Chinese tourist even asked PJ to get in a picture. Best part: It was a dude who asked him, and he made his girlfriend take the picture of him and Pete. Don't worry, I jumped on that shot just as quickly:
HAHAHA. Pete and I also bought hand-knitted hats from the Hmong ladies. Pete looks very much like Brad Pitt in 7-years in Tibet (unlike Brad Pitt, it seems that men find Pete more attractive than women). Again, Pete is going to get the brunt of all of our jokes as he is not only not helping me to write this, but also he is still sleeping.
After the first waterfall, we were taken to the Bamboo Forest near Fan Si Pan and hiked to a more remote waterfall. To get there we had to hike a trail that had been washed out by all of the rain the day before and was extremely muddy. It was definitely worth it though as this second waterfall was much more stunning – it was roughly 70 feet high and fell into a tiny pool of water. What was so awesome was that this created a huge wind and sprayed a mist of water all over us. It reminded me of being in a tropical storm/hurricane in South Florida and for Pete it was a total novelty. I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures though, because my camera lens was soon covered in water, but we were able to get a few nice shots.
After hiking back up the trail, we went back towards Sapa and had lunch in the market. There were some interesting cuisines in the market, some you may recognize, some I would hope you don't:
Don't worry Connie, we weren't adventurous (that day) and opted to just have Pho Bo. While eating lunch, one of the older men eating near us was very happy that we had chosen to eat here (or just intrigued by PJ's blonde hair) and bought us our first shot of Vietnamese rice wine. Rice wine is totally a misnomer as it tastes more like vodka or baijiu, if you've been to China (Al, you may (or may not) remember that taste). The shot definitely made Pete more adept at driving a moto like a local though. After lunch, we raced down to the nearby Black Hmong village. On the way, we saw a group of villagers planting rice in one of the terraces. I guess they thought Pete and I would be good at planting rice since we're both pretty large... They were wrong. Pete and I pulled our shoes and socks off and hopped in the paddy. It took us a little while to get the technique down, and when we looked up they had easily quadrupled the amount of rice we had planted. We like to think we boosted morale and brought a lot of intangibles to the work force, despite our lack of specialized knowledge. Next time you eat rice, just think it could have been a product of this:
Anyhow, we were on a tight schedule so we could only help out for a little while, although we know we were dearly missed... We got to go into one of the villager's homes and check out how they live. It was pretty interesting to see, and I wish we could have had more time in Sapa to do a homestay. There was a little kid in the house who must have been about 2 years old. He was running around in just a t-shirt, no shorts. Every time he looked at Pete his eyes would get really big and he would let his jaw drop. It was hysterical and the two of us got a kick out of it every time he did it. We thought it would be impolite to try to get a picture of it though, so you'll have to use your imagination. After getting hassled yet again to buy handmade Hmong clothing/bags, we headed back to Sapa to meet up with Jonas and Guider. The four of us then had dinner in Lao Cai and caught the overnight sleeper back to Hanoi.
Here's one of my favorite pictures thus far on the trip. While Jonas and Chum were fixing their bike on the first day, Pete found an old lady in need of a ride home. Pete later told me that he almost wiped out taking her home, nonetheless, she was grateful for the help...
- Jeremy (without the help of Pete, as usual...)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Cell Phones
Pete and Jonas have bought Vietnamese phones/sim cards in Hanoi.
Jonas: (+84) 0127 3695155
Pete: (+84) 0127 3695158
Skype or call us!
Jonas: (+84) 0127 3695155
Pete: (+84) 0127 3695158
Skype or call us!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sapa: Rainy Mountains & the Legend of Chum
Jeremy would like to start this post off by stating that the Vietnamese overnight sleeper train is his favorite method of travel and/or sleeping. (Also, I'm not the alleged sharter from a few posts ago, thanks though Al.)
After taking the overnight train from Hanoi we arrived in Lao Cai on the Chinese border around 5 AM on May 29th. From there we took a minibus up the mountains to Sapa, which took about 1.5 hours. When we stepped out of the bus in Sapa we were hit by cold air, rain, and fog. A nice contrast to the rest of the region, the temperature up there was around 60 deg. F. We had already looked up a good hostel called Lotus Hotel, and were able to shake off the myriad of touts trying to give us "a special price" for their particular hostel/hotel.
Now, we'd like to point out one, big cultural difference that we've discovered: the appropriateness of physical contact. It started on the overnight train when we decided to all rock out in just our underwear (we've also noticed that wearing underwear is always appropriate, a point which we will return to in a later post). The man in our neighboring cabin took a stroll down the hall and on his way by felt the urge to pat and rub Jonas's belly. Not that weird, right? Well, it didn't end there. When we first boarded the minibus in Lao Cai we were all feeling extremely well rested from the sleep in the overnight train (most probably because this was the first night we'd had air conditioning on the whole trip) and were uncharacteristically full of energy this early in the morning. As we waited for other passengers to board the minibus, we broke out the iPod minispeakers and rocked out to Jeremy's "Eurotrash" playlist. One of the Vietnamese guys nearby was apparently also feeling the music and playfully reached out and gave Pete's dong a little honk-honk. It wasn't anything big but, nonetheless, we were all intrigued and extremely entertained by this. Later, we got an explanation from our guide Chum, who said, "Maybe he was just trying to play a little music... playing your guitar." The Vietnamese are truly musical geniuses if they can master the skin-flute to make guitar noises (especially with an instrument of this size... this is what you get for not contributing to posts, Pete).
Back to the trip... Sapa is home to many of Vietnam's ethnic minorities, such as the Hmong people, who live in their villages in the mountains. When walking down the street, you are guaranteed to be approached by at least 5 little village girls trying to sell you handbags, bracelets, and other random ornaments. These villagers were very good at English, something that must be attributed to the large number of tourists that frequent Sapa every year.
After checking in at our hostel we tracked down a nice little Pho restaurant to start our day off with the traditional Vietnamese breakfast: beef noodle soup (!). Walking around town, we quickly gained a following of 10-15 Hmong girls between the ages 8 and 13, who seemed to just want to practice their English and chat with foreigners (we later realized this may just have been their way to "butter us up" before trying to make a sale). Wherever we went, these little girls would follow, chit-chatting about random things and asking us what we were doing next. It was quite comical.
After eating and spending some time at an internet cafe, we set out to find a trekking/adventure tour agency to book a trekking trip for the afternoon (sorry Laur, Yem didn't get back to us in time). By luck, we stumbled upon a little store run by a man who introduced himself as Chum (pronounced "Choom"). Little did we know that this short and slightly pudgy Tay (Vietnamese ethnic minority) man would soon become a legend amongst us. Chum quoted us a price of $12 per person for a motorbike/trekking tour of the mountain with "Chum's #1 Tours in Sapa." When we tried to negotiate the price down he merely laughed and said, "I am Chum. I am best tour guide in Sapa. $12 is minimum price. I don't rip you off, I give you best tour. $12, no negotiation." This was followed by all of us agreeing to pay the $12 and starting a highly appreciated "Chum-Chum-Chum-Chum-Chummmm!!!" chant, which would become a standard event throughout the day.
We rented three motorbikes and we were off. One bike was driven by Chum, the man himself, with Jonas on the back, the second bike was driven solo by Bond, and the third bike was driven by Petey with Jeremy "Bubble-butt" Menkhaus somehow squeezing onto the seat behind him. Off we went down the steep and muddy dirt mountain roads in the pouring rain. On the way down we saw little children herding massive water buffalo, tons of rice paddies, and a huge marijuana field (Chum claimed that his brother owned the marijuana field, which according to him, is perfectly legal in Vietnam. We looked into the matter but were not able to find a definitive answer.) Other motorbikes, minibuses, and large trucks would go flying by you at high speeds on the narrow and winding mountain road, causing quite a scare or two.
At one point, Jeffrey GUIDER Bond wiped out hard in a big patch of mud just in front of two oncoming vans of foreigners. Only Pete and Jeremy got to witness the acrobatic maneuver, but it is bound to be ingrained in Sapa folklore for years to come. Like the true warrior he is, however, Guider immediately rose to his feet, picked up his bike, and kept driving. Chum drove his motorbike like a mad man, putting the petal to the metal on more than one occasion and making some ridiculous passes. To give Pete some respect, he was not far behind even with Apple Bottom weighing him down...
Chum took us to Ban Ho, the Tay village in which he grew up. Here, we were served a delicious lunch consisting of home-made Pho Bo (beef noodle soup), home-made fries, and pineapple and fried sticky rice for dessert. Chum, whose facial features closely resemble those of a beaver, was hilarious and we had many interesting and highly entertaining conversations with this little Vietnamese man, who spoke English quite well. We then ditched the bikes and hiked up the mountain to an impressive waterfall. We went swimming and cliff diving into the pool at the foot of the waterfall. Jeremy impressed the locals with a backflip or two, but the highlight of the day may have been Petey's trademark bellyflop entry.
After swimming/diving for a while, we got dressed and headed back to Ban Ho. We took our wet clothes off the clothes line and headed back to Sapa. On the trip back, Chum/Jonas wiped out on a slippery rock segment in a large puddle. Jonas had to pull the bike off of a squirming Chum, who was stuck underneath. With all bones in tact we finished the last leg of the journey back to Sapa. After paying Chum we told him he was no longer our tour guide, but that he was now our friend and that we wanted him to come out for drinks with us later that evening. He seemed pumped, and we agreed to meet outside our hostel at 8 PM.
When Chum showed up outside our hostel he was stoned out of his mind, with a big dumb smile on his face and a fat spliff in his mouth. He was hilarious and would laugh hysterically at our attempts at Vietnamese. Together, the 5 of us went to grab some a quick bite for dinner at the bakery in the middle of town. We soon discovered that Chum pretty much ran Sapa, and that the self-proclaimed "Chum Corner" was in fact just that.
After dinner, Chum took us to the pool hall/bar in town. This place had an impressive list of American music and we were given free-reins to DJ for the night (although there were only 4 other people in the bar anyway). Chum hung with us for a while and hustled us in pool, but turned in around 10:30. Luckily, we met a couple Aussies and their friend from the UK. Pete really hit it off with these guys (Caleb and Greg), and stayed out to "have a beer with an old friend" well after the rest of us went back home to the hotel. We had also decided to meet Chum at 10 AM the next morning for another day of adventure...
- Jonas and Jeremy
After taking the overnight train from Hanoi we arrived in Lao Cai on the Chinese border around 5 AM on May 29th. From there we took a minibus up the mountains to Sapa, which took about 1.5 hours. When we stepped out of the bus in Sapa we were hit by cold air, rain, and fog. A nice contrast to the rest of the region, the temperature up there was around 60 deg. F. We had already looked up a good hostel called Lotus Hotel, and were able to shake off the myriad of touts trying to give us "a special price" for their particular hostel/hotel.
Now, we'd like to point out one, big cultural difference that we've discovered: the appropriateness of physical contact. It started on the overnight train when we decided to all rock out in just our underwear (we've also noticed that wearing underwear is always appropriate, a point which we will return to in a later post). The man in our neighboring cabin took a stroll down the hall and on his way by felt the urge to pat and rub Jonas's belly. Not that weird, right? Well, it didn't end there. When we first boarded the minibus in Lao Cai we were all feeling extremely well rested from the sleep in the overnight train (most probably because this was the first night we'd had air conditioning on the whole trip) and were uncharacteristically full of energy this early in the morning. As we waited for other passengers to board the minibus, we broke out the iPod minispeakers and rocked out to Jeremy's "Eurotrash" playlist. One of the Vietnamese guys nearby was apparently also feeling the music and playfully reached out and gave Pete's dong a little honk-honk. It wasn't anything big but, nonetheless, we were all intrigued and extremely entertained by this. Later, we got an explanation from our guide Chum, who said, "Maybe he was just trying to play a little music... playing your guitar." The Vietnamese are truly musical geniuses if they can master the skin-flute to make guitar noises (especially with an instrument of this size... this is what you get for not contributing to posts, Pete).
After checking in at our hostel we tracked down a nice little Pho restaurant to start our day off with the traditional Vietnamese breakfast: beef noodle soup (!). Walking around town, we quickly gained a following of 10-15 Hmong girls between the ages 8 and 13, who seemed to just want to practice their English and chat with foreigners (we later realized this may just have been their way to "butter us up" before trying to make a sale). Wherever we went, these little girls would follow, chit-chatting about random things and asking us what we were doing next. It was quite comical.
After eating and spending some time at an internet cafe, we set out to find a trekking/adventure tour agency to book a trekking trip for the afternoon (sorry Laur, Yem didn't get back to us in time). By luck, we stumbled upon a little store run by a man who introduced himself as Chum (pronounced "Choom"). Little did we know that this short and slightly pudgy Tay (Vietnamese ethnic minority) man would soon become a legend amongst us. Chum quoted us a price of $12 per person for a motorbike/trekking tour of the mountain with "Chum's #1 Tours in Sapa." When we tried to negotiate the price down he merely laughed and said, "I am Chum. I am best tour guide in Sapa. $12 is minimum price. I don't rip you off, I give you best tour. $12, no negotiation." This was followed by all of us agreeing to pay the $12 and starting a highly appreciated "Chum-Chum-Chum-Chum-Chummmm!!!" chant, which would become a standard event throughout the day.
We rented three motorbikes and we were off. One bike was driven by Chum, the man himself, with Jonas on the back, the second bike was driven solo by Bond, and the third bike was driven by Petey with Jeremy "Bubble-butt" Menkhaus somehow squeezing onto the seat behind him. Off we went down the steep and muddy dirt mountain roads in the pouring rain. On the way down we saw little children herding massive water buffalo, tons of rice paddies, and a huge marijuana field (Chum claimed that his brother owned the marijuana field, which according to him, is perfectly legal in Vietnam. We looked into the matter but were not able to find a definitive answer.) Other motorbikes, minibuses, and large trucks would go flying by you at high speeds on the narrow and winding mountain road, causing quite a scare or two.
At one point, Jeffrey GUIDER Bond wiped out hard in a big patch of mud just in front of two oncoming vans of foreigners. Only Pete and Jeremy got to witness the acrobatic maneuver, but it is bound to be ingrained in Sapa folklore for years to come. Like the true warrior he is, however, Guider immediately rose to his feet, picked up his bike, and kept driving. Chum drove his motorbike like a mad man, putting the petal to the metal on more than one occasion and making some ridiculous passes. To give Pete some respect, he was not far behind even with Apple Bottom weighing him down...
Chum took us to Ban Ho, the Tay village in which he grew up. Here, we were served a delicious lunch consisting of home-made Pho Bo (beef noodle soup), home-made fries, and pineapple and fried sticky rice for dessert. Chum, whose facial features closely resemble those of a beaver, was hilarious and we had many interesting and highly entertaining conversations with this little Vietnamese man, who spoke English quite well. We then ditched the bikes and hiked up the mountain to an impressive waterfall. We went swimming and cliff diving into the pool at the foot of the waterfall. Jeremy impressed the locals with a backflip or two, but the highlight of the day may have been Petey's trademark bellyflop entry.
After swimming/diving for a while, we got dressed and headed back to Ban Ho. We took our wet clothes off the clothes line and headed back to Sapa. On the trip back, Chum/Jonas wiped out on a slippery rock segment in a large puddle. Jonas had to pull the bike off of a squirming Chum, who was stuck underneath. With all bones in tact we finished the last leg of the journey back to Sapa. After paying Chum we told him he was no longer our tour guide, but that he was now our friend and that we wanted him to come out for drinks with us later that evening. He seemed pumped, and we agreed to meet outside our hostel at 8 PM.
When Chum showed up outside our hostel he was stoned out of his mind, with a big dumb smile on his face and a fat spliff in his mouth. He was hilarious and would laugh hysterically at our attempts at Vietnamese. Together, the 5 of us went to grab some a quick bite for dinner at the bakery in the middle of town. We soon discovered that Chum pretty much ran Sapa, and that the self-proclaimed "Chum Corner" was in fact just that.
After dinner, Chum took us to the pool hall/bar in town. This place had an impressive list of American music and we were given free-reins to DJ for the night (although there were only 4 other people in the bar anyway). Chum hung with us for a while and hustled us in pool, but turned in around 10:30. Luckily, we met a couple Aussies and their friend from the UK. Pete really hit it off with these guys (Caleb and Greg), and stayed out to "have a beer with an old friend" well after the rest of us went back home to the hotel. We had also decided to meet Chum at 10 AM the next morning for another day of adventure...
- Jonas and Jeremy
Thursday, May 28, 2009
North Vietnam
Brief update from Vietnam:
We arrived in Hanoi yesterday around 4 pm. Walked around the city for a bit, and had an awesome lunch in the form of a massive bowl of beef pho and a whole chicken with rice. At 8:30 pm we took a night train to Sapa in northern Vietnam. The ride took about 9 hours and we had a private sleeper cabin with 4 beds and AC (about $15 a person). Sapa is high up in the mountains near the Chinese border. It is much cooler here (15-20 C) and constantly foggy/misty and raining. A nice break from the brutal heat in the rest of the region!
We got a nice guesthouse and now we are going to swing by the market and then figure out if we're going trekking today or tomorrow.
This post will be updated/expanded later, just wanted to update you guys on where we are now...
-JJJP
We arrived in Hanoi yesterday around 4 pm. Walked around the city for a bit, and had an awesome lunch in the form of a massive bowl of beef pho and a whole chicken with rice. At 8:30 pm we took a night train to Sapa in northern Vietnam. The ride took about 9 hours and we had a private sleeper cabin with 4 beds and AC (about $15 a person). Sapa is high up in the mountains near the Chinese border. It is much cooler here (15-20 C) and constantly foggy/misty and raining. A nice break from the brutal heat in the rest of the region!
We got a nice guesthouse and now we are going to swing by the market and then figure out if we're going trekking today or tomorrow.
This post will be updated/expanded later, just wanted to update you guys on where we are now...
-JJJP
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