On Our Way To Hanoi
We get breakfast at the hotel and head on our way back to Hanoi, slowly. The roads all have construction and there are people everywhere. People going to work, kids going to school in uniform, men working on the roads. So much to look at! Fields of rice with buffalo! Our first sight of water buffalo. We stop half way for what we thought was just a bathroom break but it was actually a tourist trap. It was a huge building full of knick-knacks but their main item are hand carved stone statues. The reason I call this place a tourist trap is because everything is so expensive. A large stone statue taller than Eric and probably weighed 2 tons costs over $20,000. Jade seemed to be more expensive than in the US although they say each piece comes with a certificate of authentication. No thanks... We head on our way again. A huge red sign has Vietnamese writing on it. We pull in and get a table. Anh Truong goes to order but we don't hear him. Uncle Binh says this is what he's been waiting for the whole trip. We get out a few appetizer plates of "mystery meat" with many different dipping sauces and a plate of Vietnamese fries. We eat and drink not caring what it was and it was actually extremely delicious and Eric actually ate more than me. We drank some of the owners moonshine with him, and then drank some tea to wash it all down and back on the road.
We get to Hanoi and the traffic is insane! It is completely different than what we've been seeing on the way from Halong. People weaving everywhere on mopeds and horns a blazin'. We weave in and out of traffic through packed roads and get to our hotel, Hotel Charming 2. 2 bell boys come dashing out to help us with all of our stuff with big smiles on their faces. The hotel is very slender, down a few steps from the front door was the dining area and up a few steps from the door is the reception area. Right when we come in and I told the front desk ladies that I had booked a reservation they knew exactly who I was an called me by name. They said that the rooms are being prepped and asked us to have a seat. The bell boys come back with a tray of fresh squeezed orange juice and wet towels for us. The reception girls ask us questions about us to make conversation and even talk to Eric in English. Their English is actually really good and easy to understand. They were all extremely nice and even upgraded our room to the executive suite. There was a flat screen tv, computer, free wifi, nice bed and a very nice bathroom with warm water that doesn't shut off at night, what a relief! We rest for a few hours and Anh Truong is back to pick us up at 6pm to go eat snake!
Our drive there was interesting. Every street that we turn on got smaller and smaller to the point where the car barely fit in the road itself. It looked like he was taking us to a hidden alley to do away with us but once we got to the restaurant it opened up and was very nice. The restaurant looked like a temple. Inside there was an area to the right where they wrangle and prep the snake and to the left is the cage where the snakes are kept. We decide on which one. The snakes run about $100/kilo. The snake we picked was a little over a kilo. They take it over to the wrangling area, one man holding the tail and one man holding the head. They stand about 5 feet apart from each other. The man holding the head made a slit a few inches down from the head and pulled out the heart and put it in a small dish and quickly moves the bleeding snake over a cup. Once the snake is drained of blood he quickly cuts off the head and then moves to the stomach area of the snake and makes a slit and pulls out the bile and drains it into another cup. He puts the carcass into a bucket and pours in boiling water and the body squirms for a good minute. As they are prepping and cleaning our snake, 2 other groups orders cobra. The handlers wrangle the snakes bare handed and picks up the bigger one for pictures. After the last one has been prepped we walk up stairs to the dining area. Once we sat they immediately brought out the beating snake heart and the bottles of vodka. "Give it to the white guy" they said. Eric immediately took it without hesitation but wanted someone else to share the moment with him so he split it with my cousin. You're supposed to just swallow the heart and down it with a shot of vodka but Eric and my Viet put each piece in their mouth and chewed to actually taste it and then took the shot of blood vodka. The dishes start rolling out one at a time. First was the snake broth egg drop soup, then came the stir fried snake which was a little chewy, then the chopped snaked wrapped in grape leaves and fried and also wrapped in soy paper and fried. Then came the stir fried snake innards (my favorite), minced fried snake bones which were nice and crunchy, fried snake skin with scales on which were extra crispy but chewy at the same time, snake soup medicine and sticky rice at the end. While we were eating we were also taking shots of snake bile vodka, which was had a very bitter bite to it at the end. Half way through our meal we heard something bustling around above our heads we look up and crawling on the drain pipes was a big rat. He was crawling around and slipped and fell to the ground and ran towards a couple waiters standing around. They did a hop and a skip to avoid the rat and just laughed about it afterwards. It was pretty hilarious but only because we're in Vietnam.
We headed out and Anh Truong dropped off his wife and kids, me, Eric, and Viet in downtown for her to show us around while Anh Truong and my uncle went to pick up a friend from the airport. I was really nervous to walk around because traffic is ridiculous. Mopeds pack the streets and weave in and our and around each other in one way streets. Chi Huong (Anh Truong's wife) walks her kids on the streets and everyone just moves around them, especially when we cross the street. When you cross the street don't hesitate because once you do you're doomed. There are no street lights or crosswalk, you just walk and people will go around you. I think if the kids can do it I can do it so I close my eyes and hold their hands and go. We walk for hours and we were fine and by the end of the night I wasn't scared anymore. We walked the streets looking for shirts saying "Bia Saigon". My uncle told us that the reason why he wants those shirts is because after South Vietnam fell to the communists Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City and the name Saigon disappeared. We walked down streets and alleys just observing. There are people and shops everywhere, people lived in the back of their shops and some lived in the back alleys and sold items in the front. Some people only carried baskets on their shoulder and slept in the streets. It seemed like such a hard life but that's what the people are used to. At the end of the night after stopping at several shirt shops with no luck, we come to one last one and success! She had the shirts! I asked Chi Huong to barter for me because if they know you're a local they're more willing to hook you up, if you're an outsider they'll charge you more. The lady tried to sell the shirts to us at 80,000 VND each but Chi Huong ended up getting it down to 50,000 each which is equivalent to about $2.50 USD. Stopped and bought the kids a few toys and went back to the hotel to wait for the men.
After they left Eric and Viet wanted to go explore the town and check out some clubs or bars. I warned them to be careful and don't listen to anyone and don't take too much money. So they left. About 1 hour later Eric came back to the room. I asked him what happened and he just laughed and shook his head. He said that they walked around and guys on the 'sit low' (xit lo) kept riding by and telling them they know of clubs but the guys knew that was sketchy and didn't want to be taken some where they didn't want to go. So they kept walking. A young man approached them and said there is a bar down the street, they went since it was within walking distance of the hotel. They came up to an area with a rolling drop down garage type door that was half way raised and when they entered the guys closed the gate. They went inside and it was an empty bar, they were the only ones in there. They got pretty nervous and then left and came home. Hot shower and sleep.