It is still unlcear what the dish to the left is, however it loesly resembles Mochi, a Japenese gooey rice desert, with sprinkle coconut ontop. The dish to the right is sticky white rice with coconut milk wrapped in banana leaf. Our host mother gave us there two ..interesting.. dishes for breakfast one morning.
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If you ever find yourself veturing to Vietnam you MUST try the coffee. Bac Xau (pronounced Bac Su) is sweet condensed milk mixed with a shot of espresso combined with a half cup of Vietnamese Weasle Coffee over ice. Vietnamese coffee is extremly sweet and jam packed with flavor, yes even more so than a Starbucks extra Venti quadropule chocolate frapachino mocha extra sugary drink that somewhat resembles coffee. Even better, this large Bac Xau is only 10,000 Dong (30 US cents).
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So this was an interesting one. Being a vegitarian in Vietnam has been a breeze or the most part, but then there are instenses like these. At resturants our group is split into the meat eaters and vegitarians to make it easier on the waitors to prepare large scale diishes. At this resturant it was assummed that if you did not eat meat, the next best thing was fries with (get ready) butter and sugar. They practically force fead us this incredbily nutritious cuisine assuming all Americans strive to be obese.
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A must have. Although I have absoluetly no idea what is in this cracker/cooking (all the labels are in Chinese) I know that they are my favorite go-to snack. It seems as if it is some sort of rice cake with spicy fish oils and saweed, but honestly who the hell knows. That has been my motto for Vietnamese food these days!
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Ca Mau province is Vietnam's most southern province jutting out into both the the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea. We got to take a (very) long and (VERY) bumpy boat ride along the Mekong River Delta riverways and pass by thousands of small shacks that lay just inches over the water line. These huts were built of scrap metal and palm leaves and have just one room big enough for a few hammocks and some buckets of rice/veggies.
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The poverty was extremely evident as soon as we got into the riverways. The huts were falling apart and some even sinking into the water. The wealthier huts would have some hammocks for sleeping but hardly enough space to even come close to calling this space a house. With pollution and climate change becoming more and more prevalent in the mekong River the amount of fishing and farming inversely decreases each year. The droughts are getting longer and longer and the rivers are continuing to be overfished leaving many out of work.
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GeographyThe Bac Lieu province is a coastal province located in the Mekong delta at the southern tip of Vietnam. The climate is over 95 degrees daily and extremely tropical with mangrove forests and palm tree lined river beds. As our group embarked on the 3 hour long bus ride south of Can Tho we passed by endless rice field and fish farms along the side of the road. The nutrient rich soil crafted by the Mekong Delta makes this land extremely valuable to farmers while at the same time extremely vulnerable to climate change by virtues of severe droughts and floods.
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Buddhist ConflictOur group visited the Bac lieu Buddhist Pagoda where we got to observe a class of monks practicing their daily routine of meditation and Vietnamese written language.
Southern Vietnam was once 90% dominated by Buddhist religion up until the Buddhist crisis of 1963. At this time the Southern Vietnamese government was highly repressive towards the Buddhist community leading to a full blown conflict between over 500 monks and the Vietnamese president at the time, No Dinh Diem. |
Communism vs. ReligionAfter the communist regime became the leading force in Vietnam after the Vietnamese war and the reunification of Southern and Northern Vietnam, the percentage of practicing Buddhist has dropped significantly. Under the communist regime religion was not tolerated at all and punishable by various means (now it is still frowned upon to practice religion but not illegal). I asked my host dad if he was religious and if so if he was a practicing Buddhist and he replied "No, I am Communist". To learn more please click the button below titled :Buddhist Crisis".
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The Vietnamese lifestyle is completely different from the US lifestyle. There are kitchens on each floor for cooking at different times, there is a mid day nap after lunch where the whole city goes quiet, the meals are EXTREMELY elaborate and delicious, we pick our own fruit for breakfast and attend the floating market for all other produce needs, the bathrooms are just shower heads and a small toilet basin outside on a porch, we solely use motor bikes(with extreme caution for the traffic regulations in Vietnam are far from safe) there are hardly any cars on the road, and my personal fav, there are geckos and cockroaches in ...all the rooms...including my bedroom...!
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Ta Hien street comes alive at 7 PM every night for the offer hands down the best deal around...Bia Hoi. Bia Hoi is a beer that is brewed the night before with no preservatives or extra additives. because there are no preservatives the beer only last about 24 hours and has to all be sold by the end of the night. The street vendors sell the beer for 5,000 VND per large glass or about 25 cents. By the end of the night only a few Bia Hoi stations will have enough left to sell to street goers. Because of the Bia Hoi phenomena the Ta Hien alley ways are packed to the brim.
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This street also has dozens of bars and clubs that will offer you cheap, and even sometimes free, drinks of all sorts. the street vendors come around with pork kebabs and donuts for those who are starting to get the munchies. Being a 6'1 Westerner not only do i stand out for the color of my skin, but my height makes me appear like I am from another planet. I walk down the street and people ask to get pictures with me to show their family back at home that they have met someone who is (no joke) 18 inches + taller than them.
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The Ta Ho flower market opens every night at 2 AM and sells round the clock until the wee hours of 6 AM. There are thousands upon thousands of bushels of flowers that case this large market. At some points it is even difficult to walk through the passage ways for the flowers are spilling into the street.
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This market does not only sell flowers, but beer and Banh Mis too. This market is popular amongst the younger crowd for once the city bars shut down at 12 AM (there is a strict curfew for bars and shops where everything needs to be shut down by 12AM) the flower market comes alive and welcomes the nightlife crew.
Ban Mis are the perfect late night meal, consisting of pate paste (liver grinds), onions, cilantro, tomato, cabbage, and spicy onion/mushroom sauce. For the vegetarians there is an egg option called Banh My Traung. This sandwich is only 10,000-15,000 VND or about 25 cents. |
Vegan Pho is a very popular dish with seasoned broth, vermicelli noodles, onions, tomato, tofu and fermented soy chunks (not exactly sure what those are becuase the Vietnamese word does not translate correctly).
The dish below is one of my favorites! Fruit spring rolls are hard to find in Vietnam but when you get the chance you have to try them out! It is a mixture of a cheesy blend and all different types of mellons berries. |
On just about every street corner in Hanoi one can find women selling hundreds of donuts out of the bamboo baskets rested upon their necks. There are all different kinds of donuts, some sticky and sour, other sweet and dry, and even some with egg yolk in the middle. A bundle of 12 donuts is around 15,000 VND which is about 40 cents.
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Every Friday night in Hanoi there is an outdoor street market selling just about anything one could ask for. There is a section with endless vendors of clothes and beaded jewelry, a section full of mooncakes (a Vietnamese house warming gift that shows great respect towards one's elders), a section of construction material, and then there is the section of street food. This is by far my favorite section for there are thousands of different kinds of foods all for about 30 cents.
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During the day one can walk through the Old Quarter towards the middle of Hanoi and find streets upon streets filled with food vendors. There is a street souley for fruits (my favorite) at which one can find dragon fruit, pomello, leche, rabutan, durian, ackee, and the list goes on. Most of the time the foreigners can eat all of these exotic fruits for they have a large protective peel to protect one from eating any tap water that the fruits are washed in.
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Also along the streets are large bags of various kinds of bean, coffee grind, spice, and nuts. I have honestly never heard of any of the kind of beans but they look great! There are dozens of different kinds of coffee beans here however, there is one that comes to mind easily. Weasel Coffee is a type of bean that a weasel will eat, digest, and then excrete out and yes it is that bean that is then put back into your coffee. I actually tried this coffee (without knowing) and it was extremely good!
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The meat market is filled with live fish swimming in buckets, frogs in cages, lots and lots of eels (that sometimes escape and swim onto the streets), small cats and dogs unfortunately, chickens, geese, pigs, and god knows what else. You can point to a live animal and within seconds it is chopped up and ready to go for you. My choice of vegetarian was really solidified after I saw this street.
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A street vendor again is pictured to the left. This vendor is selling tofu and fruit kababs as well as a Vietnamese delicacy that (sorry) I forget the name of, but is very good! The dish is coconut and soy paste wrapped with a gooey rice later on top and then rolled into a little ball with sugar on top. Definitely an acquired taste, but once you get past that one realizes it's not too bad.
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Bo Bia! Our group loved this street vendor. These vendors circle around on their bikes with this contraption attached to the front. They stir fry corn, oil, salt, sugar, cilantro, and caramel all in one pot and serve it hot in a small cup. This dish somewhat resembled caramel corn from home but 10 times better of course.
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Ha Long Bay consists of over 1,600 limestone islands covered in dense jungle vegetation. This area attracts a large amounts of cruise ships, scuba divers, kayaks, and rock climbers. We got to kayak and swim in what seemed like bathtub water, with a temperature of nearly 80 degrees.
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Ha Long Bay translates to 'Descending Dragon' in Vietnamese for the thousands of island seemingly overpower the skyline forming the weaving shapes of dragons popping their heads out of the water. If you are brave enough, there are also several islands with gapping caves stowed in the center of the limestone formation.
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Motorbikes..hm where do I start. I guess the best way to explain the motorbike situation to foreigners would be displayed in the following story.
The first day we were in Vietnam we saw hundreds of motorbikes zooming down the street, there are no lanes of traffic, drivers blow through red lines and go against the grain of traffic all the time. We saw an elderly woman on her bike, going against the flow of traffic, occasionally driving up onto the sidewalk, and all the while fully engaged in reading a magazine on the front handle bars of her bike. If you think the driving is bad you should try to cross the street with all this chaos. You eventually learn the local technique of just walking blindly into on coming traffic and hoping the bikes weave around you...because if not, well then you'll definitely have a larger problem on your hands. |
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The hats seen in the following pictures are called non la, or leaf hats. They are predominately worn by women working in the rice fields or selling fruit on the streets in order to protect their faces from the sun. The Vietnamese culture values white skin over tanner skin contrary to the popular tanning culture in the United States (guilty..). The tanner skin shows that you are likely working in the agricultural sector tending to crop in the fields, a less respectable job than a government or financial sector job.
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The top 6 Vietnamese Dishes:
1) Pho: a chicken broth soup with rice noodles, vegetables and your choice of meat or pork. This dish is typically served for breakfast. 2) Banh Mi: A french baguette filled with eggs, jalepenos, various greens, chillies, and your choice of pork belly or fish. 3) Banh Xeo: A crepe-like pancake made from rice flour, coconut milk, and turmeric pan friends with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts. 4) Viet Curry: A coconut milk based curry with various spices, potatoes, carrots and spinach. 5) Rau Muong: Otherwise known as morning glory, this vegetable is stir-fried with garlic and salt and served as an asparagus type dish to add on to most meals. 6) Viet Spring Rolls: Either deep fried or with cold rice paper, these rolls are filled with carrot, cucumber, rice noodles, Jicama and the occasional pork. |
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