We had a basic breakfast in the morning – fried egg (super buttery and salty), baguette, and a mini banana. Breakfast was followed by a trip to the Sunday market. Village people came from near and far to sell their goods.
Markets in Vietnam are like open-air Wal-Marts. They have stands selling office supplies, clothes, medicine, food, hardware, etc! The fact that they don’t refrigerate meat is really starting to get to me. The meat is fresh – there’s no doubt about that – but I don’t care for the way they display the chickens with legs still attached and pigs feet…We saw all the live animals (birds, chickens, pigs, etc.) outside and all the dead ones inside the market. Seeing that is enough to make someone want to be a vegetarian! I’ll admit, mom and I hardly ate any meat on that trip. Yuck. The guide invited us to enjoy a cup of the “best” Vietnamese coffee in a “coffee shop” in the market. The shop was basically a table tucked in the back with a few chairs around it. I’m not a coffee drinker; however, I did enjoy I t! The coffee itself is very strong – like espresso. They mixed in some sweet milk, which made it taste almost like hot chocolate.
After the market, we trekked through more rice paddies to another village. I was trying to juggle taking pictures and writing down facts…I ended up slipping and the first thing out of my mouth was “Oh shit.” Well, oh shit, indeed. I stepped in a nice, fresh pile of buffalo poo! Mmm. We returned to our village and had a bit of time before lunch so I decided to go out for another walk. It was so nice to be by myself – I’ve been around people constantly on this trip! I walked to another nearby village and actually bumped into our guide. He directed me toward a clean, cool watering hole. I ended up bumping into a bunch of mountain goats on the way, so I decided to turn around.
We enjoyed a final meal in the village before heading back to Hanoi…Here’s a few more random cultural facts… There’s 1 million Thai people in Vietnam near the Laos/China borders. White Thai people stay in the valley by the fertile soil; however, Black Thai typically inhabit land in higher elevations. According to our guide, women farm and cook. Men do more “important” things like work in the office or construction. I was surprised to find out it’s rare to see men in the rice paddies – seems like it would be the opposite in the U.S. It takes 3 months to grow/harvest a rice crop. They take off one month between each crop for refertilization. One more thing – older women have black teeth because it used to be customary that they had a ceremony when they turned 13 to make their teeth black. From then on, they eat a certain nut every day to maintain the color.
Markets in Vietnam are like open-air Wal-Marts. They have stands selling office supplies, clothes, medicine, food, hardware, etc! The fact that they don’t refrigerate meat is really starting to get to me. The meat is fresh – there’s no doubt about that – but I don’t care for the way they display the chickens with legs still attached and pigs feet…We saw all the live animals (birds, chickens, pigs, etc.) outside and all the dead ones inside the market. Seeing that is enough to make someone want to be a vegetarian! I’ll admit, mom and I hardly ate any meat on that trip. Yuck. The guide invited us to enjoy a cup of the “best” Vietnamese coffee in a “coffee shop” in the market. The shop was basically a table tucked in the back with a few chairs around it. I’m not a coffee drinker; however, I did enjoy I t! The coffee itself is very strong – like espresso. They mixed in some sweet milk, which made it taste almost like hot chocolate.
After the market, we trekked through more rice paddies to another village. I was trying to juggle taking pictures and writing down facts…I ended up slipping and the first thing out of my mouth was “Oh shit.” Well, oh shit, indeed. I stepped in a nice, fresh pile of buffalo poo! Mmm. We returned to our village and had a bit of time before lunch so I decided to go out for another walk. It was so nice to be by myself – I’ve been around people constantly on this trip! I walked to another nearby village and actually bumped into our guide. He directed me toward a clean, cool watering hole. I ended up bumping into a bunch of mountain goats on the way, so I decided to turn around.
We enjoyed a final meal in the village before heading back to Hanoi…Here’s a few more random cultural facts… There’s 1 million Thai people in Vietnam near the Laos/China borders. White Thai people stay in the valley by the fertile soil; however, Black Thai typically inhabit land in higher elevations. According to our guide, women farm and cook. Men do more “important” things like work in the office or construction. I was surprised to find out it’s rare to see men in the rice paddies – seems like it would be the opposite in the U.S. It takes 3 months to grow/harvest a rice crop. They take off one month between each crop for refertilization. One more thing – older women have black teeth because it used to be customary that they had a ceremony when they turned 13 to make their teeth black. From then on, they eat a certain nut every day to maintain the color.
I think seeing unrefrigerated meat would drive me to being a vegetarian too:) Barb A.
ReplyDeleteYes, it certainly makes a differance when you see it in the market. Apparently it keeps for just one day...no preservatives and freezing to transport to far away places.
ReplyDelete