Hanoi 4

Today was filled with lots of firsts.  We started the day off with a quick breakfast at the hotel, Pho Bo (beef noodle soup) for Elliot, and Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup) for me. After talking to the front desk, we rented a semi-automatic 110cc Honda wave scooter from the bike store next door and explored the city by bike for most of the morning.  With our upcoming road trip down the coast, it was a good way for us, especially Elliot, to get used to the traffic. It was a little more difficult to get used to the size of the helmets..

Elliot: While the sheer volume of other motorbikes, cars, trucks, bicycles, pedestrians, pedal carts, giant push cars full of flowers (and so on and on and on), combined with the completely stark lack of road rules might make you think that hopping on a scooter and driving into the whole beautiful mess might be a bad idea for a couple of Americans. Maybe it was, but whether it was the self-preserving instincts instilled from the few years of dealing with Philadelphia drivers or the or the way in which the chaos of moving around the city seems to self orchestrate - it wasn't too scary and was fun as heck. More on this later...

Elliot getting gas before we head out for the day

Instead of visors on the helmets most people cover their faces with scarves or what look like 

padded surgical masks

An old Honda from the 60's we spotted during our ride

After getting familiar with the roads, we decided to take a trip to the outskirts of the city to a village called Le Mat, more commonly called the snake village.  The small community that lives in Le Mat has preserved a tradition of snake farming and cuisine, passed down for many generations.  We made it to the village without much trouble, and explored for a bit until we came across a small family's home with the picture of a snake painted on a sign outside, below which looked like a menu.  We went in and met the very kind family, and were then prompted to go into the back patio, where the eldest woman of the house asked us to pick out a snake.  A little bit like picking out a lobster from a lobster tank, we chose a medium sized fairly feisty grass snake, apparently suitable for dinner for two.

After quickly stunning the snake a few times, she quickly drained it's blood into a glass of rice wine, and removed its beating heart.  We were brought upstairs to the dining room by her son, and were told that she would be cooking the rest.  He then filled two small cordial glasses at our table with the rice wine and blood.

Snake heart

The food arrived soon after our drinks, and all the parts of the snake were used in them:

Snake skin cracklings, a little bit like pork rinds

Spring rolls, really delicious and lean

Sesame rice crackers

Spicy snake croquettes, and filet seared in a mild lettuce

Overall a very fulfilling and unique experience, and honestly very delicious food.  We headed back to the city, and explored a bit more on the bike into the evening.  Because of jetlag we've been having fairly early nights, but we took a short walk and enjoyed a local beer, Bia Hanoi, and some people watching tonight.

We stayed up until 9pm! It was a great last night in Hanoi.