Our final adventures in Vietnam

Vietnam has been a cocktail of foodie experiences but our most interesting were yet to come...

The Pub with cold beer

Deep in the Vietnam Phong Nha National Park we cycle up and down muddy hills, through rivers and across stunning landscapes in search for the 'pub with cold beer'.

The Pub with cold beer

When we finally arrived at what was a local villager's house with a pool table serving a well deserved cold beer, we had worked up quite an appetite. We had heard from other travellers that the chicken served by this Vietnamese family was the best chicken you would ever eat! So we ordered the dish and waited... and...waited and eventually realised that they had actually gone out to catch the chicken for us!

After a few loud squawks the chicken was caught and was being prepared into our dinner.

The chicken was marinaded and sat for 15 minutes in herbs and spices.

The chicken was then cooked over a coal fire.

Whist this culinary delight was being prepared, we lazed in hammocks and sipped on cold beer.

When the meal was served, it was definitely worth the 2 hour long wait.

Chicken served with Satay sauce, morning glory and rice.

The tender marinaded chicken was served with a slightly spicy satay sauce freshly prepared from roasted monkey nuts. I could see why this chicken had grown such a reputation...it simply was the best chicken I have ever had! 

With our belly full we headed back to Phong Nha farmstay.

Arriving just in time to winch a drink up to the roof top and enjoy watching the sun go down.

Hanoi's Cobra

One of the most famous meats to svaour in the Northern capital of Hanoi has got to be Cobra. Knowing that this experience was in a book we had been studying before we came away on our travels entitled 'Making the most of your time on earth', we thought this was something we had to do so we rather nervously took a trip to the snake village to experience this delight.

We arrived and the Cobra was promptly selected for us.

After selection, pictures were taken before the snake was killed and the beating heart removed.

The heart is mixed with rice wine and put into a shot glass to down in one. If you bite into the heart you instantly pass out for a couple seconds. So as instructed, the beating heart was downed in one whilst the heart was still pumping! I can't say this will be somewhere I will be choosing to drink/ eat on a regular basis but it will now top my list of most unusual food I have eaten.

The meal did get much better when we were presented with a banquet of delicious snake dishes. It has to be said that snake itself tastes very similar to chicken so the dishes were really enjoyable. 

Delights of country life

From the busy streets of Hanoi we headed off to explore the rural life of Northern Vietnam.

The beautiful rice paddies of Northern Vietnam

Whilst exploring Northern Vietnam we stayed in beautiful home stays.

We learnt by watching the locals cook dinner for us all.

And we helped the locals cook.

Making Spring rolls

Eating dinner in our home stay

Whist exploring the beautiful Vietnamese countryside, we came across a lady picking Lotus flowers

The lotus flowers are taken and sold in the market. The seeds are popped out, pealed and eaten. The taste is like mild hazelnut. They make for a great snack!

Our adventures of Vietnam have come to an end, it has been an incredible country to explore and full of culinary delights. On to Laos we go....