Our day begins around 7am when we head off to a local market deep in Vietnam's Nghe An province. Despite being about an hour from any major cities, this market was bustling with activity. The market is the heart of this rural town, and is the go-to place to buy and sell just about anything someone may need. Meat and fresh vegetables can be purchased directly from farmers without the markup you would typically pay in the city. For breakfast we buy some sticky rice, a local snack that typically has rice steamed in a banana leaf with beans, corn and fried onion. It is simple and delicious.
After breakfast, we head out to the tea Islands. Tea is a very popular drink in this region, and it is enjoyed at any time of the day, particularly after meals or when entertaining guests. To get there we drive a Honda Dream II, a classic Vietnamese motorbike. It doesn’t get us to the islands quickly, but forces you to take in the beautiful countryside as we cruise along the dirt roads.
Upon arrival, we rent a boat to take us out on the river that snakes around the islands. It is a simple makeshift boat with a loud motor and hard steel seating. What this boat lacks in luxury and safety standards it more than makes up for in charm.
After about an hour and a half of wandering around and enjoying some fresh tea and sugarcane juice, we decide it is time to start heading toward lunch. Being deep in the countryside, finding a decent restaurant is easier said than done, but luckily we found the perfect little bun noodle place just as we were becoming overtaken by our hunger. This soup features beef meatballs and tongue, round rice noodles, onions, blood cake, and a savory beef bone broth. I was very satisfied with this meal, and it gave us the energy to jump back on the bike and continue our journey.
When stopping for gas I found these lovely flowers growing by the road.
While weaving through the country roads we notice a lot of debris in the road. I am told it is leftover rice stalks being left out to dry in the sun. This will be used as food for the local livestock. In this part of the world, nothing which still has utility goes to waste.
To finish the day, I am invited to join the local men of the family to drink rice wine and enjoy some of the traditional foods. The meal is comprised of a local river fish, as well as various parts of a local goat prepared in a variety of unique ways. The main attraction was tiet canh or blood jelly, which is a meticulously prepared dish that includes goat heart, liver and various other bits of meat mixed with herbs, floating in dark red jelly made from the blood, and topped with peanuts.
This is an intimidating dish to try, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually quite good. I am instructed to apply a small squeeze of lime onto each bite of blood jelly, and the taste is mostly of the sour lime with a nice hint of salt and peanut.
We eat and drink until the pitcher of rice wine is empty, and we proceed to the final chapter of the evening, karaoke. After a few glorious sing-alongs, people start to disappear, and I know it is finally time to call it a day.
All photos taken by myself on a cheap Oppo. Enjoy :)
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First pin!
is it common to sit on the floor when eating there?