Elephants, elephants ... In the Vietnamese province of Daklak, they are everywhere! In the villages, tamed animals help with the housework and earn live money by rolling tourists. In national parks, of which there are several in Daklak, elephants are still living freely. Until ... Until they were caught by the hunters. Such as the the most famous "king of elephants" - Ama Kong from a small village in the Buon Don area... Ama died six months ago at 102 years old. He had four wives who gave birth to his 21st child. A hunting in last time walked at 86, then he returned home, having caught as many as 7 elephants for taming!
To go or not to go to the famous Buon Don? Or is it better to go look at the Dry Sap waterfalls? We didn't have much time in Dak Lak, because the program of our trip from the south to the north of Vietnam is very busy. We hesitated to the last what to choose and ... we chose the legend about the elephant hunter. It was a person covered with a bunch of gossip, fables and legends. Let's go to the homeland of Ama Kong with us!
Early in the morning we took a bike and drove to the north of Dak Lak province to the Buon Don region.
The first tourist village with elephants is forty kilometers away. The road is good, they drove off quickly. Meet us, Ban Don!
The first village is exclusively tourist. Reminds of a museum under open air Pirogovo in Kiev. Long Mongong village houses brought from different parts of the province.
Inside there is a historical filling. Long dugout boats, dishes, looms. In general, there are enough exhibits to imagine how the mnong people live. Although, of course, it is more pleasant to watch all this live on Lake Lak. Remember mine?
A small mongong show is shown here. Ritual dance songs. Nice, cute and absolutely free. Rather, for a symbolic 30 thousand dongs (one and a half dollars) for entrance ticket to the Ban Don complex.
Here you can also ride an elephant. Of course, if you have been reading my blog for a long time, then elephants will not surprise you ... But Sasha and Arina had a special extreme trek through the mountain river Serepok.
We rode and wandered around the village. You will be there, be sure walk along the suspension bridges... They are quite sturdy, although planks fall through in some places.
Here we were finally able to taste the traditional mongong food. This is a grilled chicken with salt, chili and lemongrass. Quite mediocre food as the chicken was homemade, small in size and rather tough. But the side dish was amazing. Rice baked in bamboo! It not only looks great, but also delicious. This rice is called Com Lam, if you are in Daklak, be sure to try it.
In Ban Don, we were also offered to ride a canoe down the river and even swim on some distant beach (it costs 200 thousand dongs - 10 dollars), but we decided to go further and still find a real elephant village where they live real people rather than scenery for tourists.
We drove along the road, guided by the map. After a couple of kilometers stumbled upon national park Yokdon... We stopped by to explore interesting things.
It turned out that you need to go on a safari to the park just in the "off-season", that is. when it rains in Vietnam - from May to October. Then wild animals come out of the jungle to watering places and are easy to watch. If anyone is interested in national parks, then this is what Yokdon offers right on the spot - the price for tours.
If you go further from the national park, then after about five kilometers you will see the famous Buon Don elephant village. At the entrance to the village - elephant hunter cemetery... Quite a sad sight - unkempt graves, rubbish, oblivion ...
Guru Ama Kong has the tallest and most beautiful bas-relief here. Inscriptions in Vietnamese and Thai. Why Thai? Because the king of elephants managed to catch two albinos in his life... He presented one to the King of Vietnam, the other to the King of Thailand. Grateful Thais still remember and honor him.
Well, what is this mattress in the photo for? Someone spent the night near the grave and forgot to clean it up? It turns out that among the mongongs it is customary to arrange clothing piggy banks on the graves, to store everything that may be useful to the deceased in the other world... Well, Ama Kong must sleep on something! He'll also need elephant tusks there. What for? Don't ask me ... We, too, are not far from the pagans of the Mnong. That's what all these glasses of vodka and sweets on the graves of our relatives are all about? Who will drink and eat all this?
But back to the king. It was possible to see the living king of elephants quite recently. Ama Kong died in November 2012. He was 102 years old and all his life he was distinguished not only by courage (Ama caught and tamed 360 elephants and this is the truth!), But also by masculine strength. He had four wives and 21 children! And for the last time Ama Kong got married when he was already over 80! And he did not marry a grandmother of the same age, but a 25-year-old beauty from a neighboring village, with whom he fell in love at first sight.
Now people come to this village in Buon Don not only to ride elephants, of which there are a couple of dozen, but also buy a secret potion for male strength, which Ama Kong himself invented. We didn't need this remedy, there were already plenty of elephants, so we just wandered around the village a little.
An ordinary village, nothing remarkable. Long houses, just like we saw at Lake Lak, only people are more shy. When trying to take a photo, they waved their hands threateningly... Well, tourists got them here, what to do ... Here it is - the price of the glory of the great ancestor.
However, there weren't too many tourists. So, some Vietnamese military on excursions and one family. If Vieta manage to ride the same moped with six of them, then it's easy to climb onto a huge elephant with such a company!
The village stands on the Serepok River. But the water in it is not very clean. Even the local kids prefer to talk peacefully on boats rather than splash in the water.
Arinka was already fed up with the elephants, and the time for daytime sleep had long since come, so I had to go back.
For those who will go to Buon Don, I will lay out a map of this village. I think it will be interesting to spend a couple of hours there.
The road home flew almost imperceptibly. We stopped a couple of times. Well, how can you drive past such a rarity in the Vietnamese outback! And where did this guy get a Soviet Zhiguli?
Cheerful family. The head of the family looks more like a Russian redneck than a mountain monga.
Outcomes independent trip to Daklak:
Total we rode the main attractions of the province on a bike in 3 days... It is about 220 kilometers. The roads are mostly good. Traffic is tolerable if you don't get into rush hours. Soon everyone is needed, I will publish all the contacts, addresses and maps necessary for an independent trip.
Finance:
I will not count the first three days in Buon Ma Thuot, in which we came to our senses after moving from Dalat and worked hard (yes, no one canceled the work on our trip!). We could spend these days anywhere and to useful trips sightseeing is not the case.
So, independent two day trip Lake Lak cost us $ 140... This includes all expenses for renting a bike and gasoline, food, hotel (750 thousand dongs per day - $ 36), elephant riding, boat, guide services.
Ride a bike for a day in Buon Dong - $ 35: bike rental, gasoline, lunch, elephant riding.
Total - 3 days for $ 175.
If we bought a trip at the cheapest agency in Buon Ma Thuot and went to organized tour then we would have to pay $ 200 for 2 days! This amount includes only transport, lunches and a guide. All other expenses for the hotel, breakfasts and dinners, riding elephants and boats, we would have to pay separately, and these are the main expenses. In general, I will not bore you with details, I will just say that even though we spent that $ 175, we managed to save about the same.
In the next post - about the extremely controversial Nha Trang. It's so hard to figure out how you feel about this city and the people who live here! 10 days in Nha Trang: is it good for us here or not? My opinion changes several times a day ... Cham towers and big buddha, hot mineral springs and three restaurants: Russian borscht, Indian massala and French ostrich Parmentier ...
A 15-minute bike ride from Phan Thiet is the small village of Mui Ne. Here you can see authentic dwellings and understand the life of the Vietnamese population. This is a completely different universe, different from tourist cities.
Catch the magic by the Fairy Stream.
Fey Creek is surrounded by bright tropical trees and red sand dunes near the village of Mui Ne.
The landscapes of this place are unearthly and somewhat resemble Mars. This is an insanely photogenic place that ends with a small waterfall. About Fey Creek, it must be said that this is the very place for which it is worth coming to Phan Thiet.
Pamper yourself with a massage given by a blind person.
In one of the Mui Ne salons, for only $ 4, a completely blind person will give you a massage. This massage is still considered exotic for tourists. It is not expensive, non-standard and a little extreme. What is extreme? Not everyone is ready to entrust their body to a blind person. But, nevertheless, massage therapists of this type are very good at kneading bones, and visitors go to sessions throughout their vacation.
Admire the Lotus Valley.
It is located not far from Mui Ne and you can get there in half an hour by renting a bike ($ 20 a day, no one looks for a license). On the way, you come across pleasant quarries with red sand, and when you arrive at the place you realize that you are surrounded sand dunes, folded by armfuls of twigs and lakes with blooming lotuses.
Get closer to nature in the Crazy House.
The mad house is in resort town Da Lat, 160 kilometers from Phan Thiet. This quaint house was created by an architect named Dang Viet Nga, the daughter of a party leader who has lived in Moscow for 14 years. The house is as close to nature as possible - branches, stumps, stones, flowers and trees make their way through the windows. With her structure, the architect tried to call people under the bosom of nature, to stand up for its protection. You can stay in such a house-hotel for $ 80 per day.
Visit the Fisherman's Harbor in Mui Ne.
Fishing Harbor in Mui Ne is a wildly photogenic place where you can take great pictures of Vietnamese people in the background of fishing boats.
You can get to the harbor on your own by renting a bike. From Mui Ne, drive about 15 minutes.
Go to the Koncha fish market.
Fish market with unusual name Kon Cha is considered the largest in Phan Thiet. If you come here, you can see how the process of cutting fish goes.
It is worth arriving at the market as early as possible, since it is at the earliest hours that ships come to the port of Phan Thiet with a freshly caught portion of fish. And you can try fish in Boka, small restaurants on the embankments of the city.
Ride elephants in the elephant nursery.
If you have long wanted to ride an elephant, then dreams can come true in one of the elephant farm in Vietnam. Many nurseries are charitable foundations and reserves whose staff take care of the animals and help them survive in captivity.
These reserves are located in tropical forests and offer ideal conditions for the life and development of elephants.
Climb Mount Taku to the reclining Buddha.
Mount Taku is located 30 kilometers from Phan Thiet and is considered sacred here. Mount Taku is a collection of temples, pagodas and statues that are still being built to this day.
You can climb the mountain by funicular, paying $ 7 for a ticket. The ticket will include the rise and entrance to the complex itself. You can also climb the mountain on foot, but this activity will take you at least two hours.
All the fun is at the top of the mountain. At an altitude of over 700 meters lies the largest Buddha in the country. Its length is about 50 meters. The most convenient way to get to Taku from Phan Thiet is by renting a bike.
Go to Nha Trang.
Nha Trang is considered the beach capital of Vietnam, and it is worth coming here for more than one day. It's crazy here beautiful nature and interesting story, here you can see the catacombs left over from the war times and the amazing Cham Towers of Po Nagar.
A sea of pagodas, temples and statues are visible from many points in the city. While resting here, do not forget to visit the water park, the Vietnamese Disneyland Vinpearl Land, the aquarium and the circus. In the evening, a show of singing fountains is held.
The city itself is surrounded by mountains and a picturesque bay, which is included in the list of the most beautiful bays in the world. The huge beach of Nha Trang stretches for seven kilometers along the sea. This is a municipal beach and you don't have to pay to enter. Travelers will always have something to do here: windsurfing, canoeing, parasailing, parachuting - everything is at their disposal.
Get to Monkey Island in Nha Trang.
Hon Lao Island is the most ordinary island, if you do not count more than one thousand primates. Monkey Island is located 20 kilometers from Nha Trang, and was once a large monkey nursery that raised monkeys for science.
The poor beasts were exploited for laboratory experiments. When the shop was closed, some of the monkeys were taken out, and the rest scattered through the tropical forests. And those that remained have adapted over time and feel like the masters of the island. To see the animals, you will have to shell out only $ 3.5.
Plunge into the natural world of Prenn National Park.
Prenn National Park is located near Dalat. Its territory is picturesque and well-groomed. In the park, a waterfall descends from the mountains, which forms an amazing lake. Here travelers ride boats, ostriches, horses and elephants. People come here to relax and immerse themselves in their thoughts.
See how coffee grows.
While vacationing in Vietnam, do not forget to stop by the coffee and black pepper plantations. Such plantations stretched all the way from Phan Thiet to Dalat. They covered the hills in green rows and surrounded them with their low trees.
For coffee lovers, the plantations will be a pleasant memory. Firstly, you will finally learn how the grains of your favorite drink grow, and secondly, you will see how Vietnamese coffee is brewed and learn about the origin of the Luwak variety, the most expensive coffee in the world.
Admire the Cham Towers near Mui Ne.
The Cham Towers of Thap Poshanu are considered the most interesting historical site in Phan Thiet. This is not to say that this place is very remarkable, but it is impossible not to visit it. The towers were once part of one large temple built in honor of Shiva. But several centuries ago, the temple was badly damaged, and only these 3 towers survived. Local fishermen here are in a hurry to ask for good fishing, and bats fly across the ceiling. Inside there is an altar with a pair of lingams and a monument to the Vietnamese wars.
Get to Ke Ga lighthouse.
The Ke Ga lighthouse is considered the largest in Vietnam, its height is more than 60 meters. The lighthouse is a structure made of granite imported from France, and with observation deck a beautiful panoramic view will open. The entrance costs only $ 1.
Wander along the Red Canyon.
The Red Canyon is located near Mui Ne, on the road towards the White Dunes. This place is easy to drive as it is a small crack in the earth's crust. But if you go down, then its scale will impress any eye.
Explore Forgotten Land Sand Sculpture Park.
If all this is not enough for you, then take a look at the park sculptures Forgotten Land. This is a completely new attraction in Phan Thiet. Painters and sculptors from different countries created real magic from red sandstone. The sculptures reflect famous fairy tales, myths and legends.
In Dak Lak province, you can ride real wild elephants. Or rather, not to ride, but to swim across the lake, sitting on its back. It was one of the most vivid impressions over the past few months.
It always seemed to me that heartless people ride on elephants. I especially felt sorry for the elephants on which the obese tourists perch. And even the fact that elephants in Asia have long been used in battles did not calm me down. Therefore, earlier I did not even have the desire to climb on this cute animal. But swimming on an elephant is a completely different story. At this point I could not resist in any way!
Dak Lak province is famous for exactly elephant rides on the lake. At least, this is the most common excursion in its vicinity. You can get there only by bike, well, or by tourist bus. Still, it's better to go on your own. Firstly, it is much more interesting, and secondly, it is much cheaper!
Where is the "rental" of wild elephants
To ride on elephants, you will have to overcome not a single dozen kilometers. We left at 7 am and rode the bike for about an hour. The road was almost clear, which seemed very strange to me. Usually life in Vietnam is already in full swing at this early hour.
Where to buy tickets
- Tickets for this interesting entertainment can be bought at the reception at the LAK hotel. The staff can barely speak English, but you can still communicate with them with the help of gestures.
LAK Hotel Ticket Price: $ 35
Hotel "LAK" on the world map is marked at the end of the article
- If you drive past LAK, you can save $ 10, since the "rental" of elephants is actually a few kilometers from the hotel. They already sell tickets in the first person - for $ 25. According to the Vietnamese who worked there, the LAK hotel rents their elephants at a higher cost.
Ticket Price: $ 25
Working hours: you can ride elephants at any daytime
Walking duration: hour
"Elephant rental" on the world map is marked at the end of the article
How to ride an elephant
We got a wonderful, smart and cautious elephant named Iho, who turned 44 not so long ago. For elephants, this is quite a respectable age, so I was calm for our safety. Still, an adult elephant will not do stupid things. Iho, on top of everything else, is also cute, and he knows about it himself. And as soon as I took out the camera, he immediately began to pose for me.
Iho was born with one tusk. See how he loves bananas! By the way, Iho is a prudent and thrifty elephant - he took bananas in his trunk with him on the path. Still, this is not the first day she has been swimming.
Lesson one: a matter of habit
Iho, like all elephants, walks very imposingly. From below, it may seem that nothing is easier than climbing on an elephant, relaxing and enjoying a walk. But it was not there. Even though the seat is securely attached to the back, I felt like I was participating in a rodeo. And as much as I like elephants and Iho in particular, I still don't understand why all people are constantly trying to climb on them?
Lesson two: don't bother the elephant
On the way to Lake Iho I decided to have a snack. Once again, I am amazed at the strength of the elephant! It's hard for me to pick a twig from a bush, but he grabbed a whole armful with his trunk! We stood for about 10 minutes, apparently by a very tasty tree, afraid to move. What if Iho will be angry that we are rushing him and will jump into the lake instead of going?
Lesson Three: Feel the Asian Exotic!
Riding an elephant on the lake is a real adventure. Sure, it's a little scary to trust such a large animal, but Iho looked like a very reliable friend. Only on the lake I felt the beauty of what was happening!
Lesson Four: Drive Boldly!
Finally I got the reins of the elephant! I moved from back to head, so to speak, at full speed. True, I could not let go of the seat handle. It was very, very scary! Moreover, Iho apparently realized that some kind of movement was taking place on his back, and at that moment, when I nevertheless sat on my head, he began to snort, wag his trunk and even stamped his foot. And if you consider that all this happens in the water, then everything looks even more dangerous. But, danger is my middle name, so I sat at the head of the elephant for about 5 minutes until my hand finally went numb.
A specially trained person did it much better. According to my observations, for balance it is necessary to tightly hold the legs behind the ears of the elephant. But this is easier said than done.
Lesson five: swim like an elephant!
Iho swims great! Against the background of overland movement, it seemed that he was not swimming, but standing still. It was betrayed only by the approach of the coast and the smooth movement of the legs. And Iho himself was extremely happy to be in the water. As if water is his element. And yes, we finally stopped shaking.
After this trip, I began to treat elephants in a different way and greatly respect these smart and strong animals. It is very interesting to observe his movements, see how he behaves in nature and even understand his character. And yet I will not ride elephants anymore. It seems to me that their place is in the wild jungle, and not under the priests of tourists.
Tourists certainly want to include this entertainment in their travel program in Vietnam.
To get pleasure, not disappointment, it is important to immediately decide what exactly you expect from such a walk.
Maximum comfort, minimum extreme
If you want to take a spectacular selfie without leaving your comfort zone, it is better to go to Da Lat. There is a well-oiled attraction in Prenn Park - an excellent option for the first close acquaintance with elephants. Tamed animals are very peaceful, willingly accept treats.
Experienced drivers lead the elephants along a specific route, which takes place in the picturesque surroundings of the park. Riders can admire the local scenery and get a light dose of adrenaline - at certain stages of the route with difficult terrain.
Through the jungle and waters
If your soul asks for real extreme, go to Daklak. The jungles and parks of this Vietnamese province are home to herds of wild elephants. They are few in number, and tourists can see them only during the rainy season - May - October. During this period, wild animals come to the places of watering, you can watch them.
Local residents catch and tame four-legged giants. Elephants become domestic helpers and generate a good income in the tourism business.
Elephant trekking in Dak Lak province involves travel by land and water. The overland trail ends on the shores of Lake Lak or the mountain river Serepok.
This is followed by "water procedures". Under the control of the driver, the elephant swims and moves its riders across the body of water. It turns out - skiing with bathing. The waters of Vietnamese lakes and rivers do not differ with exceptional transparency, which adds extreme.
You can book a horse ride in the jungle for the whole day. Local guides will offer routes for thrill-seekers - cross-country, with visits to colorful Vietnamese villages and exotic fishing.
To Buon Dong - for unique experiences and a masculine potion
People go to Daklak to watch a unique show - the elephant festival, which is held in the Buon Don elephant village in the third lunar month, every two years. To the delight of the audience, animals participate in various competitions - they swim, "run" at speed, play football, pull loads, throw logs. Teams of four-legged participants represent nearby villages.
You can ride an elephant in Vietnam not only in the promoted tourist areas... In the villages of the provinces of Kontum, Dak Nong, Laiyau, Dien Bien, Binh Thuan, visitors will be provided with such a service at a reasonable price. Some families have mini elephant farms.
The most famous elephant village is Buon Don. Here you can not only see a unique show, but also get to know the life of the legendary hunter Ama Kong.
The brave and dexterous "king of elephants" caught and raised 360 wild animals. The last time he went hunting was at the age of 86 and brought 7 captive giants to the village. Around the same age, Ama Kong married for the fifth time to a local young beauty 25 years old.
The secret of the male strength and longevity of Kong (and he lived 102 years) is in a miraculous potion, which the hunter himself invented. Buon Dong residents claim they know the recipe and offer the magic elixir to tourists.
Is Vietnamese cuisine so diverse and what is absolutely forbidden to eat?
Going to Vietnam, you probably read a lot useful information and, naturally, paid great attention to Vietnamese cuisine, which, in the opinion of many, is hefty exotic. Is it really? Here I will talk about how Vietnamese families really eat, what food in vietnam popular
and whether Vietnamese cuisine is really as diverse as it seems to future travelers.
To begin with, the Vietnamese cannot imagine their food without rice! Food in Vietnam is primarily rice, and only then everything else. No Vietnamese breakfast, lunch or dinner is unthinkable without rice. Rice is always on the table! In cafes, an additional portion of rice is often brought free of charge, because they have rice like our bread. Not a single dish, with the exception of soups, can be imagined in Vietnamese cuisine without rice.
Rice in Vietnam is cooked exclusively in rice cookers, which the Vietnamese acquire, as a rule, for a long time. One rice cooker can serve a family for several years, while operating three times a day.
There are many varieties of rice in Vietnam, but each family chooses which rice variety they like best, and this rice is purchased in huge, twenty kilogram bags. An ordinary Vietnamese family, consisting of four to five people, eat twenty kilograms of rice in about a month and a half.
One of the most delicious varieties of rice, in our opinion, is sticky rice. It is really sticky, just not blurry like porridge, and hard rice grains seem to be stuck together with glue. Unfortunately, this kind of rice is not sold in Russia. They say you can buy it in Moscow, but we haven't found it yet.
Vietnamese friends we were visiting revealed to us the secret that they buy Thai rice because it tastes better! Having traveled all over Vietnam, we have no doubt about it, since the Vietnamese cannot do something just fine. Even the Vietnamese themselves admitted that Thai rice tastes better. Yes, it is more expensive, but they still prefer it.
For rice, Vietnamese cuisine offers meat, various herbs, fish, broths, sauces, omelets, mushrooms and so on. Meat - chicken, pork, beef, snake, dog, cat, rat, pigeons, sparrows, ducks, geese, partridges (anything that moves!). Yes, everyone eats it in Vietnam! However, often (even almost always), Vietnamese families still serve rice with pork or beef, stewed and fresh herbs and vegetables, as well as broth. Just like that, for no particular reason, at home they will not cook a snake or a rat. The Vietnamese families we visited did not eat dogs and cats either.
Vietnamese table looks like this:
Plates with meat, fish and vegetables are placed in the center, as well as a large bowl of broth, rice is placed in each bowl. You can pour broth into rice, put pieces of meat and vegetables on top, or you can immediately send them into your mouth, picking them up with chopsticks from a common plate. Bowls small size because in Vietnam it is considered indecent to impose a lot on yourself as if you are greedy. This is what our Vietnamese friend explained to us. You can ask for additional rice as much as you like, but the meat runs out very quickly, as it is served a little (apparently because the Vietnamese eat little).
This is what an ordinary Vietnamese table looks like. These dishes are for the whole family, which consists of six people! For two weeks after arriving in Vietnam, I cried every day that I wanted to eat, because I could not understand how Vietnamese can eat so little.
Vietnamese cuisine on the city streets.
Now about what kind of Vietnamese cuisine you will meet during independent travel, what you can eat and what you should refuse.
First, I want to note that food in Vietnam is always fresh! No cafe will leave food prepared in the morning to sell it at lunchtime or in the evening. Because of the heat, food quickly deteriorates, and people avoid cafes that serve stale food.
Cafes are divided into morning and evening. The first work from 5-6 in the morning until lunchtime, the second from 13-14 hours until 20-21 hours. There are also those that work until 22-23 hours and even until one in the morning (this is mainly in large cities). The food is prepared right there, nothing that can go bad is not stored! During our two-month stay in Vietnam, we have never been poisoned by food in a cafe! If possible, add pepper on the tables to food, it disinfects.
Traveling on your own, by bus, plane or motorcycle, and not having a large budget to go to a restaurant every day, you will eat in small private cafes that are everywhere in Vietnam. The food in these cafes does not differ in variety. There are, of course, originals, whose soup is not the same as everyone else's, snails for rice and vegetables of unusual taste, but there are not many such cafes.
Mostly you will see signs that say COM (rice) or PHO (soup). It happens that in one cafe they serve both soup and rice, then you can eat to the full! And the first, and the second, and they will also give tea!
COM (Fig)
Rice is served, as a rule, with a piece of meat (mainly pork or chicken), in some places a fried egg is also placed on top (or boiled brown, prepared according to a special Vietnamese technology), and a small bowl of broth is always served with the rice. We often watered rice with this broth so that it was not so dry. But broth is not given everywhere! The meat in such cafes is often fatty, so if your body does not tolerate fatty, fried in oil food, then it is better, before ordering food, to see how it is prepared. This will not be difficult, since the kitchens are located right in the room where the visitors eat.
Also, in some cafes you can be offered a choice of various vegetables for rice, and all sorts of intricate Vietnamese twists. Feel free to experiment!
Delicious fried rice, in Vietnamese it is called Comrang, but it is rare where you can find it. Ask if you are lucky.
Almost everywhere, additional portions of rice are served free of charge (or ask to pay about 5 thousand dongs in addition).
PHO (Soup)
Soup. Soups are another story! I loved them very much in Vietnam, another thing is that they are not at all satisfying and after such a soup, half an hour later I want to eat again, since they are based on rice noodles, which are quickly absorbed by the body.
Soups are mostly chicken broth with long rice noodles. Thinly sliced pieces of chicken, beef or pork are placed in the soup. You will definitely be asked what you want! Don't get lost, wherever soup is served it says Bo for beef, Ga for chicken, or Lon for pork. Just point your finger, and in 5 minutes they bring you the desired dish.
Greens or bean sprouts are always served with the soup. Please note that some Vietnamese mix greens directly into the soup and eat such a kind of vinaigrette. I liked to chew greens more separately from the soup, it seemed to me that the greens in the soup interrupted the taste of the main course.
Soups are eaten as follows: in your right hand you take chopsticks, in the left hand you take a spoon. Use chopsticks to fish out noodles, put them on a spoon and put them in your mouth. With the spoon that you have in your left hand, you sip the broth, and with the chopsticks in your right hand you catch pieces of meat in the soup. I understand, not very convenient, but after a few workouts, you will even like this soup-eating technique! No other way. The noodles are long, and it is impossible to eat it using only a spoon, it will slide off.
Food prices in Vietnam.
PHO (soup) in street cafes cannot cost more than 50,000 VND. This is already considered very expensive. Typically, the price for a bowl of soup is VND 20,000-30,000. But not more. It is more expensive only on the tracks where truckers stop, or in the center big city... Although in Hanoi and in Saigon Pho we always ate no more than 25,000 dongs.
COM (pic) will cost about the same. By the way, don't be surprised, but soups are often more expensive. Why, we did not understand. The price for a plate of rice with meat and eggs will be approximately 25,000 - 35,000 VND.
Food in street cafes simply cannot cost more! Sometimes, when entering a cafe, you need to look around, prices may already be written on the walls, or in the menu on the tables.
As for the prices for fruits and vegetables, they are also low. Dear oranges and apples. But if you go to the Vietnamese market, you can buy exotic fruits at prices ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 VND. There are fruits, for example, lychees, for which they ask for 70,000 each. Do not be surprised, the Vietnamese pay the same. Basically, fruits are no more expensive than food in a cafe (price per 1 kg).
In some major cities there is a huge BIG C supermarket. There you can buy food at fixed prices without bargaining with anyone.
http://www.bigc.vn On this site you can see in which cities in Vietnam there is BIG C and what assortment is presented there. In BIG C you can buy ready-made food. We loved going to this store in Hanoi, grabbing ready-made food, a bottle of whiskey, and having a picnic near the Lake of the Returned Sword in the center of Hanoi.
Alcohol in Vietnam.
Alcohol in Vietnam is the same as ours. You can run into a fake by buying a drink even in a normal store.
The beer tastes the same as ours. Normal Tiger and Heineken beers. Decent Saigon beer.
Wall Street Vietnamese whiskey deserves special attention. Very good alcohol! And in terms of taste, and the head does not hurt in the morning. A half liter bottle costs about VND 100,000, which is relatively inexpensive. However, once, having bought it in a large store, in the morning we both woke up with a terrible headache. This is what I wrote about above. You can run into it everywhere. Better buy Wall Street at BIG C.
Do not take some strange bottles in street shops!
There is a local alcohol of 30 degrees, which is drunk by Vietnamese alcoholics and our tourists. In our opinion, it is called Zum-Zoom (I know why it was called that). Below is a photo of the half of the label. The husband with the crests drank it in Da Nang, he says, it is quite normal, but the Vietnamese cringe at one sight. It costs 30,000 dongs for a 0.5 liter bottle. (Judge for yourself what alcohol can cost $ 1.5?).
Traditional drinks of Vietnam.
Cha da... Delightful Vietnamese iced tea called Cha da, pronounced like "Chaada", is served free of charge in almost every café. Somewhere they will take a couple of thousand dongs for him, somewhere five thousand, but chaada is everywhere. Somewhere you have to ask to be brought, somewhere it is already on the tables in jugs. This Vietnamese green tea is very refreshing and thirst quencher. The taste is very light, with a slight hint of green tea.
It will be very tasty if you squeeze lime into the chaada. By the way, lime in Vietnam is very popular and is on the tables in almost all cafes! If there is no lime somewhere, then this is rather an exception, and a sad one. The Vietnamese add lime to the soup, pour it over the rice, and squeeze it into the chaada in the same way.
Cane juice... Delicious sweet drink! Whenever possible, we stopped for a drink. The cost of one glass of cane juice is from 5,000 to 15,000 thousand dongs, depending on the location. On the track, cane juice will cost no more than 10,000 VND.
Once we met a man in Hanoi who paid 40,000 dong for a glass of cane juice! This is inconceivable! He was deceived by calling the price three times higher than it really is. In the same place, we drank this juice for 12,000 VND. Be careful.
Ice. About ice in South-East Asia there are legends. And that they keep it in the ground, and cut it on the asphalt, etc. Do you think this is really possible in the 21st century ?!
The answer is YES! This is still the case! We ourselves were surprised, because we thought that these were just fairy tales, however, when we saw HOW ice is added to drinks, our fantasies about the civilization of the Vietnamese were dispelled.
Try not to take iced drinks! They buy ice for cafes in briquettes and cut it on the ground (in Cambodia as well).
Once we wanted to drink iced tea, but when we saw how they wanted to make this tea for us, we quickly reeled up our fishing rods.
Here is how it was. We drive up to the cafe and ask to make us iced tea. A grandmother working in a cafe approached a bathtub standing on the street, covered with a concrete slab on top (maybe not concrete, but very similar), and pushed this slab aside. There was ice! It was covered with sand and some grains. She began to shake it all off with her palm, then took a briquette, dipped it into a bucket of water (like, washed off the sand), put it on the table, took a file in her hands and wanted to cut this piece of ice. Then we realized what was the matter and retreated.
Iced coffee is also made. Some people chop ice in special bags, but often they just take a piece of ice in their hand and inject it with the blunt side of a knife. Then they collect the resulting pieces of ice from the table with their hands and pour it into your cup.
I hope you don’t think someone is wearing gloves while doing this?
Where can you eat?
You can eat in Vietnam not in all places. So, here are a few rules to help you avoid troubles in catering:
- Always ask how much the food costs before you sit down to the table! If they refuse to tell you the price, or they say something indistinct, or they say, they say, sit down, then we'll figure it out, in no case eat in such a cafe! Leave immediately, and do not react to further persuasion! You can get a lot of trouble !!!
Asking how much it costs, in Vietnamese it will be "Bao new tyn?" This phrase is understood everywhere, so if they refuse to answer you or pretend that they do not understand, turn around and leave such an institution. Because in the end, they can present an invoice ten times more, motivating by the fact that you did not immediately know the cost of food, and just today it costs as much as 100 bucks.
- Stop where people are sitting. If there are a lot of people in the cafe, it means that the institution is proven, it is popular with the local population, because it is tasty and inexpensive there. Pay also attention to the transport, standing near the cafe. If there are mopeds, you can safely go in. This means that the food there is inexpensive and locals prefer this particular cafe. If there are mostly cars, then, as a local resident explained to us, food will be expensive, since this is already something like a restaurant.
- Pay attention to the general environment. Clean, light and on the tables are napkins and saucers with lime? Local residents are sitting, and the owner of the cafe is trying to explain to you how much it costs? Then you are welcome! But this rule does not always work in street cafes in metropolitan areas. It is more suitable for cafes located in small towns or on highways. In big cities, such as Saigon or Hanoi, street cafes may not give a very pleasant impression, but they will be very tasty and at a reasonable price.
- If there is no one in the cafe, they call you some exorbitant price and at the same time you also have the opportunity to see how the food is prepared, it is better to refrain from such a meal. Most likely, it will be tasteless, expensive, and the food may not be entirely fresh (although there is basically no such thing as “stale food” in Vietnam).
As people who have traveled all over Vietnam on a motorcycle, and have seen many "Vietnamese miracles", we will give you our good advice - never, never eat a dog or cat!
First, from a purely ethical point of view, this, in our opinion, is even disgusting to imagine.
Second, look what kind of dogs they eat!
(poor dogs, sorry).
These dogs were caught on the streets of Vietnamese cities and villages, and now they are being taken to the slaughterhouse. They can have a variety of diseases, including blood diseases that are not killed by heat treatment. Do you need it?
I have no doubt that the situation is the same with cats. We have not seen stray cats and dogs in the northern part of Vietnam. Why do you think?
In the south of Vietnam, from Fukuoka, Saigon to Da Nang, it is not customary to eat dogs and cats, but in the north of Vietnam, from Da Nang to Sapa, dogs, cats and rats are also used for food. In the south it is considered bad form to eat a dog. In the north, you can eat everything!
You, of course, will not find such food in ordinary street cafes, but only in restaurants.
As you travel all over Vietnam, you will of course have your favorite foods. You may even think that it is complete nonsense written here and share your discoveries in the field of Vietnamese cuisine. If so, then I will only be glad of additions and amendments!
Last thing. Always carry hand sanitizer with you and use it to wipe your sticks with it! Sometimes the sticks fall to the floor, the cafe workers pick them up and put them back in the common basket on the table…. It happens. I saw it myself.
Oh, this Vietnamese cuisine! Bon appetit, so to speak!
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