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Asia » Vietnam » Northeast » Ha Giang
March 30th 2013
Published: March 30th 2013
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22nd Mar - Today we went on a long car journey through Vietnam. On the way there we went to a local place where lorry drivers stopped off. We ate sticky rice, long beans, pork, omelet, cucumber and mint. I went to the toilet but met 4 dogs as big as me on the way so thought that was a bad idea so I didn’t go. When we got to the village we stayed in a stilt house. Jonathan

We had a long drive to Ha Giang. The problem was our driver, Mr Thanh, was so slow. We were meant to pick up our guide at 11:30am. Our lunch was horrible it was spinach, pork with loads of fat on, and tofu. Everybody dropped their fat on the floor and there were bones everywhere. I put my fat on the side of the bowl and the driver picked it up and ate it. I really enjoyed the omelet though. The smell was really bad because there was so much meat like bladders. Luckily we had pork. By the time we got to the guide it was 14:45. We were meant to be eating dinner at sunset but weren’t even three quarters of the way there. We arrived at the stilt house very late.

It was so cool because we ate on the floor. They had a little stove to cook on. In every house they have meat which lasts 1-year. It is salted then dried and smoked very slowly. It was hung up above the fire to eat. We had lots of different bowls and we had to eat with chopsticks. The man gave me loads of tofu, which is like spongy cheese. I really didn’t want to eat it. Joe our guide said “you don’t have to eat everything” so I left the tofu. We went to sleep not in a room but on the floor just behind curtains. I woke up in the night to hear dogs, cats, chickens, pigs and buffalos. Sophie

Parental Toilet Training – indeed we took the wrong route and met 4 very large chained dogs. For a split second I thought; “it’s good that Jonathan has had a course of rabies injections”.

“Back up slowly, Jonathan” I said as they barked loudly.

As for the slow driving, it would appear to be company policy to drive infuriatingly slow when there a children in the car. Over two tours with the same company, we have found ourselves driving at 30mph on an empty dual carriageway and also having to suffer the embarrassment of been overtaken by scooters.


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30th March 2013

Market 4 - woof!
Another idea then for your dad's future business - dog restaurant in Garston :-)
30th March 2013

Wow you are prolific writers I can't keep up with you! So many updates - thank you so much for letting me share your journey in this way! I wonder will you remember to say 'hello' in all these different languages. You really have amazing experiences and are very brave eating all this strange food and brilliant travellers! I am not sure I would have liked the markets - I saw them when I was in Albania and it wasn't a great experience! It's the smell gets you hey!
1st April 2013

Did you cook your own food over the fires?
Did you cook your own food over the fires?
27th April 2013

BBQ
Didn't cook anything over a fire, even the traditional Aussie BBQ was gas and as for open fires whilst camping in the wilds .... In fact we didn't cook any meals for the the first 6 weeks, which as you can imagine makes a pleasant change. However, it was good to get back to normality in Australia even if this was only 2 rings on a camping stove. Australia was far too expensive for us to eat out on a regular basis.

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