Hoa Binh

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Beauty from the books

If you're looking for beautiful countryside landscapes, this is the place to go. I was there today and Hoa Binh offers all you want : great landscapes, mountains, rivers, rice fields, buffalo's on roads, buffalo's in the water, very charming houses, very charmings houses on hilltops, markets, climbing opportunities, you name it they got it.

The drive through Hoa Binh today was fenomenal. We visited Hoe's mom's grandparents, sister and brothers there, they all live in and around the city. I am going back there for sure when I have more time to spend around that area.

Unfortunately we were also there to visit a family member who's daughter has recently died in an accident. I haven't written about it before (although we heard of it upon arrival in Vietnam) and I won't explain now. But it made the whole thing a bit like a tragic beauty. Of course, and totally normal, this overshadowed the whole experience. Visiting the parents of the girl was rather intense as a foreigner. There was little I could say or do as these things are very sensitive, especially in a foreign culture. I have much to learn about life here as it is, so you can imagine I know nothing about death here. It was a sad moment in which I witnessed how the people here honor their deceased.

Blood soup

To get your mind onto something else. The special food of the day was "blood soup". Now this is exactly what it sounds look. A "soup" made with blood.

The animal of the day was pig. So it was blood soup of pig.

Blood soup of pig

Ingredients :
- pig meat (chopped up into very small pieces)
- soft bone of pig (chopped up into medium sized to small pieces)
- raw pig blood (just raw, do not cook, thin down with water or anything else, just the blood as it comes out of the pig)

Recipe :
Step 1 : put everything together in a bowl
Step 2 : see step 1

How to eat :
- let the blood soup coagulate just enough until you can scoop it up with a spoon. Don't worry about the blood at the bottom still being runny, the top 2 to 3 cm will be enough to start
- take a bite from a leaf (I don't know which plant)
- take a scoop of delicious blood soup with meat and bone included
- chown down and enjoy!

It's actually not as bad as it sounds. I know, to Europeans (and Westerners in general) it sounds awful. I'm not going to pretend it was great. But it's not like it was that bad either. The taste is exactly what you think. It tastes like (cold) blood of course, and the soft bone is something we aren't used to chewing. So sometimes you have to swallow the whole thing down, and that doesn't always work from the first time 😉

Yesterday I ate dog. Yes yes, I know. It's a cultural difference, so if you can't live with it, don't comment. In Texas people condemn you for eating horse meat, so don't think we're any different.

It didn't taste bad actually. I Can't compare it to any other meat though. It has it's own taste. However the taste is not strong. The sauce they eat it with however is another story. It's called "mam tom" (yes, like my name) and it's made from shrimp. It smells awful and it tastes exactly like it smells. I tried two times but I could not get myself to eat it a third time. This is the first food I actually had to say "no" to since I came here. But I guess it's ok, as it's only the sauce 😉

Ok, well, those are the highlights. Of course many more things happened but I just don't have the time to write them all down. Tomorrow we'll attend Hoe's grandfathers birthday and I guess it will be a long day for me, trying to remember all the people and getting the greatings right. Today I actually did kind of good at that =P

Anyway. It's quite late here, so adios all. Hope you enjoyed this little read.

Oh and if you want the recipe for the blood soup so you can enjoy your own nice bowl of it in front of the tv, let me know. I'm sure Hoe can provide it for you!

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Photos

Blood soup
This is the blood soup
Fancy some?

Dog
All the meat you see on the plates are dog meat, just in different forms