No Kopacek T-bones in Asia, sooo.....

.....why not eat some snake, right?

One final day in Hanoi yesterday, and I went out with a bang. Rather than see the typical tourist stop that may include a museum, temple, or something of that nature, I opted (along with a few others) to visit a snake farm. Apparently, the highlight of said trip is to eat the snake's beating heart just as the creature is sliced open. Well, when in Rome....

Task 1, the heart -- the beating organ (about the size of piece of chewed chewing gum balled up) is placed in a shot glass, and it's believed that you become stronger if you consume this throbbing red hunk of meat. So, with the heart in one hand and a chaser (water) in the other, away I went. It's a bizarre feeling to swallow a beating heart, let me just say.

Task 2, the blood and the bile -- why is this even a consideration to this? I asked myself this question just before I slammed the shot of blood, followed by the shooter of the glowing, green bile. It must be said that the fluids are slightly watered down by some infamous Asian rice wine, so at least I'm not taking the stuff at full strength. The blood went down fine; the bile went down but not without a quick gag reflex that attempted to force it back up, but fortunately failed...

Task 3, eat the rest of the snake. This was quite enjoyable, to be honest. The staff cooked up what seemed like a Thanksgiving feast....new plates kept pouring out, each comprised of a different body part. First, the snake ribs (ground into a crushed corn flake type substance), which were nice on a crispy tortila shell..... Second, the snake stomach/liver..... Followed by the actual meat (had to chew it off the bone) and the skin (extremely chewy). It was easily the most expensive meal I've had in SE Asia, but given it was the "experience" that was being marketed more than the meal itself, it was certainly worth the time and money.

After a quick visit to Ho Chi Minh's grave, which was an extremely quick visit since the memorial itself is closed (his body is in Russia for 3 months getting some plastic surgery work done), I was on a night bus out of Hanoi.

I write to you now from Danang, location of China Beach, where many US troops relaxed during the war. I'll spend a quick evening here, then reach my destination of Hoi An sometime tomorrow morning. It's just a quick hour or so bus ride from here. It's there where tailors blanket the city, offering up custom-made suits for 60 or 70 $US. At some point (date unknown), I'll have to return to work and go through the interview process, so I may add be purchasing a couple of these said suits......

Talk soon, everyone!

1) Ho Chi Minh's memorial
2) Getting that heart out
3) After drinking/shooting/slamming the beating heart
4) Breakfast of champions: snake meat, snake blood, snake bile
5) Snake skin with accompanying veggies