Snakes and Planes
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007You know how on planes everyone rushes to get off really quickly? Well in our overtired-everything-is-funny state we waited until people had gotten off….so talking and laughing away we suddenly realized that EVERYONE was off the plane and only the air-hostesses were left giving us funny looks. So we quickly grabbed our stuff and ran out down the stairs to the bus where the entire plane was waiting for us. But somehow Jeff came out after us as the bus was driving away and ended having to get a whole other bus just for him. This was obviously far too much for us and while we laughed hysterically the rest of the plane just gave us evil looks….anyway guess you had to be there.
So we were in Hanoi, got to a nice little hotel in the old quarter, very French influenced architecture and cafes on corners, as well as the usual crazy motor bikes seemingly trying to run us down. The only down side was that is was freezing and raining, not what we wanted after we had left Nha Trang with perfect weather. So after a vague walk down the street trying to find somewhere cheap for dinner we somehow ended up at a not cheap but warm Irish pub, for pasta, tea and other un-asian type food. We meet a swiss guy and agreed to meet up the next day to find the infamous snake restaurants. The weather the next day was no warmer but at least not raining. Checked out the area, around the lake where we saw some important looking thing on as island, saw a lot of things to buy and Jeff and Tash got measured up for some tailor made clothes. Then we headed back to meet up with the Swiss guy and another German and headed out on a local bus using charades trying to describe where were going. “You know, snake, eat”
We did actually make it there surprisingly, an area called Le Mat where you can eat snake in 10 different ways and drink its blood along with the beating heart….very pleasant.
We headed down some quite streets until we saw a sign with a snake on it, inside were massive bottles with alcohol and huge snakes coiled inside, in a cage near the door we could see movement from the snakes that didn’t have a bright future ahead of them.
A man came out.
Sit down please.
We sat.
Awkwardly.
Kind of felt like we had entered some sort of snake mafia circle. Nothing was said about the snakes, we were offered tea, cigarettes, some sort of bong. Then the guy in the suit got down to business. After a big of arguing we finally agreed on a price for the 3 boys as by this stage I had backed out of any claims I had bragged about doing.
Out comes the snake.
It wasn’t super massive just very long. With us all hovered around with cameras the guy expertly slit the throat (do snakes even have throats?) dripped the blood into shot glasses with vodka, the greeny-black vile into another glass and then…wait for it…the BEATING HEART. Yes actually beating away in the glass.
So we were taken upstairs to our own private table where the boys downed the blood, the bile and the heart (not beating by now) and we were brought 5 courses of snake, spring rolls, soup, crunchy skin, salad and a plate of meat….mmmmm…..snake.
It was very interesting and cool to watch but there was no way I could have done it, at least we got some photos and some disgusting video footage though. After it was all over, we went back into town for me and Tash to get some real food at a nice french cafe. Chilled out in our room with some cheap takeaways and to bed.
In the morning we discovered we were being kicked out of our hotel for not booking a tour. The place we were staying was really nice but they were ridiculously insistent on us booking tours through them, to the point where we had to run through the lobby to avoid them. The ironic thing was is that we were about to book a tour but wanted them to wait till we approached them. However not soon enough as they told us to leave then tried over charging us for ‘room tax’ a few arguments later we were out with the right change directly next door to a nicer place and me and Tash booked our Halong Bay tour for the next day. Judah and Brett from home were heading to Hanoi so Jeff was going to stay and meet them. Spent the day hanging out at the markets and sitting by the lake. Evening came and went and it was early to bed as we were heading out to Halong bay early the next morning.
Sihanoukville is Cambodia’s Cote d’azure. It is however, yet to be overrun with mini dogs and women in white linen. It’s not quite yet a beach resort which is a good thing after the commercial beaches ... 
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