redneckinparadise's VirtualTourist Home Page

My first experience of Vietnamese food was the Metropole in Hanoi and then on a boat in Halong bay. It was the beginning of a gastronomic adventure that changed my interest in food even today. The picture shown is a salad prepared on board THE LAGOON EXPLORER. Young men staffed the boat. One was obviously a food sculptor. Each meal always had a surprise carving. If you look closely in the picture, you will see that the tomato is no tomato, but actually a graceful swan...one of many creatures created on our plates by this creative crew.

The Red Dao. If James Brown was the hardest working man in showbusiness, the Red Dao (esp women) are some of the hardest working people period. Planters of corn and rice with one difference from most farmers. All is by hand and most is on the side of mountains. The heat, the climb (some even with baby on back), the rains..they must be made of iron. The climb would exhaust most..then the work..then the descent...then more work in rice fields..then prepare food for family and livestock..then in spare time, they sew beautiful embroidered clothing. Fiercly independent they want to be left alone to live as they please. A long legacy of distrust of government, for the most part they are left alone by Hanoi which even honors them by encouraging visitors to visit...of course the tourist leave behind cash which means they have to spend less to subsidize. It's an interesting puzzle.