Food!!!!
I ate so much good food on this trip again! (In Vietnam--not Laos. Laos is not Vietnam when it comes to food).
Some things I loved:
-This Pho: on the streets of Hue. This place was bustling with locals, so we stopped here. Like 30 Vietnamese were circled around these ladies, so it had to be good. We took a seat and they served us like anyone else. It had those two stews in it, the darker one was hotter then the other one. All pho comes with a tray of herbs (mint, lettuce, onion)--so good, you add it like noodles and eat that with the broth--no wonder they stay so skinny. It was soooo good! Like $1!
-Curry Pho- Hoi An, found a street vendor. A nice family with a 6 year old, who would sit next to me, ran that little street shop. They sold pho in the am, and during the day they took the seats away and the husband had a watch repair business (but he worked the restaurant in the am too). It was a great pho, without meat. It was a yellowish curry, so it had a bit of spice. It came with baguette that they warmed over charcoals and a little basked of herbs. They let me take their family picture too. I loved that place. I would move there and eat there every day if I could.
-Seafood Specials- Outside of Hue we found a pretty isolated beach with seafood. After a long day of sitting in the sun and drinking beer we had a giant seafood feast! Fresh shrimp, fresh crab, fresh soup, AMAZING french fries (dipped in a salt and pepper concoction with lime in it), rice, a broccoli type thing with garlic. I stayed vegetarian, but the entire crew loved it. Super cheap of course. I love Vietnam!
-Chicken- at Elephant Falls we had a chicken. I ordered it, they grabbed a live chicken from the roof, slit its throat and we at it!!! Dan has the picture of them bleed it out, it was very humane. The mom cut it, he daughter held it peacefully as it bled out. It came with a soup, and rice. We ate with our motodriver guide. Great time.
-Yellow Rice with Chicken- Yellow! The plate was gooey with neon saffron when I was done. A nice plate of they yellow rice, chicken thinly slice, thinly sliced onion...so good. Washed it down with a freshly made sugar cane drink that had a hint of lime and banana in it. AMAZING.
-Sugar Cane Drink- Sweetgoodness, made from a squashing death machine by a woman with a huge smile on her face. Had a hint of banana and lime. Yummy.
-Indian food in Loas-- Holy smokes! I have never tasted Indian food this good. It was in a Pakistani place called "Nazim." Indian food is way better as you get closer to India, and it's pretty good even in Minnesota.
There was more, I'll update this as I remember.