Putting the nom in Vietnam

Today was a combination of interesting, dangerous, and exhilarating. I knew I needed to go into Old Quarter to get a camera if I was going to fully document the snake-eating experience at night. I taught English in the morning and then took the afternoon off work, and took the bus into Hanoi to look for a camera shop.

It was my first time taking the bus alone, and goodness was it different from taking it with a group. In Old Quarter they're used to white people and Western-style dress, but on the bus I got glared at by several people. One old woman in particular was giving me a really mean Evil Eye. If I'm cursed  now at least I'll know where it came from. 

I thought I remembered which stop I was supposed to get off at. Unfortunately I didn't realize that when I had seen the stop earlier, it had been a one way street. So when the Old Quarter stop came around, I didn't recognize it and just stayed on the bus. I started to get nervous as we traveled further North and the areas got poorer-looking. I was positive we had passed Old Quarter, but didn't know what to do. We reached the end of the line and the conductor shooed me off. I was alone at a bus stop in an unfamiliar area of Hanoi. So I did the logical(?) thing, and started walking South.

The amount of stares, yelling, and  taxicab offers I received was unreal. At one point I think a van was following me, slowing down every time I reached an intersection. I sped up. 

Eventually I reached a familiar street and took it to Hoan Kiem Lake. I, for one, am very proud of my navigating abilities. I feel like I barely know my way around Glen Ellyn, so navigating Hanoi was a great accomplishment.

I found a camera shop and bought one for $75. It's a lot compared to how cheap you can get things like clothing here, but it came with a memory card, case, and warranty. Definitely worth it to have a camera for the remaining 6 weeks.

I walked back to the bus stop and sat down to wait. An old Vietnamese man immediately came up and sat very close to me, smiling with very yellow teeth. He said something in Vietnamese and I smiled vaguely and turned away. He pulled a radio out of his pocket and switched it on, blaring Taylor Swift and smiling at me. I smiled politely. He then got up off the bench and crouched down to literally stare at my legs, nodding and smiling. Thank God the bus came a minute later. As I got on, he yelled something in Vietnamese. Probably "RED IS MY FAVORITE TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUM!!!"

It was a guy in the group's birthday, so we went out to a fancy restaurant specializing in SNAKE. The meal started with us picking out a snake and it being killed right in front of us

so that was gross

We were each given a shot of snake's blood mixed with rice whiskey (no chasers allowed). It tasted like when you lose a tooth.

pre-snake shot

post-snake shot

 We were also given a shot of the bile mixed with rice whiskey. Apparently this is some kind of delicacy

"This will make you fertile" k thanks

I'm an adventurous gal

 We were then brought a 7 course meal of snake prepared different ways

fried snake with crackers

Snake bone--kind of like a chicken wing

snake rolls

snake wraps

something that looked like worms, I'm not sure what it was

snake nuggets

fried snake skin

 As a special treat at the end of the meal, the Snake Lady brought us a bottle of wine. Wine MIXED WITH 150 SNAKE PENISES. I guess this is also a delicacy, but she gave us each a shot of it for free.

You know a Vietnamese woman likes you if she gives you free penis wine

My shot of it

 After that little adventure, we headed back to Old Quarter for a night out. The nightlife in Hanoi is very interesting. The streets are crowded with locals and foreigners alike sitting on little plastic stools drinking 25 cent beer.

 It started to rain, so we went to a club. We were the only ones there, which meant we didn't have to deal with annoying people or thieves.

overall a decent night