Category Archives: Food

Hot Pot

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After a long day that started with early arrival from Hanoi, and continued with an all day trekking to the nearby villages, we’re ready to enjoy some rest at our hotel in Sapa, Vietnam. For dinner, we wanted to have something local. There were restaurants in town serving western foods, but we’d like to try something that we wouldn’t find elsewhere.

Dave and Anna, the Australian couple we met during the trekking, suggested a restaurant that they went to the night before called Sapa Lotus Restaurant. The restaurant, located in downtown Sapa, served local dish that they said was very good, the hot pot dinner for two. Given the cooler weather in the mountain area, that sounded like a good option — local food with nice warm soup.

We found the restaurant pretty easily. When we got there, we were the only one in the restaurant, so it was a little concerning. But we went ahead and stayed there, and ordered the combination hot pot that came with assortment of meats and vegetables. The pot with the broth seemed to be closer to the Japanese style of hot pot, which is lighter than the Chinese style. It also had some herbs to flavor the broth. When the raw ingredients were served at our table, it seemed a lot (especially the vegetables). However we were able to finish everything and it was the right amount for the two of us.

As we we’re in the middle of enjoying our dinner, a group of Vietnamese visitors came. They seemed to be a local tour group consisting several families. Later on we found out that they were going to go to cross the border to China nearby to go shopping there.

The photo below was taken during the dinner. Here is Kristi adding the ingredients to the hot pot.

Hot Pot

Hearty Lunch

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We reached the village of Lao Chai, which was more than half way of our trek from the town of Sapa, Vietnam. Our guide May told us that we would stop here for a lunch break. The trek so far had been mostly downhill, and the weather was cool enough that we didn’t sweat that much. But a break was definitely welcomed by then.

We crossed a wooden bridge that swayed a little bit as we walked across it. The place where we stopped for lunch was just after the bridge. It seemed to be a multi-story structure that stood on the cliff with the top floor set up to be a dining area, and the bottom part seemed to be where the kitchen was located and also possibly where some of the local hosts lived. While it’s set up like a restaurant, I think they mainly catered the trekking groups that passed that route. I didn’t see any sign for a restaurant or any menu given.

After we were seated, May explained that we had a couple of choices for lunch, either noodle soup with vegetable and fried eggs, or noodle soup with chicken meat. The food was part of the trekking arrangement, but the drink wasn’t. So we got to choose also whether to get bottled water or canned soft drinks. Everyone in our group asked for the noodle soup with vegetable and fried eggs.

There were several other trekking groups who were eating at the same time, so they were quite busy preparing the food for us. May helped out in serving the food and drink. The meal itself ended up to be nothing special; it looked like they prepared instant noodles as the base, but added vegetables and fried eggs as toppings. This reminded me to some places in Jakarta where you could get cheap meals on the side street where it’s basically just instant noodles but with added toppings like vegetables and eggs. I think in the end it didn’t matter as much as we were quite hungry by then, and I think we valued more the atmosphere and the people who we were with, as well as the generosity and hospitality of our hosts in serving us. I don’t think May had anything to eat as she was busy helping the hosts serving, but she was still smiling and cheerful even after we’re done with our lunch and ready to continue with our trek.

The photo below was taken from the bridge as we saw the place where we’re about to have lunch. You can see a couple of these places, with the area on their top floors where they set up the dining areas.

Lunch spot

Free Range Chicken

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We finally reached the village of Lao Chai as we hiked down to the valley near Sapa, Vietnam. We walked on the dirt road that cut through the village. On the side of the road, we saw more terraced rice fields and some homes. We also saw something that’s probably common to see in the villages in Southeast Asian countries, but not in the United States or other western countries, animals roaming around near the homes: dogs, chickens, and pigs. Seeing dogs roaming around as pets are not unusual. But seeing chickens and pigs, those are a little different. They pretty much roamed around freely, not just in an enclosed, grassy areas, but really just anywhere around the homes, and some even roamed outside to the dirt road.

The first thought that came to my mind was that this gave a new meaning to ‘free range.’ In the United States, there were concerns about how farm animals are treated. Many farms were focusing on increasing the production of meats and poultry that the way the animals were grown some considered as ‘inhumane’ or cruel. The animals were caged and lived unnaturally. So the industry then tried to improve this by introducing the idea of having ‘organic’ and ‘free range’ animals. The animals were fed more natural foods (without chemicals or growth hormones) and instead of caged, they were free to roam on the field. The result was supposedly not only more humane treatment for the animals, but also healthier and better tasting meats.

I thought of that concept in comparison to how locals grow animals in Vietnam. The locals in the villages have some pig and chicken, but they’re not necessarily farmed for high volume production. According our guide May, the locals eat meat, but that’s considered as luxury and they only have those for special occasions. So no one cares really about the idea of ‘organic’ or ‘free range.’ They would probably look at you funny if you talked about treating the animals in ‘humane’ way. Animals don’t get treated in any special way, but they are also valued so it’s likely they don’t get treated in any bad way either. I remembered a story from my father who lived in a poor village in Indonesia when he was young — having eggs as special meal for a birthday as those were too expensive to get for day-to-day consumption. That makes me feel grateful of the blessings we have today — in many cases it seems that if anything we need to reduce the consumption as the excess can be detremental to our health.

The photo below was taken from the dirt road as we walked into the village. You can see the chickens just roamed around on what looked like a pretty dirty grounds.

Terraced rice fields

6 on Sixteen

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After a full day of sightseeing in Hanoi, Vietnam, we were ready to continue on with the next leg of adventure during our Southeast Asia trip. So far we’ve traveled by air, land (car, light rail train, bicycle, tuk-tuk, minivan), and water (river boats). The next leg of the trip is to travel by overnight train, and continued with a minivan. That was the most convenient way of getting to our next destination, Sapa. But before we embarked on this adventure, we had to first get in contact with a gentleman in Hanoi who made the arrangements for our trip to Sapa. That in itself was an interesting experience.

After deciding that Sapa is one of our destinations in Vietnam, we started planning out the trip up there. The easiest, most convenient way of planning this would be to get a travel agency to arrange the trip for you. They’ll take care of the transportation and lodging arrangements. We decided to be a little more adventurous and plan the travel a little bit independently. I used TripAdvisor to look at various boutique hotels in Sapa to consider as places to stay. We ended up selecting a place called Sapa Rooms. When we looked at booking the room to stay there, they mentioned that they could also help arrange the trip from Hanoi to Sapa and back. The only route to go to Sapa (north of Hanoi, near the border with China) was to take train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, then take a minivan or bus from Lao Cai to Sapa. The train typically leaves Hanoi in the evening and arriving at Lao Cai in early morning. Then it’s about one hour drive up the mountains to Sapa. We thought we were adventurous, but trying to do all of these without anything pre-arranged would be a bit too much adventure to take. And trying to book the train ticket on our own was quite a confusing process. So we decided to just book our travel through Sapa Rooms as well.

It turned out that the Sapa Rooms owner, an Australian gentleman, also had a business in Hanoi. Few months before our trip (when we were in the planning stage), he had a place in Hanoi that was meant to be a quick rest stop for independent travelers to freshen up before they head to Sapa. But just shortly before our trip, that place was closed, and instead he opened up a new boutique hotel in the heart of Old Quarter Hanoi called 6 on Sixteen (they had only six rooms, and it’s on 16 Bao Khanh Street). This was the place that we were instructed to go to by a certain time to meet the gentleman named Mr. Viet who would get us to the train station, provide us with our train tickets, and ensure that we get on the right train to Lao Cai. I read many horror stories about people getting scammed at the Hanoi Train Station, so I thought even though this arrangement sounded a bit outside my comfort zone, it seemed to be safer than trying to do it myself.

We arrived at the Six on Sixteen around 6 pm, just like what we were instructed. As we got there, I told the hotel staff that we were there to see Mr. Viet before our trip to Sapa. The hotel staff mentioned that Mr. Viet will usually come around 7 pm, and in the mean time we were welcomed to hang out at their restaurant/lounge.

The ground floor of the small boutique hotel was pretty much a long, narrow room with wooden tables and benches and a bunch of plush pillows to sit on around a lounge table. Since we knew we’re going to travel overnight on the train, we thought it would be better if we had something to eat before we leave. I thought this was quite a smart arrangement by the hotel’s proprietors; get the travelers to come a little early before their trip, and offer them some food and refreshments before their journey. We ordered a couple of Vietnamese appetizers and some mixed fruit drinks (which we came to love during the next couple of days staying at Sapa Rooms/6 on Sixteen).

Around 7:30 pm, finally Mr. Viet arrived (after I got nervous and checking with the 6 on Sixteen staff several times). After quickly greeting us, he stopped a taxi cab, told the driver that we’re going to the Hanoi train station, and told us to get on the taxi and he would meet us at the train station as he rode his motorcycle separately. The memorable trip to Sapa then started…

The photo below was taken at the 6 on Sixteen lounge area while we were waiting for Mr. Viet to arrive. You can see the dimly lit area, and the long and narrow place.

Six on Sixteen

Cafe in Hanoi

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When we were in Hanoi, Vietnam, our plan for spending the afternoon watching the Water Puppet show had to be changed because the tickets for the day’s performances were already sold out. So we found ourselves with several hours of open time, as we were not supposed to leave for the next leg of our trip until that evening.

We went back to our hotel to ask the staff there for suggestions on good places to go to hang out for few hours. We saw many coffee shops in the city as we walked around the Old Quarter area, so we asked the lady at the front desk for her recommendation on a good place to go that was within walking distance from the hotel. She mentioned that there was a good cafe near a particular intersection, though she didn’t remember the name of the place or the exact address. She pointed the area on the map, and off we went walking towards the area to find the cafe.

We reached the area on the map, but we couldn’t find the cafe as she described. So we decided to continue walking around the area, and finally when we saw a cafe, we decided to just go there to rest and hang out for a little bit.

The cafe looked like a typical one found in Hanoi. It’s a little dark inside, with seating areas set up like a lounge. There was food on the menu as well, though it looked like most people went there to have drinks (coffee, cocktails). While resting and waiting for our drinks, Kristi and I looked at our Blackberry phones and saw that we could get some open wi-fi connection there (from a nearby hotel). So we were able to check emails there while enjoying our drinks. We started ordering coffee, but then we decided to also get some mixed fruit drinks.

We would’ve stayed there for a little longer had we not been bothered by one thing.. it’s not a smoke-free environment, and many Vietnamese smoked cigarettes. We kind of got sick from the second-hand smoking after a while, so we decided to finish our drinks, paid up, and continued our walking tour.

The photo below was taken at the cafe. Here is Kristi checking emails on her Blackberry. You can see the drinks we had there.

Cafe in Hanoi