GOOD TRIP KMAN

Monk Dances and Prays in Vietnam

Camel Chews and Sings in India

By Popular Demand ..here is the Camel Video

Wild Time In Small Town Vietnam

Traditional Tune in Hanoi Vietnam

Singing on the Lake

A FEW OF MY PHOTOS OF PEOPLE

Eating Dog in Hanoi

Food Explorer Steve Rinella came to Hanoi last Tet
to dine on dog Hanoi Style.
My wife and I,and our friend Hong,
had the opportunity to take him to the
restaurants and markets that sell dog.
Here is a link to the story Steve wrote for
Outside Magazine about his visit to Hanoi.
EATING DOG IN HANOI

Eating Rats in Hanoi Video

Here is the video of our eating
Some Rats from the Country -Side.
We took them to a Beer Restaurant
and chowed down.

Inside Hanoi Vietnam 2

This is a look at another living area at
26 Hang Bo , Hanoi

Two Rare Original Posters from Vietnam (1957)

I have just bought two posters that were painted in 1957. Their style is very atypical for posters in Vietnam. They are inviting young people and students in Vietnam
to go to Mat Sco Va (Moscow) for the sixth annual World Peace Conference.
FOR MORE INFO ON POSTERS CLICK HERE
To see these Posters on T-Shirts,Bags and Note Cards click here!!!

Owning a Great Painting in Hanoi Vietnam

Click on Picture to see it LARGER

Yesterday I went ,with my friend Anh, down narrow alleys in an old section of Hanoi,
to view a collection of paintings and propaganda posters in a dingy bedroom . The walls were filled with great paintings by some of the most famous painters who worked during the renaissance period of painting,1935-68. Most of the artists are dead now ,or very old ,and examples of their work hang in the Museum of Fine Arts here in Hanoi.
One picture , by Nugyen Si Tot, I loved because it shows the love between a parent and his child in a countryside setting. It was painted in 1958 and is in very good condition.
I asked if he would sell it (it has been in his bedroom since Si Tot gave it to his father many years ago) and he said Yes !! He took it off the wall and gave it to me. This painting has never been seen in public . I think of Si Tot as the " Norman Rockwell " of Vietnam,but better.Let me know what you think...
here is a self portrait of Si Tot...


Born into a farming family in 1920, Tot was one of the first students of the Indochina Fine Arts College (now the Viet Nam Fine Arts College), and his passion for the craft proved contagious among villagers.
There is a small museum featuring his family’s collection of his paintings.It is the first private collection in Viet Nam to preserve the works of art and belongings of a famous artist.
The museum was built in Si Tot’s native village of Co Do, located in the northern Ha Tay Province’s Ba Vi District, where Si Tot is widely honoured as the father of village painting.
If you are in the area it is worth a look.
If you would like a t-shirt,bag ,greeting card or mug with this iconic painting click on this link : Father and Daughter.

3D Stereo Anaglyphs in Hanoi,Vietnam

My friend Bobo has sent to me a 3d Nimslo Camera !!
Maybe the only one in Hanoi.
Here are a few "cross eye (X) shots..
Click on them to see bigger..





Now get your red/blue glasses out and take a look at
the pictures below.
I will be posting Anaglyphs whenever
I think I have some good pictures to look at.
This first group is just practice..most were taken
at a Bia Hoi Restaurant we go to after Badminton
at the Botanical Garden. Just move your mouse curser
over the pictures below:

BALL BUG (PILL MILLIPEDES) VIDEO

MY WIFE WENT TO A PAGODA IN THE COUNTRY
AND CAME BACK WITH SOME GOODIES FOR MY SON AND I.
AT FIRST I THOUGHT THE THREE BALLS WERE SEEDS ,
TURNED OUT THEY HAD LEGS..
I NEVER CAME ACROSS THESE CRITTERS IN MIAMI .
THEY ARE PILL MILLIPEDES , HAVE 17 - 19 PAIRS OF
LEGS AND EAT DECAYING LEAVES...

INSIDE HANOI VIETNAM

International Womans Day : Hanoi Vietnam

To all the people out there of the female persuasion :
HAPPY WOMANS DAY
To Celebrate I took by wife Mai to a fancy, popular restaurant
that had great fish soup and banana flower salad, and for hanoi,
a very pricey place ..but what the hey..for women after all..
The place was gigantic , I would guess they could seat 500 or 600
people and still seem half full.
It was filled with women with bouques
of roses and men wearing suits and ties..
I probably was the only one there
with sandals on..always the funky one in the crowd..
So everything seemed
"like doing the Ritz" until I strolled into the mens' room
and was confronted with this bin :




























and then I had second thoughts....

Eating Exotic Food in Hanoi

The uncle of a friend of mine lives in a village around 15 Km from the center of Hanoi.
He said they have a special dish he wanted to share with me.
Yesterday he showed up with a bottle of medicine wine , some chili peppers , and a bag with 4 skinned and cooked plump rats..
So off we went to one of the oldest fresh beer places near the Army College to chow down.
I have been living in Hanoi for five years and have had the opportunity to taste many different foods that I was not used to eating in the States . My Vietnamese family and friends take special pleasure in exposing me to dishes and drinks that that they know will challenge my mind and stomach, they love to sit back and watch me drink and eat foods they themselves rarely ,or never , partake in.

There are the still warm Blood wines ; cobra ,turtle, porcupine and goat, and all the medicine wines such as gecko , bee, bear paw ,goat testicle, snake ,seahorse ,starfish , pig brain and wild bear bile wine(with the bodies or body parts floating in the wine) just to name a few. Here in Hanoi there is a beer place that has a large fish tank, with a spicket, and inside is an entire bear cub floating in rice wine and ginseng.

I am not by nature a food explorer but I like the idea of saving face around my friends and family , and to disprove the common expectation that all foreigners are wimps who only can eat hamburgers, pizza , KFC and Coca-Cola, I will go out of my food comfort zone to prove a point ,with a smile on my face, be it eating stuffed dog intestines , fried pigeon heads , various brains, scorpions, liquefied cockroaches, fried worms or …boiled rats.

I kept reassuring myself “ If it won’t kill you ,you can eat it” and if
other people eat it then it can’t be too bad, even if it is an acquired taste.
So when Dung decided to bring some rats ,I had been down the food challenge path before and said “sure , bring them on”.
The rats from the village of Hung Yen and are caught in the wild. They are called “ Chuot Dong “ roughly translated as “rats that grow in the country”. Unlike their city cousins the “Chuot Cong” or “dirty water rats”, the diet of Chuot Dong is mainly the rice plant ..they will eat the roots and and the time of season the rice is harvested is when there are the most rats to be found. Their fur is yellowish brown and they are about10 inches from tip to tail. For the people of Hung Yen the rats are special and delicious and play an important part at wedding parties. If the marriage is to be a successful ,and the party to be complete then rats must be served.
After two or three cups of “medicine” wine I had my first taste of the rat..
As usual, everyone at the table was watching for my reaction ,especially my host ,Dung, so I chewed very slowly and said “This is the best rat meat I have ever had” and the thought came “this rat gave it’s life so I could eat it
and now it is a part of me..”
What did it taste like ? Chicken.

(this post is also on the BBC web site in Vietnamese..take a look)

Rat Snack

The uncle of a friend of mine lives in a village
around 15 Km from the center of Hanoi.
He said they have a special dish
he wanted to share with me.
Yesterday he showed up with a bottle of
medicine wine, some chili peppers,and a bag
with 4 skinned and cooked plump rats..
So off we went to one of the oldest fresh beer places near the army
college to chow down..here are a few pictures...
soon (as soon as my stomach recovers)
I'll post a video..And tell you how they tasted.





Boiled with lemon grass





caught with the tail in my mouth (like Sylvester) :



Here is a video of our chowing down :

Stereo 3D picture : Playing Chess in Vietnam

Vietnamese Dan Tranh Music

Here is another beautiful performance by
Nguyen Thanh Thuy
preceded by a small clip of an interview.
I have included the interview so you can get
an idea of Thuys' wonderful personality...Enjoy

Thuy Plays Traditional Vietnamese Music

I have recently met Nguyen Thanh Thuy,
a fantastic musician and a very beautiful Woman.
Thuy plays traditional Vietnamese Classical Music
on an instrument called a "Dan Tranh" or an "Picture Guitar".
She is one of the most highly regarded players
of this instrument in Vietnam.
Here is a short video of her playing for a Hanoi TV show.

Hanoi Main Train Station_Buying Tickets

Buying train tickets at the train station in Hanoi
is pretty easy if you give yourself enough time.
For overnight you should know
if you want a soft or hard sleeper.
IT IS IMPORTANT
TO BUY YOUR TICKETS A FEW DAYS
BEFORE YOU WANT TO LEAVE !!!
It is sometimes possible to get tickets even if you are told
the train is sold out but it will cost you $$.



This is the Main Train Station for Hanoi..
to buy tickets to Lao Cai (Sapa) or China door # 6 is on the right.
Walk into the main entrance for tickets south (Hue, Saigon ).
A meter taxi to or from the old Quarter ( Hoan Kiem Lake)
should cost around 20,000 dong ($1.50 US)
and take 15 minuets.



To buy tickets to Lao Cai (Sapa), China or Hai Phong
go into entrance # 6 and
then to window # 15 .. for foreigners only..
they speak English at this window




Here is the Information Booth (they speak English)
And the ATM machine....
it does NOT seem to take credit cards.

VIETNAMESE SNOW WHITE CHICKEN SALAD VIDEO

We have been doing a lot of traditional Vietnamese cooking at our home at Hang Bo recently.
Yen,a n English student of mine is a chef on Vietnamese television and wanted to learn food and kitchen English. He cooks the food most Vietnamese enjoy ,especially during Tet,with fresh ingredients that can be bought at most markets in the cities and the small country-side markets.This is the first of a series of cooking videos we are presenting. After Yen has cooked we all sit down and have had some delicious food for lunch! I have made a "cooking with Yen" blog and will post all the video recipes on it..here is the link:

VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL COOKING WITH YEN

and here is the video:

COOKING WITH WORMS VIETNAMESE RECIPE VIDEO

Mai cooks a worm dish for our
Thankgiving meal here in Hanoi.
Washed down with some white wine from Dalat
and Hanoi Bia Hoi (beer),
those worms were pretty tasty.
Here is the recipe and reactions from our guests

Old Water Puppets in Hanoi, Vietnam:Slideshow

These old water puppets are on display at the
Ethnology Museum in Hanoi Vietnam.
They are made from old Ficus trees that have
a light , strong , fine grained wood
that floats easily.
The wood is cut to size,the bark removed and then it is dried.
After being carved the puppet is painted seven times
which not only gives it color and detail
but it is also waterproofed and durable.
Hong Phong puppets usually feature
black,green,pink and yellow colors.

Slice of Life : Thanksgiving in Hanoi Vietnam

Small slice of life in Hanoi Vietnam
with friends arriving for a thanksgiving
meal of Fried Worms.

Turtle For Lunch in Hanoi

The Family came over for a Lunch of
A Large Softshell Turtle. We cooked it with
a variety of fresh mushrooms and fungus
and washed it down with
glasses of bile wine and blood wine.
Here is a video..

Smart Car Hits Hanoi

My Brother -in-Law , Son, Zipped by Hang Bo to show
his new Smart Car with a Mercedes-Benz engine.

** It is Eye Candy **

It seems a perfect
fit for the congested ,narrow streets of Hanoi.

Tourist in Hanoi During The Tet Holiday

I have recived this email from Karen , Who wants to know about visiting Hanoi and Vietnam during the Tet, or New Year Holiday, and what to expect:

Dear Mr. Kastan,

I stumbled upon your blog in trying to get information for my holiday in Hanoi which is planned for Feb 12 to March 7 2007. I have enjoyed your photos and commentary tremendously and I am more excited about my trip than ever.

If you have a moment to respond, I would really appreciate if you could tell me whether or not it is a mistake for a solo traveler to be visiting Hanoi during Tet which I believe falls on Feb 17 in 2007? I want to walk every steet of the city, see some of the museums and bicycle to some of the clsoe in outlying areas. I also plan to hike in the Sapa region for a few days and see Halong Bay towards the end of my stay. I do not shop - but I do eat!

Also, I want to travel as light as possible. What can I expect from the weather at this time of the year in Hanoi? Do I need very warm clothing?

I have lived and traveled throughout the US, in Central America and in Europe but I have never been to Asia.

I look forward to your reply,