A Driver Named Doan

So after a morning running around trying to find out information on tours to Ha Long Bay and Sapa, I made , my way over to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum...which was closed, but the museum was opening again at 2pm, so I figured why not walk around The Temple of Literature, and then grab a bite while I'm waiting. The Temple was really cool, and was a nice calm place in the heart of Hanoi. Back at Uncle Ho's I found out the museum was open, but the mausoleum was closed for the day. I figured I would just come back tomorrow, since if you're going to see a museum about Ho Chi Minh, you might as well pay a visit to the man himself, right?

So as I stood there looking in my Lonely Planet for something to do, a xe om driver approached and offered to drive me around. Now these drivers are everywhere, and normally I would have just brushed him off and head on my way. There was something about the guy though, plus he spoke perfect english, and had the worst breath, so I was intrigued. He offered to take me to a few spots including the Museum of Ethnology and the Hanoi Hilton, which I wanted to see anyway, so I figured why not. Plus he said he'd be my tour guide, so again, why the hell not. Now the museum was great, but it turns out the guys version of 'guide' was pointing to the english signs, and then making some random comment. Now this wasn't really a bad thing, because again..worst breath in the world. He then took me to this little back alley pond which had the remains of a B-52, shot down in the American war, sitting in it. It got a little weird when he got me to take a picture of the crash, with a school in the background. "So the new generation can lean" he said. O....K.... Then he took me to a Bonsai garden/old weapons park, so it was just getting weirder. Then it got truly strange.

"Have you ever eaten Snake?" Now I've eaten a bunch of weird shit in my day. Bear, Moose, Horse, Frog, Snails, Alligator...but snake, that might be too much. That being said, I did call this blog what I did, so could I really back out? So we drove out of Hanoi so I could eat snake, and my Driver could snake a free meal so to say. Now the thing I didn't quite realize was that they kill, gut and drain the thing in front of you...which was actually kind of cool. And then I did something I didn't think I'd ever do.


I ate the still beating heart of a fucking snake.


Mixed with its bile and alcohol of course. It ...wasn't so tasty, but not so bad either. They then proceeded to bring out 10 different courses, all containing my snake. Most of these dishes were pretty tasty to tell you the truth, some were awesome in fact. There was only one that really made me kind of gag, but that also could have just been from the shots of snake wine Doan kept pouring. To tell you the truth it tasted a lot like chicken. I came on this trip for experiences, and I have to say sitting in Hanoi eating snake while chatting for hours with this Vietnamese man definitely was an experience. Then he mentioned a friend of his that ran a brothel, "Nice and clean and safe!" Yeah...no.