Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Showing posts with label Saigon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saigon. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Vietnam (snapshot)
Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City. A Vietnam-born Chinese entrepreneur. Despite speaking Vietnamese fluently and fitting in visibly, most Vietnam-born Chinese still maintain strong Chinese traditions and can write and speak Chinese fluently. They have their own temples, worship their ancestors, and their homes can easily be identified by the red paper calligraphy outside their homes.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The snake
Today I witnessed the slaughter of a snake and its subsequent consumption in Saigon. I have only seen a slaughter a few times in my life -- I witnessed the slaughter of huge pig in Cuba on Christmas eve, some fish, chickens with their heads plucked off, and that's about it. In a way, if you are going to eat an animal, I think you should be able to see where it comes from, how it ends up on your plate.
I had deep fried snake once before, in China. This snake was served in a stew. Snake meat is kind of like a cross between tough fish and chicken.
Those with snake phobia (Annalisa), you might want to skip this post.
The snake out of the bag.
Gutting the snake.
Squeezing the blood out to mix with rice wine.
Amazingly, the snake -- gutted, head cut off -- still wrestles with itself.
Removing the innards of the snake
This guy ate the raw gall bladder of the snake.
Snake soup. THese are snake eggs that the slaughtered female snake carried inside itself. They kind of just taste like egg yoke.
Rice wine mixed with snake blood and bile. Down it as fast as possible.
I had deep fried snake once before, in China. This snake was served in a stew. Snake meat is kind of like a cross between tough fish and chicken.
Those with snake phobia (Annalisa), you might want to skip this post.
The snake out of the bag.
Gutting the snake.
Squeezing the blood out to mix with rice wine.
Amazingly, the snake -- gutted, head cut off -- still wrestles with itself.
Removing the innards of the snake
This guy ate the raw gall bladder of the snake.
Snake soup. THese are snake eggs that the slaughtered female snake carried inside itself. They kind of just taste like egg yoke.
Rice wine mixed with snake blood and bile. Down it as fast as possible.
Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City
Cholon is the historical "Chinatown district" in Saigon, now officially known as Ho Chi Minh City.
In case you hadn't realized already, most Chinese immigrants are good entrepreneurs. Hence, when the Communists came smashing through and closed all the free markets, many Chinese people fled Vietnam. With markets opening up once again, the Chinese people are once more beginning to show off their entrepreneurial talent.
Funny thing. After arriving in Vietnam from China, I've been making many comparisons between the two. I've been surprised how tolerant most Vietnamese people are with having their photo taken, at least in comparison to their Chinese counterparts. Most don't seem to mind, and there are rarely angry security guards that make up arbitrary rules prohibiting photography in public places.
Nevertheless, when I got to Cholon, I noticed immediately how much more camera-shy the Chinese there were. Originally, I would have liked to take a portrait of this trio, apparently grandparents and their grandchild. But the man and woman casually covered their faces while allowing me to photograph their child, with little protest. The result seems somewhat funny to me.
Since I'm travelling alone I don't get many photos taken of me. My college photography professor required us to take at least three self-portraits on each roll of film (remember those?), and I've gotten in the habit of taking them. Here I am wearing my new blazer and shirt I got tailor-made in Vietnam, because apparently that's what you do when you go to Vietnam. It's quite incredible, really, little shops can spit out an entire suit in less than 12 hours of you walking into the store.
In case you hadn't realized already, most Chinese immigrants are good entrepreneurs. Hence, when the Communists came smashing through and closed all the free markets, many Chinese people fled Vietnam. With markets opening up once again, the Chinese people are once more beginning to show off their entrepreneurial talent.
Funny thing. After arriving in Vietnam from China, I've been making many comparisons between the two. I've been surprised how tolerant most Vietnamese people are with having their photo taken, at least in comparison to their Chinese counterparts. Most don't seem to mind, and there are rarely angry security guards that make up arbitrary rules prohibiting photography in public places.
Nevertheless, when I got to Cholon, I noticed immediately how much more camera-shy the Chinese there were. Originally, I would have liked to take a portrait of this trio, apparently grandparents and their grandchild. But the man and woman casually covered their faces while allowing me to photograph their child, with little protest. The result seems somewhat funny to me.
Since I'm travelling alone I don't get many photos taken of me. My college photography professor required us to take at least three self-portraits on each roll of film (remember those?), and I've gotten in the habit of taking them. Here I am wearing my new blazer and shirt I got tailor-made in Vietnam, because apparently that's what you do when you go to Vietnam. It's quite incredible, really, little shops can spit out an entire suit in less than 12 hours of you walking into the store.
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