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| PLAYING WITH PETS: YouTuber Đồng Văn Hùng and his mother Dương Thị Cường showcase peaceful rural life and cuisine. Photo courtesy of Đồng Văn Hùng |
HÀ NỘI — So you’ve started building your to-do list long before you’ve even booked your tickets to Việt Nam. But there are definitely some things that you’ll find relevant only when you come to the country and breathe in its atmosphere.
The air is vibrant but polluted in big cities, fresh in mountains laced with terraced fields and salty when you set foot on the beautiful sandy beaches, of which there are plenty along the country’s more than 3,200 kilometres of coastline.
Here’s a list of activities you will likely notice — and may want to try yourself — during your visit.
1. Squatting
If you find it unusual to squat outside a gym in your country, when you are in Việt Nam you’ll see many people squatting as a matter of course, both in cities and in the countryside. Squatting used to be popular when there was a lack of low stools or chairs, or when the floor was too wet or dirty to sit on.
In traditional countryside kitchens, it’s very common to prepare meals while squatting. The hearth was typically very close to the floor. This meant that people would often squat while preparing and cooking a meal, even while cleaning ingredients.
A popular video series focused on home cooking, Ẩm thực mẹ làm (cuisine made by mum) from YouTuber Đồng Văn Hùng, features his mother cooking country meals with beautiful footage that has earned millions of views. His videos of country scenery and daily farm work as well as his mother’s laid back cooking style shows his love for his rural lifestyle and for his single mum, who worked hard to raise him.
To top it off, a squatting market in Vị Thanh in the south features all of its vendors squatting on the ground to sell their products. Customers sometimes have to squat down too, to pick the best produce.
2. Draining fresh greens
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| MINOR MISHAP: A tourist tries to drain lettuce Vietnamese style, but ends up tossing out the greens instead of the water. Photo courtesy of Kenh14.vn |
If you’re used to spinning leafy greens dry in a salad spinner, draining water from your produce for meals could be quite a challenge for newbies like you. Every basketful of fresh greens needs to be washed with water before mealtime. Tour guides can show you how to do it, but you definitely might drop a couple of leaves on the floor or in the worst case, turn the whole basket upside down in your attempt.
The real trick is to make smaller swings at first before making them longer. Be confident and keep going. The point is to get all the water out, leaving the herbs, greens and lettuce in the basket, not the other way around. In no time, you’ll be swinging like a pro, turning the whole basket upside down in one big movement while keeping all of the leafy greens under control.
3. Pounding meat for pork sausages
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| MEAT BEATERS: Pounding pork at the Ước Lễ Village sausage-making competition during the spring festival. Photo courtesy of Ngày mới Online |
Though it’s more common today for machines to complete the pounding process, in some ancient villages people still use mortars and pestles to grind the meat by hand.
The most skilled experts can even use one pestle per hand, pounding vigorously into the mortar to make the best traditional pork sausages.
Located in southwest of Hà Nội, Ước Lễ Village is an ancient settlement that has become famous for its signature hand-crafted pork sausages wrapped in banana leaves, as well as its pork patties. Although the origins of the villagers’ craft have been lost to time, the settlement itself is more than 1,000 years old, since archaeologists discovered early Đông Sơn drums there.
If you take National Highway 1 heading south, you can’t miss it, because the village gate overlooks the main road. Visitors used to be disappointed after making their way to the village and failing to find anyone grinding meat. Be aware that masters of the craft often go elsewhere in the country to sell their products. They will be in the village for Tết and offer their best pork to the village craft god in the spring.
4. Motorbiking in Hà Giang
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| SPECIAL SWITCHBACKS: What’s so special about the Hà Giang Loop tour? Find out for yourself. Photo courtesy of MOTOGO |
After seeing so many spectacular views of Hà Giang online, you may read a lot about the Hà Giang loop and watch countless videos of departing visitors crying while hugging and saying goodbye to their drivers, who took them around Hà Giang on a motorbike for a few days.
If you go, you will never forget the rush of adrenaline from sitting on the back of a motorbike rolling down a steep slope with the engine off. Do it for yourself and maybe your heart will drop along the way.
5. More things to try
Other traditional activities to try out in Việt Nam include washing dishes while sitting on a stool, ploughing fields behind a water buffalo, planting rice seedlings while standing in calf-high muddy water or watering a veggie field.
Bonus activity (for serious smokers only): Hút thuốc lào, which literally means smoking tobacco from a traditional water pipe, is not for the average smoker. The strong dose can knock down a well-built young man or woman seconds after they try it for the first time. Consider trying it at your own risk and always have trusted friends by your side. VNS
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