Day 201 – Tam Coc, Vietnam

August 26th, 2019

We had another beautiful day of sunshine to explore Tam Coc.  We got up and had our free breakfast and coffee at the homestay before heading out to Trang An Ecotourism complex.  This was another world heritage site made up of limestone towers, connected by sharp mountain ridges that cover flooded valleys.  We hired a boat with a guide who rows through caves and spiritual places amidst scenic landscapes.  The brochure said we would learn the history of the Tran Dynasty, but our guide did not speak one word of English (we had no luck even asking his name) so I couldn’t tell you a thing about the Tran.  The scenery was enough though as it was totally beautiful.  The water we rowed through was an amazing clear green and you could see plants and fish clearly through the water.  The tour lasted three hours and it was very nice.  It was however VERY hot.  My phone said it was 91 degrees with a real feel temperature of 106.  I was thankful I didn’t have to row the boat, as it felt I was exerting myself just sitting there watching the scenery.  We walked around some of the temples where we stopped and that was more than enough activity in that kind of heat and humidity. 

After the tour we headed to town and got some lunch.  I had planned for us to go to SE Asia’s largest pagoda that is in the area, but I felt so tired (probably from the intense heat) we went back to the hotel to rest and cool off a bit.  We both took a nap and Brendan swam in the pool. 

During our trip we have heard many travelers talk about the BBQ duck here in Vietnam.  Most of you reading know that I have been a vegetarian for many years.  However, for this trip I have parted with my veggie ways. It is more convenient, lower cost, and mostly so I don’t miss out on any cultural, or culinary experiences.  In my opinion I have really given it a fair shot.  I ate a lot of chicken all through Central and South America.  I had steak in Argentina, meat skewers in Chile, and supposedly Costa Rica’s best hamburger.  Since Asia I have mostly reverted back to my vegetarian diet.  Although I am happy they are not wasteful with any animal parts, it is a bit much for me to see so many heads and eyes, and animals cooked whole.  The cooking here utilizes too many unknown animal parts and even unknown animal meat.  I began to get really grossed out by meat again. I saw a sign outside of one restaurant that said: “We don’t use any rat, monkey, or cat at our restaurant”.   I have never seen any of those animals on a menu, and I began getting super nervous they were in food and I didn’t know.  Altogether, it felt much better for me to go back to vegetarianism.  It is also super easy to be vegetarian in Asia since so many religions that are prominent here do not eat meat.  But anyway, back to the duck…

We kept hearing about how amazing the duck was.  We sat next to this one guy on a bus that said we need to come to Ninh Binh specifically to go to this one restaurant that serves the best duck.  The way he described the duck with such passion and enthusiasm and extreme detail, I knew we needed to experience this culinary masterpiece that “Family Restaurant” is serving!  (It was like when I described the bamboo pillows @Mom & Jess. – you just knew you needed to have one!) 

So tonight, I told Brendan we have to go and get the duck.  I was definitely nervous I was not going to like it, but I didn’t want it to be one of those things where later you are talking to people and they are like “ You didn’t have the duck? That’s the best part of Vietnam!” Or something like that.

We got to the restaurant and it was by far the busiest place in town.  This was a good sign.  I then saw the BBQ and the whole ducks on a rotisserie over the hot coals.  I became increasingly nervous when I saw the head and the beak etc. but I wasn’t going to chicken out on the duck. 

We ordered it and luckily it came without the head but just cut up into pieces.  I tried it and it was all right (very anti climatic, I know).  Definitely not anything that blew my mind like how the one guy described it.  What turned me off the most from it was having to pick the meat off the bones with all kinds of vessels and tendons and other things that go along with meat.  After a few bites, I surrendered and knew at least I tried the duck.  Luckily Brendan thought it was very good, so he gave me his portion of rice and finished the duck for both of us.