I wake up bright and early - to the sound of pouring rain - and immediately get back to sleep to the soothing sound of rain hitting rooftop. A couple of hours later, I wake up again with the sun in my eyes. Time to get ready.
Still half asleep, I decide to get a bowl of pho for breakfast. Walking into a random pho restaurant, I nod hello to the cook/owner and gesture for a bowl of pho. I then see a bowl of eggs sitting next to the noodles and gesture for two eggs. I want scrambled eggs, but can't remember the word, so I just sit down and wait for a surprise.
In a couple of minutes, the lady brings the piping hot bowl of pho and the eggs to my table. I take a look at the eggs - hardboiled. Oh well. The eggs look like they are covered in a fine web of something - blood vessels or wrinkled skin. "Weird, I'll see if they taste okay," I think to myself and start to eat the eggs.
Halfway through the first egg, I think I see an eye from the bowl staring at me. I open my eyes wide, totally awake now, and take a closer look. Yup, that is definitely an eye, and what's surrounding the eye looks like a tiny chicken head. At this point, I realize the eggs aren't your everyday ordinary eggs. They are fertilized eggs with chicken embryos at an early stage of development. I've heard about this as a delicacy in parts of Asia and thought I'd try it at some point. I just wasn't thinking that I would try it in such an unexpected way. I guess today is as good as any day to venture into a new gastronomic territory. When someone already eats meat, is it more wrong to be eating a chicken embryo versus just an egg? Regardless, I dig in and finish the rest of the "eggs" with the pho. They aren't bad, taste like eggs with a meaty undertone, although it's probably not something I would want to order on a regular basis.
My stomach starts growling only 20 km into the ride, so I stop at a roadside restaurant for
lunch. Afterwards, I ask one of the girls working at the restaurant to take a picture of me outside. As soon as I take out my camera, a couple of other women in the restaurant come out. While they are taking pictures of me, more people come out of the restaurant. At the end, I get the whole family spanning three generations sitting and standing in front of the restaurant. They check out my bike; we joke around using gestures. Someone pushes one of the girls in front of me and says I should marry her. I sniff my armpits and say, "Not right now, I stink." We all have a good laugh.
Two hours later, I arrive in Ha Long City. It's a bustling town with gleaming hotels along the oceanfront. Groups of well-heeled Korean tourists mill around town. After checking into a decidedly less glamorous guesthouse, I book a two-day-and-two-night boat trip around the famed Ha Long Bay. I've heard mixed reviews about it, but I'll see it for myself what all the fuss is all about.
Stats:
Distance: 63.3 km
Odometer: 150.1 km
Still half asleep, I decide to get a bowl of pho for breakfast. Walking into a random pho restaurant, I nod hello to the cook/owner and gesture for a bowl of pho. I then see a bowl of eggs sitting next to the noodles and gesture for two eggs. I want scrambled eggs, but can't remember the word, so I just sit down and wait for a surprise.
In a couple of minutes, the lady brings the piping hot bowl of pho and the eggs to my table. I take a look at the eggs - hardboiled. Oh well. The eggs look like they are covered in a fine web of something - blood vessels or wrinkled skin. "Weird, I'll see if they taste okay," I think to myself and start to eat the eggs.
Halfway through the first egg, I think I see an eye from the bowl staring at me. I open my eyes wide, totally awake now, and take a closer look. Yup, that is definitely an eye, and what's surrounding the eye looks like a tiny chicken head. At this point, I realize the eggs aren't your everyday ordinary eggs. They are fertilized eggs with chicken embryos at an early stage of development. I've heard about this as a delicacy in parts of Asia and thought I'd try it at some point. I just wasn't thinking that I would try it in such an unexpected way. I guess today is as good as any day to venture into a new gastronomic territory. When someone already eats meat, is it more wrong to be eating a chicken embryo versus just an egg? Regardless, I dig in and finish the rest of the "eggs" with the pho. They aren't bad, taste like eggs with a meaty undertone, although it's probably not something I would want to order on a regular basis.
My stomach starts growling only 20 km into the ride, so I stop at a roadside restaurant for
lunch. Afterwards, I ask one of the girls working at the restaurant to take a picture of me outside. As soon as I take out my camera, a couple of other women in the restaurant come out. While they are taking pictures of me, more people come out of the restaurant. At the end, I get the whole family spanning three generations sitting and standing in front of the restaurant. They check out my bike; we joke around using gestures. Someone pushes one of the girls in front of me and says I should marry her. I sniff my armpits and say, "Not right now, I stink." We all have a good laugh.Two hours later, I arrive in Ha Long City. It's a bustling town with gleaming hotels along the oceanfront. Groups of well-heeled Korean tourists mill around town. After checking into a decidedly less glamorous guesthouse, I book a two-day-and-two-night boat trip around the famed Ha Long Bay. I've heard mixed reviews about it, but I'll see it for myself what all the fuss is all about.
Stats:
Distance: 63.3 km
Odometer: 150.1 km
1 comment:
funny!
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