Chicken-Bus to Buon Me Thuot

Riddle:
- How do you make a bus full with people?
- Let seven people get off.

Then you get this:

A Day Tour about Coffee

Today we took a private guide who guided us through coffee plantations, a coffee processing center and some Bahnar villages.

Coffee on the tree:

The seed is encapsulated in white flesh. If you peel it further you can see that the seed is split into two:

Coffee trees:

The husk is used then as fertilizer:

Coffee everywhere:

Coffee before roasting:

Apparently the coffee culture came to Vietnam with the French. Arabica and Robusta are the most common types of coffee growing here. Vietnam is the second largest producer of Robusta in the world, after Brazil.

On the way back we stopped in different Bahnar villages to see the typical village landscape and the Rong Houses. The Rong House in every village was traditionally a place for travellers to stay. It is a stilt house with a remarkably high straw roof. Today the Rong House is the cultural center of the village giving home for school classes, and occasionally judiciary court and tribunal. These tribunals are judging based on the traditional Bahnar or Jarai law, which is parallel to the official Vietnamese system.

Landscapes:

Rong Houses:

Jarai Wedding Videos

A Jarai Wedding

For today we arranged a guided tour in Bahnar villages. However it turned out that the guy who was intended to be our guide for the day was about to get married in the very same evening. So instead of the standard tour we were taken to Lau's wife's family which organized the party for the a couple of villages of their area. Lau is Bahnar, but his wife is Jarai. It seemed they already had two children.

This was a day off real authentic experience with lots of impulses. We truly experienced things we never had before. The motorbikes took us to the village. The house was a traditional Jarai house. Stilt architecture: tools and animals underneath, and humans on the first floor. The garden was full with coffee plants, cashew trees, piglets, chickens running around, not to mention dogs and cats. People were preparing the party in different locations in the garden. Some were making papaya salad, some were grilling freshly slaughtered chickens and pigs, others were cooking rice. The food was served on banana or some other leaves. Lots of people came to visit. Every family visiting brought their own rice wine in a ceramic jar. Everybody, including us had to taste from all these jars while the family was attentively watching, paying good attention to whether you drunk enough using the bamboo straw. Most people didn't speak English, but all were very nice and inviting. Some never saw tourists before. They came, shaked our hands and invited us to drink their rice wine. The food was very special and tasty. 

Guests are gathering:

A jar full of rice wine. The horizontal straw has a little pin. When drinking, the liquid level should go lower than the pin. Good luck with that after the tenth one:

Every family brought a jar of rice wine. Food on the table is just to make it easier to drink.

The house facade:

The back side with hay and animals:

A room:

The living room with a small altar. Prayers are integral parts of such a wedding party.

Rice is being cooked:

Papaya salad preparations:

Meat is being chopped:

Rice powder got pounded:

Food is almost ready:

Socializing:

Cheers:

Some videos of the afternoon in a separate post.

Kon Tum, Southwest Highlands

Weather forecast was pretty bad for the north so in order to avoid heavy rains that may last days we moved down to the Southwest Highlands. From Mai Chau we took the chicken-bus to Hanoi. Our crazy driver honked everyone off the road, but that's pretty much normal. Goods and humans made it finally to Hanoi where two of the humans went back to the beloved Cafe Pho Co to have our Cà phê trứng, coffee with whipped egg yolks. We also had galette in a French restaurant. Fois gras with baked apples and cider is a perfect match. We took then an early morning flight to Pleiku and from Pleiku airport a taxi to Kon Tum. Here there are other minorities than in the north. Bahna, Jarai and Sedang are just some of the minority groups inhabiting the jungles around the town. We are going to visit some Bahna villages tomorrow with a guide. Today we visited the Kon Tum museum and the wooden church.

Lunch we ordered at a small restaurant without actually understanding what we were ordering. This is what came out. It was damn good. 2.90 euros including drinks:

Museum:

Wooden church:

Mai Chau - minority villages

We're in a village called Lac near Mai Chau. The area is inhabited by Thai people which is a minority in Vietnam. The landscape is mountainous scattered by rice fields. The typical Thai architecture is stilt houses built of timber and bamboo. Sometimes it feels like stepping into a time machine and landing 200 years back in time. The locals weave intricate patterned textiles: scarfs, table cloths, bags. Others work on the rice fields, some are farming animals, or giving foot massage for tourists. The village Lac has also very special food which is typical to the Thai minority. This includes chicken, catfish, pork, lots of vegetables, and rice in different forms. One of the more interesting ways of cooking and serving rice is in the form of Com Lam. The dish is basically a bamboo tube lined by banana leaf filled with rice. There are also sliced coconut and coconut milk inside. The rice is washed and soaked in water for 2-3 hours and then out into a bamboo tube and grilled. In the following video I demonstrate my unique skills and undoubtable expertise in how to open and eat it:

Red and white versions:

 Pork and a catfish are being grilled for us:

Rice fields:

  Typical stilt houses:

Weaving:

Village life:

A taste of our bus ride from Ninh Binh to Mai Chau

Christmas Party at the Homestay

Mr Hai invited us to a small Christmas barbeque on his waters.
We were sitting, drinking his banana-rice liquor, and grilling corn and different types of sweet potatoes.

The barbeque with floating lotus flowers in the background:

Cheers:

 Mr Hai:

The father of Mr okokokokok, Mr okok:

This is the place to post a short video about the garden and one about our barbeque: