Snake Wine - Thursday, May 1

Dish of the day: Snake Wine

Where it’s found: Mui Ne, Vietnam (and throughout Vietnam!) Some tourist places might have the cheaper, less tasty snake wines though, so I recommend that you try it in a restaurant if you can!

Breaking it down: A whole cobra (or baby cobra), rice wine

Our second day in Mui Ne was full of sailing, swimming, driving around on our rented motorbike, eating interesting foods, visiting the red sand dunes and sledding on them, drinking cheap Vietnamese rum and beer and playing cards at the beach while watching a lightning storm over the water. 

We went sailing at a quaint, relaxing beach – Manta is not a fancy and pretentious nor touristy and crowded sailing company.  It’s owned by a sweet and chill woman who was incredibly welcoming and made us feel like we were at home in her little surf cabin-like house. It felt like an escape, away from the world.  After a morning swim there, we set sail for an hour, which cost only about $50 ($25 each, and included a skipper on board.  Without a skipper, it is $40 I believe).  Patrick used to be in sailing races when he was a kid, so it came back slowly to him, whereas it was all new to me.  Something about bobbing up and down and gliding on the ocean, in the sun, feeling the refreshing splash of the salty waves and looking out at the red sand dunes in the distance was such a unique and zen-ful experience.  Our skipper, a young Vietnamese man, guided us and taught us a thing or two, making sure we yelled out “Coming around!” so we wouldn’t get hit with the boom and teaching us how to change directions and feel the waves. 

Around sunset, we visited the red sand dunes, which are expansive dunes that have formed in Mui Ne and seem to continue on forever.  How such a wet country formed these pockets of desert, I have yet to find out, but it is definitely worth the trip.  Hoarded by children selling sleds and vendors with water and ice cream, we finally parked our rented motorbike and paid a couple of dollars to borrow a plastic board to sled on.  Although it was cloudy and the sunset reflecting off of the red sand wasn’t as majestic as it usually is there, it was still a stunning sight to behold.  Despite getting covered in red sand (in my eyes, mouth, nails, clothes...), eventually we figured out how to get better speed and conquered our fear of the largest, steepest dunes!

Nothing can compare to the taste of snake wine, which is my “dish” of the day! Well ok, drink of the day. Drinks, dishes, d and d – both are allowed!  What would food be without drink?  Snake wine is essentially a whole baby cobra, venom, organs and all, that has fermented inside a rice wine or another type of liquor. The venom, which ferments and is no longer deadly, is said to increase virility!  The taste was strong and somewhat reptilian, however we tried it a second time in the Mekong Delta and it was better, without a reptilian taste, but with a sharp alcoholic kick.  It definitely wakes you up.