năm giác quan

I am not a shining light in my experiencing Vietnam through all five senses. This concept is old news.

Vietnamese food, in particular, consciously appeals to each of the five senses. Obviously there's taste, then there is the way it is arranged on the plate; the colours, textures, shapes are visually appealing. The herbs provide stimulation for our sense of smell. The crunchiness of crisp nems or fresh vegetables is an audible element and a lot of Vietnamese food needs to be picked up, touched, broken apart.

Five is the key number here and the power of five seems far-reaching. Coincidentally, perhaps, the star on Vietnam's flag has five points. In Chinese and derivative cultures, the five-pointed golden star has strong associations with military power and strength.

But I digress.

Five. Intuitively we know, and can taste the careful balance in Vietnamese food, but what we perhaps vaguely sense about the food is a carefully calculated and philosophical approach. Vietnamese dishes are conceived through the balance of five elements; the fundamental taste senses: spicy, sour, bitter, salty and sweet. I wondered how best to describe the sensation of bitter as opposed to sour, for example. But if you think wood for sour and fire for bitter, it makes more sense. And these taste notes correspond to the five organs: gall bladder, small intestine, large intestine, stomach and urinary bladder. 

Intriguing, no?

Vietnamese dishes also include five types of nutrients. The plot gets thicker. Powder, water or liquid, mineral elements, protein and fat. And as if that wasn't enough, Vietnamese cooks try to have five colours, which again correspond to the five elements: white/metal, green/wood, yellow/Earth, red (fire) and black (water).

And who amongst you thought it was just a matter of stir-frying some veges in the wok and garnishing with coriander?

Apart from all the eating I did in Vietnam, one of the most impressive experiences of Vietnamese food came through the cooking class with Mr Hung in Hoi An.

The class began with a visit to the market.

Once back at the cooking school, we donned our aprons and chefs' hats, no less, and with a beer in hand, the lesson was underway.

We began with Hoi An pancakes, rice flour batter with chopped spring onion, sizzled pork and prawn and eaten with lettuce and herbs inside rice paper.

 Then we prepared the fish grilled in banana leaf and stuffed with a heady filling of garlic, chilli, ginger, red onion and rum.

 Vegetarian spring rolls filled with shredded carrot, taro, woodear mushroom, and green bean. Wrapped in rice paper, fried in oil and cut into small cigar rolls.

Green papaya and chicken salad with a salty, spicy, sour dressing.

Happiness is an empty plate and a full belly.

where the dragon descends to the sea

Ha Long Bay with its 2000 islands, 989 of which are named according to the imagination of the fishermen (Voi Islet (elephant), Ga Choi Islet (fighting cock)), is a world heritage site and last year was included in the seven wonders of the modern world. I don't really know how to describe it adequately. Even the photos don't do it justice. The bay with its limestone rock formations rising up out of the ocean like jagged teeth extends over 1553 km². We visited Sung Sot, or Surprise Cave, one of the many caves in the area. Discovered in 1901,  the cave was used as a hideout by the Viet Cong during the 'American War in Vietnam'. 

After an afternoon of kayaking around some of the smaller bays, watching monkeys scaling the cliffs and listening to birds of prey wheeling overhead, the boat set down its anchor overnight and we sat up on the top deck drinking beer and watching blue sky turn dusky pink, indigo then black.

the feeling

"We have road rules in Vietnam but we prefer to go with our gut feeling. If the light is red and there are no police, we just go." Hai Pham, Intrepid Guide

Which is mesmerizing to watch when you're sitting in a bar with a $2 beer and not actually amongst it. To the uninitiated it's a little tricky to get a good sense of the feeling.

He who hesitates is lost has never been more true when crossing the road in Vietnam. There was a lot of paint wasted when they put in pedestrian crossings. They mean nothing. And as for the little green man as an indication it is safe to cross..? Forget it. You just have to throw yourself amongst the onslaught of motorbikes and attempt some sort of eurythmic approach to getting to the other side.

The same can be said for attempting to cycle in city traffic. I joined three cycle tours, two in cities, and I experienced some of the most hair-raising moments in my life. Especially in Hanoi. Hanoi has a population of 6.5 million with 3 million motorbikes. I think every last one of them was on the route we took. We had a guide who led the weaving and negotiating through the craziness. But there were some fairly fast heart beating moments there.


There are 85 million people and 26 million vehicles in Vietnam. 95% of these vehicles are motorbikes. For a long time, the Honda Dream was the big seller. Then it was the Dream II. Apparently, the nicer your motorbike the more attractive your girlfriend. So they say.

There is a story that relates Ho Chi Minh meeting Martin Luther King. When the leader of the Afro-American Civil Rights movement declared to the Communist revolutionary, Prime Minister and President that he had a dream, Ho Chi Minh is said to have sagely nodded his head and replied, I have a Dream II.

Viet Nam

Vietnam, or as the Vietnamese people write it, Viet Nam, the Viet people from the south. Where to begin? I have a lot of cliched phrases in my head...land of many contrasts, a thriving destination, multitude of colour and natural beauty. All these things are true.

Before I left for my first foray into south-east Asia, I was asked what I expected. And to be honest, I didn't really have expectations for Vietnam. I surprisingly hung expectation on a hook in the hall cupboard and had a sense of wanting Vietnam or my experience of it to be revealed to me as it happened. I wanted to discover and see and smell and taste. When I thought of Vietnam before going, I did imagine all the clichés...a lot of colour and an assailing of the senses. And perhaps that's what I expected...that my senses would be assailed in a way they hadn't been before.

I knew it would be a whirlwind with just over in a day at each stop. A lot of places beginning with H and one that begins with S.

Ho Chi Minh City, still referred to as Saigon, by its inhabitants
Hoi An
Hue
Halong Bay
Hanoi
Sapa

From the moment I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City two and a bit weeks ago, I had the impression of a sensory overload. Overload has negative connotations, so it is not so much that my senses were overloaded, but that each sense was appealed to, expanded, challenged, confronted and stroked.

I felt, tasted, heard, saw and breathed in Vietnam during every moment of my trip.