0:08-2:19 27% welcome to my place of dreams my spirit house a city of ghosts I took a walk through beautiful world felt theol Rain on My Shoulder found something good in this beautiful world I felt the Rainer sh way and Central Vietnam is some place I've never been before but it's still Vietnam with all the things the smells The Sounds the details I love so much first night in country it's like sliding into a warm deeply comforting familiar bath I've been all over Vietnam a place I feel a special connection to my first love a place I remain boted 2:16-3:08 25% with fascinated by so back at Vietnam one of my favorite places on Earth and uh all of the things I need for happiness low plastic stool check tiny little plastic table check ooh something delicious in a bowl check in this case a local specialty C hen clam Rice Sweet meaty little local clams out of their shells tossed with a wild swirl of mung beans white rice spicy green chilies crunchy roasted peanuts fried pork rind and cilantro and a similar variation with rice noodles got fish sauce with chilies in it and who that'll just sing your 3:04-4:09 17% eyebrows off throw some chilies in hit with some hot clam broth and you're on your way I'm back back in Vietnam eting grin for the duration a giddy silly foolish man beyond caring can i c local beer Huda my preferred brand when ever in way clams with pork cracklings how could that not be good this is the way so many of the great meals of my life have been enjoyed sitting in the street beating something out of a bowl and I'm not exactly sure what it is scooters going by so delicious feel like an animal where have you been all my life 4:08-5:23 29% fellow Travelers this is what you want this is what you need this is the path to true happiness and wisdom located on the North and South banks of the perfume River in central Vietnam mountains behind C ahead an arrangement determined by criteria both military and spiritual for 143 years H was the seed of power for the nen Dynasty which ruled the entire country until the late 1800s when the French started taking power and land under their control the French allowed the Imperial Throne to rule nominally the center of 5:20-6:38 29% the country until the end of World War II in 1945 whey has been celebrated for its dynastic architecture since the early 1800s vast palaces pagodas and tombs a center as well for the intellectual artistic culinary and religious life of the country oh yeah that's tempting it's around here somewhere this is dongba market and deep inside somewhere in there is what I want my way of thinking in the hierarchy of delicious slurpy stuff in a bowl Bun B is at the very top n qu duck is an author and journalist who spent much of his 6:37-7:17 55% childhood in way if I'm going to die if I'm going to go into prison they give me a last meal this will be this will be it this will be it let's do it man here Kima creates an elaborate broth of mixed bones scented with lemongrass spice and fermented shrimp paste at the bottom rice noodles garnished they heaped with tender slow cooked beef shank crab meat dumplings pigs foot and we at blood cake garnished with lime wedge cilantro green onions chili sauce shredded banana blossoms and mung bean sprouts it's a wonder of flavor and 7:13-7:54 46% Top Humor texture the greatest soup in the world look at that man that is just unbelievable blood cake blood cake with a sauce I want to see how much you put in there you got to make it look really red in there that's should be blood red and the broth is wonderful people are put on Earth for various purposes I always put on Earth to do this eat noodles right here when I was a kid we used to tell each other do not take a date to go out to eat this stuff cuz you start sweating your hair sck up and really I would definitely bring a date for this because 7:53-8:29 39% if she doesn't like this there's no hope of a relationship that's exactly you know like if she's said oh I don't know there's like blood G stuff in there that that would be a relationship Ender to me I mean I'm not I'm not kidding I mean here you are having it in a market like this but if she makes this in in a place like New York or or Paris it would be real old Cuisine it just I mean this is a sophisticated and complex a a bowl of food as any French restaurant it really is the just the the the top of the mountain how long has she been here she 8:28-9:35 57% started out when she was 12 you live in a great country man any country that could produce this is a superpower as far as I'm concerned man getting down to like the pepper residue at the bottom how long does that broth have to simmer to get good it's an hour wow really I would have guessed like 14 hours happy nice burning feeling around my lips flop sweat check happy so we we can pretty much cancel the rest of the show um I've achieved the my happy Zone it's really all downhill from here my oldest friend in Vietnam Lynn 9:33-10:10 21% originally assigned to translate to guide to escort and to report on me back in 2000 when I first came to this country ly how are you brother my my brother good to see you his responsibilities to his employers have never been an impediment to our friendship we meet at zuen an where you pick your own Seafood out of the tank and you cook it yourself you really do look exactly the same you look good yeah oh yeah you want to same no Chace of time on your face dude my hair is white I have the pictures I look completely different in 10:07-10:52 25% 2000 people told me that all the seafood here are from the Lagoon over here tamang tamang Lagoon is one of the biggest one in Southeast Asia I'm going for some eel seasoned with lemongrass green chili and pepper drizzle with house Special Sauce Grill over charcoal and dig in let's have the picture with you oh you have some old photos oh my look at me come on I look like my own son here look at this I look like I'm 30 years younger and that's my son Ming Ming he's now 17 God my God he's going to college soon wow oh this it U the island of Mr s tono 10:51-11:54 37% Island in halong Bay uh Hanoi Hanoi by a wesle oh my God look at that we look cool we totally look cool here but does everybody fall in love with the country like I did I came here and it uh stole my heart you know I think there's a very good meeting point between Vietnamese and American yeah but in the past it was over and now it's a new time M wow that's great dude that's pretty spicy perfect with beer stimulate more drinks Lobster from the South China Sea give it a nice haircut tableside and it's perfect sweet sweet just like I remember 11:50-12:48 34% back in your TR oh yeah well a Camal guy sometime as work I try to be serious and I just think about work but I don't know know why when I meet you I just think about drinking and getting something good to eat one more cheer good to see you again my friend it's been a long time since my old friend and I met a hell of a lot of road with this guy one of the great joys of life is riding a scooter through Vietnam to be part of this mysterious thrilling beautiful choreography thousands upon thousands of people families friends lovers each an individual story 12:46-14:01 36% glimpsed for a second or two in passing sliding alongside pouring like a torrent through the city a flowing gorgeous thing as you ride you not only see but overhear aund intimate moments in miniature you smell wonderful unnamed things cooking issuing from storefronts and food stalls the sounds of beeping laughing announcements from speakers the putt putt and Roar of a million tiny engines qu's place in history Long regarded as the heart of the Imperial Dynasty changed forever during the Vietnam war in 1968 way became the site of some 13:57-14:52 29% of the most bitter fighting of the war during the Lunar New Year the T holidays when usually there was a cessation of hostilities more than a 100 cities all over South Vietnam were attacked by the North Vietnamese and VC qu quickly fell you have seen these images it was footage like this that turned finally a great part of the American public against the war the US Marines fought house to house to retake the city a vicious 3 and 1/2 week long battle eventually artillery and air support were called in the city was saved and of course 14:48-15:31 74% Top Conflict largely destroyed in the saving the civilian population caught in the crossfire were equally devastated the North Vietnamese to their enduring shame had while controlling the city rounded up anyone seen as a potential enemy and either disappeared them away into unknown prisons or killed them outright most notoriously when they massacred almost 3,000 people rolling them many of them still alive in a mass graves in an around qu Duke knows full well the horrors and heartbreak of that time in his Memoir where the ashes are the Odyssey of an 15:29-16:05 54% American Family he captures the terror of a 9-year-old boy the son of a high-ranking South Vietnamese civil servant caught up in the nightmare of War where were you in 1968 I was at the place where it's now a hotel my parents were staying there we were staying there it was surrounded during the night we didn't even know my father looked out the window just thought it was South vietnames soldiers everybody was surprised in those days we thought of the war was something happening out in the battlefields and the mountains out in the 16:02-16:43 57% Top Personal Stakes countryside and all of a sudden you come here and there's the flag of the National Liberation Front and to see that was was complete shock so we stayed for a week in the basement and the American soldiers came by that time they had marched my father away the North Vietnamese soldiers we didn't know where he was taken to and we had no idea whether he was alive or not my mother went out to the mass Graves when they were discovered and she saw the bodies in there and she's like I I can't go there and look for him a lot of people died here you can't 16:41-17:17 46% help thinking about these people who died when they're young who died for no reason who just got caught in the firefights we have the Day of the Dead here the day of the wandering souls and we honor those who are not buried within their home Village are not taken care of their Spirits not taken care of there are families here who don't have a death date which is huge a death anniversary in Vietnamese is when you do the ceremonies you pay attention to the dead you can't do that if you don't know when they really died you just assume 17:14-17:58 43% those people are just never liberated spiritually that they're stuck in that space it was like that for my father because he was in prison we had no news for him you couldn't set up an altar you just hoped that he was alive 10 12 15 your friends are going out doing things you would just have this wait on you that your father is somewhere imprisoned or in the jungles and that stuff stayed with me for 40 years in my mind I don't know how many Vietnamese have that kind of experience at the same time I come back to where my hometown my family's 17:55-18:40 25% Top Reality / Possibility Hometown I'm I'm glad people are alive people are living things are happening things are changing we need to let the country open up and let the people have a moment of enjoyment have a a better life I mean obviously I'm an outsider but it just seems to me as a casual Observer you could pretty much survive anything that's what my brother reminds me when I used to get all upset about things happening in Vietnam he look it's by 4,000 years it it it will do okay when you ask me to be hopeful I'm hopeful because it's a young country 18:36-19:40 35% it's a young population that's energetic and that drives me that that gives me hope that makes me young that that makes me want to believe in this country and this town such a wonderful place to be boyron is a painter and something of a throwback an anomaly a creature from another earlier time in the life of the one-time Imperial City she lives in an area called tienan Hill in a magnificently restored compound these traditional wooden houses were once part of the Regal Style with slope GRS to handle the Rainy whe weather but most importantly they 19:38-20:29 43% feature a garden at the center which follows the Eastern philosophy that all things originate from a single source and expand in all directions since the loss of her beloved Son she's lived here surrounded by her garden and her art occasionally she invites guests and Friends there's duck writer and food blogger Lan art collector Jean fris Uber and Philipe dama so this is your home also a gallery yes I design and my people work she also Cooks magnificently from a repertoire of Imperial weera dishes numbering over a 100 back in dynastic 20:27-21:10 33% times the Emperors demanded Variety in wives of whom they would sometimes have over a hundred and in food the menus of the 19th century Imperial palaces boasted new dishes every night small flavorful and beautifully presented and that culinary tradition which gave way its reputation as a food Capital continues today how much of that persists those Imperial roots that need for variety might yes the tradition has stayed and it will stay forever here to cook all these different things all the time we start with bird's nest soup a 21:07-22:10 41% delicacy to which I am usually immune this one is unusually flavorful these are swallows nest from high up on cliffs near Nang they're soaked in water cooked in chicken stock and served with crab meat Lotus seeds a symbol of Purity nobility and patience from a nearby lake Ste crab row is mixed with red onion pepper and seasoning and added to the soup and simmered the symbolic and health aspects of many of these dishes not to be overlooked this is fantastic lovely how does way differ from the rest of Vietnam a wonderful 22:06-23:20 32% architecture and very quiet people if you stay sometime in h after some days you feel quiet you take your time goway is a traditional dish that Seldon made these days because of its complexity and the time needed to do it right a fish stock is made from kabang a fish from the perfume River pineapples onion chilies shallots and coriander a salad of quickly cooked prawns rice noodles ginger red chili garlic and galangal layer of rice noodle banana flour then the prawns garnishes the strained fish stock is brought to the table with the salad in 23:16-24:08 36% separate bowls and combined just before eating this spicy for you no it's good Pap is very spicy oh no I like it what I found when I first came to uh this part of the world Vietnam in particular uh my pallet changed uh I needed an elevated level of chilies and heat much of Vietnamese cooking abides by principles of Yin and Yang heat and cold this one a lobster dish with Five Spices balances the coldness of the lobster with the heat of the spices Red Onion Ginger lemongrass and chilies are added to the boiling water to cook the 24:06-25:05 56% lobster once the Lobster's cooked it's presented in a bowl of lime leaves and the stock is poured over it wo that's beautiful we're getting into this with our hands I'm guessing I like this beautiful the winter here is unbelievable it's very cold and wet that's why we have um chili to keep us warm boyron spoils all of us with a succession of dishes but the past as it often does in a place like this intrudes it's dealt with a lot of suffering and the people in way are very withdrawn in some ways smiling but of course they remember everything they 25:01-25:52 57% Top Drama have to remember the war in 1968 I was visiting my grandfather's house and I got goosebumps cuz I knew during the war in 1968 lots of people were killed and they were buried on all the sidewalks there and I walk around there and I feel it it's dark it's it's some and the history is there they like every meter of P there a dead person my mom she never want me to go home up like 10 she get angry if I go home at 11: or something that scared me so normally when I go home at 9 um I tried to go home very early riding a boat along the river you 25:49-27:14 46% sort of feel there are things living in the water and the trees and the Darkness out there no your enemy they say know who it is you're facing out there who are they why do they fight what are they willing to endure in the furtherance of their cause these one would think are simple questions useful in any conflict meet the enemy okay he was only an infant during our 9-e long War but quok Tan's experience should be instructive in 1965 the United States initiated a sustained bombing campaign called Rolling Thunder hoping to destroy an 27:11-28:01 65% Top Useful elusive enemy in villages like this one vinmar which was less than 20 mil from forward US Marine fire bases just south of the DMZ this is where tan was born as the target of frequent bombings the village of vinmar moved underground up to 100 ft down into darkness the villagers carved over 5,000 ft of tunnels out of the earth creating a complex that would house all 90 families of vinmar 13 entrances and exits leading from the Inland to the beach showing me through the Labyrinth is K and careful born in wayy during war 27:59-28:46 63% time she's since moved to the DMZ to work as a guide how did they dispose of all of this Earth at Rock without revealing the the tunnels the craters you know craters were everywhere on the like that landscape on the moon and you know the dirt that the creat on so fresh look news so they need to hide that just leave them there this was the Maternity Ward where ton was born and where did people sleep they have sleeping places just all like like this but smaller two square meters only just enough to put a bamboo B how long did it take to build 20 28:44-29:58 70% Top Big Ideas months digging 20 months of digging by handle with sa and holes it all up you know the Farmer they du with with their tool right under the bombing all the bombing is going on they're down here digging this out wow how many children here where how did they so much of the time you're in total darkness yeah you don't even see you can't see your mother some people they say that even when the parents um you know feed the T the children they need to T their face and fire their mouth and feed them wow children played here but people also 29:57-31:46 72% Top Surprise emerged from these tunnels to kill or Americans to shoot them to plant booby traps and that's what they did 6 years in darkness and at the end of the war the people of vinmar emerged from that darkness and what did they do what was that like after living in darkness for so long what was it like to come out and be able to spend the rest of his life in the Sun for thank you w ready come come on thank you looks kind of like a macaron good good yeah really yes last question hypothetical if the French or the Japanese or the 31:43-33:26 28% Americans suddenly decided they want to for some reason come back would he fight that's different they're all welcome if that tourist there are particular sounds that come with waking up in rice country at tamang Lagoon however early morning is the end of the workday has fishermen who've been out on the water tie up close to Shore and sell their catch in the early mist a meeting up with lawn for what she's promised will be a very tasty afternoon snack Quan ban oay is set back from a quiet Lane in the outskirts of town it's 33:24-34:18 18% a Neighborhood Place specializing in this Bon B little pancake like things made of rice flour steamed in moles and topped with crispy fried shallots and cassava paste and crumbled fried shrimp so show me how you eat this what do we um I had this when I was a little girl so you make try to beat it up like this right I got it just cut around the edge here I feel so clumsy it's it been a while fold it over oh it just great this is so nostalgic to me when I was younger every um noon my mom asked me to take a noon nap say if you take a 34:17-34:46 18% noon nap then I will buy you some bun and I will sit there in front of our house waiting for waiting yeah waiting for her with a dish an empty dish waiting for her she will come and then my mom will buy it for me you do a hair style at the end of the meal we say who eat the most like oh so you have a stack that's way style good I'm glad I'm fitting in oh what are they eating in the Banana Leaf are we have on one of those too yep we have everything oh good okay I don't want to leave anything out oh yeah there's bonot lock made of 34:44-35:33 24% casava or tapioca with pork and more shrimp from the Lagoon wrapped like a tamale in Banana Leaf then steamed so even open the thing is also an art in Vietnam you learn how to rough the thing and you know how learn how to unra the thing so unra the thing is also an thing oh really I'm K I'm watching you let's get this right you do it right you're perfect I think you're an expert maybe the live before you you was born in in a past life yeah so this is shrimp mhm stick it up and dip right M very nice mhm nice they're pretty too look at them but is 35:30-36:16 27% very honest you can see through what inside you call this type of eating an Choy an Choy is like for fun of playing recreational eating so it's not a main meal it's a snacking yeah Bon ra meat is a delicious marriage of fried and glutenous sticky rice dumplings it starts with frying the paste and cooking oil then unpeeled shrimp are stuffed into dough place the chewy part with a crunchy part and sprinkle with chopped fried shrimp oh wow oh that's that looks awesome what's what is underneath r Rice base rice oh okay but 36:12-37:28 18% on the top is Ste and at the back is um fried thing M well that's great it's nice and crispy and greasy I love it m anybody would love this it's just amazing mm It's a combination between the soft andof soft and the crisp crunchy delicious last ride a few miles out of town whip across the rice patties just getting from here to there this part of the world it's pure pleasure I'm meeting my friends for a country lunch what's the specialty at this uh restaurant you were saying the chicken in uh baked in clay yes another friend 37:26-38:05 14% from the past haam Lynn of course Lon and a new friend from way tan a last meal some goodbyes I have a question what what make you stay so long in here because normally traveler they come to here they stay only one or two now and that's it really what's your impressions about it it's really it's very laidback mhm the food's great it's pretty there's a lot to see it's a perfect place to go if you want to take your time it's beautiful to me food's coming please out here there are a lot of dishes like this fill a chicken 38:04-38:52 48% with lemongrass wrap it in banana leaves and cover with the muddy clay from the nearby rice patties cook in the coals or a pile of burning straw if you like unwrap carefully table side section with shears smell so good make me hungry serve with a little lime and salt maybe some chili sauce squash bitter melon and Morning Glory greens for veggies T that's good some unexpected last words on behalf of people in thank you for your coming thank you for having me we wish you would have a blessing trip safe and S and success thank you I learned many 38:49-39:36 31% things from American I still remember some poems church as uh stopping by gules on a Snowy Evening I can send it please yeah sometime drink a lot of beer I forgot who School these are I think I know his house is in the village though you cannot see me stop in here to watch his schs f up with snow my little horse must think it cleer to stop without a farmhouse near between the woods and frozen lake the darkest evening of the year he gave his harness Bell a second to ask if there some mist six the only other sound of easy wind and dowy Flake 39:32-41:05 22% and something like Bravo so we wish you have a good trip have good fly will you come back after you return to New York I'll come back to Vietnam always cheers everybody and thank you all of you for all your help cheers on the time this is who came out of the ground out of the Jungle the darkness when it was all over and this is what they did not
