what is this can we find someone who
knows it doesn't smell like anything I
don't know what to do from here should I
take a bite I don't think I should
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deepa the Lao Cai province down hours of
winding roads hidden in the Wan Ling
Chun Mountains lies the most colourful
market in the world
stepping into this market feels like
entering a fairytale beautiful backdrops
unrecognizable magical plants and the
local people dressed in their vibrant
traditional clothing
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[Applause]
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of the 55 ethnic minorities in Vietnam
14 are represented in the BOC award
mostly Hmong but others include dyeing
hula and the too loud people please food
is better when you share it vodka market
opens only once a week each Sunday
locals make the journey here to sell all
types of produce handmade crafts
livestock including horses and songbirds
they might get a quick haircut or maybe
even smoke a little something know what
I'm saying yeah good when people gather
together there is always food and that
is why I'm here today so tell your mom
you'll call her right back because you
are about to experience some of the
finest and rarest cuisine in the world
coming home
Alice and Jenna here we have some corn
cake won't bun mmm so there are two ways
to eat the corn cake you can have it the
hot way with the meat or such as I
requested sour for over 40 years this
vendor has been selling her corn cake
concoction made by slicing and dicing
big chunks of corn cake tossing in some
fresh herbs fermented cabbage seasoning
and crushed peanuts then pouring in some
top-secret vinegar that is so yummy it
must be hidden under a table the most
secret ingredients are underneath the
table oh that's the sauce here we have
our beautiful corn cake a plethora of
different ingredients that I probably
talked about in the voiceover already
I'm gonna try just the sauce
oh that is a vinegar room but it's not a
potent vinegar it's a little bit watered
down some cilantro making it nice and
fresh look at this guy what a champ it's
like 6:30 a.m. and this guy's like
cracking the ball already I mean that
took clout give me I could share with
him do you think it would show hi hi
there
Oh Oh God I gave him a thumbs up nothing
maybe they don't do thumbs up where he's
from I want to try just a piece of the
cake first here we go that's interesting
I don't know how they did this it's like
a corn jello but with less flavor this
is kind of the body of the meal here
right this is where a lot of our energy
is coming from the corn does not have a
lot of flavor but it's about what you
surround it with and it has a nice kind
of mushy texture I don't mind a little
bit of mush more motion for the pushin
I'm gonna grab some of this salt that's
my move I made that up too oh we've got
some of the greens we got some of that
nuts in there vinegar sauce all together
at last
it is a refreshing morning treat not a
very bold flavor a little aromatic from
all the herbs this market is very
interesting if you look around you'll
see villagers have come from far and
wide some of them trekking here some of
them driving I'm sure at least one guy
drove a horse here Vietnam has all these
different ethnic tribes what it makes
for is some really unique food and in
things that you've never seen before
it's very regional I don't think you
would find something like this in Saigon
is that right
the off-camera person says that's right
not bad as a fun way to start your day
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hi soy Zoey how do you say it sticky so
easily
okay right here we have a beautiful
rainbow snowball of sticky rice all
these different colors there's orange
purple yellow these are actually all
naturally colored I think she thinks for
digging a photo but it's totally a video
banana leaf the original throwaway plate
and then we're gonna put some chopped up
nuts on there oh that's okay I'm gonna
I'm just gonna eat this straight up
right now for over 70 years
sayo of the fool a tribe makes the 2
kilometer trek from her house to baka
market each Sunday thank you Bunco so
here we have our beautiful giant rainbow
snowball and sticky rice with a side of
some crushed up peanuts ah she didn't
exactly give me a spork she said use
your hands or you can like squeeze it to
the top like a frizzy pop first I'm just
gonna try that like this
mmm for as beautiful as this is it turns
out it's just rice it's good good
texture nice and sticky it is just rice
so I think what I need is some of this
peanut mixture on here
by the line that means boom they're
laughing at my good hosting abilities
there are some surprise beans in here as
well that is legitimately good can I be
honest no matter what it's fun getting
to try these real local unique foods of
the mountain people it's a privilege
just to be able to try any of this food
in general but when you have something
that's also really tasty that's even
better because then you're like well why
don't they have this at 7-eleven why
can't this lady pull up at 7-eleven and
do our thing there you know it makes you
happy that you're trying it in the
moment and it makes you sad that you
know you're never gonna be able to try
this again
mmm
Oh see oh she wants to share with me
Tsingtao if you want some go on you want
a piece yeah please food is better and
when you share it oh if that is not the
most adorable thing I've ever seen we
can have it together
here get a little dip dip dip Cheers
I'll just keep looking right now we're
in the market area and this is where
they're selling all their fresh produce
including many things that I've never
seen before
what is this oh my god right now there's
a real vegetable deal going on Oh
cinch up what is this can we find
someone who knows right here we have the
knocked-out mushroom and that is the
most funky avatar interesting beautiful
mushroom I've ever seen um it doesn't
smell like anything I don't know what to
do from here should I take a bite I
don't think I should they put this in
wine I'm not sure what that does but I
don't know what it does when you put a
snake in wine and people do that too so
oK we've got an outside source here he
says this is good for men so I don't
know is that good for men see me in the
prostate does he mean to grow your hair
back
we got the inside scoop that this stuff
is good for men oh are you doing eat
yeah I'll show one more time to show the
camera like this to me you know it's
interesting this whole plant we can see
men buying it and the women so again you
don't see anyone
in here trying to buy it because this
one is good good for men I don't know
what this means I don't know sign
language but he said it's good for man
we've got dragon fruit
we've got melons we've got whoa what is
this
I found the donut section okay hi hi do
you mind if I just squeeze in here
really
I'm very small and I don't take up much
space there we go there we go
is this my order card what a beautiful
array of donut holes
it's like doughnut holes guys I just
grab it like this okay so you just grab
it grab what you want and and you eat it
some kind of maybe a clue huh what does
that mean high low high bottom all these
fried tasty morsels get their color from
the taro root used to house the mung
bean inside slap on a few sesame seeds
on the outside and bam you have a piece
of food that you can literally eat that
is tremendous crunchy on the outside and
so toasty is toasty tasting hosting and
chewing and then salty - oh my god
that's delicious
can I use this as a napkin to cinch oh
wow so right here we've got some real
honey this is full of honey and
honeycomb he's got a little filter
inside and he's just pouring straight up
real Mountain hunting's into this glass
bottle it's 150,000 that's about seven
dollars but look it's for about a liter
and then inside I can still see there's
some bees there's still some honeycomb
uh-oh and there we go we have witnessed
we've witnessed a honey deal go down
right here on the streets very cool very
cool
uh-oh she said I could eat some oh come
on
Wow oh look at that real mountain honey
oh my god it's like candy come on come
on Jake
[Music]
what we're about to order next it's
something called red fuh from here I can
see it looks like the traditional
foreign noodle but it's kind of pink or
red these red noodles get their color
from the special type of rice used in
their production ha ha ah yeah this one
no no red noodle ah okay this was good
by this time I've had before in a few
different ways I've had it with beef of
course the board kind of traditional way
I tried it with chicken in Hanoi and now
there's a big black sausage here alright
he's just gonna dice up the sausage
right there and throw that in my bowl of
red fog noodles today our red noodle pho
we'll start with some blanched red
noodles topped with a hearty black blood
sausage bean sprouts scallions steaming
bone broth and a couple dashes of pepper
it's easy to see why after 40 years this
tiny factory has the most famous fought
in all of baka market this is probably
the most unique thought I've ever seen
it has the red noodle it's a little bit
more of a pink noodle if we're honest
here but you know what we can call it
right it seemed like he was recommending
the sausage or maybe like um not a lot
of people get the sausage so he's like
ah I need this guy to buy it from me but
no but probably it tastes really good
we're gonna squeeze in that lime and
we're gonna mix that up a bit I'm gonna
scoop up some of that broth very fatty
that is a great stock oh my god it's
hearty it's delicious I love it so let's
get a bite with the sausage and the
nudes together
[Music]
hmm that is hands down one of the best
bowls and noodles I've ever tried I did
not expect to be blown away by food here
I thought oh it'll be interesting it'll
be different but wow that is sensational
the broth is so rich typical flawed
noodle supersoft and then the sausage
it's got a little bit of that kind of
liver mealiness
to it oh so lucky two sausages start
together what a day if they're stuck
together it counts as one sometimes you
can just like taste the love in a food
remember when you're a kid you're
playing outside all day you're famished
you're exhausted you come in there's
dinner on the table something that you
would have often that salty and savory
that kind of just made you feel whole it
kind of brings me to that place even
though I was never a young Vietnamese
girl
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Wow look at all these beautiful outfits
I need to get some more depth clothing
look at me
I'm swearing black I look like I'm going
to a funeral these people look beautiful
I love it do you know like maybe I could
get a scarf or something
that's our cha-cha okay it shouldn't be
creepy but there's a little baby in our
little basket over here you know when
you see a lot of random containers full
of liquid you know that probably inside
if we can at least hope that there's
some alcohol let's go see these are big
mismatched containers I have a feeling
that this is not water if I may we've
got some bottles look here's how you
spot rice wine in the country you look
at this and you go I've never seen clear
coca-cola it's not coca-cola oh gosh
here it is oh that smell it smells
strong and unrefined like me okay let's
give it a shot
Cheers whoa hi bye yo
[Music]
oh it's real nice there's nothing like
there's nothing like some rice wine at
8:00 in the morning
this can power a tractor the 151 of rice
wine are we good can I give it back I
put my mouth on it is that it okay
listen I had a lot of fun I'm a little
buzzed right now so I just want to thank
you for that experience do you have
YouTube
do you have YouTube do you know YouTube
YouTube okay follow me on YouTube sub I
mean sub me with notifications please
right here I'm not sure maybe it's some
traditional medicine but you could zoom
in here and then we see that as a snake
what is the snake doing here I'm not
sure you know what and some things we
can leave as a mystery let's keep going
do you need a large garbage bag full of
tobacco because this is where you get it
look at all this tobacco I'm still I'm
buzzing off that rice wine I'll be
honest oh okay okay okay I can do this
it's all good it's just tobacco season
drug user and we have about 25 people
watching me tourists wonderful authentic
experience of seeing a white guy do some
took Lao and Vietnam and that's what
we're gonna give Wow razzle dazzle I
feel great I don't advocate tobacco bong
use I'm a little dizzy and I got smelly
pop it smells great putting that down
for some Cologne keep the ladies away if
you've never done this before it feels
like you stood up a little too fast and
then all the blood rushes to your head
you feel vote to see four above five
minutes nothing better in the morning
then some 151 rice wine and a little bit
of tobacco bong and a little bit of
tobacco bong water all over your leg
nice
[Music]
we have stumbled upon something amazing
here it looks like a little okay I agree
look when someone hands you food you
just take it I am a sucker for fried
delights in any market it looks like
almost some kind of potato pancake with
some cut-up bits of maybe even just
sweet potato I'm not sure these starchy
fried cakes get their bold orange color
from sweet potato creating a savory
sweet crunchy creation a sweet potato
pancake with little shredded sweet
potato in there and this is so cool it's
like they've got two of these big
canisters they look almost like big
coffee cans a hot coal in the middle I
cast iron pan on top she has this cool
metal rack where she puts the finished
ones and she hands it to excited
passerby passers-by
like me it's a perfect breakfast snack
let's give it a try
oh the crunch the crunch is real you
hear the crunch I never lie about the
crunched it's a little bit sweet the
heavy tasty energy packed breakfast
treat that's gonna leave you feeling
satisfied until lunchtime
[Music]
even for someone who has traveled a
decent amount now when we came here I
had no expectations I thought okay small
mountain community perhaps there's
limited ingredients perhaps it's just
food that's gonna taste really foreign
to me but everything I've tried so far
has been really delicious and it's kind
of blowing me away look never doubt
Vietnam never doubt Vietnam
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to get more travel tips about this
market specifically click the blog link
in the description down below and this
video was brought to you guys and made
possible by one trip one service a
company putting on tours in Saigon hoi
an and Danang I'm talking food tours I'm
talking the Mekong Delta tour I'm
talking village tours experience the
real Viet Nam with one trip links for
that are also in the description down
below I will see you next week
a peace
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