Lunch
Lunchtime is amazing, actually every meal is. Our host hotel is run by a family that work together to prepare the meals. This is what a typical meal looks like - this was spring rolls, pork, white rice (the main staple food), chayote - a vegetable grown only in the mountain regions and today it is fixed 2 different ways; the stalks and leaves are sauted with garlic, and the fruit is grated and steamed with garlic and dill. This was lunch yesterday. 
Today we had a soup made of green bananas and snails with tofu (tofu is used a lot), sauteed beef, white rice, cucumbers and tomato salad, white carp (fish), sticky rice with shredded pork (a special dish) and sauteed bean sprouts. There were even small birds (local stock) that are supposed to be eaten bones and all. Of course it tasted like chicken - what else. This is Viet, one of our guides, sampling the bird dish.It might sound funny but it was really very good, and I ate a little of everything.
Lovely meals, and they always end a meal with small cups of green tea.
posted by Bonnie at 1:33 AM
1 Comments:
Lien is the researcher for this project. Viet is Lien's younger brother. There is another guide (I will call him that) - his name is Ein (pronounced EYE-NG) who is a retired professor and entomologist (a person who studies insects) and I think he is assisting simply because he loves moths and butterflies.
The research staff are highly experienced in butterflies but each in varying ways; Ein, being and entomologist is the most experienced and my guess is that Lien has learned a great deal from him. But Lien also studies insects - and is currently working on his doctorate in the insect field. Lien knows all the data by memory, not just on the butterflies but also on the forest, its plant life and much of the research collected over the last few years. Viet's experience is simply personal interest because of his brother. Viet is a teacher at a private school outside Hanoi and he is very bright. He volunteers on this project to help his brother. He is able to recite nearly all of the species' Latin names on sight. He is also very spry and able to run and catch some of the more difficult ones that fly high.
The volunteers on this project are all involved for different reasons. There is one other teacher on this project who is a High School teacher named Jennifer - teaching biology and evolution. She was also funded by National Geographic to participate.
The other six people are paying for this trip themselves (instead of being funded by an organization like Jennifer and me). They just like butterflies and wanted to do a different sort of vacation, one that makes a contribution to something instead of just lying around. I think they have gotten that, and more, with all our mountain climbing, in addition to data collection and butterfly observation.
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