by Bradley
Let me start by saying that we would never have eaten at this restaurant for lunch if it weren't included on our tour. It looked dirty and there were lots of bugs flying around and just didn't seem like a place we'd like to eat. That being said, it was included so we ate here. They served us the local specialty of the province, goat!
We got 4-5 different goat dishes and several other dishes as well. Most of the goat was very overcooked, it even scratched and irritated Katherine's throat. We were not a fan of the goat. The best things we ate were the dipping sauce for the meat and the burnt rice. The burnt rice is kinda like a rice krispy treat but not sweet. If there was one positive about this place it was that you got soooooooo much food!
We got 4-5 different goat dishes and several other dishes as well. Most of the goat was very overcooked, it even scratched and irritated Katherine's throat. We were not a fan of the goat. The best things we ate were the dipping sauce for the meat and the burnt rice. The burnt rice is kinda like a rice krispy treat but not sweet. If there was one positive about this place it was that you got soooooooo much food!
Goat meat!
After lunch we continued our tour. We went to Bai Dinh Pagoda which is the largest pagoda in Vietnam. Apparently we were again the only westerners to visit which made us feel like we were getting to do something most tourists don't get to do. It wasn't built that long ago but it's expansive so it's cool to see. There are over 500 statues lining the steps as you ascend from temple to temple. You begin at the female buddha temple, then there's the buddha temple and lastly there's the temple of the three buddhas representing past, present, and future.
Everything here is on such a grand scale, the buddhas are solid bronze, painted gold, and I think they weigh 200 tons or something like that. They are impressive to stand beside. I also noticed while we we ascending through the pagoda that all the staircases had an odd number of steps (I'm OCD and notice this about steps). I asked our guide about it and he was surprised and happy I noticed. He said odd numbers are important to their culture, particularly 3 and 5, and the steps were intentionally designed to reflect this.
Everything here is on such a grand scale, the buddhas are solid bronze, painted gold, and I think they weigh 200 tons or something like that. They are impressive to stand beside. I also noticed while we we ascending through the pagoda that all the staircases had an odd number of steps (I'm OCD and notice this about steps). I asked our guide about it and he was surprised and happy I noticed. He said odd numbers are important to their culture, particularly 3 and 5, and the steps were intentionally designed to reflect this.
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