Bat Trang Pottery Village

In much the same way streets in downtown Hanoi are named after the products sold there (silver street, toy street, clothes street, electric-razor-plug-fixit street), so, too, are certain nearby villages.  Yesterday, Chi and a fellow co-worker, Mr Lam, took me to Bat Trang, the pottery village about 40 minutes Southeast of Hanoi.

The village dates back to the 12-14th century, so the pottery making tradition has been handed down for hundreds of years, from generation to generation.  As one might expect, the town has dozens and dozens of stores, one next to the other, all selling pottery, none of which can be distinguished from the other (at least not to my untrained potters eye).

We arrived at the Bat Trang market and, for 50 cents, were offered a tour of one of the potters businesses, so took a short walk and saw how it all worked.  Of course the tour was in Vietnamese and Chi and Lam weren't much on translating at the time, so most of it was lost on me. 

Honestly, I'm not even sure where they start in the whole process:

It might start here, where they poured something into those big vats

After taking a piece out of the vat, I think they put it in this thing.  Maybe.

And at some point, they all go in that (one of two kilns)...

Then the artist does this...(and, yes, that burgundy paint and white vase
becomes porcelain blue during the process)

And they turn out like that!

Only to be sold in dozens and dozens of stores just like this!

(And when the workers take a break, they have tea and sit on very tiny stools...
as tiny as these!)

After all that ceramics learnin', we had to take a break, so we stopped and had some freshly made sugar cane juice.

Cane is in bucket on right, squeezer is green machine on top.
(Sorry, once again cell phone cam behaved more like a cell phone than a cam
so other pics didn't turn out).

Sugar Cane Juice
(I'm sure it's incredibly healthy and low in calories...tasty too!)

Next up, we watched some kids try their hands at pottery-making.

Yes, Chi and I both gave it a try...

And here it is, revealed to the public for the first time, my own ceramic masterpiece.  Sothebys?  Christies?  Anyone?



Finally, we ended the day with a dinner at a local, rural-ish restaurant.  Since this was Mr Lam's hometown, he assured us that the food was "good" (which can be taken several ways around these parts).

First I should say that the minute we walked into this place, I knew things would be interesting since literally every one of the restaurant's many patrons turned and stared at me.  Perhaps they were all Nebraska fans and they didn't like my CU cap?

After sitting down, Japanese-style, we were greeted by these two gentlemen who were both drunk off their arses.  As such, they proceeded to invite themselves to our table to raise a toast.  Two toasts!  Three toasts!  Ten Toasts!  Many, many toasts!  Awkward!

Apparently the owner was reluctant to intercede because he was afraid a fight would commence.  So we simply moved to another table.  Problem solved.

Dinner itself was yet another adventure.  The place had a huge menu which included eel, bison, dog :o(.  I left the ordering to Chi and Mr Lam and am sorry to say that I have only one picture to share, that of the main course.  At least what's left of it.

Honestly, this was delicious.  It was chicken (fresh, obviously.  That'd be the head and both legs) fried in salt with lemongrass.  Since I prefer white meat, I wasn't able to sample the "extra parts" that came with our chicken, but I was told that they were quite tasty.

Among the other things I tried were a vegetable salad featuring pigs ears (rubbery and crunchy at the same time!) and a duck hot pot which actually was pretty tasty as well.  Just a little disconcerting when the feet would boil to the top.  

Later, Mr Lam's aunt showed up, ate peanuts and drank two mini-Red Bulls, which I thought was funny (I'm sure she was in her 50s).  She apparently was called in to intercede in case the drunken fellows got out of hand.  Fortunately, no intervention was necessary.  Instead, as one of them departed, he came over to me, grasped my hand (tightly), sang a long song (which I thought might have been the Vietnamese anthem, but wasn't) and continued to talk about the American War "from 1975" and, "look how America and Vietnam are now friends" and I mustn't hold our loss against them (all while still grasping my hand).

Lastly, bids on my pot are now being accepted.  Please, no bids lower than 20,000. 

(That'd be 20,000 VND.  About $1.00)