- 2 days ago
Bourdain joins the throngs of locals as he motorbikes through Vietnam's capital and indulges in its singular cuisine with president Barack Obama, who, over a dish of Bun Cha, shares personal stories and reflects on his own international travels.
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00:00Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
00:30Transcribed by —
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03:07It is one of the great pleasures of my life to join the river of people rushing through the streets.
03:29Transcribed by —
03:59This is the first time I've been in this part of the world, and it's held a special place in my heart and my imagination since.
04:05I keep coming back. I have to.
04:09Vietnam has changed since last time I was here. It's changing every minute.
04:15Vietnam has changed since last time I was here. It's changing every minute.
04:23Vietnam has changed since last time I was here. It's changing every minute.
04:30But some things, for now anyway, remain the same.
04:38Important things.
04:40Like this stuff.
04:46It's a great meal in Hanoi, and it's something they do here better than anywhere else.
04:50Okay, I'm officially in Hanoi now.
04:54It's changing every minute.
05:00It's a wonderful broth with tomatoes and herb and noodles and fresh snails.
05:04Plump and delicious. Look at those beauties.
05:06Come to me.
05:08Plump little love muscle.
05:12Hanoi, capital city of Vietnam.
05:18Seven and a half million people live here.
05:21In the winter, it's chilly and damp.
05:23In the summer, hot, humid, subtropical.
05:26The boulevards and many of the buildings are French.
05:29But its heart and soul is always, always Vietnamese.
05:35Americans coming here as tourists for the first time, especially veterans of the war, are shocked by how friendly the place is.
05:45People are genuinely happy to see you.
05:49This is Hanoi's old quarter.
05:54But it's looking less and less old these days.
05:57The necessary has changed though.
05:59In the Irish slash Czech themed pub next door.
06:04Vietnam is a young country.
06:07Almost half of Vietnamese are under the age of 30.
06:10Fewer every year even remember what they call here, the American war.
06:18Those years were a defining time for just about everyone, Vietnamese or American, who lived through them.
06:23And though there are still a lot of conflicted feelings back home, for most Vietnamese these days, the war has become an abstraction.
06:31Not even a memory.
06:34Vietnam is still a poor nation.
06:36But the standard of living has improved a lot with the relaxing of hardline communist economic policies.
06:44More and more foreign tourists every year.
06:46Western chains inevitably are everywhere.
06:50And President Obama is visiting for the first time, taking another step on the long path toward normalizing relations between the two countries.
06:59That is good.
07:00Whoo.
07:01Hot.
07:02Ooh.
07:03I hit that chili hard.
07:04Blue word.
07:05Okay.
07:07Good.
07:08Good.
07:09Good.
07:10Good.
07:11Good.
07:13Good.
07:14Good.
07:15Nice to meet you.
07:34Yes.
07:35Such a pleasure.
07:36Oh, and we have a beer ready to go.
07:38Yes.
07:39So we're doing by bottle or we're going to pour it in a glass?
07:42How would you do it if I wasn't here?
07:44I would put it in the glass.
07:45Okay.
07:46In Vietnam, and particularly in the North, it would be very improper for a woman to drink
07:50from the bottle.
07:51Oh, really?
07:52Oh, really?
07:53Yeah.
07:54Okay, well, I'm glad I know this now.
07:55Cheers.
07:56Thao is an Eisenhower Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar.
07:58She's devoted her career to help strengthen the bonds between Vietnam and the U.S.
08:03Today, we drove to the outskirts of Hanoi.
08:06Mm-hmm.
08:07Cranes, tall buildings, people moving from the country to the city.
08:10Mm-hmm.
08:11Jacob's, Prada.
08:12I mean, this is a very young country now.
08:14Oh, very much a young nation.
08:16They like to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken.
08:19They like to spend a lot of their time on the Internet.
08:22The history of our country is a history of wars.
08:26We had a thousand years under the Chinese, and then we had 80 years under the French,
08:31and then the Japanese came in.
08:33And when the Americans left, finally in 1975, we got involved with Cambodia.
08:40So we only have peace since 1989.
08:45Just in a matter of a few decades, the entire population would be those without any war experience.
08:51And that's a great thing.
08:53And what are we eating today?
08:55Well, we are going to have a banh quon.
08:57And that means?
08:58Rice roll.
08:59Very thin.
09:00Like a crepe.
09:01Yes, it's like crepe.
09:02And inside, ground minced pork and fruity and mushroom.
09:07Ah.
09:08You dip it in, and there you go.
09:14Mmm.
09:15Oh, that's very good.
09:16Everything we do internationally, someone refers back to the Vietnam experience.
09:28You know, let's not do that again.
09:30Let's not repeat Vietnam.
09:31But I find it interesting that the people who had perhaps the most painful experience
09:39were among the first to reach out.
09:42I think the John McCain story is particularly interesting.
09:45Because here's a guy who had an atrocious experience here in prison.
09:50And yet he has been among the most vocal supporters of normalizing relations.
09:55He took several trips to Vietnam.
09:57And so he could see Vietnam in a different light.
10:00It's no longer a war.
10:02It's a country with people.
10:04Have you been out with returning veterans from?
10:06Oh, yes.
10:07All the time.
10:08They often want to go to the area that they serve.
10:12Oh, yes.
10:13They often even meet with the people they fought.
10:15Yes.
10:16B-52 pilots come to the areas they unloaded their bombs.
10:20Yes.
10:21What is that experience like?
10:25What do you see when they come here?
10:28Extremely emotional.
10:31Extremely emotional.
10:34What is that experience like?
10:36People burst into tears.
10:37The memory I kept of you 45 years ago was an enemy.
10:46I did anything and everything to protect my life and to protect the people in my platoon.
10:53But today, when I see you again, not as an enemy, as a person, everything just disappeared.
11:02All the bad feelings disappeared.
11:04And now you actually have no hope.
11:05Oh, are you married?
11:06You know, how many children do you have?
11:08You know, what are you up to?
11:11Their life turned into a new chapter.
11:14And this chapter is a good chapter.
11:17Hanoi in the morning.
11:38The usual high-pitched whine of thousands of motorbikes.
11:43People and the things they carry coming out to work, to set up shop.
11:47The sound of commerce.
11:49I'm working on that.
11:50Of a wildly free market economy in a system that's decidedly not.
11:56When I first came here, it was Tai Chi at dawn.
12:22And that's still here.
12:24But there's also this.
12:31Good to see you.
12:32It's nice to see you, too.
12:34This is my friend.
12:35Nice to meet you.
12:36She's also my Zumba instructor.
12:37Ah.
12:38No Zumba for me.
12:41Breakfast, though, sounds good.
12:44How often a week do you think the average person cooks?
12:47And how often do they eat out?
12:48Mostly we just cook at home for dinner because that's the only meal in the day that everybody can be together.
12:54But for other meals, normally we eat out.
13:04I meet my old friend Ha on the edge of the old quarter, a place known as Cussing Noodles.
13:11This is my favorite, favorite restaurant.
13:12This one?
13:13Yes.
13:14The name comes from the owner, this lady, known for the free and frank way she communicates with her customers.
13:21I hear she yells at people.
13:23Yes.
13:24The guest.
13:25Yes.
13:26The guest.
13:27If you go to her and order something, then if you're indecisive like, oh can I have these?
13:43Oh no, no, no...
13:45No, maybe I have these instead.
13:47instead she's like i don't have a lot of time for you so just get out here really yeah
13:58what's the specialty of the house here
14:05we know that you put up with the abuse for this glorious steaming bowl of rice noodles
14:11with spicy chilies a rich hearty porky broth with pig's knuckle and snout
14:16it's the only item on the menu and it's good you know taro yes so this is the stamp of the
14:23and to prepare this you have to be very careful because if you don't do it right then you get
14:29itchy mouth no right not toxic you won't die from it but you make your mouth really itchy so interesting
14:42wow that's delicious when people talk about vietnam they always say about
14:46spring rolls uh full but i think this should be in in in the mix yeah i'm easy give me some spicy
14:54noodles some pork i'm happy every time
15:16it's a maze
15:30It's a maze of narrow streets and alleyways behind the old French cathedral.
15:56Benders set up stools, and it's happy hour in Hanoi.
16:15Every doorway, every window, a little slice of life.
16:22A story all its own.
16:30Lives lived, being lived, caught for a second, a moment, then gone.
16:37In Vietnam, sometimes, to be truly friends, to be friendly, we have to drink until we are
16:46drunk.
16:47Well, well, okay.
16:48Yeah.
16:49We must.
16:50We must.
16:51Cheer for friendship.
16:54Linh Dinh, my oldest friend in Vietnam from the very beginning.
16:58Many happy memories, my friend.
17:00We've been to Sagan, Can Tho, Nha Trang.
17:03He was my original minder for Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
17:08We became, in spite of his official responsibilities, fast friends.
17:11One, two, three, five.
17:13Yo!
17:14Welcome back.
17:15Welcome back.
17:16Cheers.
17:17Linh has brought me to a great and proud and uniquely Hanoi tradition, Bia Hoi.
17:21Bia Hoi refers to the roadside joints where locals gather to consume keg dispensed, freshly
17:28brewed draft beer.
17:29Ah, that's good.
17:30It's not strong at all, my friend.
17:33Just like between three to four percent.
17:35Ah, so we need to drink a lot.
17:36Yeah.
17:37Yeah.
17:38Cheer for Hanoi beer.
17:42It was something luxurious 30 years ago.
17:48Right.
17:49And now it's for everyone.
17:50Yeah.
17:51It's not expensive.
17:52Right.
17:53Ten thousand dollars.
17:54So that's...
17:55Forty cents.
17:56Forty-five cents.
17:57Forty-five cents a beer.
17:58Yeah.
17:59I'll have another.
18:00I can afford that.
18:04The country's changed so much.
18:06When I first came, bicycles and motorbikes.
18:09Now, a lot of cars.
18:10More cars.
18:11Look, money.
18:12People are making money.
18:13Business is good.
18:14Yeah.
18:15Right?
18:16I mean, much, much, much more tourism every year.
18:18Yes, yes.
18:19People also enjoy life more.
18:21Yes, yes.
18:41What is it?
18:43I don't know how to mess it up in front of my Brotherhood.
18:46It's okay to be there...
18:49Jess, it's not me.
18:51No one is here!
18:54I just gotta make my brother together.
19:11Search the globe and you will find
19:41no other place that looks remotely like this.
19:58How long means where the dragon descends into the sea?
20:03And legend says that this is where a great dragon charged, protecting Vietnam from foreign
20:08invaders.
20:09War is a constant theme in Vietnamese mythology and history.
20:14The Chinese, the French, the Japanese, the Americans, the Cambodians, again the Chinese.
20:20The Chinese, the French, the British, the French, the Japanese, the French, the French, the
20:26French.
20:27How Long Bay has become, for better or worse,
20:52one of Vietnam's most visited destinations.
20:57Fortunately, this time of year anyway, you don't have to go too far to lose yourself
21:04in the past.
21:05Find a quiet place, or you can still imagine the great dragon's tail thrashing and churning
21:11and kicking up these great karsts of rock.
21:18Chosen mode of transportation, the Emerald, an old French-era steamer, refitted for more
21:26current-day needs.
21:31A big, freakin' boat.
21:37And it's all mine, along with friends and crew, of course.
21:44And it's all mine, along with friends and friends and friends.
21:51And it's all mine.
22:11I like this boat.
22:29We're living a little larger than last.
22:31Last time, the boat was not this nice.
22:35All the modern conveniences, but the charms of the past.
22:38It fits perfectly with my over-romantic delusions.
22:42And in general, it does not suck.
22:51Hello, gentlemen.
22:52Hi, Tony.
22:53How are you doing?
22:54We're having some gin and tonic.
22:56Gin tonic, traditional Vietnamese drink.
22:58Well, not really, but...
22:59All right.
23:00This is my first time trying this.
23:02Yeah?
23:02His first time.
23:03How old are you anyway?
23:04Wait a minute, you were five years old last time I was in Halong Bay.
23:07Yeah, he's five.
23:08He's 20 now.
23:09Wow.
23:10Lin and I came here for another show, what feels like a lifetime ago.
23:14Back then, I got to meet his son, Min, who's apparently grown up.
23:18These are pictures of you and him.
23:21Whoa.
23:2115 years ago, 14 years ago.
23:23Oh, my God.
23:25Look at my hair.
23:29It's changed a little bit.
23:31Like over 8 million people are coming to Halong Bay now?
23:34Yeah, every year.
23:36Tourists.
23:36All of this is protected, right?
23:41You can't do anything on these rocks.
23:43No, no, no.
23:44And how many of these islands, there's like 1,900 of these rocks out there?
23:481,969.
23:50And this is a good number, you know.
23:52Then it's a lucky number?
23:53Six is for fortune.
23:55Right.
23:55And nine is for forever.
23:57So fortune forever.
24:00A drink or two on the top deck, check.
24:02Now, for the rest of the day, try to do as little as possible.
24:08A nap.
24:10Sunset.
24:12Maybe some more drinks.
24:14And what about dinner?
24:15One for you.
24:17Oh, thank you, sir.
24:19Okay, my friend.
24:20Cheers.
24:20So, we're eating some squid.
24:24Tons of squid.
24:25Tons of squid.
24:27We try to get as many tons as possible.
24:30Cue the majesty of the squid.
24:32At night, this time of year, the bright lights of Halong Bay's fishing boats are unmistakable.
24:41They can only catch the squid in the evening.
24:44The line attracts the squid, so they can catch them.
24:47They say that because of global warming, all the fish are dying,
24:51but that the squid and cuttlefish populations are increasing.
24:54So, soon the whole sea will be filled with plenty of squid.
24:57We'll be eating it every day.
24:59Oh, yeah.
25:02Those are cute little squid.
25:11Oh, those are even tender.
25:13Woo.
25:14Oh, yeah.
25:15The tentacles are the best.
25:17It's a case that squid is a very hard job.
25:20They work all the night.
25:21All the night.
25:21They work all the night.
25:22The light, it turn on all the night.
25:24Right, and then sleep all day?
25:26Yeah.
25:26It's got to be hot out there, man.
25:28Yeah.
25:28Sleep it in the day.
25:30Cheers for the day.
25:31Cheers for the day.
25:32Cheers for the day.
25:33Cheers for the day.
25:34Let's go.
25:54Cheers for the day.
25:55I don't know.
26:25A morning swim, a bowl of spicy noodles, and a view. Perfect.
26:46How many in the family?
26:47Six. A young couple, and they're three kids, and then the grandma's living with them.
26:52The oldest kid is a girl, and she was sent into the shore with some relatives to go to school because they have no schooling here.
26:59Right.
27:01Floating fishing villages like this used to be found in nearly every sheltered cove or corner of Halong Bay.
27:08But as Vietnam becomes a more popular tourist destination, authentic fishing villages are starting to disappear.
27:14The government has been relocating fishing families inland, hoping to minimize their ecological impact.
27:20The people that are living in floating villages, they're just genuinely nice and willing to open their home to us.
27:29They basically farm oysters.
27:30Yeah, yeah.
27:32A lot of pearls for sale in Halong Bay and in Vietnam.
27:35They come from places like this.
27:37It takes over a year to grow each pearl, and there's no guarantee an oyster will even yield one.
27:51Water spinach, I think that's called, right?
27:53Water spinach.
27:53Water spinach, I think that's the most common vegetable for Vietnamese in summertime.
27:59What kind of fish are these?
28:07Little fish.
28:09Halong fish.
28:10Halong fish.
28:14It's delicious.
28:16Good fish.
28:17This is a pretty prime piece of real estate.
28:22They've lived here how long?
28:23For many generations.
28:24This old grandma is 78 years old, and she said that her grandparents lived here before this all become like a big tourist attraction.
28:33Is their situation protected by the state?
28:36They're allowed to live here by special because they've been here so long.
28:39Actually, the government now is encouraging them to move back to shore because that's better for their children's education.
28:46They said that they're happy to move back because it's better for their children, but they've been living here for many, many centuries, and all they know is just fishing.
29:16Right.
29:16Right.
29:25Just another day in paradise.
29:41A tropical downpour in a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Hanoi.
29:52The lady selling vegetables and gum and cigarettes, taking a nap under a piece of corrugated tin, has no idea what's about to happen.
30:02Turn around for me, sir.
30:03One, two, get down.
30:21Bending car to be the boss.
30:25Look at me.
30:26You know what to see.
30:29You see a bad mother.
30:35Look at me.
30:37You know what to see.
30:40You see a bad mother.
30:44Mr. President.
30:45Good to see you.
30:45Baby car to be the boss.
30:47Mr. President, how do you like in Vietnam?
30:49Love it.
30:49Markets like these I grew up with when I was a kid in Jakarta.
30:54These were basically the only markets available.
30:56You know, you would buy pretty much everything in stalls like this.
31:00You know, I wouldn't mind going in there and haggling and seeing what I could find.
31:04This country, when I first arrived here, it smelled like a place that I would like.
31:10Certain countries, just pheromoneically, they just smell good and I know where they're going to be good.
31:15Do you kind of smell that?
31:17You know, there's certain spices that you can smell in certain countries that you just don't smell back home.
31:23Now, you know, there's some smells that aren't as appealing as well.
31:27But that's part of the mix.
31:29It's a need.
31:30Yeah.
31:32Can't put a turn around.
31:33How you doing, guys?
31:36How are you?
31:36Can't put a turn around.
31:40Oh, yeah.
31:42Finally!
31:42Oh, yeah!
31:43Oh, you're so...
31:57Hi!
31:58Hi!
31:58Hi!
31:59I like that.
32:00I like that.
32:04I did it.
32:05There's something magical about the smell.
32:13The minute you touch down here, it grabs you, it captivates you, and chances are, it holds you forever.
32:20I'm not the first to feel this way.
32:22There is no better place to entertain a leader of the free world, in my opinion, than one of these classic, funky, family-run noodle shops you find all over Hanoi.
32:41Dinner and a beer cost about $6.
32:44I'm guessing the president doesn't get a lot of state dinners like this.
32:52How often do you get to sneak out for a beer?
32:58Very rarely.
33:00First of all, I don't get to sneak out, period.
33:03But once in a while, I'll take Michelle out on a date night.
33:07The problem is, part of enjoying a restaurant is sitting with other patrons and enjoying the atmosphere.
33:14And too often, we end up getting shunted into one of those private rooms in the back.
33:19Well, I'm glad I can help, and to many more.
33:22Special beer.
33:22Absolutely.
33:35All right, you're going to have to...
33:36I will walk you through it.
33:37You're going to have to walk me through this.
33:39We're about to eat the bun shop.
33:43And it is about as typical and uniquely a Hanoi dish as there is.
33:48These beautiful little pork patties, some grilled pork belly.
33:53Bun cha is served in a broth of vinegar, sugar, and the ubiquitous guac mam, or Vietnamese fermented fish sauce.
34:01Chilis to taste.
34:02I mean, if you have an important state function after, you might not want to go together.
34:07You know what, I'm not going with this thing.
34:09You know, we're going to do what's appropriate.
34:11Vinegar.
34:12All right.
34:13And then you just hack off noodles.
34:15You just drop them in your bowl.
34:18Yeah, it's not too elegant, but I'm mad at it.
34:21And you dip and stir, and get ready for the awesomeness.
34:24I'm ready.
34:25Now, is it appropriate to just pop one of these whole suckers in your mouth, or do you think that you should be a little more...
34:31Well, slurping is totally acceptable in this part of the world, but...
34:35It takes some skills, by the way, to handle these sticky cold noodles.
34:39But whatever your opinion of the man, the president has those skills.
34:44I gotta say...
34:45This is killer.
34:47This is outstanding.
34:48So good to hear.
34:48It's really good.
34:49And we share, apparently, the sentimentality about Asian street food and Southeast Asia in general.
34:55One of my favorite meals of all time.
34:58There's an area between Jakarta and Bandung, another city in Indonesia, called Punchak, and it's up through the mountains.
35:07So you'd have these roadside restaurants overlooking the tea fields.
35:12There'd be a river running through the restaurant itself, and there'd be these fish, these carp that would be running through.
35:18And you'd pick the fish.
35:19They'd grab it for you and fry it up, and the skin would be real crispy.
35:23And they'd just serve it with a better rice.
35:25And it was the simplest meal possible, and nothing tasted so good.
35:32Now, as a Chicagoan, trickier question fraught with peril.
35:37Is ketchup on a hot dog ever acceptable?
35:39No.
35:40No, I mean that.
35:42That's one of those things like...
35:43Well, let me put it this way.
35:45It's not acceptable past the age of eight.
35:47My daughter's eight, and she put ketchup on eggs the other day, and I didn't know what good parenting called for at this point.
35:55An intervention.
35:56I think so.
35:57I think you just got to say, you know what, that's not acceptable.
35:59I'm sorry.
36:00We're at a point where we seem to be turning inwards.
36:13I mean, we're actually talking about building a wall around our country.
36:17And yet you have been reaching out to people who don't necessarily agree with us.
36:22Gaza, Iran, Cuba.
36:26I mean, I just wish that more Americans had passports.
36:29The sense of which you can see how other people live seems useful at worst and incredibly pleasurable and interesting at best.
36:36It confirms the basic truth that people everywhere are pretty much the same, the same hopes and dreams.
36:44And when you come to a place like Vietnam and you see former American Vietnam vets coming back,
36:50when you see somebody like a John Kerry or a John McCain, two very different people politically and temperamentally,
36:56but who were able to bond in their experience of meeting with their former adversaries.
37:03And you don't make peace with your friends.
37:06You make peace with your enemies.
37:07As a father of a young girl, is it all going to be okay?
37:17It's all going to work out.
37:18My daughter will be able to come here in five years, ten years.
37:20She'll be able to have a bowl of bun cha and the world will be a better place.
37:24Yeah.
37:25I mean, I think progress is not a straight line.
37:28You know, there are going to be moments in any given part of the world where things are terrible.
37:35But, having said all that, I think things are going to work out.
37:44Thank you so much.
37:45Cheers.
37:45Cheers.
37:45Cheers.
37:45Cheers.
38:05The vast majority of this country don't remember the American war.
38:17They don't remember any war.
38:18No.
38:19You used to be a tour guide.
38:21Yes.
38:22For how many years?
38:2315 years.
38:2415 years.
38:25I know you have to bring people over to the museum.
38:28The American war museum, every time, right?
38:31Yeah.
38:31In your lifetime, is there going to be a time when that's not going to have to be a stop?
38:41It won't be necessary.
38:42It won't even be important.
38:43No one will remember.
38:44Or should people always remember?
38:46I think it's good to remember so we don't make the same mistake, you know.
38:50Some people choose to be angry, to hold grudge.
38:53But then some people choose to let go, and for the peace inside themselves.
38:59That's up to the person.
39:02And I think it's good that...
39:04It's important that we know about history.
39:14And to make sure it's never happened again.
39:21I met a lot of war veterans, and surprisingly, a lot of them don't feel, don't have any
39:40angers against their old enemies.
39:44And that's amazing.
39:54That is amazing.
39:56I learned so much from them.
39:57For Vietnamese, we have so many legends.
40:23But the majority of legends related to our tradition of fighting against foreign invaders to protect
40:31our country.
40:39Over the last 20 years of my life, I've seen a lot of changes.
40:45And we know that there's still a lot of shortcomings.
40:53But everything needs time.
40:57We need to be patient.
40:58We can't rush because we really don't want another war.
41:05General William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces here in the mid-60s, famously said,
41:12the Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner.
41:17Life is plentiful.
41:19Life is cheap in the Orient.
41:21It was an extraordinarily grotesque and wrongheaded observation from a guy who, if nothing else,
41:31was expected to understand his enemy on the battlefield.
41:34He could not, it turned out, do even that.
41:44Maybe, I hope, we are a little bit smarter now.
41:51Let's go.
42:03Let's go.
42:08Let's go.
42:08Let's go.
42:12Let's go.
42:12Oh, my God.
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