Snails, Pork Balls, and Vietnamese Pancakes

Dinner was great. I had some real Vietnamese cuisine. The snails came in a coconut cream sauce and I had about 20-30 of them to suck out of the shell. They were pretty difficult to chew, but the sauce was tasty and the snails were not bad themselves. I also had pork balls which I am pretty sure were like sliced pig testicles with some noodles. They were actually the best part of the meal and kind of tasted like meat loaf. Finally I had some good old deep fried pork ribs and a Vietnamese pancake, which is a thin crepe-like patty with pork, beef, and shrimp that you put into a lettuce wrap and dip in this orange sauce. It was a very interesting night out for dinner, but well worth the $9. We were three, the dutchman, his friend, and I, so there was a combination of dutch, english, and vietnamese being spoken at all times. Tomorrow I leave the hostel and head to a very nice hotel with the rest of the group as they arrive throughout the day. We will stay for only one night before we head out into the more rural areas of Vietnam for the start of the program.