Travel Guide Lê Mât

East of Hanoi, on the left bank of the Red River, in the district of Gia Lam. As always, in Vietnam, history and legend merge. During the reign of Ly Thanh Tông (1072-1127), a villager is said to have helped a princess threatened by a snake monster. The king wanted to reward him, but the peasant wanted no other reward than the authorization for the inhabitants of the village of Lê Mât to go and develop unexploited land west of the capital. This is how he earned his stripes of tutelary genius of the village. The villagers specialized in hunting and breeding snakes. The village of Lê Mât is now inserted in the urban fabric which constitutes the great agglomeration of Hanoi. The ancient village structure is still visible today through the communal house(dinh) where the tutelary genie is honored. But Lê Mât is especially famous from a tourist point of view because it perpetuates a very particular culinary tradition, the one which knows how to accommodate the snake. Cobras, bongares(cap nong, very venomous snakes with black and yellow stripes) and snakes come from the breeding which ensures the income of the village families. In addition to their use in the unusual gastronomy of the village, these snakes are also used in the preparation of traditional medicine. The reptiles are macerated in large glass jars. This brandy is said to be able to overcome rheumatism, arthritis and muscular pain.