"what the fuck - he doesnt understand"
"no, he gets it, hes just being modest.."
"maybe he wants us to do it first"
"think?"
"yeah."
"right. k. fuck .. "

i knocked back the little green shotglass, smiling.
damn. snake bile doesnt taste like.. what i ..uh.. i thought snake bile would taste like.

we are sitting in a restuarant in Le Mat, Hanoi's tiny but notorious "snake village", a place where viet businessmen come to share snake after hammering out deals and formalities, and where party apparatchiks come to waste more public funds. we invited one of our moto drivers in to eat with us, since he was waiting outside for us. there was no other real business for him that night.

about 55 years old, and wearing an old army shirt - he looks at me, smiling. im wondering exactly what effect drinking snake bile and rice wine with ex-VietCong will have on US-Viet relations. im wondering what McCain would think of this. im wondering if snake bile contains any venom. im wondering if venom will give me "snake lover power", or the runs.

we point to his glass. we offer him some of the snake spring rolls, some fried snake skin and rib cage, snake with garlic, snake fried rice, some snakey snake snake, and some snake soup.

he nods.
"won.. tuu.. dree"
he laughs and knocks the shot back.

smiling, his eyes dart towards his wedding band, then the door.

this guy is hilarious.