Rượu đế at the SuTi Distillery

SuTi Craft Distillery is the only traditional Vietnamese rice liquor distillery in the United States, and it's located in quiet Kennedale, Texas, just a few miles down the road from the house where I grew up!

Rượu đế, literally "grass liquor" is a type of Vietnamese moonshine made from rice. It's called grass liquor because during the French colonial period, the only legal alcohol was produced by the government. Local people would still distill their liquor, of course, but they had to hide it in the tall grass fields to keep it out of sight of the authorities. In tribute to this, every bottle at SuTi is wrapped in dried grass as a reminder of where the liquor came from.

SuTi is run by two old friends who left Vietnam shortly after the war with their families as teenagers. They grew up in north Texas, and in college, one of the guys began making rice liquor as a hobby. A few years ago, Mr. Sui and Mr. Tien (where the distillery gets its name from), decided to go into business together. The city of Kennedale gave them not only permission, but lots of support, and today, SuTi is the one and only Vietnamese rice liquor distillery in the United States!

The tasting room is a beautifully-designed bar built by Mr. Tien, an architect by trade. The design incorporates traditional Vietnamese elements alongside modern design, and reminded me a lot of the cool shops and cafes that we saw in the historic city of Hoi An.

Mr. Tien greeted us as we entered, and welcomed us to the bar for a tasting of SuTi's two rice liquors, which he served to us alongside his guided tasting notes and a lovely slice of cheese. We were the only visitors when we first arrived at the distillery, and got a very special welcome! Other guests arrived soon after, but it was nice to be the only ones to have a sort of private tasting. We chatted with the friendly Mr. Tien for a while while we sipped the liquor (it's meant for tiny sips, he told us). He told us all about the history and culture surrounding Vietnamese rice liquor.

After that, he ushered us into the back room where we met Mr. Sui, an engineer by trade and the "cook" and master distiller behind SuTi's products.

Mr. Sui took us through his small craft distillery, explaining the process of rice liquor distilling, from creating a mash out of rice and fermenting it into a basic rice wine, then heating it, distilling it, and resting it for a few days in a steel drum (like a vodka). The final product is smooth, strong, and clear. It's fascinating to see the whole production from rice to liquor!

Mr. Sui insists that using copper equipment is the most important secret for good distilling!

It was such a fun and informative, but very laid back tour. We were made to feel like part of the family! Both the guys were super nice and really proud of their product. It's so nice to see people build a successful business out of their passion. While both still work their day jobs, they make rice liquor just because they love it! I think that's wonderful!

There are currently two products distilled at SuTi: Lion 45 and Old Man.

Lion 45 is an 80-proof liquor with a sharp, sweet flavor. I really liked it, and ended up bringing a bottle home with me!

Old Man is the stronger, smoother 90-proof made from fragrant and aromatic jasmine rice. It's called that, because the distillers wanted to recreate the type of rice liquor created and enjoyed by old men back in Vietnam. They said that the traditional rice liquor that the old men love is usually made in clay barrels. It's cloudy, sharp, and a little bitter. They've tried to remain true to the flavors that the old men love, while still making it appeal to all people. Essentially, they've refined the flavors a bit.

They are also working on a barrel-aged rice wine that tastes almost like a whisky! They just had a little bit, but were willing to give us a tiny sample to taste. It's not on the market yet, but they might have it out by next year. It's a bit smoky with that whisky taste that I love. I can see it becoming really popular! I've never heard of barrel-aged rice liquor before. I think that this sort of innovation that combines traditional Vietnamese methods with American aging style and flavors will make for a really interesting and exciting product!

We had a wonderful time on our first real adventure since arriving in America this year. I will definitely be visiting the distillery again, and wish Mr. Sui and Mr. Tien all the best success! And I will certainly be enjoying my bottle of Rượu đế!

Vaxcation: Hamad to Home (part 3 of 3)

We flew from Bangkok to Doha and then again from Doha to DFW with less than an hour of layover at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. It was a long, long day! The first flight was seven hours, and the second one was 16.

Qatar Airways was great, though! The first flight was especially nice, as they spaced all of the passengers out. Pinky and I had an empty seat between us, and were able to stretch out. The second flight was more crowded, but it was ok.

It was my first time flying internationally since the pandemic began. Things are a little different now! For one, they now pass out a little protective kit along with the comfort kit (which contains socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, lip balm, ear plugs, and a sleep mask). 

The protective kit contains a mask, a little tube of alcohol gel, and a pair of gloves. I was really glad to see the airline taking things so seriously.

They have also amended the pre-departure announcements to inform passengers that you must remove your mask and face shields if the oxygen masks drop down. It's really interesting to see how things have changed in the past two years.

It was a night flight. We left Bangkok at 9pm, arriving in Doha at midnight. There was no time to explore Hamad International Airport, the tiny State of Qatar's only airport, though! Our next flight was supposed to depart just ten minutes after we landed! 

We ended up being delayed a bit, but I didn't get to see much of Qatar. Since I didn't get to leave the airport or get a passport stamp, I don't count this as having visited the country. My personal rule is that I must get a stamp and must set foot outside of the airport, even if it's just for a few minutes!

We left Hamad bound for Dallas-Fort Worth around 1am, landing at DFW some 16 hours later at 9am Texas time. The flight was long and boring, but not too bad! The food was excellent Arab food, not too heavy but extremely flavorful!

I was especially fascinated to see the Islamic elements of the flight! In the onboard entertainment computer, you could even choose to read the Quran!

And when you looked at the flight map, the compass always pointed the way towards Mecca.

Despite this, however, there was plenty of booze available on board! Qatar Airways is the first flight I've ever flow where the liquor is also free for passengers along with the beer and wine!

Finally, tired, cramped, and ready to get out of the plane, we arrived at DFW.

I don't know if you've had to fly at all in the past few years, but there's a new contactless immigration system. It's super cool, but almost a little creepy! There are no longer any forms or documents to fill out, and you don't even have to use the kiosk computers on arrival. Now, citizens just step up to the immigration counter. The officer asked me to remove my mask, took a picture of my face, greeted me by name, and welcomed me to the country. He never even took my passport! I guess there's a database of faces, and they can immediately identify you. 

Pinky had to use the new visitor's system. They did look in her passport, but they didn't give her any sort of stamp. We were really confused at first, and nobody seemed able to explain how the new system worked (which I thought they should have, as it is their job). When we got home, however, we were able to find that you can access a form called I-94 online. This is an immigration website where you enter your passport information, and can look up a log of all your entries and exits to and from the US along with a digital passport stamp. It's really efficient, but as someone who loves passport stamps, I'm a little sad to see them go.

Anyway, we are here in the US, and have already received our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine! After waiting so many months and flying 9,000 miles to get it, the jab was an immediate load lifted. We've been so stressed and worried in Thailand, but it was super fast. We just showed up at a Walgreens on the way home from the airport, and had our jabs just a few minutes later. No charge, no paperwork, no stress!

My arm is a little sore today, but other than that I feel great, and Pinky and I are both so, so happy to already have gotten our first doses of the vax, especially with things so back back in Thailand.

Now, we are taking a few days to rest and relax before I open up my teaching schedule. We've got some fun adventures planned, too! First thing's first, though, and that's to partake in my yearly visit home tradition and enjoy some of the seasonal beers! You just can't get this in Thailand!

Vaxcation: Leaving Thailand (part 2 of 3)

The airline suggested that we arrive at the airport 4 hours early right now due to COVID-19, but when we got to Survarnabhumi Airport, it was downright spooky. Half the lights were off, and every footstep of the very few people who were there echoed around the cavernous departures hall.

In fact, looking at the flights board, there were only seven flights going out that day; everything else had been cancelled. BKK is usually one of the busiest airports in the world, and it's so odd to see it empty like this. 

The country is almost completely shut down right now. Living where we do, you almost wouldn't know how bad things are getting in downtown Bangkok or other parts of Thailand, but seeing the empty airport really hammered home how dire things are right now.

We are taking every precaution on our flight home. We will be wearing the fairly expensive N95 masks along with a face shield for the entire 48 hour journey. It's not comfortable, but it's far better to be safe than sorry.

Even the statues of the ogres from the Ramakien (Thailand's national epic) who stand in the departures hall are wearing masks.

Some ogres like Tosakan (who has five faces on his head) even wore multiple masks!

Check-in took a long time. They had to check our PCR test, fit to fly certificate, CDC form, and QR consent forms. They kept the latter two and returned our medical results to us. We'd need to present the fit to fly certificate and PCR test multiple times throughout our journey.

Eventually we got our tickets. This is the point when things finally started to feel real! Up until this point, I had this tiny worry that we might have forgotten something or missed some little detail and wouldn't be able to travel after all, but once I stepped up to security (it took seconds as we were literally the only two people going through) and passed through immigration (again, I was the only person in the foreigner line and all the officers looked bored out of their minds), it struck me that I was finally going to see my family for the first time in two years!

Inside the terminal, it was even spookier. Every shop and restaurant was closed.

The duty-free was empty, and all the shelves were wrapped up in plastic.

It was really, really creepy!

We didn't see another soul while we walked through the giant airport to our gate.

There was one little snack stand open near the gate. We had just enough time for a safe and responsible beer (drunk through the mask with a straw) before boarding. America, here we come!

Vaxcation: Getting Ready to Go (part 1 of 3)

Bangkok Life Update + COVID-19 Update #16

Things have gotten bad in Thailand. Really, really bad.

The good news is that the government's brilliant Phuket Sandbox idea is going really well! I think it's a great way to safely open up the country to tourism while not forcing people to quarantine. It's great! Unfortunately, in the rest of the country, numbers are on the rise.

Without a real first wave of COVID, and with only 60 deaths all of last year, this is the first time that the kingdom has been really and truly affected by the virus. Without a natural immunity which came with the first wave, and without much access to vaccines, the cases and deaths are booming in Thailand.

Today, there were a record 16,533 new cases and 133 deaths (compared to 60 deaths total in 2020). It's bad. Hospitals are out of beds, and the government just built an emergency field hospital with 1800 beds to handle new cases.

A new lockdown began the other week along with a mandated 8pm closure of taxi service and public transport and a 9pm curfew. Even 7-11 is closing at 8pm now. There are stay-at-home orders for nearly all workers. There's even been talk of a much stricter lockdown if things don't get better fast.

All in all, it's the best time in the past two years to visit the US. Now that numbers are more under control and that vaccines are readily available, my fiancée and I have made the pretty big decision to travel to Texas in August. We've got some family things to take care of, and it's the first time we've felt that it's been safe or a good idea to travel since the pandemic began.

Travel is possible right now, it's just not fast or easy. Here's part 1 of our journey home:

48 hours until departure, we found ourselves rushing around Bangkok trying to find a hospital to give us a PCR COVID-19 test. It's not easy nowadays. Many hospitals have stopped administering the test because they are out of beds. Eventually, we were able to get an appointment at the excellent Ramkhamhaeng Hospital.

Ramkhamhaeng Hospital was super efficient. They had set up a portable testing center outdoors. We just had to register for the test with our flight tickets and passports, pay the 5000 baht fee, and get that horrible swab jammed up our noses. It's not fun. The PCR test stings and makes your nose feel really weird for an hour or so afterwards. But it's quick, and we were soon on our way back home to get packed.

In the afternoon we got texts from the hospital. Negative!!!!! That means we were good to go!

We had to go back out to the hospital in the evening to pick up our test results and to meet with a doctor so that she could issue us our fit to fly certificates.

With our test results negative and with the fit to fly certificate in hand, we next had to print out and fill in the CDC immigration form for the United States and the Qatar Airlines Passenger Consent Form, which you need to submit to the airline at check-in along with your PCR test results and fit to fly certificate.

It seemed really confusing, but we made sure that we had every bit of paperwork in order, and there was no trouble. After that, all we had to do was get to the airport and fly out!

Super glad to be coming home to America for the first time since 2019. It's been too long.

Snap at the Bangkok Skylane

A couple weeks ago, after getting my new bike, I took an early morning trip out to Survarnabhumi Airport of all places to check out the fantastic Bangkok Happy and Healthy Bike Lane, also known as the "Skylane".

Bangkok Bike Lane

It's about a 40-minute ride to the airport from where I live. We took a taxi out east of the city early in the morning to beat the traffic, arriving to find a surprisingly lively and busy area, despite the fact that it was a weekday morning!

they monitor the air quality every day

Cycling is actually quite popular in Bangkok (the King of Thailand himself is an avid cyclist, as a matter of fact!).

at the biking lanes

There are a bunch of facilities at the Skyland, and I was actually kind of surprised to see how modern and efficient everything was! There were a bunch of small restaurants, shops, and cafes (though mostly closed due to the pandemic).

shops and restaurants for cyclists

the bike lane

If you don't have your own bike, don't worry! Bikes are available to rent for the day from the on-site bike shop. Prices start at 400 baht and go up to 900 baht (about $12-$30) depending on the model and material of the bike.

bicycles for rent

bike shops

There's also a small on-site emergency clinic in case of illness or injury.

small clinic and an ambulance for emergencies

It was a beautiful, sunny morning! We weren't quite ready to go out on the big bike trail this time, but really just wanted to check out the Skylain to plan our future adventures.

beautiful sunny morning at the bike lane

Since it's at the airport, some of the architecture and installations are inspired by aviation. This inflatable shelter in the photo below is reminiscent of an aircraft's wing.

airport bike lanes

aviation-inspired designs

The coolest thing about the Skylane is the Snap system. Snap is a sort of digital wallet programmed into a wristwatch-type device which is used to pay contact-free for access to the bike lanes or at any of the shops or restaurants. Technically, it's a small private bank account at Siam Commercial Bank, so in order to get set up, you need to bring your passport or ID card.

SNAP

A Snap account is free, but you do need to load a few hundred baht onto it to get started.

we registered our SNAP, ready for adventure

And when your account is running low, you can just topup with cash at these handy stations!

SNAP top-up

exploring the areas around the bike lanes

blue skies at the airport

ready for a cycling adventure

I still haven't been biking out at the airport, but I'm really hoping to go soon once things get a little safer here Covid-wise. I'm hoping to take my new bike out on a big adventure at the airport sometime in the near future!