honeymoon, part 2: 8 november days in vietnam

i’ve been putting off writing about our vietnam trip because we covered so much ground in 8 days and the prospect of trying to summarize it has been very daunting. i’m here to try my best though, but i won’t do it justice, it was amazing. get ready, guys. this is a long one.

ho chi minh city

ho chi minh (we found that most people still call it saigon) was our first stop and it was a pretty good introduction to the country. it’s a busy city with so much to see and do, so it’s a good place to start a vacation when you’re feeling bright eyed and bushy-tailed. if we’d come here last after a whirlwind trip, i doubt i would have had the energy to accomplish what we did.

to eat/drink:

• l’ushine: we went to the dong khoi location, which was upstairs and took a minute to figure out how to get to, as it was hidden through an art alley. the food was excellent, but very western. i was into that, but you probably wouldn’t want go there if you wanted a traditional breakfast. great vietnamese coffee, too.
• cong caphe: you can find several of these around the city and their coffee is excellent.
• propaganda bistro: a wonderful bistro with outdoor seating with great food and wine/beer. i had a delicious peanut, noodle, and puffed rice dish as we sat outside and watched the tetris game that is scooter parking in vietnam.
• tiger tours: i was googling vegetarian cuisine in ho chi minh and stumbled across a blog that was reviewing this company. we don’t generally tend to be tour people, but it seemed like a fun idea to both a) eat food with locals and b) get to ride around on a scooter. our guides, heidi and tina, two college age girls, loaded us on to the backs of their scooters and drove all all over the different districts of the city, taking us to local restaurants and a quick stop at the flower market for photos and digestion time. the restaurants they took us to were great, they made a huge effort to make sure there were plenty of non-meat options, and it was really interesting to talk to them and learn about how young millennials in vietnam live and view the world.
• hum vegetarian: a pretty high end establishment with good food, reasonable portions, and a hip yet tranquil vibe.
• chill bar: rooftop bars seem to be a big thing here, so we decided to check one out. our tour guide from water buffalo tours warned us that this bar was “not that chill” and he was not wrong. we arrived only to find out they have an actual dress code, so mat had to swap out his flip flops for some black loaner shoes. black is mat’s least favorite color for footwear, so this was pretty hilarious. we had one cocktail each and watched the crowd of tourists try to capture the perfect rooftop selfie, then peaced out to get to dinner.

to do:

• war remnants museum: whether or not you are a museum person or a history person is irrelevant. this is a must. it’s interesting and emotionally exhausting but so so important. i was amazed by how little i knew about the vietnam war. the collection is mainly photographs and weaponry and some propaganda posters. it was haunting. a friend told us to plan something light and fun afterwards, which was good advice.
• independence palace: i was tired and it was hot, so i couldn’t tell you exactly what this palace was originally for, but i do know that is is 95 rooms of impressive, impeccably maintained history.
• take a tour to mekong delta: if you’re willing to give up a full day in ho chi minh, i recommend checking out the mekong delta with a guide. you get driven around in a nice (read: air conditioned) SUV, check out a cao dai temple (which is apparently a mix of taoism, buddhism, and christianity with lots of neon lighting), sample some fruits from a local market, ride scooters through rice fields, eat good food at a restaurant on the water, and take a ride in a boat (pictured above). we enjoyed the market the most, where all the little vietnamese ladies wanted to ask us where we were from, gave us puppies to hold, and one lady just took my hand and we started at each other and smiled for a good few seconds. it was delightful.

hoi an

we flew from ho chi minh to da nang, and took a cab to the quaint historic town of hoi an. a charming but touristy town that is enjoyable to wander during the day and turns into a crowded tourist trap by sundown. there are literal busloads of tourists brought it at night to enjoy the scenic lantern lined streets and local cuisine. there’s always someone trying to sell you something, but once you drown that out and surrender yourself to the crowds, it’s a very pleasant place to visit. there were also a lot of dogs.

to eat/drink:

• madam khanh’s banh mi: the queen of the well known sandwich, and she really did deliver. i was able to get a tasty veggie option in this small and efficient cafe.
• eat cau lao and com ga: from pretty much anywhere. cau lao is a japanese influenced noodle soup made with a special type of water that contains lye that comes from a well in town. it also contains pork, so i did not eat it but mat did and loved it. com ga is a chicken rice dish that is also apparently quite tasty.
• drink a coffee on the roof at faifo coffee: enjoy a vietnamese iced coffee and watch the passers by from above.
• get a happy hour cocktail, watch the boats and enjoy the classical music that is played throughout the town on the porch at mango rooms.

to do:

• wander the streets, get lost! it’s the venice of vietnam, kinda.
• spend too much money at metiseko.
• buy a ticket book and visit the many temples and museums scattered around the town.

ninh binh- tam coc and hoa lu

from da nang we flew to hanoi and spent two nights there, but didn’t spend any time in the city of hanoi at this point in the trip. that would come later. we booked a tour with amazing ninh binh tours through vietnam premier travel and highly recommend the experience. we were picked up in a really nice van (that felt like part limo, part airplane- and it had wifi!), were driven about 2 hours to tam coc, where we stopped at a local house for tea and then went out on bikes to check out the scenery and farm life. we then had lunch at the house (tons of tasty food that was catered to the multiple vegetarians in the group), then got into the small boats powered by women and men with very strong legs. people describe tam coc as “halong bay on land” and that’s a very accurate description. it’s beautiful, lush, green and is simply breathtaking.

we were then taken to hoa lu to visit the temple of king dinh for a short while and then drove back to the city and were dropped off back at the hotel. a representative from vietnam premier travel met us in the lobby and gave us a gift as a thank you for using their service. it was a very nice touch.

ha long bay

from hanoi we took a taxi to the airport where we would board a tiny seaplane to get to ha long bay. apparently there are plenty of other transportation options for getting there, most of which involved several hours worth of time spent in a car or van or bus, but we took a “it’s our honeymoon- treat yo self!” approach and took the seaplane both ways. it was 100% worth it. the plane captain was a canadian ex-military pilot with the most amazing mustache i’ve ever seen, and made me feel perfectly comfortable to be in such a tiny plane. the descent into ha long bay was perfect- it was a little cloudy/misty, which gave it a really moody vibe like you’re stepping into jurassic park. it was also a nice change from being hot and sweaty.

we boarded the emeraude ship, the same one that anthony bourdain (rip) went on in his hanoi episode of “parts unknown”. they upgraded us to the captain’s suite (which is why you always. tell. everyone. that you’re on your honeymoon, even if it’s 2 years late). they fed us lunch and then afterward we took a small boat to the “surprise cave” (pictured below) and yes, it was surprising how deep and far back it went. it’s a large cavern of stalactites complete with mood lighting for extra effect. included was also a stop at a pearl farm with the option to go kayaking. ever eager to get our money’s worth, we opted for the kayaking, which was enjoyable until it started to rain, but even then it was peaceful and beautiful and i’m glad we did it.

sleeping on the board was excellent, which was a pleasant surprise. i’m not great on boats and almost always require dramamine, but thankfully i didn’t need it. i guess this was due to a) ha long being a bay and not prone to being wavy/choppy and b)the boat is quite large. having never been on a cruise, i had no idea. the clientele of the boat consisted of middle aged couples and families with grown children, and certainly had a more upscale feel than what i imagine the younger, party-going population gravitates to. there were plenty of pleasant happy hour drinks on the deck and the food was plentiful and excellent.

the next morning we took an early hike on a small island with a lot of stairs that had a nice view from the top, endured the line of tourists going up and down all of said stairs, went back to the ship for brunch, and headed back to shore. we then boarded the sea plane (same pilot!) and flew back to hanoi.

hanoi

last but not least! it seems like most people start their vietnam journey in hanoi and finish in ho chi minh, but i’m glad we did it this way. hanoi was definitely my favorite of the two major cities. a vietnamese friend of ours told us before we went that hanoi was her favorite because it feels like a younger, more hip city and i agree, yet it somehow felt more well established than ho chi minh.

to drink/eat:

• have some breakfast pho at pho thin. it’s where anthony bourdain and president obama ate and, according to mat, is still amazing despite its popularity.
• find your way to the best bun cha in town. mat says “the best meal in vietnam, hands down.” it’s a delicious choose your own adventure of broth, meat, and assorted fixins. i was down the street eating a banh mi at manh coffee, which was really good. it had fried onions on it, which really took it to the next level.
• banh cuon ba hanh: we went here for our anniversary. it cost about $6 USD each and was probably the best meal we had together in hanoi.
• drink an egg coffee by the railroad tracks at cafe ga dong. we had endlessly heard about egg coffees and decided this would be the place to try one. you can sit outside by the railroad tracks (where a train passes by maybe a couple times a day? it was unclear) and do some good people watching. it’s hard to put my finger on what an egg coffee tastes like- maybe like a liquid meringue?
• find a sidewalk and sit down for a bia hoi and people watch. bia hoi is essentially the cheapest beer with the lowest alcohol content you can find, and it is drank while perched on a tiny plastic chair or stool at what can only be described as a pop-up bar on a sidewalk outside a cafe or store. it’s amazing.

to do:

• temple of literature: a beautiful and quiet respite from the busy streets. ponds and greenery, well preserved buildings, and lots of information make up this historic site.
• women’s museum: see the history of vietnamese women through clothing, artifacts, and stories.
• check out the water puppets show: sure, you’ll only understand the plot if you speak vietnamese, but it’s short, interesting to see the skill involved in moving the puppets, and the musicians were excellent.

something interesting and universal that we noticed during our trip was that multiple people asked us why we had chosen to visit vietnam. when we responded that we have known many people that have traveled there previously and had highly recommended it, people generally seemed surprised. i guess because the u.s. and vietnam have such a complicated (to put it mildly) history that maybe people would think we would have no interest or feel some kind of animospt but they couldn’t have been more wrong. i would tell anyone to visit in a heartbeat. the people, the food, the scenery- it’s all incredible.