Vietnam

[kneazle]

I'd forgotten how exciting it is to actually plan a trip that is actually going to happen!

I'm going to Vietnam for two weeks in April!

Eek!

Any tips or ideas welcome.

[wombatrois]

Where are you going? We fell in love in VN around a million years ago when it was first opening up (and before TT!), so didn't want to spoil the experience by going back, but that was our last trip PC (pre covid) - Cambodia and Vietnam - along the south coast and mekong. We ended up at Phu Quoc which is really a bit over done, but found a nice small place to stay and a lovely beach in the end. The mekong is our favourite place to be whether it's Thailand, Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam (it rises in China, but haven't been there yet). We travelled overland from Kampot to Can Tho, then on the return journey by river from Chau Doc to Phnom Penh.

The million years ago trip we went to Saigon, Nha Trang, Hoi An and Hue, before hightailing back to the south after being washed away by a typhoon (mid-November time). Hoi An had around 10,000 visitors per annum back then, so it's a tad different these days with around 4 million! It is beautiful, though. Saigon is great, especially on a Saturday night when every scooter in town rides the streets. Nha Trang is run by the russians these days, but was a quaint little seaside town back then. I believe Quy Nhon is better than Nha Trang these days.

Places I would still like to go include Dalat, Hanoi and probably Halong Bay, but in the off season and Quy Nhon)

If you can get off the main trail, like we did last trip, the places are really lovely and not particularly overrun (Chau Doc, Can Tho and even Phu Quoc if you want a beachy bit.

I'm not into perving on hill tribes or trekking, so Sapa doesn't interest me.

[sprite]

We joke that our trip was the "4H"-Hanoi, Hoi An, Hue, Halong Bay. This joke is funnier if you know the North American 4H clubs for young people. It was rarely peaceful, but we only had a short time to see a lot, so that was the sacrifice.

I loved Hue, and even got some clothing made, but we were there for 3 nights.
We did a 2N boat on Halong Bay, and that was gorgeous.

[kneazle]

So the tour starts in Hanoi and includes Halong Bay with an overnight cruise and Sapa. Then I'm going to fly to Hoi An for a few days then on to Ho chi min for a few days.

It'll be nearly 4 years since I left the country by the time I go and over 4 years since my last big trip.

The tour is a really good deal which is what made my mind up on where to travel.

[tzarine]

highly recommend the reunification express from ho chi minh city to hanoi
great way to see the country
vietnamvisa.govt.vn/travel-guides/reunification-express-train-guide/

ditto to what wombatrois said about the mekong

[wombatrois]

OK, sounds like a great trip. There are two delicacies you need to eat in Hoi An - White Rose and Cau Lau

hoianprivatetaxi.com/white-rose-dumplings-hoi-an/

www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/hoi-noodles-cao-lau

Other than that, my experience is way too out of date, although I believe they have the full moon lantern festival on more than the full moon these days? We stumbled onto it one night when we walked downtown for dinner - this was when "Hoi An was worth a day trip from Danang", according to the LP guide first edition and had one paragraph in the guide (and nothing about the lantern festival)!

[tzarine]

kneazle

here's my piece on the reunification express. w tips & observations:

Letter from Hanoi 11-17
Dear Ishmael,
I write you from the Reunification Express from Saigon to Hanoi. This journey
allows me some calm after the sensory assault that is Ho Chi Minh City - the scooters, the
heat, the crowds, the pollution. Cemeteries with obelisques and the crosses on Catholic
churches scar through the lush verdant rice paddies. Both are the remnants of the legacy
of the French and the Americans, the lingering memories of colonialism and war.

As the moon illuminates the rails, I get melancholy. I like my train rides long - the
Trans Siberian is one of my favorite journeys - this one is 38 hours. I feel a sense of
nostalgia for a childhood trip from Los Angeles to San Diego, the overnight trip from
Hong Kong to Beijing I first took solo, a trip I repeated with my boyfriend and then our
son Casey, the Coast Starlight. Trains force me to sit, this time for 1700 kilometers: I put
down Wuthering Heights and watch the moving picture outside my windows. Water
buffaloes, farmers wearing non la, kids strolling along country paths remind me of the
Chinese countryside, landscapes that look unchanged for ages.
We have a comfortable private cabin: it's an amazingly cheap first-class ride. I'm
drinking lots of cups of strong coffee from the fellow with the regular pushcart cafe.
There's sweets and dragon fruit and meals consist of cooked rice with chicken or pork
stew and a side of cabbage served up by the cheery non-English speaking staff. I meet a
few locals and I give bracelets to a couple of girls on board, who are immensely
delighted.

At Da Nang, Hue, Hoi An, cities notorious to me growing up watching news of
the Vietnam war, men go outside to smoke and smoke and smoke; we get off for fresh
air, stretch and photos, as ladies offer us noodles and packages of biscuits and rice with
mystery meat.

2 Hanoi
I really hate this wherever in the world it happens - when the locals look at me as
if I was a flesh and blood walking dollar bill. I've learned is that you can only take Mai
Linh or the green Saigon taxis – because of their honest drivers – other companies hire
greedy drivers who scam via circuitous rides or simply refuse to use their meters. Let's
hear it for the glorious capitalism.

We are staying in the French quarter by tree-lined lake Hoan Kiem; the hotel
interior is all glistening Vegas lights shiny. On weekends, the ring road around the lake
closes and becomes a charming pedestrian walkway. Families, couples and groups of
friends promenade in the festive atmosphere where lion dancers perform for money, kids
ride electric cars and ice cream vendors sell popsicles in all sorts of lurid colors.

The staff of the hotel is young, the post-war children who all speak good English
and share a slightly cynical nonchalance about Communism. With this group it's about
hanging with friends, watching flicks, karaoke, drinking, travel aboard, working out,
meeting for grilled pork, hoping for better jobs.

You can get babies here. At the Temple of Literature, a memorial to Confucius
and learning, I see European couples wearing Baby Bjorn carriers holding their newly
adopted children. The China market has dried up, so the weaker economies are new
sources of babies and unlike the rigid Chinese restrictions, you can get boys. Nearby,
students giggle, clown and pose in academic gowns for photos as part of a traditional
ceremony.

I am not much for war tourism and visiting the mausoleums of man's cruelty and
sadism. I skipped the Killing Fields when in Cambodia and am taking a pass on the
Hanoi Hilton here.

France isn't far emotionally. At the "Parisian style" Hotel Metropole, guests sit in
air-conditioned finery nibbling imported chocolates accompanied by demitasses
of rich local coffee, far removed from the hoi polloi. This Sofitel legend advertises
"colonial grandeur." Ah, the nostalgia, Guess the French haven't quite gotten over Dien
Bien Phu.

The Kinh Do is more my pace, an unpretentious joint known for its croissants and
creamy homemade yogurt. I speak French with the proprietor, a slim sixtyish lady with
bobbed hair. It's always comforting and odd to speak the mother tongue of a former
colony, but that's the language of the older generation and the past, now.

At Trang Tien mall, the former Grand Magaasins Reunis, the spectacular 1920s
French department store, designer brands dominate. It's the redundance of luxury because
a Louis Vuitton shop is pretty much the same in anywhere in the world. The cheeriest
sight is the smiling middle-aged man, clearly oblivious to the consumer goods, who just
relishes the air-con while riding up and down the elevators.

We're eating well and cheaply. Casey seeks out Pho, but I'm enjoying com bin
danh, literally “the peoples' food”: fried fish, chicken stew or pork belly, a bowl of bone
broth, a scoop of morning glory and banh xeo, crepes filled with shrimp and onions, torn
and wrapped in lettuce and mint, dipped in fish sauce. I am obsessed with che, the sweet
dessert soup and puddings. My current favorite is the refreshing che ba mieu, a tri-color
mess of coconut, agar and red beans.

Communism is ripe for kitsch. At Cong Caphe, vintage black and white photos of
joyous peasants and stern soldiers decorate the walls and baristas, clad in khaki shirts and
wearing caps adorned with red stars, dispense the frothy coconut café, at near Starbuck's
prices to tourists and well-heeled locals in designer gear.

Thanh, the shaggy-haired night clerk and I have a laugh about the teenaged girl
who shot down an American flyer during the American War – that’s what it is called
here. It’s certainly a striking photo, a gun-toting young girl guarding a man nearly a foot
taller than her. He chuckles as he tells me that image was turned into a postage stamp and
that they studied her story in school textbooks. The sleeping man - that’s what many
locals call Uncle Ho and many admit to never having paid him a visit. Like his fellow
Communist brothers Lenin and Mao, he’s preserved under glass.

I realize how much I love former Communist countries and the ones I visited so
far since rapprochement - China, Cuba, Russia, Czech Republic - have fulfilled some of
the curiosity of my Cold War childhood. In this exploration of our forbidden enemy
lands, I've seen their sometimes strange propaganda images of us and locals have been
eager to meet us, perhaps to dispel the stories they have heard about us. I am still trying
to figure what all that ducking under desks was all about.
From Hanoi with love

[Phar Lap]

Hanoi - I can recommend the Thang Long water puppets theatre, it is very entertaining, tickets weren’t expensive. The red bridge over Hoan Kiem lake is beautiful.

Da Lat - Bao Dai’s Summer Palace 

I travelled around the country mostly by overnight train, I did a motor bike tour from Da Lat to Nha Trang with Easy Riders.
I booked a tour Hanoi to Sapa and Bacha then another with the same company Hanoi to Ha Long Bay.
Another three day tour  Sai Gon to Can Tho.
Hoi An is where you get tailor made stuff, I would recommend Yaly.
I flew into Sai Gon and travelled north to Hanoi.

Where in Vietnam are you going and will you be travelling independently?

[kneazle]

Wombat - I'm really looking forward to the food. There's a cooking class as part of the tour.

I hadn't really heard of Hoi An but a colleague said it was definitely worth going. And that was before she told me about custom made shoes!

[kneazle]

Tzarine - thanks for sharing that it's beautiful

[kneazle]

Sept 24, 2022 16:31:46 GMT -5 Phar Lap said:

Hanoi - I can recommend the Thang Long water puppets theatre, it is very entertaining, tickets weren’t expensive. The red bridge over Hoan Kiem lake is beautiful.

Da Lat - Bao Dai’s Summer Palace 

I travelled around the country mostly by overnight train, I did a motor bike tour from Da Lat to Nha Trang with Easy Riders.
I booked a tour Hanoi to Sapa and Bacha then another with the same company Hanoi to Ha Long Bay.
Another three day tour  Sai Gon to Can Tho.
Hoi An is where you get tailor made stuff, I would recommend Yaly.
I flew into Sai Gon and travelled north to Hanoi.

Where in Vietnam are you going and will you be travelling independently?

I'm pretty sure I've already answered this but 7 day tour from Hanoi (Halong bay, Sapa, Hanoi) then second week by myself to Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh.

[Liiisa]

You did

[Phar Lap]

Sorry Kneazle, silly me. Hoi An is the place for all tailor made clothing. Yaly is still the best and will post to your home address if they aren’t able to complete an order before you leave.
Also in Hoi An try the Hoi An cakes, White Rose  dumplings, and Cao Lầu are only to be found in Hoi An.

  

[Phar Lap]

This is Cao Lầu 

[tzarine]

Sept 25, 2022 18:39:28 GMT -5 Phar Lap said:

Sorry Kneazle, silly me. Hoi An is the place for all tailor made clothing. Yaly is still the best and will post to your home address if they aren’t able to complete an order before you leave.
Also in Hoi An try the Hoi An cakes, White Rose  dumplings, and Cao Lầu are only to be found in Hoi An.

View Attachment  View Attachment

phar

you are making me soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hungry!

[leela]

I fell in love with Hanoi within seconds of leaving my hotel. It's so weird when that happens, but it did and that feeling never waned. My little hotel* had the sweetest staff I've ever come across, was right in the middle of everything, and I walked out into a street where the sounds and smells instantly 'spoke' of somewhere new and exciting.

*it was called The Spoon Hotel, which is sweet in itself. I'm concerned that it might not have survived Covid though.

[scicaro]

My sister lived in HCM for 4 years. Unfortunately I didn't get out to visit due to small kids and money things but if you have any specific questions I can ask her?

[kneazle]

Any last minute suggestions? I leave tomorrow night just before midnight.

Really looking forward to exploring new places and trying different food and just getting away for a couple of weeks.

It'll be nice to get on a plane and not have to work when I get to the other end.

[kneazle]

The holiday has officially begun.
I've handed over work responsibilities. My colleague is with the cats who are cautiously interested. And I'm at the airport with an over priced glass of wine.

[tucano]

Have a great time!

[Liiisa]

Enjoy the mediocre airport wine and have a fantastic time!

[kneazle]

The wine was lovely, I just paid more for a glass than I normally do for a bottle of the exact same wine www.thegoodwine.co.nz/product/matawhero-single-vineyard-pinot-rose/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwla-hBhD7ARIsAM9tQKv7IqAOs76z7SNlXK6iOE9bwgcq9Z5IYP4UdGolOj0hEEkVqS17x5oaAj0gEALw_wcB

[sprite]

So exciting!
I feel like there was a lot of good food I didn't eat there, but I only had a week and didn't really have time to research properly.

[ozziegiraffe]

Bon voyage ! Have a wonderful time.

[sophie]

Have a fabulous trip!

[lillielangtry]

Happy travels kneazle!

[kneazle]

Survived the first leg.
One of my cats nearly gave my house sitter a heart attack. He knocked the treats off the counter at 2am

[sprite]

ha!

[Phar Lap]

A bit late to the party Kneazle, have a whale of a time and enjoy the sights and smells that is Viet Nam. Photos of the outfits you have made by the tailors are expected!