Finally warming up to Vietnam

I had heard lots of great things about Vietnam. The amazing scenery, the natural beauty, the food. I was eager to explore the country. Here’s a play-by-play of the past 3 weeks.

Hanoi. We arrived in Hanoi and headed to our Airbnb, located between The Old Quarter and The French Quarter. The Old Quarter is, well, old. Centuries ago (rumor has it 1000 years ago) traders and artisans set up shop here and arranged the streets according to their trade. These days it’s a mix of dozens of coffee shops, restaurants, shoe stores with fake Nike sneakers, and the usual tourist offerings of t-shirts, necklaces and other assorted, Chinese made junk. There are bicycle rickshaw drivers waiting for the buses of tourists to arrive. Some of them were sleeping. There are also tons of travel and tour guide businesses that are eager to help you. We engaged a couple of them but ended doing everything on our own.

Walking around the area I noticed most of the sidewalks are taken up by street food vendors, people eating the street food, and motorbikes. There are about 90 million people in Vietnam and most of them are perfectly at home eating the street food. Problem is they eat it on the sidewalk. They stop, buy the food, and pull up a tiny plastic stool (10″ high) and sit down to a bowl of something that has been prepared just 3 feet away. The cooks wash the dishes right there on the sidewalk too. The setup looked a pretty sketchy to me, plus there was no vegetarian food available. We did find some live music at a jazz club and it was great. Some of the best musicians I’ve ever seen live.

Anywhere there is not street food, the sidewalks are taken up by motorbikes. There are 45 million motorbikes in Vietnam. I’ve concluded that parking a motorbike on a street is illegal, but parking them on the sidewalk is ok.  Same philosophy applies as the food vendors I guess – stake a claim to the sidewalks and make it your dining room and dishwashing room. The motorbikes putter by with families of 3 or 4 on one scooter. They slowly meander around town packed high with a dozen cases of beer, giant flower arrangements, and even things like loads of 20′ long rebar and huge selections from Bed, Bath & Beyond. (I always wondered what the Beyond was?) When they need to park they head onto the sidewalks, where a security guard representing the business at that portion of the sidewalk, will gladly let you park there for a small fee. I’ve seen half-blocks of sidewalks taken up by hundreds of tightly packed motorbikes.

Cat Ba Island. One thing is for certain, it’s easy to get around in Vietnam. I emailed a place, one of dozens available, inquiring about a private bus from Hanoi to Cat Ba Island. I got an email response back within minutes. The bus would pick us up at our hotel at 9 the next morning. The email said to wait in the lobby. Sure enough at exactly 9 a man walked into the lobby and led us out to the bus. The bus bright us a few hours to a ferryboat, which brought us to the island where another bus picked us up and dropped us right at our hotel.

The hotel in Cat Ba was new and clean and nice. The staff were not helpful. I went to the front desk right after we checked in to see if I could borrow or purchase an adapter. Even tough the hotel was new they use old electrical outlets for some reason. The 2 people behind front desk were preoccupied looking at Youtube videos. I asked them about the adapter. The reply was “I can’t help you” and they continued to stare and laugh at the video, which had their full attention. I asked if there was a place I could buy one. Without looking up they gestured to the left and said “That way, maybe store”. I stared at them for 10 seconds. No further interaction.

One of the many bizarre things about Vietnam is the food. Walking through the streets of Cat Ba Island you’ll see many restaurants each with dozens of aquariums out in front, near the sidewalk. The tanks are full of various fish, eels and even very large horseshoe crabs, some 12 inches long. That’s the menu. Point to sea creature of your choice and they’ll do the dirty work.

We hired a private boat one afternoon and toured around the bay. Lan Ha Bay and Ha Long Bay are the famously beautiful attractions in this area. You’ve seen the pictures of them in any tourist guide about Vietnam.

Tam Coc (Ninh Binh). Another email to the bus company and the next morning we picked up at our place and were on our way to the interior part of the country. The bus was pretty full of tourists like us, travelling with large backpacks. It dropped us off in the tiny center of Tam Coc, an excessively hyped tourist stop. We came for the natural beauty and were not disappointed. There are rock droppings that resemble the sights in Ha Long Bay, but instead of being surrounded by ocean they are nestled by rice fields as far as the eye can see.

 

The busloads of tourists and the trappings that are offered make this area a really busy place. Dozens of tourists on crappy bicycles ride in groups taking in the sights. That’s really the best part. There are 4 areas where dozens and sometimes hundreds of rowboats are plying for tourist business, offering to take people for a ride, both figuratively and literally.

The first day we were there we walked into back into town. Our hotel was about a 30 minute walk outside of the center. We tried to find some vegetarian places. One place was named something like “Tam Coc Vegan”. We were instantly thrilled. Thumbing through the menu we noticed there was no vegetarian food. We inquired and the helpful man turned to a page and pointed to a salad, a bowl of greens, and a bowl of noodles listed. The place had Vegan as part of the name. Looked around and saw a place across the street with about 4 funeral style flower arrangements out in front. It was an Indian restaurant. We looked for reviews online. There were none. We cautiously approached to  investigate. Why would there be funeral arrangements outside this place? Did the owner just pass away? An Indian looking man came out and greeted us and tried his best to lure us in, handing us menus. I said “What’s up with the flowers, bro?” He said “Our first day opening brand new business”. Ah, that explained no reviews online. We went inside and decided to try it. As we sat down I noticed a larger, Indian looking man. I approached him and said hello and asked if he had been in Hanoi last week at an Indian restaurant there. He said yes. I knew I recognized him. He was one of the owners of their new place and just happened to be in Hanoi last week eating an an Indian restaurant the same time we were. The food was good, we didn’t get sick, so we came back every day to eat.

We spent most of time cycling and hiking around Tam Coc & Ninh Binh. We visited pagodas, graveyards, temples and rice fields – sometimes all on the same dirt road. One day we went to the national park and a primate rescue center. It was great to spend time in Nature. We took a cave boat tour. There were hundreds of boats with thousands of tourists, but the tour through the caves was pretty impessive.

When it was time to circle back to Hanoi for 1 night and catch a plane the next day, our hotel manager arranged for a private bus to pick us up right there, in the middle of nowhere, and shuttle us back to Hanoi. The bus dropped us off right at an Airbnb we had booked. Door to door service. Did I mention it’s really easy to get around in Vietnam?

Danang, Hoi An, & Cam Kim Island. We took short flight, about an hour, with Jetstar Pacific to Danang. I was super impressed with this airline. We walked up to the counter to check our bags and get our boarding passes. It took us exactly 1 minute to check our baggage and receive our boarding passes. Their planes are newer, cleaner and comfier and roomy. Highly recommended.

So we land in Danang and our Airbnb host on Cam Kim Island arranges the 1 hour taxi ride for us. We are dropped off at a fancy fabric/tailor shop in Hoi An. I know what you’re thinking, India, right? The manager of the shop is our Airbnb host. She makes a call and a motorbike shows up and takes our 2 large backpacks weighing total of 70 pounds, and our belongings are whisked off to the guesthouse. We needed to eat and agreed to be back at the fabric store at 8 PM. We would be ferried over to the island on motorbikes, at night, on a series of dark, skinny bridges made for motorbikes, pedestrians and bicycles.

The decision to stay on Cam Kim was pretty much unplanned. Hoi An is a really famous tourist stop and we almost blew it off, especially after talking with other travelers. But when were we searching for a place to crash for the night we came across this guesthouse that had dozens of 5 star reviews. It was located on the island which is about a 15 minute bicycle ride away. The island is untouched by any sort of development or tourism. The home was beautiful and included a kitchen on the roof along with 2 open areas where we practiced and filmed Yoga classes. We decided to stay 5 nights and it was a good decision. We rode bikes into town and around the island. The scenery was great. There were jungles and rice fields, and it was really, really hot. The island was one of the most authentic experiences we’ve had on the trip so far. The residents were harvesting and drying rice. They were also growing the largest zucchini on the planet. Some of them were over 36″ long.

Danang. We stayed in Danang for 2 nights before our flight to the next stop, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We had a little free time so we visited Cao Dai Temple. Caodaism is a religion that I’ve never heard of before. It’s fairly new, established in 1926. We spent time inside meditating. It was a pretty cool place. They had a painting of a group of famous religious figures from the past 2000 years, all in a group, all getting along. The grounds outside had an impressive display of Bonsai. Everyone in Vietnam has a Bonsai. Some folks have dozens.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).  on Jetstar Pacific. Again, we approached the counter, no lines, no waiting, and it took 60 seconds to check our bags and get our boarding passes. When we arrived in Saigon we took a Grab (an Asian Uber) to Riviera Point Condos. We’re staying with a wonderful Airbnb host who is sharing her 2 BR apartment with us for 5 nights. The place is in a 40 story high-rise with a pool, gym/yoga room, and an outdoor lounging area on the 29th floor. Ho Chi Minh City is way nicer than you think. It reminds me a little of Bangkok but with no subways amor skytrains. After 3 weeks in Vietnam we finally found a proper supermarket and we had a field day.

We have 3 more days here and then we’re off to Malaysia for a 2 night stop-over, then continuing onward to Nepal, a place we’ve been 2 times, in 2007 & 2010.