Culture shock.
Two days before I left for my trip, I went to Apollo Nails, my favorite nail spot in Seattle and shared with my nail technician that I quit my job and was planning to travel the world. She was Vietnamese and her eyes lit up when I told her one of the countries I was most excited about was Vietnam. She stopped what she was doing and asked me to pull out my phone to show me all the places I could not miss. She gave me a list of five different cities, I took screen shots of each one, and got to planning my Vietnam trip with her advice and expertise. Five months later, I boarded the plane in Tokyo bound for Hanoi, Vietnam.
I can only explain my first hour in Vietnam as complete culture shock. Japan, as explained in my last post, was so clean, neat and orderly. Vietnam is the exact opposite. I feared my life in my thirty-minute taxi ride from the airport to my hostel with cars weaving in and out of traffic, motorbikes everywhere, pedestrians walking on the streets, broken seatbelts, and bumper to bumper traffic. Enter anxiety. After a few days, I was used to the chaos and ready to see more.
Hustle and bustle.
Hanoi is a large city in the northern part of the country. My first night at my hostel I met Halle, a vivacious and lovely Canadian, that would be a huge part of my Vietnam adventures. We immediately clicked and made plans for the next day. I took it easy after traveling from Japan and took a yoga class at Om Hanoi in the morning. It was the most difficult class I have had in months and loved every minute of it. I did some trip planning and met Halle and a few others from my hostel for happy hour. We walked around town to find dinner, had two huge plates of fried spring rolls for $3 and bought our tickets to the water puppet show, a popular tourist attraction in Vietnam. The show had beautiful Vietnamese live music, hundreds of puppets and told several different cultural tales (many of which I missed because the show was in Vietnamese) but a wonderful experience regardless. After the show we hit the popular beer street which is a narrow street filled with bars, restaurants and people for days. We found a bar playing old school hits and danced until wee hours of the morning.
The next day, I met up with Ala, a gal I met in Greece on my last day in Athens, and we ventured to a GIANT market that had everything from dried seafood to fabric to jewelry. We meandered around (AKA got lost), bought some mango and shampoo, bartered for socks, and sweat through our clothes – I should mention it was about 100 degrees Fahrenheit!! We found Timeline Coffee, a rooftop restaurant, to enjoy some refreshments and cool off before making our way to the Thê Húc Bridge, or the welcoming morning sunlight bridge, a footbridge over Hoàn Kiếm Lake. We had dinner at a local spot near our hostels for some cheap and delicious fresh spring rolls and fried rice then parted ways. We were both going to be in Thailand the next month, so it was not goodbye, but see you later 😊.
Ho Chi Minh City is the capital of Vietnam and even crazier than Hanoi if you can imagine that. I visited the Vietnam War Memorial and cried my way through the three floors, what really got me is the section on agent orange and how it is still relevant today in birth defects four generations later. I do not remember learning about the war in history class, but the details and horrors of what happened I cannot erase from my memory now. I walked through parks, along the river during sunset, ate at Vo Rooftop – which was one of the best meals I had in Vietnam, and went up to the top of Bitexco Financial tower. I did a night motorbike food tour that I booked through the Get Your Guide app. I needed to conquer my fears and ride a motorbike because they are everywhere in SE Asia, and it was inevitable that I would be on one at some point. Kelvin was my guide and I told him I feared motorbikes and he was drove like an angel. There was one other traveler from New Zealand on the tour with me and Becky and I bonded right away! We tried 11 different foods from fried oysters, to Vietnamese pizza, to traditional banh mi sandwiches. At the end of the tour, we were STUFFED. The tour took us to rural areas, street food markets I never would have stopped at, and the guides shared more about their culture. I would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone visiting Ho Chi Minh. My last night in Vietnam, I met a Brazilian named Victor at the hostel happy hour, and we agreed to hit up the Bui Vien walking street to see the night scene. We enjoyed cold beer while people watching and singing along to a live rock band. It was such a lovely way to round out my time in Vietnam. SO many great memories with great people I hope to meet again.
In the clouds.
I met Leni from Germany in that hard yoga class on my first day in Vietnam. We had lunch after class and discussed our travel plans. We were both avid hikers and headed to Sapa (the mountainous northern area of Vietnam about three hours north of Hanoi) next. So naturally we decided to combine forces and plan a three-day trekking trip. She did all the research, found a local company called Viettrekking, and booked our trip. We arrived in Sapa, met up for coffee and got ready for an adventure neither of us were expecting!
We were supposed to leave at 6am the next day, but got a text at 5am from the tour company that their bus had broke down and they were not able to leave until the next day…NOT IDEAL. We quickly changed our future travel plans (thank you Vietnam Airlines for having a wonderful flight change policy – forever a fan) and agreed to start the trek a day later. We spent the extra day doing a small hike through Cat Cat Village and hundreds of rice fields in the valley close to the city. The trekking agency offered to pay for dinner and our hostel the night before we left for the inconvenience and we met the group we would be spending the next three days with for hot pot. It was me, Leni, one other German and 13 Vietnamese adults with two tour guides. Everyone was so kind and while some did not speak English, there were several that did and would be our translators for the trip.
We were going to be hiking the 4th tallest mountain in Vietnam, Ky Quan San, sitting 3046 meters high (or 10,000 feet) over three days and two nights staying in a shack nestled in the mountains with no running water and a generator they only run for two hours a night. The journey to get to the start of the hike was insane. Narrow roads winding through mountains and a 15 minute terrifying motorbike ride with a local. It rained the night before and the start of the trail was just straight mud. Slipping and sliding up was difficult and dirty but we made it up and through the bamboo forest. We stopped for a hot lunch of chicken, sticky rice, and fresh fruit to give us energy for the rest of the hike. We had porters carrying our essentials and all the food/utensils we would need for the next three days, which made things a bit easier. We made it to our shack around 5pm and enjoyed the view of the mountain tops in the clouds. It was a long day, but absolutely worth it. I have hiked a lot of mountains and this is honestly top of the list – pics here to prove why! The next day we woke up for sunrise, had a delicious ramen breakfast and made our way to the summit of the mountain. We scrambled rocks, held on for dear life on the ridges between mountains, and made it to the top. What an accomplishment! Unfortunately, there was no view as the top was surrounded by fog and mist, but we snapped some photos, received a medal from the trekking company and celebrated with beer and many high fives.
Each night at camp we had hot meals cooked over fire, sat around the fire getting to know each other while drinking traditional Vietnamese apple wine, and complained about how much our bodies hurt from the trek. This trip was one I will never forget. It is somewhat hard to explain as it was so authentic. From the local mountain women moving from one peak to another to sell us snacks and water along the trail, to the Vietnamese food we had no idea how to eat and had to be explained, to the buffalo and goats roaming free, and the many stories and laughs we shared with our new friends. I will remember this trip forever and am so grateful I got to experience it with such a great group of humans. The tour included a bath soak in a spa when we got back to the city and it was exactly what our bodies needed. We said our goodbyes and some of us got on a night bus back to Hanoi. This is a very common way to get around in SE Asia and always a new adventure. You are basically on a chair that is a lounge bed, there are top and bottom bunks, and you do your best to sleep through the night. There are no bathrooms on the bus, so the driver stops multiple times and often to pick other passengers up. If there is no room, they sit on the floor. It is an experience and likely my last one on this trip, thank goodness. Bring snacks and avoid too much water!
Calm bays.
Ha Long Bay is known for its thousands of rocky islands and picturesque views that look like computer screensavers. I booked myself a hotel (yes, I splurged and paid $25 a night – well worth it) and booked a boat tour through the bay with several stops for the day. Halle, whom I met in Hanoi and her partner Zach were also there and we booked the excursion together. We were picked up at our hotels early and made our way to the pier with a group of about 25 people. The weather was not ideal for a boat day, with clouds and rain in the forecast, but we made the most of it. Everywhere you looked, the views were incredible as we made our way through the Am Islet and Hoa Cuong Mountain Range. We stopped at Sung Sot Cave, one of the largest in the area, for an hour and kayaked through Luon Cave where we saw some monkeys and many jellyfish. After headed to Titop Beach where we climbed to the peak for beautiful panoramic views of the bay and made our way back down to jump in the sea to rinse our sweat off. We were the only one’s swimming…but where there is water, I will swim. We had a traditional seafood lunch on the boat filled with clam soup, oysters, fish cakes, white fish, and rice. So tasty.
The next day I planned a trip to Cat Ba Island, the largest island in Ha Long Bay with much of the island consisting of a national park. Many people stay on the island, but I chose to stay on the mainland. Therefore, I had to take a taxi to the pier, a ferry to the island, and another taxi to the Cat Ba National Park in the middle of the island. The main hike in the national park is the Dinh Ngu Lam trail and now I know why! It was not long or super hard, but the views were stunning looking out at rows and rows of lush green mountains. I hiked for about four hours (found some other trails and took the long way back) and enjoyed a cold beer before heading back on the afternoon ferry. Once back to the mainland I got traditional beef Pho and enjoyed a few beers on the beach with two sweet ladies I met on the ferry.
While in Ha Long Bay, you must have seafood. I made friends with a kind Swiss, David, who was also staying at my hotel and we hit it off right away. We sat for hours chatting about life on the bench outside the hotel while getting attacked by mosquitos. He found a local seafood place that we went to for dinner. We ordered SO MUCH seafood from the biggest shrimp I have ever seen, to oysters, to seafood spring rolls, to garlic white fish. It was incredibly fresh and worth the splurge. I had a wonderful time in Ha Long Bay, but if I were to do it again, I would stay on Cat Ba Island and rent a motorbike to get around the island cheaper and easier. You live and you learn.
The jen essentials for Vietnam.
- Hiking boots (which are now so muddy and need to be cleaned)
- Body wipes (no running water in the mountains…)
- Hand fan (in 100 degree weather this is ESSENTIAL)
- Fresh spring rolls (I cannot get enough of them – I had them everyday in Vietnam, sometimes twice)
- Alertness while walking and navigating the streets (like I said, it is madness with cars, bikes, people, etc.)
- Vietnamese coffee (the condensed milk adds just the right amount of sweetness to combat the strong coffee – also try the coconut coffee!!)
- Night busses (THIS IS AN EXPERIENCE YOU DONT WANT TO MISS – rough, but a way of life to get around in Vietnam)
- Massages (they are about $6-8 for an hour so I got one almost every other day)
- Flexibility with travel plans and schedules (I would have missed the best experience in Sapa had I not changed my plans)
- New friends (I met so many amazing people in Vietnam and I cannot wait to see them again!)
Wrap it up jen.
Vietnam exceeded my expectations in every way possible. I have so many fond memories of navigating the city on a motorbike, watching the sunrise in the clouds, eating flavorful food and as many Vietnamese fresh spring rolls as one person can consume, and laughing until it hurts with people from all over the world. Two and a half weeks were not long enough. I did not do several areas/cities because I didn’t have time, but I have a strong feeling I will be back in the future. When people ask me my favorite country so far on this trip, I give them two: Ecuador and VIETNAM.
Cảm ơn means thank you in Vietnamese. It sounds just like ‘come on’ in English. I am so thankful for the time I had in this country and repeatedly thought to myself ‘come on Vietnam…are you serious?’ because everything was so beautiful and memorable. In conclusion, Cảm ơn Vietnam for sharing your goodness with me, you are a true gem.
Up next: Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the stunning Ankor Wat.
Signing off for now,
Jennifer