Viet Nam

I guess my turnaround period for blog posts is exponentially increasing. Terrible things happen and life goes on.

Over Thanksgiving of 2023...

We flew DEN > LAX (2.75 hrs) > TPE (14.25 hrs) > BKK (4 hrs). We also had a 2hr layover in LAX and a 5hr layover in Taipei. I have Taiwanese ancestry and I was mistaken for a local on the plane! The flight attendant spoke to me in Mandarin. We chilled in lounges in both layovers and they were both jam-packed. The one in Taipei had showers -- they handed out the little buzzing things they used to give at restaurants to wait for a table, and it was a great experience after the long flight. The Taipei airport was nice.

All of the food on the asian airlines was EXCELLENT. They put the meals served on planes elsewhere to shame.

We spent 4 nights in Bangkok, getting adjusted to the 12 hour time difference and eating as much incredible Thai food as we could -- ranging from the delights of 7-eleven: box passionfruit juice, soft-boiled eggs, ham and cheese toasties, shrimp flavored chips, coconut chips, coconut ice cream, passionfruit yogurt.... to wonderful satay on literally every street corner... to absolutely mind-blowing sit down meals with more flavor than you've tasted in the last 6 months, COMBINED!!! Many cats were also pet.

One of the best parts was the hotel we were staying at -- $125/night got us a suite with balcony on the 40th floor with an epic view of Benchakitti Park and the sprawling megalopolis that is Bangkok. Also only 5 minutes to the BTS and Metro lines!

There was a little pool up at the top of the building too.

That wasn't even the best part. The breakfast included was at the grocery store in the building next door -- which had a diner inside -- Took Lae Dee -- Cheap and Good. Excellent excellent breakfasts or whatever fried comfort dish you might want.

We went to a tailor that we had researched online to get some clothing made -- we went on the first day to get measured and went back twice more for fitting and pickup. They did a great job! Vitali had a whole gray suit made lined with a dark blue print with sharks, and I had 3 pairs of wool dress pants made for work.

We also got an excellent 60 min. massage for about $20. We went back to a restaurant that we had frequented during our time in SE Asia previously -- an italian/pizza joint that had gluten-free pizza that was probably the best I'd ever had. Very disappointingly, it was not as good as last time and the sausage now was no longer gluten free. :(

We experienced some jetlag for about 3 days... it wasn't too bad except early on in the afternoons when it was the middle of the night back home. By the 4th day we felt pretty normal.

We went back and visited the Grand Palace because it was worth seeing again, went walking around some malls, grabbed some octopus on a stick and took a grab back to the hotel. The traffic was so bad that we were sitting so long that Vitali got out and ran to the hotel instead of waiting, and got there before I did.

We walked to a restaurant called Madam Saranair and had an excellent dinner of green curry and some sort of seafood dish, and of course... sticky mango rice!!!

On our last day in Thailand we took a grab to Ayuthayya to wander around the historic sites again, and saw a few new things.

Vitali did a segment he had done two years prior, and bested his time by 10 seconds!

We stayed in an adorable guesthouse that had a cute little private patio to enjoy and beautiful grounds.

We stopped at two restaurants for lunch because we didn't realize the first one ONLY served soup! Vitali had the soup and he said it was bomb -- it was PACKED full of locals. And something like $1 for a bowl.

After he finished that we walked next door to another restaurant and found a little heartier food with rice. Later in the evening we went out to the night market and ate quail eggs, chicken, and seafood on sticks.

The next day was a travel day. We took a private car back to Bangkok early to pick up our clothing, have a pretty good breakfast in a cafe, and head to the airport for the 2 hr flight to Hanoi.

Goodbye Bangkok! You leave an impression every time -- we'll see you again soon.

We flew from BKK to Hanoi (2 hrs), and had a driver pick us up to take us 6 hours far north into the mountains, to Cao Bang. We had hired a driver to take us around for the next 5 days -- we had an aggressive schedule!

Why were we going to Cao Bang? Because Cao Bang and the surrounding areas are a UNESCO global geopark! Spectacular vistas await.

The drive was long and our first views of Viet Nam -- what did we see? A lot of pollution in the air and pretty dangerous driving habits all around. It didn't help that the roads are flooded with scooters and motorbikes. The views changed from mostly flat to hilly and then to very hilly. I saw a lot of wood veneer making operations -- the tree slices were just laid outside to dry, all lined up in row after row.

The last hour or two of the drive was in the darkness and the amount of reckless driving we saw was pretty crazy... a lot of tight turns with no visibility but people speeding around anyway. We made it to Cao Bang after dark -- cortisol high and hungry -- we had brought snacks to survive the journey but Vitali went out and found some incredible fried chicken.

The bathroom in the hotel room was done up in typical SE Asian fashion -- with polished tile so slick you need to take extra care to not bust your ass after showering.

In the morning we had breakfast at the rooftop restaurant (pho ga), another massage together, excellent, and for lunch walked to a pho restaurant we could see across the street from our window.

We sat down and ordered a bowl of pho bo each, which came over in a few minutes piping hot and smelling like heaven. We added some garnish from the bowl on the table and enjoyed an absolutely incredible experience of complex and flavorful liquid umami.

In the afternoon we had our driver take us to a magic eye mountain -- Thuong Mountain, for sunset.

We got out and hiked down into an enormous valley surrounded by dramatic karst formations. At the head of the valley was the mountain -- complete with hole right through the center of it. There were some camping operations with cool tents too.

The air was very hazy though. Little did I know but it was just past burning season -- and a lot of people burn trash in Viet Nam.

We wandered around the valley and found a waterfall!

There were also cattle operations happening in the early evening.

We came back to town and sat up at the rooftop that evening.

The next day we had our driver take us farther to the north, to the border of China, to see the Ban Gioc waterfalls -- the main reason I wanted to come here. However -- right after departing Cao Bang we got stopped on the road for about 2 hrs due to a gnarly car accident. The first of several we would see in Viet Nam!

A few hours later we arrived at an incredible guesthouse built into a CAVE! The dining area was sheltered by the cave and so was our room. The property overlooked the beautiful limestone karst topography of northern Viet Nam.

We only had one night here so we got settled and then walked 4 miles over to the waterfalls. On the way we passed 4 dudes getting ready to kill a pig. The pig was screaming in distress and we quickly kept walking, not wanting to see a bloodbath.

Once we made it down to the waterfalls there was a little tourist area with a lot of handicraft shops and people milling about. We wandered around the area and took in the smaller waterfalls before going to see the big one.

The waterfalls appeared to have the same type of sticky limestone deposits that we had seen elsewhere in SE Asia and were, as expected, stunningly gorgeous.

And finally we approached Ban Gioc, which had tourists on boats floating around near the base of the falls. Amazing. It was lightly raining but that didn't matter.

Across the river we could look upon Chinese mountainsides. They had a big tourist operation on their side too, even though the mountain was right on the edge of the river. You could see long, long stairways crossing the mountain slope to get tourists down to see the waterfall.

We embarked on a long walk back to the guesthouse and past it to Nguom Ngao -- Tiger Cave -- a limestone cave system. We borrowed some water shoes and took a walking tour. They had wi-fi in the cave!

The interiors had colorful lights and the most impressive cave formation I have ever seen -- a giant, sparkling white mass of rock in the depths of darkness.

Back at the guesthouse we met some other tourists who were in the depths of severe gastrointestinal distress... we hoped that wouldn't be a sign of things to come!

That evening we had a really, really, delicious meal with I don't even know what but it tasted very similar to Chinese dishes I'd had before.

The next day was another travel day, we departed the area and drove 8 hours south. Our driver nearly collided with a big auto bus and that caused some tense feelings for the remainder of the ride...

We were headed to Ninh Binh, where we stayed for two nights. We stayed in a guesthouse on a water filled karst valley that was absolutely spectacular, even through all of the pollution in the air. Complete with 0pen air shower -- perfect.

There was a nice pool on the property but it was being treated.

All around was spectacular scenery.

Vitali went on a long run... 8 miles to be exact, to the nearest outpost.

For dinner I ordered a dish with duck that was sooooo goood, and all the springs rolls I could eat.

The homestay was run by a father, a daughter, and another daughter and husband, who had three small adorable children. There was also a fresh batch of kittens running around!

The next day we took a walk over to Động Hoàng Hổ, a pagoda on top of a mountain. There were a shit load of steps and Vitali felt the urge to run up them.

The geology was very unique with sharp, serrated rock.

The top of the mountain had a great view but it was still incredibly hazy from pollution. Also on site were some smaller caves that we explored too. The whole area was done up as a tourist center with lots of places to snack, rest, enjoy artwork and even some bonsai.

After seeing everything we grabbed a snack.

That evening the host family invited us to join them for dinner! Which was a trick, because only the nanny spoke english. So we did. We sat down on the floor with the father, daughter, other daughter and husband, nanny, and 3 kids, to celebrate one of the kids' birthday. They shared a delicious meal with us and we had a great time even with the language barrier. Seeing their family spend dinner time so happily together was very heartening. We also learned Vietnamese people love to drink and smoke very high strength tobacco!

Again it was time for us to continue. Vitali had requested another driver due to the previous one's negligence and we met him this morning. He drove us to Ha Long, about 2 hours east, to the cruise ship port gateway to the UNESCO world heritage site of Ha Long Bay. We were super excited for this! We had a great time on the river cruise in Egypt so we thought 2 nights cruising here would be great too.

We headed to the cruise terminal and found it absolutely packed -- hundreds of people milling about waiting for their boats. We found the check-in desk for our company and was led away to wait by a staff member who would be our tour guide for the rest of the trip. After a time it was our turn to head to the docks and get on our boat!

I chose a small, well-rated outfit, Renea Cruises. And we would be sailing the quieter part of Ha Long -- Bai Tu Long Bay. The boat was gorgeous and had beautiful dark stained wood throughout. There was a small dining room, 8 rooms, and the upper deck had chairs, tables, and chaise lounges. The boat was only at half occupancy.

We set sail before long and talked to some of the other passengers.

Our first lunch was on board and wow... the courses kept coming!!! I ate sooo much delicious food and had no issues with gluten.

In the afternoon we went kayaking and swimming around Cap La Island which was fun but the weather was overcast/hazy.

There's our boat! In the evening there was a sunset party, music, and a demonstration of vegetable flower making! Dinner was on the deck and delicious. After dinner, Vitali tried his hand at squid fishing! No squid were caught.

The boat parked in an alcove with several other boats and moored for the night.

Breakfast was great, with eggs, meat, and fruit, and soon we set sail.

We went kayaking again and landed on an island with a cave -- this one was cool to explore and had a unique texture on the ceiling due to wave action.

We got back on the boat for lunch, sailed for a few hours, and then took another small boat to Vung Vieng fishing village -- rowed by hand! We were rowed basically into a protected area of ocean sheltered by karst formations -- the water, the ocean, was almost as still as glass.

The primary export of this colorful village was pearls. They grow 3 types of pearls and we got to see how they grow.

Super cool!

Dinner that night included lessons on how to make spring rolls, which were tasty AF.

Our final day on the boat dawned with choppy seas and heavy rain.

We sailed for a bit and then took the day boat to another island, which contains Thien Canh Son Cave, which we explored. This was a popular spot for all of the tour boats and the cave was quite busy.

We wandered around until it was time to head back to the boat and sail the last leg back to the port. The cruise company arranged transport back to Hanoi for the final three days of our trip, which was a comfortable bus ride, and before we knew it we were dropped off on a street corner and faced with a flow of people, motos, pedicabs, and vehicles... which seemed to obey no traffic law except to not actually hit people.

So as we spent the next 3 days we developed a keen sense of how to manage crossing the road. The key was to just start walking and maintain the same pace across the road. It was like Frogger -- you were actually walking into oncoming traffic but the vehicles and bikes would just go around you as you crossed. Protected pedestrian crosswalks? Hah! Never heard of 'em. We saw a lot of tentative visitors staring worryingly at the street while considering the cross.

Away from the chaos on the streets we had a nice serene view from the balcony in our room.

We went walking in the evening, taking in the sights and sounds, and stopping by a beautiful ceramic shop which had incredible handmade dinner and decorative wares.

Vitali got a great communist style original artwork. I went into a store with ao dai (traditional long dress) and the lady told me $300!!! Not sure if trying to rip off or actually that expensive, although we did appear to be in the luxury shopping district.

For dinner, we stopped at a bun cha joint -- which we learned after, is typically only eaten by locals for lunch. It had very unusual flavors and was very delicious. I also ate ALL of the spring rolls, which were deep fried packets of delicious.

The next morning we got to experience breakfast at the hotel which was a fancy spread of western and Vietnamese breakfast foods and as much fresh fruit as you could fit.

We went walking, stopping first at the Ancient House -- a late 19th century traditional Vietnamese home that had been preserved and opened as a museum.

It was stunning. The artistry and skill that went in to all of the wood work and furniture in the home was incredible.

We continued on, stopping in a cute coffee place to rest and have a drink. Great view from the second level.

We continued on and visited several temples, all of which were filled with beautiful architecture, art, and calligraphy.

And then we did some shopping -- I wanted to find some silk. I went in to probably 20 or 30 shops looking for something affordable and something I would wear. I found a nice ao dai and shirt -- only $20 each for 100% silk.

We stopped for lunch which ended up being the best pho and fried pork filled betel leaves we had on the trip.

Right after lunch and right outside we got stopped by a street hustler who put a carrying pole on my shoulder before I could say no, and then asked us to buy overpriced bananas!

After lunch, we stopped by the famous train street, where houses and businesses have been built right up to either side of the railway. Multiple times a day the train comes through and everyone has to squish away from the track to avoid dismemberment.

A local picked us up as we approached and offered to take us to a cafe. Sure! We sat down and ordered some treats and took in the street -- hardly a street at all, maybe 10' wide with train tracks in the center. The chairs were all lined up along the tracks. We spied a train schedule and saw we had just missed one so we enjoyed the sights and left.

It was pretty cool! We headed back towards our hotel and stopped by the temple in the middle of the lake in the old quarter, which was adorned in highly detailed sculptural and architectural elements.

Amazing. We had seen enough temples for the day so we headed back to the hotel, passing by one very adorable cat.

That evening we watched the sun set from the rooftop bar and then went walking around for some night photography -- and late night McD's.

The next morning we went on another walking adventure, to see MORE! historic architecture. Our first stop was the temple where Vietnamese Zen Buddhism was founded.

Amazing, again. Then we walked over to ANOTHER temple. This one was perhaps the most beautiful and highly ornate we saw, with gold painted and shell inlay panels all over the place.

We continued on to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, an 11th century complex and now educational center. We saw a bunch of small children on what looked to be a field trip -- sitting on hundreds of tiny plastic blue seats and awaiting instruction.

There were well done exhibits focusing on historical artifacts found in the complex and the history of the place. When we walked into the ticketing area the woman attending to the desk was asleep!

We continued walking, next towards Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. What a building!

More very brutalist government buildings:

Fantastic. We headed next to the One Pillar Pagoda, but not before seeing a very excellent illustration of Buddhist living. I would recommend zooming in.

One Pillar Pagoda -- can you guess where the name came from?

On to another -- the Temple of Literature, a Confucian temple.

Stunning. We left and stopped for lunch again, enjoying more spring rolls and pho.

The last evening we went to the night market and browsed. Vitali found some octopus on a stick and we both found huge piles of socks -- I think we bought 6 pairs each for $2. We wish we would have gotten more. Viet Nam is well-known for having replica items of good quality -- every other store was stocked full of north face, fjallraven, puma, nike... Vitali even found some great quality replica watches!

The last evening we spent on the rooftop deck, reflecting on another incredible trip to Southeast Asia.

I was really impressed by the beauty of Viet Nam, the kindness and warmth of the people, the architecture, the culture, and the FOOD. Hanoi was also a really vibrant city, which comes close to dethroning Bangkok as my favorite. Lots of hustle and bustle and energy at all hours -- even the old folks in the park in the morning doing their tai chi together!

The next time we go I would like to visit Central and Southern Viet Nam -- the largest cave in the world is there (the largest KNOWN cave!) -- Hang Son Doong -- which offers a two day trek costing $3,000/person...

For now, we have a trip planned back to the Dolomiti in September, to finish what we started in 2022. I hope it doesn't take me eighteen months to write about that.