June’s cousin John John has been living and teaching English in Vietnam for a few years now. He’s invited us to come see him and we wanted to go visit the country while he’s still there. We land a few days before Christmas and leave on New Year’s Day. Because of time zone differences we technically experience New Year’s again while going back home.
We’ll spend 2 days in northern Vietnam at Hanoi, do a 2 day package tour to Ninh Binh/Halong Bay and then head further south to Hochiminh City (Saigon) where we fly out.
*First leg to Incheon Korea-11 hrs. Then a 2hr layover then 5 hrs to Hanoi, all on Asiana Airlines.
Pre and post thoughts on Vietnam:
Vietnam for me as a person of Asian descent evokes thoughts of boat people fleeing communism. Vietnam war movies like “Platoon” or “Full Metal Jacket” were popular when I was younger. I watched them for the war aspect and not for its social political content. War places “good” against the “bad.” As an adult I now realize that both opponents are the good side depending on your point of view. Visiting this country gave me deeper insight into both sides. The U.S. tried to ruin this country using money and power and failed. Not in ruining the countryside but in winning the war against communism. That fear of communism is still prevalent today in the states in our everyday political talk.
Although Vietnam is one country, it is still unofficially divided north and south by differences in political beliefs even though life on the streets in either city seem more or less the same in both places. Some will say otherwise. The communist north feels it conquered the south (Saigon) and the south yearns for an intangible freedom. That in itself also tells me that the socialist system here isn’t that strict otherwise nobody would be talking out loud about how bad communism is here. They’d be dead or in jail.
Saigon feels younger, newer and more modern with its malls and car dealerships. Even the females dress less conservatively but that’s probably due to the weather being warmer in the south.
I wonder if there is resentment in the renaming of the centuries old name of Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City 50 years ago.
North or South?
After reviewing my trip in its entirety I realized that I enjoyed the vibe of Hanoi more than Saigon in the south. Although it felt hectic at times I liked the quaint small city feel of the shops. The other big one for me that I took for granted in the north was that I didn’t feel like I had to haggle prices and worry about getting targeted as a tourist and end up being overcharged.
Transportation
Public transportation in the cities both north and south are mainly limited to buses. I heard rumors of a brand new train line that just opened in Saigon but didn’t look into it. Grab (Uber) here is the way to go. We usually spent between $1 and $6 usd (30 min ride) which was great given we’re a group of 4. The worst part is that the Grab app gps system sucks so it’s hard to nail down your pick up point using the app.
Dong=$
The Vietnamese use the Dong as currency.
1 usd = 25,000 dong
The exchange rate means only so much but we found that the US dollar went pretty far. I quickly realized that this was our chance to live life like I wish I could. Eat out all the time. Buy random junk and not feel guilty. Too lazy to walk 15 minutes? Hey catch a taxi instead! I guess I can pay a dollar for that!
Internet
I prepurchased a 10 gig e-SIM card onto my iPhone from Nomad on the App Store which lasted the week and made it easier to navigate and look up places on the fly. The connection was better than the free data T-Mobile gives us on our plan while traveling.
Data, no phone number. $10 us
Highlights summarized
Besides eating as much as I could everywhere we went, my favorite activity out of Hanoi was going to Lan Ha bay. My favorite experience in the south was visiting the Viet Cong war tunnels in the countryside. A bit of nature and a bit of history.
I hope this gives you a little bit of background before we…
Begin!
We have arrived! June researched that the immigration lines can be brutal so she prepared the paperwork ahead of time and we hustled through immigration full speed ahead. Our second blessing is that we are now waiting for our airport pickup driver at “column 10.” You heard me. No rip off taxi or navigating public transportation this time because our Ha Long bay package included airport pickup and drop off for us. Very nice!
Xin Chao! What a stressless way to enter the country. The worst is when you’re walking out in a daze with all of your worldly possessions stepping foot into a country whose language you don’t know and immediately start getting hassled by taxi drivers.
It’s 11 pm on Monday December 23rd
John John was nice enough to come meet us outside of the place we’re staying at in Hoan Kiem southern Hanoi. It was amazing to see a familiar face in a far off land. We hugged, dropped our luggage and went to eat nearby at a place with a collection of casual restaurants.
The temp is around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit.
I just realized I should have taken pics of the menu to try to remember exactly what we were eating but here are a Saigon pho, summer rolls, rice noodles with pork and wraps. It’s now 3am and I guess it’s time for bed.
Gee I think it’s Tuesday but who cares? Hanoi is 17 hrs ahead of Hawaii. For dessert John John bought some fried donuts from a lady on a bike.
Next day
I was awoken by the sounds of mopeds and people talking on the streets. The kids are still sleeping so we might sneak out and get started making new footsteps on foreign soil. So exciting! If you weren’t paying attention we’re staying in the district of Hoan Kiem.
Everything is hazy and the air smells like a combination of familiar food smells and the char of burning rubbish with a hint of fragrant incense. I’m guessing Vietnam probably still does heavy industry production nearby this city based on the haze. Like China.
Our pre breakfast consisted of salted coffee(coffee with salted cream) and espresso from a corner coffee shop and a toothy rice and bean thing that I got on the street which is teeming with vendors selling nail clippers, shoe shining services and food snacks. This AHA place had my favorite coffee drinks and everyone sits on little stools in and outside on the sidewalk.
Second breakfast was with Pax after he got up. He got a bahn mi from a stall and a plate of fruit from a lady on a bicycle. (30k dong ea or around $1.20 each.)
The bahn mi is what you’d expect, pork and pate and pickled vegetables and the fruit he picked were green mango and another small green fruit. There was a little li hing like salt that went with them.
Eventually Hudson got up so we gathered up the whole gang and walked over to “train street” which has become famous over the past few years due to a social media explosion. It’s the place where cafes hug the train tracks and everyone sits a foot away from the tracks and scatter when the train rolls by.
Hmm social media. Am I a thoughtless sheep in the crowd? By nature I hate feeling the pressure to fit in. Yet I want to fit in. I don’t want to miss out, especially since we’re here, after all. Ugh I feel conflicted sitting here because of Tik Tok or whatever waiting to experience a particular moment that not only someone with a camera phone made popular but also feeling worried I may not capture it well enough to share online. Ugh fomo.
Here we are sitting in a nook.
Ok so it was a pretty neat experience. How can you not like having a train within arms reach come zooming past you?
After exchanging a few words of capitalistic wisdom with our server, we met up with John John again and took a $2 /12 min grab ride to the Obama restaurant (not to be mistaken with another bun cha place that although literally has the word “Obama” in its name, has never had the former president dine there. Does that make sense? They even have a sign out front that names the legit locations).
Bun Cha Huing Lien. We got a few specials which consisted of plain rice noodles, crab spring rolls and HaNoi beer. The broth that came with the beef was sweet, almost like a watered down version of the sauce on the side that you get in the US. A bit too sweet actually. (Ok I learned it was a sauce, not broth. Just a bowl of sauce with meat in it. lol)
Wow of all the floors to end up eating on we were sat by where Anthony Bourdain and Obama ate at in this now well known scene of the two of them at a stark table with a couple of beers. Hey for all I know every floor has this so everyone can feel like they’ve sat by Barack and Bourdain.
Next June wanted some spa time. Based on John John’s recommendation we went and got various combinations of facials, ear cleanings, massages and haircuts (for those of us with hair) at a place called 30 Shine. June’s treatment took the longest at 2 hrs. We’re treating ourselves to a bit of Christmas pampering since we didn’t get each other gifts. ($80usd total for all of us)
We dropped off the kids to rest while June and I went to Hang Da marketplace and then to walk around Hang Gai shopping area, both nearby our hotel.
This one place was strange. The upper levels looked really elaborate for the inside yet in the basement where we wanted to look for used clothing the stalls were kind of like a dungeon — super cramped.
Net Hue for central Vietnamese style dinner tonight with John John. We don’t have enough time this trip to make it to that region so he made it a treat for us to try some of their specialities. Everything was delicious! But what hasn’t been on our trip?
Christmas Day
It doesn’t feel like Christmas. No Wham! on the radio or last minute-shopping ads bombarding my senses. Not many Christmas trees or decorations here either. We’re up early and ready to explore a bit before going to Christmas Mass. We’re going to head over to Truc Bach lake and then backtrack to church.
At the start we got a fried mochi rice $.4 and more coffee from AHA. Hanoi has great coffee. Thumbs up to the street food also.
We caught a Grab (Vietnam’s Uber) to the Tran Quoc pagoda and a saw that you can buy and release batches of small birds for positive Buddhist karma.
No thanks pushy lady. Shouldn’t you get negative karma for being selfish? Oh maybe she’s Catholic. Or Buddhist or maybe a touch of Confucianism or a combination?
Inside the pagoda was a 75 year old bodhi tree that was taken as a cutting from the original tree in India that Buddha fell asleep under and achieved enlightenment.
Backtracking to the church we saw a French colonial home. Notice the yellow color we thought similar to homes in New Orleans.
…and the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum from afar.
As always but especially on Christmas June located and scheduled Mass. Since it was Christmas we all went.
John John showed up on his bike afterward just to say hi. Probably to show off a little bit too.
1 pm Now we’re sort of near home waiting in a long line for a Michelin rated place called Pho 10.
They cranked out bowls of pho to guests mixed in on communal tables. Me and Pax sat separate from June and Hud. It was a simple menu of just pho with different meats cooked either halfway or fully. On the tables were pickled garlic and lemons and you could ask for oil sticks or drinks. For some reason this reminded me of a pizza places in Naples we visited.
We followed up with massages for us boys and a pedicure for June. $52us total for all of us getting an hour of services including tip.
Nearby our hotel we spent some time hanging around at the street vendors. Here’s a hipster vintage store vibe beatnik club-karaoke and poodles. Note the red piano and lamp post/snow globe. The proprieters and customers sing.
Then we hung out on the street for beer and a smoke of the thuốc lào. Restaurants and bars in Hanoi have these laying out. They’re free to use communally.
Wow, I’m a fast learner! lol After drinks on the sidewalk we found sugar cane juice for the boys and stopped by a beer garden for 50c beers.
We had dinner with John John’s vague relationship (literally) girlfriend at Tam Vi-a Michelin starred place June (of course) found. It was our most costly meal to date at $62.00 usd to feed all 6 of us! Sorry I didn’t take many pictures but I will say I was impressed with Luk’s amazing sight into the future. Although this was our first time meeting her she presented us a gift of a framed picture of us and John John hanging out the night before. Mind blown. She’s a keeper!
The betelnut wrapped meat was interesting.
After dinner we decided to sing late into the night at a place Liberace would be proud of called Sunny Royal Karaoke. $10 /hr plus whatever drinks and snacks you order or consume. The tables were lined with water, soda, nuts and bottles of who knows what.
We bid John John goodbye and Grabbed off into the Hanoi darkness.
Dec 26-move shop-Hanoi to Ninh Binh.
After checking out of the hotel I grabbed food to go-an egg banh mi for 80 cents, a fried mochi rice thing for 60 cents and a coffee to go $1.40 and we met up with our driver Thanh and guide Duy (Peter) who are taking us to scenic Ninh Binh where we’ll spend the day and one overnight.
Check this warm, super soft savory rice wrapped in leaf. The inside is a mixture of herbs and ground meat. It’s like eating a solid jook skillfully wrapped in leaf.
Ninh Binh-we’re hoping for a shift in scenery from crowded city scape to nature…imagine meandering down a river on a raft between rice paddies that are nestled in between rounded lime stone mountains. June booked a custom tour that started with a hotel pickup and takes us through Ninh Binh, HaLong Bay and ending with an airport drop off.
Our drive is 2.5 hours from Hanoi southward into the countryside. During that time I asked Duy random questions.
- Vietnamese people get buried twice. First in a semi temporary (as far as death goes) clay tomb then again 4 years later. The family exhumes the body, cleans the bones then places them into a smaller container where they’re reburied in brick or marble permanently.
- For a communist country Vietnam doesn’t have the government benefits I assumed like free healthcare or university. You still have to pay for both. There just isn’t enough money in the coffers. The average incomes aren’t high enough to tax across the board like they do in some European countries therefore there’s less money in the system to be fed into these programs. On the business side it’s pretty free economy, commerce is encouraged by the government, with little taxing going on according to Duy.
- Also if you want a retirement pension you have to start one yourself.
- And supposedly it’s safe to drink beverages with ice. In the past you’d stay away from ice cubes because they might be made with unsanitary tap water. Same goes for fresh fruits and uncooked vegetables. *can confirm mostly safe
Ninh Binh was Vietnam’s old capital 1000 years ago. The area we stayed at was super touristy and not cheaper than Hanoi like I was imagining it would be because of its remoteness. It was one main drag with restaurants interspersed with convenience stores and massage places. Everything you’d need laid out in a line but it didn’t stimulate my need to explore.
We started our day’s activities with a short hike at Hang Mua to get a panoramic view of the lotus ponds and the Tam Coc river where we’ll be floating down later.
At the end of the higher of the two trails is a dragon perched atop a not too walk-friendly rock.
For lunch we ate at a family restaurant up the street from the river boat launch. The specialties were mountain goat and fried fermented pork. More and more food showed up and we tried them all.
Our sampan trip in Tam Coc took us up and down the Red River Delta. Even though it was hazy, the scenery was beautiful. We were on the river with a few hundred other aluminum boats powered by farmers with multiple jobs.
Our boat person does this once every five days. The rest of the time she plants rice and makes sewn prints to high pressure sell to tourists like us. She sure laid on the pressure to buy a print. $10 at first then $15 for two. We declined and ended up tipping both our boat drivers. I just don’t need more stuff around my house.
The last part of our tour today is to visit the 3 pagodas at Bich Dong. Yes that’s the place’s name. There’s one pagoda at the bottom of the hill,
…one halfway up set into a cave
…and the last and highest up one is in a small valley nook.
Our overnight is at a great little home stay called Tam Coc Sana Villa. It was super spacious with a fancy tub. World’s nicer than our Hanoi place.
We electric carted from the hotel to the main drag for dinner at (literally) Family Restaurant. We’re getting more goat (Hudson’s new favorite), duck and snails.
It looks like duck is the regional specialty here. Many restaurants have spinning ducks on display fronting their lots.
We ended with a cheap haircut for June and then massage/cupping for the adults.
Tomorrow we get picked up at 730 am and head to iconic Ha Long Bay.
The hotel was nice enough to make us breakfast to go. What I liked about Ninh Binh was the lack of urban pressure and how slow paced it was compared to Hanoi. What I didn’t like was that it was super touristy. If we had more time we’d probably borrow bikes (free from many hotels) and go further out to explore.
Day 2 of our prepackaged tour.
Hop a limo bus and head to see the mountainous scenery south of Ha Long bay known as Lan Ha Bay. Ha Long is the more popular area to visit, it has around 500 boats that run tours. In comparison Lan Ha has 100 boats making it the point less traveled. We’re doing an overnight visit with a few activities.
5 hrs, a ferry ride, and a tender ride later we’re entering the island of Cat Ba.
Ankh is our guide. He stays on board for 30 days at a time and gets to go home for 4 days before coming back.
We slowly weave through calm waters to view Lan Ha bay’s limestone islands which were formed by compressed sea creatures that have been pressurized deep in the sea and pushed up to the surface through tectonic movement. This is what June wanted to see here in Vietnam.
This ship has 12 passengers and we make up 4 of them. The seas are blue grey and very calm. You can see these fishermen have sea vessels and homes with areas to grow shellfish. Lots of them have dogs for pets.
We went kayaking around the islands which was just AMAZING. Although it was overcast we could choose which little beach to pull up to and explore. There were only a handful of other kayakers so it was easy to find our own beach. The first one we landed on had an opening that led to what was shaped like the inside of a volcano. There was even a smaller tunnel within that area that I crawled into which lead out the back to more water. It was a scene out of the movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio. I got to fulfill my deep seated need to play adventurer today.
Afterwards I jumped off our ship into the cold water to feel it engulf my body. Came out feeling dizzy. It was probably too cold for this guy lol.
Next we’re heading off to Lan Ha bay to park boat and do a cooking demonstration. We learned the cultural importance of spring roll making. Although they’re standard fare at US restaurants, these rolls are made during holidays when families are together or if you’re away and missing your family. They represent balance of yin and yang. These ones had slices of pineapple in them. Although Ankh called these spring rolls they look more like what I would call summer rolls. What do I know?
With the help of Bee Travel, June arranged a separate excursion not originally on this tour’s itinerary for us to experience bioluminescent phytoplankton. We jumped onto a speedboat which brought us to a neighboring floating home stay that did the phytoplankton tours. From there we boarded kayaks, 2 people per boat and went into the darkness without lights. The ride was very peaceful. The water was glassy and we would pull up next to the rocky parts of the islands hidden in the moonlight’s shadows where algae were plentiful for the plankton to eat. Agitating the water activates the bioluminescence and little glowing blue white dots magically appear like water fireflies but not as bright or singular. They’re really hard to catch on camera so we didn’t get pics of them.
Even though it was pretty cold I took the opportunity to jump into the cold water with the phytoplankton. Besides the cold water, the hardest part was taking all my stuff off and on again in the dark while on the canoe.
The tide and moonlight were in our favor that night. Like Ice Cube said “today was a good day” (to phytoplankton).
When we got back I was hoping to go squidding after washing up but the boat was shut down and when I went to return dishes to the kitchen I saw the entire crew sleeping in the main dining room. On the floors, makeshift beds assembled from chairs etc.
Next morning we spend half a day at a local town called Viet Hai village. At shore me and Pax ride bike while June and Hud take the electric cart.
The town is a one lane strip with farmland, homestays and restaurants and is complete with school administrative buildings and a cemetery.
It consists of 300 people from Cat Ba central and has government assistance to transform it into a model town. The three main occupations here are:
- Fisherman
- Farmers
- Home stay operators
The farms are organically fertilized. I never thought about this but if the leaves of your veggies have worm holes then it doesn’t have pesticides.
We stopped at a restaurant for coffee drinks, and we got a taste of home made rice liquor. A typical batch takes 7 plus days to make. This tasted around 30 percent alcohol I’d guess.
We also got fish foot massages. This was more fish on my feet than I have ever had. So ticklish.
Here is a traditional house that most people lived in up to the 80s. The walls are mud and bamboo with a fire prone thatched roof-hot in the summer and cold in the winter.
As the country was recovering, after the war many people were still very hungry. The government referred to hunger as the post-war enemy.
I shared a smoke with the captain who has been driving this boat for 10 years now. He’s on the same schedule as our guide-30 days on 4 days off. It takes him 7-8 hours by bus to go home each time. He sleeps up here in the main cabin next to the wheel. Everyone else is in the bar/dining area.
We hopped a tour bus back up to Hanoi where we’ll grab food, transfer to a car and ride to the airport to board a plane heading south to Ho Chi Minh City. 2 hrs flight.
Sunday starts 3 days of Saigon
Our Air B&B is at the Landmark, a tall group of buildings next to the business district. Not many hole in the wall type places there, kind of reminds me of Kakaako.
Here’s our Saigon plan.
Day 1
- Church
- Shop for coffee to bring home
- Cooking class and walking street
- Shop and spa treatment
Day 2
- War museum
- Cuchi tunnel tour
Day 3 NYE
- Chinatown, walk street, get krunk and stumble home
Our first day starts with us getting pho ga (chicken pho) next to the Notre Dame church. 4 bowls cost us around $10us. I think they added on a little extra which was not a good first impression of Saigon.
Couple things, the pho is chicken and instead of a side of veggies like we get in Hawaii there’s a side of seasoned salt and a bit of shredded lemon grass.
Since today is Sunday the street traffic should be good.
Lots of people wearing ao dai (traditional dresses) going around taking pictures for posting.
My opinion of Saigon district after 2 hours is that it’s more upbeat and modern than Hanoi. It’s got a mix of French colonialist architecture and modern Vietnamese culture.
Solicitors are common in both cities, we just got asked for money by a fire blowing guy outside of the coffee place-The Coffee Lab.
Hey this is the first place to give us water with our drinks.
Oh the air is much cleaner in Saigon. Hanoi has a haze surrounding it as evidenced in all our Hanoi pics.
We found a mall selling coffee in the basement at a Japanese style food court.
June wanted more spa time so I backtracked it solo to a place selling spring rolls and meat with noodles. I sat across the street since it was full where they were cooking. This lemon tea is awesome. I was drawn here by the smoky smell of the meat cooking on the sidewalk.
85.00=$3.40
This is the Ben Thanh market. It was the first one of its kind on our trip. Major sales pressure and high prices but at least we got some interesting coffee here. Although it was expensive, it was the meeting place for many of our tours as it’s a landmark in the city.
Our cooking class started with a market visit. We toured the Ben Thanh market for around 1/2 an hour before cabbing to the Maihome Saigon Culinary Arts Center, a small homestyle restaurant turned into cooking school. The website makes it look like a large operation but when we went it was really small and personal.
Usually these cooking classes we do end up costing more than if you were to just go out to a restaurant and buy similar food to what you’re making and this was no exception. Our class size was small-just the four of us and we got to learn lots from chef Guy “Gwee”. We really got to ask lots of questions and ended up getting detailed answers. This class did feel like a culinary class as we talked presentation and respecting technique.
Mot hai ba dzo!
We made spring rolls using a nest like wrapper, steamed rolled cake stuffed with meat and veggies, chicken pho (not the noodles) and meat sticks along with learning to carve pineapple and carrot flowers.
A few of the takeaways for me were-
- For pho-blanch the chicken separately to keep the broth clear
- Pho-The toasted and dried spices only go into the broth 15 minutes before the end
- Most Vietnamese families just use a pho broth powder versus restaurants which make their broth from scratch. It’s just easier. The dishes we made felt really labor intensive.
- Spring rolls-the way you judge a fish sauce is if the garlic and chilies are floating or sunken. Floating = pro
- Vietnamese fish sauce is milder than the sweeter and fishier Thai version
Although my stomach started to not be happy with all the foods I was eating we decided to visit the Bui Vien walking street. I explained backpack style traveling and what a red light district is to the boys. This place is party city. Music blasting simultaneously out of several dark clubs.
Today is the day before New Years Eve. We planned for it to be one of the few days where we focus on history. We start by going to the War Remnants Museum and then we’ll go to visit the Cu Chi tunnels out in the countryside where most of the fighting in the Vietnam War had happened.
The museum was a reminder of the atrocities of war. Most moving were the photos taken during the war and reading about the lost lives of photojournalists and the lasting effect of Agent Orange.
Then we got food at Bep Me In before meeting up with our tunnel tour group at the west gate of the Ben Thanh market.
The CuChi (Liberation) tunnels are the only excursion we’re doing outside of Saigon.
Usually there are a few tourist trap “museum” or “factory” visits worked into any tour itinerary. This place sells shell inlay art made of eggshells and sea shells. The difference with this place was that the artists making the art are handicapped and paid by the government. Many of them were affected through generational birth defects from Agent Orange administered by the US during the Vietnam War. Talk about guilt trip. It was kind of cool seeing the different stages of art but nothing looked like it belonged in my house.
The underground tunnels were built by the Northern Vietnamese communists between 1960-1968 during wartime to hide from US troops who had taken over from the French occupation.
The Cu Chi area was chosen by the Viet Cong because of its sandy clay soil which could be more easily dug. It was straight up survival. The tunnels were dark and damp and lacked light and air.
The tunnels in general go 3 layers deep and range between 3-8 meters below the surface to the different floor levels. Here’s a peep hole in a bunker. There are 4 holes on 4 sides to look out of. When Pax and I went inside I could see the lower legs of the tourists still above ground.
The cooking vents would be placed 1000 meters away from the cooking bunker and be designed with baffles to eliminate smoke. They were often hidden to look like anthills.
There were commanders bunkers and surgical bunkers.
Water wells and even a place to get clothing and slippers made out of tire tread and inner tubes. The slipper guy would take 1.5 hours per pair and make 5 pairs per day. And the slippers were made “backward” so that it looked like soldiers were heading one way when they were actually going another.
The US brought in German Shepherds to sniff out the Viet Cong. Most ended up being food caught in traps. So many crude traps, meant to maim, not kill.
Our guide said that although Vietnam is one unified country there is still a big social separation between the original communist supporters in the north and the south.
Our “half day” tour lasted 7 hours with drive time! On the way back we got dropped off at a pho place based on John John’s rec-Pho Vietnam where I tried their ox tail pho. Kinds tough TBH and the tails dont quite look like the ones we have. Not bad for under three bucks. June and Hud had the clay pot pho which came out bubbling and hot.
New Year’s Eve!
We’re spending today starting out in Chinatown walking around Binh Tay market since it’s less touristy than Ben Thanh. I liked this one much more. Better stuff and no one is being pushy with sales. I wish we bought the candies and coffee we got the other day from here.
We found food stalls near the rear where we pointed and chose our dishes. Rice with stuffed tofu and some pork. It came with some green onion soup $1.40 us
On the right is food to be delivered to the many many different vendors at both markets.
They had a bunch of cooking stuff. I got a lunch box for 70.000 Dong or $2.80. A different vendor tried to sell me a larger one for 10 times the cost. Who said Vietnam is communist?
We’re on our way back across town to eat at The Lunch Lady. On the Grab ride over I read about the reviews of this Anthony Bourdain approved place. Half of them mentioned the word scam and since I don’t like arguing over discrepancies we went around the corner to another place that sold bun instead. We got beef stew with French bread for the first time. That place had the freshest bread I’ve had this trip. And crunchy and soft! I drown you in stew!
1 wet nap, 2 stew, 3 bread, 2 sodas 178.000 dong or $7 usd
We walked across a bridge in search of our last 30 shine. $12 US/pp for 75 Minutes of back massage, hot rocks, hair wash, face massage and blow dry and a quick ear cleaning. This place is one of the brand names we’ll probably remember.
Nguyen Hue walk street for new year pics. They were setting up for fireworks and concerts on the walkway.
The walk street led us to the water where we attempted the final boss street crossing a few times. Happy to say we made it!
The allure of xiaolong bao and Peking duck got us a few blocks away to Dim Tu Tac. Unfortunately there’s no dim sum for dinner.
Peking duck, e-fu noodles and mapo tofu instead.
Goodbye 2024!
We spent New Year’s Eve at The Cloud bar inside Landmark 81. Kind of hoity toity for my taste. All you can eat food and drinks but for some reason with a Japan theme. We got to see organized fireworks shows happening below. Lucky thing our place with just across the street for us to stumble home.
The End. We flew home New Year’s Day and part way back at a layover we experienced New Year’s again due to time difference, and wouldn’t you know it, we got back to Hawaii that same day. Happy New Year!
The WOO family page 