So this was the big trip for the year. This would be the first time I would go to Vietnam as a dedicated trip. I had been to Hanoi for a couple days before, so I don't know if that really counts. Since this was a family trip though, it meant that there would be a lot of pictures. In fact there were 1100 pictures. We did a lot of stuff to do as well. Thank goodness for my sister, she kept a good log of what we did. So I'll just copy and paste that, add some comments, and pictures that would be awesome or appropriate. Or that I found cool. Anyways, here we go:
Day 1. I arrived, and waited in line for 2 hours to clear customs. I remembered to bring everything except for a photo. Not that it mattered. Apparently the line for pre-visa is exactly the same as no visa. What a waste of 19 bucks. In other news I should have peed on the plane. I met some people from south Africa. Also, I apparently had to sign some atestation paper since I was coming from the middle east had to file. Not a big deal apparently. Of course my parents were worried, they asked the police why it was taking so long, and then were sternly told to get back, and to not cross the line. I finally got through, gave everyone their Christmas presents, and took a walk around the block. We walked to the seven eleven. Drank a beer, went to sleep.
Day 2.
woke up and had a large bowl of pho. It's a breakfast food FYI if you didn't know that. My uncle from Vietnam had come in that morning. It was pretty tasty, I had made it spicy. My sister had soy bean milk, it was fresh, not sugary and chunky. The chunky part was a bit too much for her and my sister gagged. Gross. No pictures.
We drove to my uncles house, and it took about 45 minutes to get there. He's the eldest brother out of my dad's side. Dad's number 2. We saw 4 out of five kids. Our cousin's babies were cute, but were shy. Our uncle from Japan, kindly known as uncle 4 (he's the fourth oldest) chased the girls around, and they warmed up. We had ragu and spring rolls and fried fish, some kind of fresh water fish. Looked and tasted delicious. Lots of beer. Also had fresh breast milk fruit. It didn't look like a boob, it just and a sweet milky taste.
We drove back, I took a nap in the car. We headed over to our Aunt's house. It was a very famous foodie street, was super crowded in the middle of district one. The address is sin chieu ham 200. You can YouTube it. I couldn't find it though. It's mostly restaurants and small goods, like meats and vegetables. We ate even more food for dinner, even after trying some of the street food. The food was amazing, we had clams, snails, pork and eggs, duck salad, grilled and sauteed shrimp. I ate soursop too. I can't believe I ate that much to be honest. We went out on motor bikes to tour the city at night with our cousins. My stomach reminded me earlier of the spicy pho I had in the morning, and I had some stomach grumbles. In the rush to find a bathroom, I almost pooped my pants running into a Starbucks. The motorcycle vibration probably didn't help. We saw a church and the post office. Went to a highlands coffee shop, and got home before the parents did.
Day 3. Couldn't sleep, that late night coffee was not a smart idea. We went to the presidential palace. interesting to think this is the same as being in the White House. I'm impressed they kept it in good shape. It's a propaganda palace though, there were pictures of heroic holes, where things blew up. Very stuck in the 70's. Makes sense, since it wasn't used afterwards.
Day 4.
Day 1. I arrived, and waited in line for 2 hours to clear customs. I remembered to bring everything except for a photo. Not that it mattered. Apparently the line for pre-visa is exactly the same as no visa. What a waste of 19 bucks. In other news I should have peed on the plane. I met some people from south Africa. Also, I apparently had to sign some atestation paper since I was coming from the middle east had to file. Not a big deal apparently. Of course my parents were worried, they asked the police why it was taking so long, and then were sternly told to get back, and to not cross the line. I finally got through, gave everyone their Christmas presents, and took a walk around the block. We walked to the seven eleven. Drank a beer, went to sleep.
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| This wasn't the exact beer I had, but I drank a lot of these. |
Day 2.
woke up and had a large bowl of pho. It's a breakfast food FYI if you didn't know that. My uncle from Vietnam had come in that morning. It was pretty tasty, I had made it spicy. My sister had soy bean milk, it was fresh, not sugary and chunky. The chunky part was a bit too much for her and my sister gagged. Gross. No pictures.
We drove to my uncles house, and it took about 45 minutes to get there. He's the eldest brother out of my dad's side. Dad's number 2. We saw 4 out of five kids. Our cousin's babies were cute, but were shy. Our uncle from Japan, kindly known as uncle 4 (he's the fourth oldest) chased the girls around, and they warmed up. We had ragu and spring rolls and fried fish, some kind of fresh water fish. Looked and tasted delicious. Lots of beer. Also had fresh breast milk fruit. It didn't look like a boob, it just and a sweet milky taste.
We drove back, I took a nap in the car. We headed over to our Aunt's house. It was a very famous foodie street, was super crowded in the middle of district one. The address is sin chieu ham 200. You can YouTube it. I couldn't find it though. It's mostly restaurants and small goods, like meats and vegetables. We ate even more food for dinner, even after trying some of the street food. The food was amazing, we had clams, snails, pork and eggs, duck salad, grilled and sauteed shrimp. I ate soursop too. I can't believe I ate that much to be honest. We went out on motor bikes to tour the city at night with our cousins. My stomach reminded me earlier of the spicy pho I had in the morning, and I had some stomach grumbles. In the rush to find a bathroom, I almost pooped my pants running into a Starbucks. The motorcycle vibration probably didn't help. We saw a church and the post office. Went to a highlands coffee shop, and got home before the parents did.
Day 3. Couldn't sleep, that late night coffee was not a smart idea. We went to the presidential palace. interesting to think this is the same as being in the White House. I'm impressed they kept it in good shape. It's a propaganda palace though, there were pictures of heroic holes, where things blew up. Very stuck in the 70's. Makes sense, since it wasn't used afterwards.
We then went to the fancy people mall. Mostly for Koreans and Chinese people. Tried to find a one billion dong item. (That's 45,000USD) They sold it in usd. Not as hilarious. We then walked by the Notre Dame cathedral and the post office. Went to another mall and had bun bo hue. Pretty tasty, but "pricey". Like 5 dollars instead of the normal 3. But we didn't have to worry about salmonella. That's always a good thing.
One of the pretty neat things we got to do while we were downtown was going with our dad down memory lane. Literally one of the roads he hadn't been on, since he left 30 years ago. It was really cool to hear him reminisce about where he used to hang out, as a journalist, or where he helped trying to sell goods, trying to imagine what things were like oh so long ago. We hung out at a park while my sister bought a sim somewhere uptown. It wasn't too hot, and there was shade.
We then went with the parents to get pants. The normal pants you find in the United States do not accommodate your standard Vietnamese man. The legs tend to be too long in the US, and even if you hem them up, the pants end up looking like balloon pants. I didn't need pants, and they seemed pricey so I didn't get any. We also saw that gold sells in the country above market value, so we speculated on gold prices for a while. If you could bring it in, under the customs limit, and were able to sell it, you'd make some good money. Well, you wouldn't get it back in USD, there's the hitch. Anyways, my sister's sim search didn't work, so we took a taxi back to our aunts, and ate yet again. This time it was spring rolls with cooked pork, egg rolls, etc... Walked back, hung out on the roof. I saw a bat. Got mosquito bites. Slept well.
Day 4.
Woke up had a sandwich, and headed over to dads friends house. Nice guy, first Lt in the artillery. When he was dating his future wife, he made a joke about how he to her to either marry him, or he'd blow up her house. Yup, not everyone can made such an threat. *Cough*. Anyways, they own an amusement park, which unfortunately isn't doing too well. Met a daughter, she seemed nice. Awkward conversation. My dad's friend decided to take us to a park near his home. The park we went to was really cool. Giant lily pads, river, views. It's suppose to be a rendition of a traditional village. Lots of people getting married go there, as it's a beautiful place to take pre-wedding photos.
Traffic was rough going to bac chums house, since it was in preparing for new years. Had lots of food of course, and played card games with the kids. Walked out and saw the fireworks with the kids, about 15 minute walk. Went to bed. To many beers, I was snoring loudly. We were all in the same room though. I'm glad I bought my sister some noise cancelling headphones. I think everyone was snoring except my sister . That's rough. I slept pretty good though.
Day 6
Day 10 we woke up and had banh uot. Dad put weird smelling bug smell in his. I had my laundry done for cheap. then visited a zen monastery, big golden temple, a big lake, and tiger claw flowers. Everyone got lost, but we met up eventually. then botanic harden, nice place to take pictures, but I was actually pointing out a golden Buddha statue. We, then went to da lat University, where dad went to school. He showed us the admin building, which was being reconstructed. We then visited this big open valley with a waterfall. The valley had a large section of water, and many buildings built in the old style. Lots to see, including some pretty cute cu lans. There was lots of walking and a roller coaster to go down and up. We only got to the 3rd waterfall. Then we listened to the lang cu lan story about some guy who brought up many rocks for a woman he loves. We saw some goats and then went to dad's friends house for dinner, and we went to the street market again bought the little cu lan things.
Day 11 sister grabbed antibiotics at the pharmacy, grabbed more wine, coffee at the street market. Strong wine, free delivery. Got on the double decker bus and eight hours bus ride back to Saigon. Ate rice and fish and went to bed. I had hu tieu.
Day 12 was Thur 1/8. We went to see chi vi and her baby daughter in the hospital. We had banh uot for lunch, but it wasn't very good. Grabbed a coffee. Went to bac tums house and ate bunch of street food including duck eggs marinated in tamarind, banh xeo, corn with shrimp, and beef tripe dipped in an orange sauce, and shredded paper goi. It was much better than the banh uot. Sister went to go get her nails done at the salon next door. Huy and dad went to go get massages 25 dollars for 2 people one hour. It seemed to help dad, especially since the plane ride from the US had hurt his feet. He went home after that. Chi tram and Trang took us spend too see where the white people stay in Vietnam, (Hilton hotel), and then ate at a restaurant that had hue style food,including banh bot loc, shrimp nuong in a sugar cane stick wrapped in spring rolls, and baby mussels that you eat with banh trang. An couldn't eat the nuoc man. We then went to a bar and club owned by a Singaporean lady that had Cuban style theme with African paintings and Phillipino singers singing songs from the 80s. An sang royals by lorde. Ya ya ya. I drank scotch.
Day 13 We got up at 4:30am to go to airport to head to Hanoi. Only a two hour flight, smaller plane. It was a Vietnam Air flight, pretty standard, but I did notice that the stewardess had big biceps. Surprisingly after being in tropical climate in the 90's, we changed climate in Hanoi which was freezing. We met our tour group and had pho bo lunch at the airport. Got in the smaller van and drove through lao cai. Had lunch in lao cai and then drove through mist up to sapa.
Checked into hotel room, it's 45 degrees Fahrenheit and raining. Tomorrow will be 33 degrees. We walked around. Didn't saw much but fake hiking stuff and bars.
Day 14 we checked out and went to the traditional hmong village thing. Kids speak English well probably from trying to sell stuff. Went to a second village and walked down a rainy set of stairs. The views of the rice farms in the hills were spectacular. At the bottom we saw a traditional house looked at jewelry and traditional tools. There was also a huge waterfall, very muddy. Saw some dancing. Long walk back up. Mom bought a bracelet, I bought a purse. Went to lunch at a cold restaurant that had wood log fire that was for smoking and drying meat. We then went on a hike to heavens gate. Got two thirds of the way up, and settled for dragons claw and cloud land or something like that. We then headed toward lao cai, but got stuck due to mud slide. Got to a fancy hotel, left phone in bus. Fancy dinner, kinda bland. Complimentary drinks, Pilipino singers we danced, I got drunk of that moonshine. Philipino singers got creeped out by my talking to them. Feel asleep talking to Melissa.
Day 15 We woke up early. I skipped breakfast. Took bus into the Vietnam and china border. the went to a huge hmong village. Took lots of people pictures. Ate really greasy fried cake thing. And popcorn. Took picture of cute kid and her mom. Lunch had horse and ox. Apparently the horse gave a table food poisoning. super long drive back to Hanoi. Traditional north Vietnam food. Chung thit kho, bun vit mang, tofu and tomato sauce. Really good crispy egg rolls. went to bed.
Day 16 we checked out and had soy for breakfast. Went to ho Chi Minh memorial park. Went by dried fruit store, and headed to ha long bay. Tourist trap place for a break was very expensive. We did make a stop up a temple for the afternoon. Amazing views, and a lot of steps. Us young people made the hike (barely), and the older folks in our group slowly but surely made it to the top. It was totally worth it. Lucky for everyone, there was a skytram down, as we made our way to our hotel for the night. The hotel was really nice, huge 3 beds, with a bathtub jacuzzi. Went to dinner at this place that looked like a wedding hall. Celebrated January birthdays and then had more rice and assorted dishes. The guy with the hooch shared and we finished the bottle. The big group went to sing karaoke, we went to the rainbow bridge, it was dark. Another sales pitch for bamboo stuff like clothes and cloths, charcoal, and special underwear. I bought a pair of socks. Went back and took a bath. The shower flooded.
Day 17 was an early one, but breakfast was good. I had pho. Lots of Chinese people. Took a while to check out, but we took the bus to one of the island with a cave. Lit up with lots of colored light, so it looked neat but unnatural. We then took a short cruise around some of the islands, had lunch on the boat, fried crab things were good, I ate the shell. Pictures just don't do Ha Long Bay justice. With so many different islands to see, and with so many different ones of different size, you are get lost where you are, and which ones you have seen and hadn't. After being in awe for a while, people resorted to selfies, which I guess is alright. I can see why people will do a night on a boat out here as well. We were only there for a day, and didn't get so see even a portion of it. After the boat ride back, we took the long drive back, stopped at a pearl shop, stopped again at a tea shop, and got to the airport. Ate at the same place we ate before. I had bun ca. Fish bun. It was ok. Flight was 45 minutes late. Got to taxi place, but kept on getting cut off. Very annoying. Went to bed.
Day 18 started packing, Went for coffee, ate lunch at Bac hoas house. had Purple soup. We also learned how to make good caramel color out of sugar. Went to buy shoes. Cheap. Everyone bought a pair in a different store. Met up with cousins, went to Japanese coffee place. Headed to the buffet. Huge variety. I really like the banh changh and the blood clams. The kids ran around rampant. Got 6 free bags out of the deal.
Day 19 we woke up and visited the baby. Went to go get pho. Difference between dac biet and tat com is the size of the bowl. We got the big one. Got coffee, and went to go get hair cut and ear canal cleaning. Went to Saigon square and bought watches and sunglasses. We went to go to Bac Tams house. Ate a bunch including wine snails. Dad and his bro showed up. Wad lots of different dishes. Went to go get drugs, from the pharmacist, and set up chi change new phone. Talked with a lot of family, had some Remi, and packed.
Vietnam was one of those "once in a lifetime" types of trips. It was full of a mix of unspoiled beauty in the rainforest, combined with a blend of modern living in the city versus a much more simple type of living up north. The ability to go from 90 degree weather to 33 degree weather in one country is always a pretty crazy experience as well. Of course this trip couldn't have been and wouldn't have been even close to being wonderful had it not been for family, both immediate and all the first time met family that we hope to see again. There aren't words to convey how wonderful of trip this was, but it could probably be summed up in my nephew's face.
Traffic was rough going to bac chums house, since it was in preparing for new years. Had lots of food of course, and played card games with the kids. Walked out and saw the fireworks with the kids, about 15 minute walk. Went to bed. To many beers, I was snoring loudly. We were all in the same room though. I'm glad I bought my sister some noise cancelling headphones. I think everyone was snoring except my sister . That's rough. I slept pretty good though.
Day 5
I woke up and took a cold shower, well relatively for Vietnam. Let's go with lukewarm. Breakfast was banh uot, like Vietnamese rice crepes, only you steam them. Really really good. If you ever get a chance, make sure to look them up in the US. Definitely worth a try, especially with the fish sauce. I took some pictures of the market. Frogs. The women were trying to figure out why I was taking pictures of frog, not the flowers. Meh. We hung out with some of the kids, and ran around a church near the area, and headed out to the central market, a giant "Souk" of sorts, only in Vietnam. I couldn't hustle very well, so we bought stuff at the "no haggle area". Bought some shirts but I'm a xxl in Vietnam. Discouraging. Came back napped, packed and went to dinner again banh cang. Good and sweet. Glad to not eat super full for a night. Showered got to the train station, and on the train to our next city Nha Trang.
Day 6
We got up from the train around 6 in the morning, and took a 2 minute taxi ride over to the house. We met our aunt, co Teo and her husband Chu Phong. Our uncle from Japan, Chu Bon came over afterwards, so we checked out the skylight deck on the top of the house. Went to have a coffee. I had it "hit", and it was slightly bitter. It was a small volume, so it was a cool way to actually do a French drip. We met the boys Quy and Khoi. We had a fancy breakfast courtesy of Chu Bon's lady friend. I had banh xao, grapefruit juice and hu tieu nam vang. Man, it had been like a year since I had it. It was awesome. Chu Bon's lady friend was nice. We all felt bad, as she was well dressed, and we looked like we had just slept on a train for the last 6 hours.
After breakfast, we went to the long son pagoda. 170 stairs. Beautiful view. It kinda rained, we went by taxi. I lost at chess in the house. Got to the hotel. Took a nap. We headed to the mud house for a swim. Apparently that's one of the things to do in Nha Trang. The first one was too busy and full of tourists, so we went to the second one. It was smaller, but not busy. Got mud in my eyes, ran through the cold shower, and through the ringer. I was really worried about pink eye for a while, especially with all the brown. It's clean mud though. That's good . Although I got mud in places that definitely required a more thorough cleansing later. Well, there's also a normal pool for that. They didn't check very thoroughly before I got in.
My uncle is a college swim coach, so it was awesome getting swimming lessons from him. My right arm sticks in the water too much, and based on the amount of water i breathed in, I need to practice breathing more. We then went to a fancy dinner place in shorts. Awkward since we were very under dressed. Surprise! It was pretty funny, waiters in suits, other tables in suits, and here we are in gym shorts T-shirts, just coming from the pool. Eh, on the plus side, there was lots of food. 5 courses. Beef salad, ranch dressing salad. Bird fried in rice. Lau, and grapes. I ate a chicken head.
On the way back to the hotel, we decided to take advantage of the cool, dry weather, and walked.around the beach. The waves were quite crazy. December is not the time to go swimming. We're talking 4-5 foot waves on the shore. People getting caught in the waves don't come back. Scary, a definite reminder of the power of mother nature. Loud too. I took some more pictures and went to bed. It was a pretty action packed day!
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| Not Pretty |
My uncle is a college swim coach, so it was awesome getting swimming lessons from him. My right arm sticks in the water too much, and based on the amount of water i breathed in, I need to practice breathing more. We then went to a fancy dinner place in shorts. Awkward since we were very under dressed. Surprise! It was pretty funny, waiters in suits, other tables in suits, and here we are in gym shorts T-shirts, just coming from the pool. Eh, on the plus side, there was lots of food. 5 courses. Beef salad, ranch dressing salad. Bird fried in rice. Lau, and grapes. I ate a chicken head.
On the way back to the hotel, we decided to take advantage of the cool, dry weather, and walked.around the beach. The waves were quite crazy. December is not the time to go swimming. We're talking 4-5 foot waves on the shore. People getting caught in the waves don't come back. Scary, a definite reminder of the power of mother nature. Loud too. I took some more pictures and went to bed. It was a pretty action packed day!
Day 7.
The hotel had a complimentary breakfast. They should have called it a lame breakfast. Instant noodles store fried and good bread. The plan for the day was to head out to the amusement park, on a separate island. It's called Vin Pearl. It only cost 550,000 VND each person! Or 25 USD. Merica! We took a cable car over, and I saw a tiny boat. Got to island and went to bumper cars, aquarium, I was impressed by the upstairs fish, my sister was more impressed by downstairs fish. Lots of fish. Colorful fish, big sharks and grouper. Moray eels, big turtle in the tunnel view. Thought sister and mom were lost. They were found 20 minutes later. Kids went swimming aunt bought me shorts, but I didn't go.
We then checked out some roller coasters, and found one coaster with no line. It was pretty awesome, and upside down. The arcade was all you could play, so we did what we naturally would do, played Dance Dance Revolution! Man, what an awesome game. There was only one place to eat there, which was odd. It was fast food Korean. Chicken burger and shrimp burgers. Velveeta cheese powder on the fries. We went back to play more games after lunch. We had to get our names on the leaderboard. Mission accomplished! Go team Poo!
day 8
We woke up to go to our cemetery to see our family plot and pay respects to our grandparents. This involved cleaning the the graves, including dusting and wiping down the stones around it. We also changed out the flowers. We talked a little with dads brother, who is a taxi driver. In the traditional way, we burned paper money to pass it on in the next life too. We then went to meet two of dad's friends, one being a stone artist and had lunch at the others house. Stone artist bac qui gave us bracelets. For lunch had beer cooked chicken very fresh squids, and I drank a bit of beer. Then went to thap ba the Hindu temple, saw some traditional champa dancing then went to cho ba marketplace and bought some shirts. Some lady was talking crap. An wasn't happy. Then went to the vip room Japanese seafood. Had sashimi, oysters raw and cooked, big shrimp, has spicy grilled squid and tamarind crab and something like a scallop on a huge shell, and then fish chao. i ate the fish belly and stuff, it was interesting, not too fishy. We then hung out on the beach.
Day 9 was a travel day from nha trang to da lat. Woke up kinda late. Had banh mi sandwich. Very spicy, and meet up with Chu Phong and kids. Gave them money, and said goodbye. Ride was smooth, but a little windy. Dramamine helped, and I had a coffee. We took a free shuttle, and met dads friend. They went and did their own thing. Mom and sister and I went to the market. They bought food and hats. Them bought more on the streets when it was found out that it would be much cheaper outside. Had some pastries and stout bean milk. Took a break and had some rice with stir fry ribs and shrimp. Sister and I went to get tea and wine. Not good but cheap. Went to bed.
We then checked out some roller coasters, and found one coaster with no line. It was pretty awesome, and upside down. The arcade was all you could play, so we did what we naturally would do, played Dance Dance Revolution! Man, what an awesome game. There was only one place to eat there, which was odd. It was fast food Korean. Chicken burger and shrimp burgers. Velveeta cheese powder on the fries. We went back to play more games after lunch. We had to get our names on the leaderboard. Mission accomplished! Go team Poo!
The late afternoon was spent going to the seal and dolphin show. It was near sunset so we got good pictures. We took the lift back into town, in complete darkness, which was also kinda freaky, and had some nam nuong. Very tasty. We got hoodwinked by the "free appetizers." There were only 10 pieces in the basket, and there was a reason why there were exactly 10. Well, there were 10 again, after we paid for the 4 that we snacked on, while waiting for the main dish. 'Doh! Afterwards, we went to a live Vietnam singing show. Three people singing plus guitar and violin. I had ginger tea, and got stung by mosquitoes. My uncle listened to music while sleeping. I spent my time rubbing lime juice on my legs. It seemed to help. Temporarily anyways. But I was pretty sticky. Anyways, it was yet another pretty busy day, and I had no problem falling asleep immediately.
day 8
Day 9 was a travel day from nha trang to da lat. Woke up kinda late. Had banh mi sandwich. Very spicy, and meet up with Chu Phong and kids. Gave them money, and said goodbye. Ride was smooth, but a little windy. Dramamine helped, and I had a coffee. We took a free shuttle, and met dads friend. They went and did their own thing. Mom and sister and I went to the market. They bought food and hats. Them bought more on the streets when it was found out that it would be much cheaper outside. Had some pastries and stout bean milk. Took a break and had some rice with stir fry ribs and shrimp. Sister and I went to get tea and wine. Not good but cheap. Went to bed.
Day 10 we woke up and had banh uot. Dad put weird smelling bug smell in his. I had my laundry done for cheap. then visited a zen monastery, big golden temple, a big lake, and tiger claw flowers. Everyone got lost, but we met up eventually. then botanic harden, nice place to take pictures, but I was actually pointing out a golden Buddha statue. We, then went to da lat University, where dad went to school. He showed us the admin building, which was being reconstructed. We then visited this big open valley with a waterfall. The valley had a large section of water, and many buildings built in the old style. Lots to see, including some pretty cute cu lans. There was lots of walking and a roller coaster to go down and up. We only got to the 3rd waterfall. Then we listened to the lang cu lan story about some guy who brought up many rocks for a woman he loves. We saw some goats and then went to dad's friends house for dinner, and we went to the street market again bought the little cu lan things.
Day 11 sister grabbed antibiotics at the pharmacy, grabbed more wine, coffee at the street market. Strong wine, free delivery. Got on the double decker bus and eight hours bus ride back to Saigon. Ate rice and fish and went to bed. I had hu tieu.
Day 12 was Thur 1/8. We went to see chi vi and her baby daughter in the hospital. We had banh uot for lunch, but it wasn't very good. Grabbed a coffee. Went to bac tums house and ate bunch of street food including duck eggs marinated in tamarind, banh xeo, corn with shrimp, and beef tripe dipped in an orange sauce, and shredded paper goi. It was much better than the banh uot. Sister went to go get her nails done at the salon next door. Huy and dad went to go get massages 25 dollars for 2 people one hour. It seemed to help dad, especially since the plane ride from the US had hurt his feet. He went home after that. Chi tram and Trang took us spend too see where the white people stay in Vietnam, (Hilton hotel), and then ate at a restaurant that had hue style food,including banh bot loc, shrimp nuong in a sugar cane stick wrapped in spring rolls, and baby mussels that you eat with banh trang. An couldn't eat the nuoc man. We then went to a bar and club owned by a Singaporean lady that had Cuban style theme with African paintings and Phillipino singers singing songs from the 80s. An sang royals by lorde. Ya ya ya. I drank scotch.
Day 14 we checked out and went to the traditional hmong village thing. Kids speak English well probably from trying to sell stuff. Went to a second village and walked down a rainy set of stairs. The views of the rice farms in the hills were spectacular. At the bottom we saw a traditional house looked at jewelry and traditional tools. There was also a huge waterfall, very muddy. Saw some dancing. Long walk back up. Mom bought a bracelet, I bought a purse. Went to lunch at a cold restaurant that had wood log fire that was for smoking and drying meat. We then went on a hike to heavens gate. Got two thirds of the way up, and settled for dragons claw and cloud land or something like that. We then headed toward lao cai, but got stuck due to mud slide. Got to a fancy hotel, left phone in bus. Fancy dinner, kinda bland. Complimentary drinks, Pilipino singers we danced, I got drunk of that moonshine. Philipino singers got creeped out by my talking to them. Feel asleep talking to Melissa.
Day 15 We woke up early. I skipped breakfast. Took bus into the Vietnam and china border. the went to a huge hmong village. Took lots of people pictures. Ate really greasy fried cake thing. And popcorn. Took picture of cute kid and her mom. Lunch had horse and ox. Apparently the horse gave a table food poisoning. super long drive back to Hanoi. Traditional north Vietnam food. Chung thit kho, bun vit mang, tofu and tomato sauce. Really good crispy egg rolls. went to bed.
Day 16 we checked out and had soy for breakfast. Went to ho Chi Minh memorial park. Went by dried fruit store, and headed to ha long bay. Tourist trap place for a break was very expensive. We did make a stop up a temple for the afternoon. Amazing views, and a lot of steps. Us young people made the hike (barely), and the older folks in our group slowly but surely made it to the top. It was totally worth it. Lucky for everyone, there was a skytram down, as we made our way to our hotel for the night. The hotel was really nice, huge 3 beds, with a bathtub jacuzzi. Went to dinner at this place that looked like a wedding hall. Celebrated January birthdays and then had more rice and assorted dishes. The guy with the hooch shared and we finished the bottle. The big group went to sing karaoke, we went to the rainbow bridge, it was dark. Another sales pitch for bamboo stuff like clothes and cloths, charcoal, and special underwear. I bought a pair of socks. Went back and took a bath. The shower flooded.
Day 17 was an early one, but breakfast was good. I had pho. Lots of Chinese people. Took a while to check out, but we took the bus to one of the island with a cave. Lit up with lots of colored light, so it looked neat but unnatural. We then took a short cruise around some of the islands, had lunch on the boat, fried crab things were good, I ate the shell. Pictures just don't do Ha Long Bay justice. With so many different islands to see, and with so many different ones of different size, you are get lost where you are, and which ones you have seen and hadn't. After being in awe for a while, people resorted to selfies, which I guess is alright. I can see why people will do a night on a boat out here as well. We were only there for a day, and didn't get so see even a portion of it. After the boat ride back, we took the long drive back, stopped at a pearl shop, stopped again at a tea shop, and got to the airport. Ate at the same place we ate before. I had bun ca. Fish bun. It was ok. Flight was 45 minutes late. Got to taxi place, but kept on getting cut off. Very annoying. Went to bed.
Day 18 started packing, Went for coffee, ate lunch at Bac hoas house. had Purple soup. We also learned how to make good caramel color out of sugar. Went to buy shoes. Cheap. Everyone bought a pair in a different store. Met up with cousins, went to Japanese coffee place. Headed to the buffet. Huge variety. I really like the banh changh and the blood clams. The kids ran around rampant. Got 6 free bags out of the deal.
Day 19 we woke up and visited the baby. Went to go get pho. Difference between dac biet and tat com is the size of the bowl. We got the big one. Got coffee, and went to go get hair cut and ear canal cleaning. Went to Saigon square and bought watches and sunglasses. We went to go to Bac Tams house. Ate a bunch including wine snails. Dad and his bro showed up. Wad lots of different dishes. Went to go get drugs, from the pharmacist, and set up chi change new phone. Talked with a lot of family, had some Remi, and packed.
Vietnam was one of those "once in a lifetime" types of trips. It was full of a mix of unspoiled beauty in the rainforest, combined with a blend of modern living in the city versus a much more simple type of living up north. The ability to go from 90 degree weather to 33 degree weather in one country is always a pretty crazy experience as well. Of course this trip couldn't have been and wouldn't have been even close to being wonderful had it not been for family, both immediate and all the first time met family that we hope to see again. There aren't words to convey how wonderful of trip this was, but it could probably be summed up in my nephew's face.
