Good Morning, Vietnam

Published in

Rachel and Gil’s Travels

7 min readSep 20, 2019

Vietnam has been an incredible second leg of our journey in Southeast Asia. The unique cultural influences from the Chinese, Japanese, French and American involvement create an experience unlike anything else. We traveled for 10 days throughout the country and feel like we have barely scratched the surface of everything Vietnam has to offer. Each city we visited had its own charm, surprises, and adventures in store for us.

Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

We started off our tour of Vietnam in the epicenter of the southern region. Saigon is the largest city in the country and was definitely a distinct change from quiet and clean Singapore. The streets were crowded with motorbikes and food vendors lined the streets, making it nearly impossible to cross the street or walk on the sidewalks. Crossing the street was literally a game of frogger since no traffic laws are enforced. A couple of highlights from our stay in Saigon included:

Cu Chi Tunnels — We took a day trip to explore the (extremely narrow) tunnels that the Southern Vietnamese soldiers used during the war to hide from the Americans. They were extremely impressive and we got to crawl through 60m of the over 250km long tunnels that were used as hideouts, hospitals and even schools during the war
Back of the Bike Food Tour — Did we mention we like food? Our food adventures continued with a food tour in Saigon. To zoom through the city efficiently, and attempt to blend in with the culture, we were each put on the back of a bike and driven around by locals. Nhi and Hung were our incredible guides and we had the greatest time getting to know them as they whizzed through the crazy streets and took us to the best alleyway restaurants to try bun cha, ban xheo, papaya salad, quail bahn mi and assorted desserts
War Remnants Museum — We checked out a museum devoted to the war and were fascinated Vietnam’s tone. To summarize, there are no hard feelings and they highlight 1) the long term effects of the chemical warfare which still are causing congenital disorders, and 2) how unpopular the war was in the US with the many peace movements
Chabad — After getting lost looking for Pho we turned on our internet and realized we were a block from Chabad… we then wandered our way in for some Kosher Schnitzel and challah rolls that debatably were made with rice flour (and were delicious!)

Danang & Hoi An

The second stop on our Vietnam adventure was Da Nang, a prominent beach town, and the adjacent Hoi An, a town with countless temples and a backpacker paradise.

In Hoi An, we spent the first half of the day in a cooking class where we shopped at a local market, and then rode on a river boat to get to the class. The boat got pulled over by the Vietnamese police… after ~7 min of searching under the floorboards our boat captain found his license and we were cleared to go on our way (phew!) In the class we cooked spring rolls, pho, ban xheo, and stir fried noodles with the sounds of Gangnam Style on repeat for 4 hours. Once the class finished, we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the town, trying on local attire (Rachel…), and visiting temples — Cantonese, Japanese, Hainanese and more!

Our day in Da Nang was a slower day for us. After all of the action, we decided we needed a beach day so we spent the first half of the day reading and enjoying the sun. (We both finished books!) Once we got antsy, we went for a light 5 mile stroll to a large Lady Buddha at the far end of the beach.

Sapa

Nestled in the northernmost end of Vietnam, and only an eight hour train followed by a one hour windy mountainous drive away, Sapa is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen.

In Sapa we explored local villages and took in the natural beauty. We went in a 12 km trek with a woman from a local village, Lan. She was 29, married with 3 kids which she said was very few in her village (her mother was one of 17!) We enjoyed getting to know her and learn about her H’mong community throughout the day. We hiked through rice terraces built into the mountains and learned how to harvest rice. It was an incredible experience and fairly tough hike down rocks and across bamboo bridges, and the trek concluded with a traditional meal at Lan’s sister’s restaurant. The food was one of our favorite meals so far — very simple with fresh herbs from the farms (our judgement may have also been clouded by the hunger and heat...)

Another day we took a cable car up to the highest mountain in Indochina, Fansipan. The cable car was really impressive and broke 2 Guinness records for its length and ascent height. The ride up was beautiful, and slightly terrifying, as we rode through clouds and saw the rice terraces, mountains and waterfalls from above. At the top we took another hour-long hike up steep steps to the summit. Along the way we met a British couple and conquered the mountain together. We then rode back down with them and enjoyed lunch together before parting ways.

Hanoi

Hanoi was HOT. After the insanity of Saigon, Hanoi felt like a manageable amount of chaos so we attempted to walk to see the main sites. After 15 minutes of walking around the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex with no shade, we looked at our weather apps and realized it was “feels like 116” outside. We continued on our “city trek” to the Imperial Citadel with buildings from the 11th century and made our way to Hoa Lo Prison Museum. The prison was interesting as it was built by the French and later was used by the Vietnamese during the war, and John McCain famously spent some time there. The depiction of the American POWs was interesting in that they made it out to seem like the quality of life was wonderful and the POWs were happy to be there rather than fighting the war.

When we returned to Hanoi after our trip to Sapa, we spent the day on a free walking tour with two students, Peter and Anna. They showed us around the old quarter, pointing out temples, traditional houses, markets, and instances of the ancient Vietnamese language (after the French invaded, the language stayed the same but the characters transformed to a Latin based format). The tour ended with a walk on the famous Train Street — a bustling street with cafes and restaurants in the road that clear out when the train runs through a few times a day.