The Romance of Hoi An

The World Heritage town of Hoi An is a lovely place to visit with your sweetie. There is little to do here but wander the tiny museums, peruse the many adorable shops, and lounge in the many cafes and restaurants. If you're sticking around for a few days and are so inclined, this is also a fantastic place to have custom clothes sewn for you. There are many, many, MANY tailors in town with floor to ceiling selections of fabric, and they're eager to get you into their shop. You can bring photos of anything you want made or work with them to design something new and a few days later you'll walk away with an outfit (or ten) made just for you at a fraction of the cost something like this would cost you back home. You can even have shoes made for you, if you're feeling ambitious. One seamstress who was trying really hard to sell me on some clothes even said that she can keep my measurements on file and I could place future orders with her via mail as many times as I wished, but with backpack real estate being at a premium for me, I had to turn her offer down.

I arrived in town early in the morning after a fairly hellish overnight train from Nha Trang where my small cabin was filled with screaming children who refused to sleep all night, a drippy AC on hyper-drive and the beginnings of a cold. Romance of any sort was the farthest thing from my mind, but the homestay I'd found could not have been nicer and the hosts friendlier, so I took a shower and a nap and headed out to explore. Since the entire town is a World Heritage site, you have to buy a day pass to visit any of the museums, but it's not expensive and it does look like a good amount of restoration is happening so the money is going into the right hands. I visited a few of the museums, but none left a really big impression on me and I liked walking the alleyways and people watching more than moseying along dark and dusty corridors with a few relics sprinkled in. 

The many trishaws with sun covers are ready to take you where you want to go

should you grow tired of walking in the heat

Of course there had to be a lovely market in town for fresh fruit and local produce

Aside from tailors, this town is full of lantern makers and you can find 

lanterns in any size, shape or form. If after perusing all the shops you still

can't find what you like, there are several shops that will help you make your own.

A quiet temple without any tourists buried deep within the alleyways of town

Wooden frames wait to be turned into more lanterns

The locals will happily pose for pictures for you, even if you don't ask, 

but then you'll have to buy lots and lots of fruit.

Large fishing nets are set up all along the waterways. These get lowered into the

water an then lifted after some time with whatever was swimming past caught up inside

A specialty found only in Hoi An, the White Rose Dumplings or Bahn Bao Vac, 

make for a wonderfully light and yet filling afternoon snack.

I don't know how these things are made, but these fried shrimp spring rolls

tasted like they were wrapped in delicious lace and melted in your mouth

At night, as with most places in SE Asia, the city truly comes alive. The air is cooler, all the lanterns are lit and vendors sell floating wishing candles along the river. For a few dollars you can buy several, light them, make your wishes and set them afloat on the water using specially designed scoops. You can also rent a little boat and launch your wishes by hand, floating lazily along the water among them. Couples pose for pictures in the many picturesque niches in town and friends meet for drinks and raucous laughter at plastic tables in front of homey restaurants. Steadily getting sicker by the hour, this was the first time in a while that I really wished I had a friend or someone there with me.

It doesn't matter who you buy your wishes from, 

but the locals always have their favorites

Lovely photo op with the many glowing lanterns all around

Yep, this restaurant was called Dung. Yep, I'm immature.

Cool nylon sculptures lined the river sidewalks

And of course there's no limit to the lanterns this city can contain

City view from the balcony of my homestay

Taste of Russia in Nha Trang

I found a flight from Saigon to Nha Trang that was cheaper than the train fare and after an hour of listening to the Russian couple beside me arguing about whether he regretted ever bringing her along for this trip or not I'd arrived at this beach resort town. The weather was as hot and humid as ever, but the beach was nearby and the water lovely, so I settled in. One thing became very obvious very quickly as I explored this small town: it was completely taken over by Russians. Businesses had signs posted in Vietnamese and Russian, with English occasionally thrown in at the end. A true Soviet baba beckoned to me from one of the tour offices nearby in fluent Russian, offering day trips out for snorkeling and island hopping. Pretending not to speak the language for a minute I replied to her in English at which point she got very stern and said "Russian speaking only!" as if I'd approached her. The crowd at the beach reminded me very strongly of beach days on the Black Sea when I was little. Here were the middle aged men with beer bellies in speedos, here were the women in what looked like hand sewn bikinis and housecoats, the people in the water didn't actually swim, they just stood around chatting or doing water aerobics. I visited a few of the sights in town, but most of the time I spent just walking the streets, eavesdropping and giggling. It's strange the sense of comfort you get when you can understand conversations going on around you. 

View of the town and the interconnecting bridge roadways

Po Nagar Tower, in the style of Angkor Wat, is a relic reminding us of the 

reach the Cham people had that stretched all the way up through Vietnam.

Locals come every day to worship inside the temples

Not a single pedestal or idol is left without incense or food offerings

A small sculpture garden behind the temple provides some much welcome shade.

I ran across a short demonstration of traditional dance and music 

Most decorations have worn away, but you can still see a few remains 

like this figure on top of an elephant

Ironically, the best restaurant in town was a sushi restaurant, and this dish 

called "The Honeymooners" was probably one of my favorite things ever.

A pair of fresh oysters topped with quail eggs, uni, several kinds of roe,

 tiny bunches of sea grapes, yuzu juice and dots of hot sauce. Yum!

As you can see, the restaurants feature some of the more traditional Russian dishes.

Borscht in Vietnam? Youbetcha!

Nha Trang Cathedral stands out with it's distinctly European architecture

A lovely place to sit and relax by the fans and contemplate life...or moving.

The Long Son Pagoda is a bit of a hike from everything else and there's not much

to do here but sit and contemplate, but a few enterprising people have set up 

refreshment stands right at the foot of the stairs and pretend not to know math

when it comes to giving change.

The markets offer some of the freshest shredded coconut around

These are not abandoned houses...many people still live like this, and

the nice buildings in the background are either for tourists or the lucky

few who were able to rise above the every day.

You'll spot a few of the water aerobics practitioners bobbing in the water  

All in all, this isn't a bad spot to lounge under an umbrella and chill...

too bad I don't know how to relax this way, so after two days I happily moved on.

Floating on the Mekong Delta

I signed up for a guided day trip down to the Mekong Delta with Intrepid Travel, woke up early and took a leisurely walk down to the Opera House in the center of Ho Chi Mingh city to meet my group and get things started. The drive down was comfortable and our friendly guide tried to keep a nice balance between entertaining us and leaving us alone to sleep. We arrived at the docks, boarded our little boat and headed for the islands. 

Our guide showed us how people live and work along these waters, where the main focus is food production and where every scrap of land is used to grow something. They showed us how people dig out makeshift ponds near their homes to keep fish and help irrigate the land, as well as a wide variety of fruit trees that are grown in the area. We also visited a small honey farm where we got to stick our fingers directly into the hives for a taste of the freshest honey possible and where we were treated to a local drink consisting of that honey, a sprinkle of bee pollen, kumquat and green tea. Yum!

One island down we were shown all the different fruit trees and then a lovely spread was set up in front of us so we could try them all. The table below shows the following in counter clockwise order: jackfruit, sapodilla, dragon fruit, lady finger bananas, and pineapple. A dish with regular and spicy salt sits in the middle and you can dip all the fruit into it, just like the locals do. I have to say that these tiny bananas taste a million times better than their full size counterparts back home.

As this was a guided tour, a performance of some sort was inevitable and while we munched on the fruit, a few musicians and singers came out to show off the local instruments and songs about various family members and home. A lot of locals came from somewhere else and songs that reminded them of home were a way to keep the sadness away while toiling in the fields as well as inspired camaraderie. It was interesting how even though we didn't understand a single word of what was sung and despite the fact that this is probably the umpteenth time these women had to sing these songs for tourists, the feelings of longing and hope still came through.

At the next island we learned how coconut candy is made. Shredded coconut gets squeeeeeezed in these massive presses until all the oils and juices are released. This liquid then gets cooked over a fire until it caramelizes, poured onto mats to cool and then quickly cut and wrapped by hand. Everything is done in the same room by a group of workers who gossip and sing songs to make the time go by faster.

Despite the fact that we'd spent the whole morning munching away, there was still room in everyone's tummies by the time lunch rolled around. We were seated family style around the table and a couple of lovely ladies picked apart the garlicky elephant fish into spring rolls, passed around seasoned rice bowls, noodles, corn soup and other finger foods for us to try. The fish was by far my favorite though.

After lunch we made our way down to the rowboats and leisurely floated downriver among the water coconut trees. This felt a little like the boat ride I took a few months prior in New Orleans to see the gators, and I got a bit nostalgic about home.

Back in open waters we swapped our row boat for the motorized version from the start of our trip and began to make our way back, passing the island where Uncle Hai created and practiced the Coconut Religion.

An engineer in his younger years, Uncle Hai constructed several structures on the island, including a floating Christian-Buddha Pagoda and a helipad in hopes that he could invite world leaders to the island and solve the peace problem in Vietnam. No one ever came, but that didn't stop several thousand people from following the monk's preaching. He himself followed a strict coconut-only diet believing that it will keep him pure, and polygamy was practiced by his followers. Sadly the religion itself was dispersed several years after it's inception, but the structures he built remain on the island to this day.

From Pho to Balut in Ho Chi Minh

Once again braving Air Asia, I left Thailand behind and headed for Vietnam. A long and narrow country, it lends itself to a fairly straightforward itinerary and I planned to cover it all starting in the south and going north until one of us cried uncle (spoiler alert: Vietnam kicked my ass). I ventured around town on my own, visiting historical landmarks and ducking into air conditioned buildings as often as possible, but on the 2nd night I booked a guided foodie tour with XO Tours and left the planning to professionals. I was also told to expect insane street traffic and seas of motorbikes, but having already encountered similar sights in other parts of SE Asia, I wasn't too overwhelmed and adapted to the "just walk, the bikes will go around you" mentality for crossing the streets (theory does NOT apply to buses!). It did feel a bit uncomfortable being an American in Vietnam, but it was really educational to visit all the museums and get the local perspective on the war that never should have been. This introduction would have been quite depressing if not for all the amazingly good street food and fun tour guides!

First meal in Vietnam absolutely had to be Pho, and getting a bowl at Pho 2000

where Bill Clinton had dined in '00 was ultimately a fantastic choice. 

Mariamman Hindu Temple in the traditionally colorful style

Numerous sculptures fill up the local city park and as I wandered around

enjoying the shade, a local woman on a lunch break called me over for a chat

and gave me great instructions for what to see/do while in her town.

Though not architecturally unique or beautiful, the Reunification Palace is 

filled with stories and is soaked in history. Originally called Independence Palace

it was renamed after the North won and all the treaty negotiations were completed. 

This rug lies on the floor housing the many meeting and reception rooms.

Unique artifacts and decorations reside on the floor where the President's 

personal chambers used to be.

The underground war rooms still contain surveillance relics of the past 

Even the shooting range is still intact

If you wander the grounds of the palace you'll find both the fighter plane that 

bombed the palace as well as the tank that finally crashed through the gates

at the end of the war.

The Saigon Central Post office is a lovely building to visit and it features

a number of tables where you can sit and compose your letters. 

I made sure to send a batch of postcards from here.

Lovely rice art for sale at one of the many many MANY gift shops.

I didn't go inside, but the Opera House or the Municipal Theater is a lovely 

building in the nicer part of town and is surrounded by some pretty fancy stores.

Nha Tho Duc Ba, or the Notre Dame Cathedral was closed by the time I got there, 

but I peeked in the windows and decided I'm not missing too much. 

I was picked up for my foodie tour by a girl on a Vespa and as we took off into 

traffic I juggled my need to not fall off with my desire to take pictures. This is 

not a parking lot, this is a view behind me as we waited for the light to turn green.

Quickly zooming past a night market. It's so hot in the day time that people 

prefer to buy things after the sun has gone down.

"Chicken sushi" she says...but really, all this is about to land on a table top grill.

Our group at the beginning of the night with our first bowl of beef soup (not pho). 

As you can tell we're already a bit sweaty, but eager to set out!

Yay for not dying in that crazy traffic!

Fried scallops with lots of basil and yummy sauces. So far so good!

After a few beers, and after some heckling and smack talk from the Aussies across

the table, I agreed to try balut (fertilized egg). while it looks freakier than it tastes

it's still not delicious and I wouldn't be sad if I never had one ever again.