As I shared in my last post, Rich and I had originally planned to travel from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to the beaches of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. However, when Rich wasn’t feeling well, we made the executive decision that a 13 hour bus ride was not in the cards for us. We decided to fly to Chiang Rai, Thailand for a few nights instead.
Let me tell you: this was a fabulous decision.
Day 70: Travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Chiang Rai, Thailand
Super easy. We took a flight from Ho Chi Ming City to Bangkok, and then flew from Bangkok to Chiang Rai. We flew into the Don Meung International Airport which, while the lesser of the two busy Bangkok international airports, still has six Priority Pass lounges.
Lounge life in Bangkok
The moral of the story being that we ate all of our meals for the day in airport lounges and only spent money on a cab once we reached Chiang Rai. Beautiful. (Also, beats a 13 hour bus ride).
Day 71: Calm and Lovely Chiang Rai
So we loved our time in Vietnam, but there is definitely an intensity about it: intense smells and loud noises, busy, crowded streets, and motorbikes everywhere.
Our most immediate impression of Chiang Rai was how much calmer and quieter it was.
Rich and I both worked in American high schools. Going from Vietnam to Chiang Rai was like chaperoning a high school dance for 3-4 hours and then stepping out into a quiet evening when the kids have all made their way home. The dance was a happy event, you are glad the school has dances, but it is also loud and sweaty and a bit hyped up. Oh how you appreciate the quiet night when it is over.
Wat Rong Seur Ten, The Blue Temple
Our lovely hotel provided bicycles to explore the town. Let me emphasize how much easier it was for me, a rather inexperienced bike rider, to ride on streets not filled with motorbikes. After breakfast, we enjoyed a leisurely bike ride to Wat Rong Seur Ten, commonly known as the Blue Temple.
Biking in Chiang Rai was amazing, and I admittedly am not the best biker. I am also wearing this outfit.
The locals began construction on the temple in 2005 and concluded in 2016. It is beautiful. Rich felt like it was as magnificent as any cathedral in Europe, and it is hard to argue with him. The deep blues and golds are brilliant, and the statue of Buddha mesmerizing. A must see in Chiang Rai.
I’m not sure I had ever visited a Buddhist temple before, and I have since learned a few basic principles:
Knees and shoulders should be covered. Having a big scarf that fits in my purse has been clutch, even if I can’t ever quite figure out how to tie it right.
Your bottoms of your feet should not face the Buddha. It seems like most people sit on their feet while praying.
Don’t turn your back on the Buddha. I learned this one after we left. Rich and I both wanted pictures facing the camera with Buddha behind us, but it would have been more respectful to have a picture taken facing Buddha. Sorry.
So I watched this young woman take this same shot, and she looked so glamorous taking it. When Rich and I looked at my version, we couldn’t stop laughing.The amazing Buddha inside the Blue TempleThe exterior of the Blue Temple– it was pretty crowded, and that was BEFORE the tour bus pulled up just as we were leaving.Feeling zen inside the Blue Temple
Wat Phra Kaew (More Temples)
From the Blue Temple, we biked over to Wat Phra Kaew. Wat means temple, so saying the Wat Phra Kaew temples is wrong (like saying St. Paul’s Cathedral Church). I’ll do my best to avoid the redundancy.
Wat Phra Kaew was an older complex with a series of temples as well as a museum. The space was green and quite serene, with hardly any tourists compared to the Blue Temple. I could understand how it would be an ideal place to pray and reflect, tucked away a bit from the more popular temples.
Walking around the temple complexApparently, tattoos of the Buddha, while popular, are super disrespectful. #themoreyouknowWhen you are wearing a scarf to be modest and show respect, but your husband thinks it is for him to wipe his gross, sweaty face on.So green and beautiful!
Time at the Pool
While Rich and I spent an inordinate amount of time at beaches in Europe (my mom called this year of travel our “beach trip”), Le Patta was the first spot we stayed with a pool.
Rich and I both had great books (Commonwealth by Ann Patchett for me and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng for Rich), and spending a relaxing afternoon reading by the pool was just what the doctor ordered to cure Rich fully of his lingering sore throat.
The pool at Le Patta
After one day in Chiang Rai, we felt fantastic.
Day 72: The White Temple
Gym Time!
I should also mention that our hotel had a gym. I haven’t talked much about our health journey over the past year, but when we even started talking about even thinking about doing this trip, it was over the holidays, and we were not in the best shape. We had moved cities and changed jobs, and the weight had just sort of crept up on us. How does that happen so easily once you turn 30?
When we committed to the trip, we also committed to getting in better shape. We ran a half marathon. I convinced Rich to try hot yoga, and we went 10 times (at 90 minutes a pop, that’s not nothing). Rich and I started making it to the gym before work and going for walks and runs after.
We knew we needed to be in better shape to face all of the physical challenges in our travels. Rich and I were also just so excited, and the idea of looking better in pictures got us to the gym on the days we didn’t want to go until we really did want to go every day.
And it all paid off! Since January, nine months ago, Rich has lost 40 pounds, and I have lost almost 20. We feel great. Which is the longest way of saying, we had a gym at our hotel in Chiang Rai, and we were glad.
Too sweaty.Gym life in Chiang Rai
Wat Rong Khun, The White Temple
Local Chiang Rai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat created the Wat Rong Khun as an artistic masterpiece to honor the Buddha. There is a small entry fee for foreigners, but Kositpipat has largely funded the project himself so that he can retain artistic license over his work. He started work on the temple in 1997, and it is not scheduled to be complete until 2070.
While photography is not allowed inside the temple, the exterior provides beautiful views in almost every direction. We had a great time wandering the grounds.
The White Temple is pretty unbelievableWhite Temple selfieThere is also a golden temple on the same site.This was one of our favorite sites on our whole trip.Rich at the White TempleThe scarf comes in handy again, this time making my skirt a bit longer.The stunning White Temple
Quick fun story about transportation: We took a bus to the White Temple (20 baht, ~$0.60/person), which while a bit eclectic in decoration, was a pretty normal city bus.
On the way back, however, the “bus” was basically a pickup truck with benches on the sides and a roof, and the bus also doubled as a package delivery service. Several times we stopped for the driver to grab boxes from local businesses which he then tucked under our feet. When the back got too full, the boxes were tied on top! Can’t make it up.
One of the packages that rode next to me on the “bus”
Day 73: We Say Goodbye to Chiang Rai at the Cat Cafe
Our hotel checkout time was noon, and our flight wasn’t until 4:45 PM, so natch I insisted that we pass the time at THE LOCAL CAT CAFE.
Quick backstory: My dear friend Tom had been insisting that he was going to open a pop up cat cafe in DC since we were in graduate school in 2009. Our friend group thought this was a hilarious but completely ridiculous and outlandish idea, and we made fun of ^^eow~ (get it? So clever.) for years.
Dear Tom, I’m sorry. You were right and totally ahead of the curve. The cat cafe was everything.
It was my first visit to a cat cafe, but it’s pretty straight forward: you order a coffee or some food, take off your shoes, and go sit on the floor in a room with at least 20 cats. You aren’t allowed to pick them up or grab them– they have to come to you– and you aren’t supposed to feed them human food. If you want to buy their love with food (which you will definitely want to do), you can buy a cat treat for about a dollar. Which Rich may have argued was a bit expensive since we only spent ~$0.60 on an actual bus ticket the day before. Love is buying the cat treat for your over excited wife anyway.
So we spent about two hours playing with cats and taking pictures of ourselves playing with cats. It was really fun, even if I did sneeze and have a runny nose for the next two days.
Rich: You didn’t tell me you were allergic to cats.
Amanda: I have never been in a room with twenty cats before!
He agreed to look at the camera but smiling was too much for grumpy cat.Memorializing our time at the cat cafeRich’s best friend, named Skinny Cat by Rich, crawled up in his lap.Love is my husband buying me the expensive cat treat so I can care for my kitty friends properly.My new best friend. We watched this cat pretty viciously attack another cat to take food a fellow customer had given it. Also, why do I look creepier than the cat does.I mean, Rich didn’t hate the cat cafe.
And then we headed to the airport. Next stop: Phnom Penh, Cambodia!
Rich and I had heard really amazing things about Hoi An, Vietnam, and Hoi An came through! We stayed in an amazing AirBNB with one of our favorite hosts, ate delicious meals, and enjoyed wandering and exploring each day.
Rich and I felt a bit sick and rundown in Ho Chi Minh City, and we know long stretches of travel can do that to you. We still enjoyed our time there and found a few gems we would definitely revisit if we ever make our way back.
Day 63: Travel from Hue to Hoi An on a SLEEPING Bus
So the bus ride from Hue to Hoi An was only about four hours long, but the only type of bus available for the journey is a sleeping bus.
The sleeping bus has bunk bed- type accommodations as well as free WiFi. Woot!
Unfamiliar with a sleeping bus? We were too. Instead of having normal bus seats, you recline for the ride so you are able to get some sleep.
Once you go sleeping bus, you will never want to go back. Despite being a few inches taller than the typical passenger and perhaps needing another inch or two of leg room, the seats were remarkably comfortable. It was also great to have your own space (no offense, honey!) for the ride.
10/10 experience. Sleeping bus for the win.
Just a little sleeping bus selfie…Rich sleeping IMMEDIATELY on the sleeping bus. Seriously, we had not been moving for more than 10 minutes when he was 100% asleep.
We got to Hoi An and got a bit turned around when the google directions took us to the wrong address for our AirBNB (we were on foot with our luggage on the wrong road…), but our hostess Vuong somehow found us on her motorbike and graciously drove us to the right location.
Super cute and cozy (although my bed making skills may leave a bit to be desired!)
Day 64: Enjoying the Beach in Hoi An
Our AirBNB included breakfast, which the first morning was fresh fruit in the refrigerator which I cut hacked open with the largest knife I have ever seen.
Did I mention it was a pretty big knife?Dragon fruit! Do we have this in America?I have literally not a clue what this fruit is called. Didn’t keep me from eating it.
Then it was time to head to the beach! Our AirBNB included the use of two bicycles so we pedaled about 20 minutes through the town, then over rice fields to the beach. Cycling is not my favorite– I also think my bike was a little bit broken– but we made it.
It’s normal to stop your bike ride to take a selfie with a water buffalo, right?
The Beach at Hoi An
We paid about a quarter to have someone watch our bikes, and then the second we stepped on sand, we received offers for cheap prices for beach chairs. As we walked, the prices got lower until we arrived at a spot offering free chairs if you bought lunch. Rich asked if we could buy drinks instead and received a pretty nebulous answer that we took as a yes.
We settled in with a beer (Rich) and coconut juice (Amanda) to enjoy some sun! And this sun was hot! I was still overcoming the trauma of the jellyfish attack so Rich and I opted to stay out of the water.
Enjoying the beach in Hoi An!
When it came time to pay, of course, the restaurant added the price of the chairs to our bill. We negotiated adding an order of french fries and two beers (beers were about 75 cents a piece) to our order to come out even so it worked out in the end.
Banh Mi for Lunch
We rode our bikes back to town for a much less expensive and very delicious banh mi lunch. We got two banh mi sandwiches with fresh avocado and two cans of coke for $3.75 total.
Our delicious $3.75 TOTAL banh mi lunch.
Banh mi have saved our budget as we traveled through Vietnam.
Dinner and Lights in Pretty Hoi An
Hoi An at night is pretty spectacular. There are lights and lanterns everywhere, and there is an amazing Japanese bridge connecting the two sides of the river. On the river itself, visitors light “lantern flowers,” representing individual hopes and prayers, and send them out to float. It’s magical.
I found a fabulous restaurant called Nu online. We are pretty in touch with what we want in a restaurant at this point, and top criteria includes:
Vegetarian and vegan options. I’m not a vegetarian or vegan yet (ha!), but my experience says that places with vegetarian and vegan offerings are just more likely serve healthier food in general. I also eat vegetarian as much as I can to get enough nutrients to make up for the days we are subsisting on coffee, Oreos, and noodles (doesn’t happen often but has happened– Mom, you raised me better).
Fusion dishes. I’m sure it would be sexier and make us sound more adventurous to say we only eat 100% authentically local dishes abroad. We don’t. When a place gets good reviews from Westerners, it’s a good indication that we will probably like it too.
A small menu. We almost always like restaurants that specialize in a few items more than places that have the Cheesecake Factory-sized binder of choices. We are not picky– we can find something we will like on a small menu.
At Nu, we started with pork belly bao buns, and then had a beef noodle ragu and fried rice with sesame chicken entree, and then enjoyed a small cheesecake dessert. Yum.
Pretty lanterns in Hoi AnOur Hoi An night selfieRich with a dragon!Dinner at Nu– delicious!
Day 65: Work Day and Pretty Night Out
After no internet on the Halong Bay cruise and an active 24 hours in Hue, we desperately needed to get caught up on blogging and trip planning. Our AirBNB host Vuong brought us egg banh mi for breakfast, and then we spent the whole day inside knocking out work. It was glorious.
Work day in Hoi An! I worked from the bed while Rich set up a little office of his own.
Hoi An was one of the most picturesque (read: Insta-ready) places we had visited so we ran out before sunset to take as many pictures as possible.
While taking pictures around 5:30 PM, we realized we had not eaten since breakfast and were STARVING so we grabbed a quick pre-dinner banh mi. Which I then immediately spilled on my shirt– changing our Insta capturing approach. Oops!
Rich looking Insta fresh.Messy me! After I got in the fight with the banh mi…Can’t take me anywhere.Hoi An vibes ONLY. This mural was in an adorable little boutique in downtown Hoi An.Lanterns, lanterns everywhere.The river that runs through Hoi An is beautiful. This shot is from the Japanese bridge.
For dinner, we went back to Nu. It was that good.
Day 66: Travel to Ho Chi Minh City and American Lunch
Travel to Ho Chi Minh City (previously Saigon) was super easy. A shuttle picked us up from our hotel and drove us to the airport in Danang, about an hour away. We took one quick and easy flight to HCMC, and we were there around 11:30 AM. There was a local bus from the airport to the city, and we were in our AirBNB by 12:30 PM.
For lunch, we found an American sandwich shop called Journey’s, and it was like being back in America. Beyonce and Jay-Z on the stereo, crispy bacon on our BLT, and delicious air conditioning.
Pressed about this amazing American sandwich
We were so full our dinner consisted of snacks (read: Oreos) from the Circle K. So like basically we had the most American day ever.
Day 67: Visit to the War Remnants Museum and the Reunification Palace
The War Remnants Museum
After our visit to the Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, we were prepared for the War Remnants Museum to tell a decidedly North Vietnam/communist-friendly account of the conflict, and I think that is a pretty fair assessment of what we experienced at the museum.
I’m mostly glad we went because it certainly deepened my understanding of the history surrounding us in HCMC (Saigon at the time), but the images were especially sad. The effects of Agent Orange were devastating, and the how young soldiers on both sides of the war were was striking. For better or worse, war can seem abstract in America, but in so many places we have visited (Croatia, Malta, Vietnam), war is something that happened on that corner, and it is not abstract at all.
If you are in HCMC, I would recommend visiting the War Remnants museum, and I would also recommend a big lunch and a nap afterwards. It was deep, and I know I needed to retreat and recover to process a bit after our visit.
An American helicopter at the War Remnants Museum on Ho Chi Minh City.
The “Reunification” Palace
This is a government office building used by the Americans and South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. On April 30, 1975, a North Vietnamese bulldozer rammed through the Palace’s front gate, signifying the fall of Saigon and an end to the war. The Americans had finished evacuating the day before.
The Vietnamese call it the Reunification Palace because they celebrate the reunification of North and South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese ex-pats refer to this time in history as Black April.
The palace is fascinating because everything in it has remained untouched. It is like walking on to a Vietnamese set of Mad Men. It is also one more reminder that this was a war fought in our parents’ lifetime.
Outside of the Reunification Palace in Saigon.The Cabinet Room in the Reunification Palace
The heaviness of the day wore us out. We went home, ordered Indian delivery food for dinner, and ate on the couch in our pajamas.
Day 68: Rest, Recovery, and Rooftop Bar
Rich woke up feeling terrible with a sore throat. We picked up hot tea and a Gatorade equivalent at the Circle K and stayed inside to rest and recover.
I have no way to back this up, but I think some of the air pollution was getting to us. There is so much exhaust in the city, and people cook, using a variety of fuel sources, out on the sidewalk. My throat was okay, but my breathing just felt a bit labored. Add clean air to the list of American things I take for granted.
After a day inside, we decided to head out to a rooftop bar to take in another view of Saigon. The bar was located on the 28th floor of the Sheraton, and the views were really amazing. We were glad we ventured out.
Enjoying the views and each other (as always)The view from the Sheraton rooftop bar in Ho Chi Minh City. I did not expect HCMC to be nearly as modern feeling as it was.
Day 69: More Rest Needed and Change of Plans
Rich woke up feeling better but not great. We had some pho from the restaurant downstairs for lunch, and then we headed to an incredible coffee shop named The Workshop to work. I was able to blog a bit while Rich worked on travel planning.
Whole latte love for Workshop Coffee
Our original plan had been to head to Sihanoukville, Cambodia from Ho Chi Minh City. However, the only way we could figure out to get there without spending way more on a flight than we wanted to spend was to take a 13+ hour bus ride (on a sitting not sleeping bus– the horror!). While there have been points in the trip that we have “toughed out” some situations, neither of us were quite feeling up to a 13 hour bus ride on a route that had a few particularly unsettling reviews.
So we decided to go to Thailand instead! In my humble opinion, something I really appreciate about our marriage is the agility with which Rich and I change course when we decide it is the right thing to do (travelling this year being a prime example). And a flight to Thailand and a hotel with a pool when we arrived sure sounded like a win.
While we didn’t see quite as much in Ho Chi Minh City as we had planned, we enjoyed its modern feel as well as being able to learn from its significant history. Stay tuned for how we enjoyed our last minute change of plans to visit Chiang Rai, Thailand!
If you follow our Insta, and you should be following our Insta (@bonvoyagebigadventure), you know that we had way too much fun with the Halong Bay jokes.
Amanda: Rich, we sure our a Halong way from home…
Rich: It’s going to be a Halong trip if you keep telling jokes like that!
Taking in Halong Bay, Vietnam
Halong Bay, Vietnam is BEAUTIFUL, and we mostly enjoyed our trip– more on that below– and really enjoyed our time in Hue.
Days 60-61: Our Halong Bay Cruise and a Monster Attacks
Halong Bay, Vietnam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with immense beauty and small fishing villages where, until recently, for multiple generations the people have lived their lives almost exclusively on the water.
Based on all of the research conducted by our expert trip planner (Rich), we concluded that the best way to see the Halong Bay was on an overnight cruise. After even more research, Rich selected the Bhaya Cruise Line for our cruise operator.
The Itinerary
Day 1:
The cruise company picks you up directly from where you are staying in Hanoi. You take about a four hour van ride to Halong Bay.
You are greeted with a welcome drink, board the ship, and receive a safety briefing while you eat lunch and the ship sets sail.
You cruise until you reach a fishing village, at which point you spend about an hour kayaking in and around the village.
You return to the boat and enter “safe” waters to enjoy a swim.
Then there is happy hour with half priced drinks and a cooking demonstration.
Then you enjoy a bbq dinner on the top deck of the ship, and there are optional evening activities (a movie, night fishing) after dinner.
Day 2:
There is optional sunrise Tai Chi, followed by a continental breakfast.
You travel to a cave to explore.
You cruise back to the bay and enjoy brunch.
You disembark, and the van drives the four hours back to Hanoi.
The Good
For the first several hours of the cruise, we were loving life. Navigating Hanoi had been a lot, and now we had a beautiful cabin to stay in and delicious food to eat, and we had to do zero work to obtain food and be surrounded in comfort. We could sit back and enjoy a little luxury!
And, of course, Halong Bay is breathtakingly beautiful with some of the most amazing vistas in the entire world. Watching the sunrise from our cabin was spectacular. We also sat for about 30 minutes on our private balcony overlooking the bay while the boat was cruising and we had returned from kayaking, which was heaven.
Handsome Rich and the Halong BayBeautiful but windy!We loved sitting together on our private balcony.
The Bad/Meh
Visiting the fishing village felt a little invasive, and honestly distasteful, to me. We were a group of people wealthy enough to afford a cruise paddling around a neighborhood mouths agape trying not to say things like, “I can’t believe these are people’s homes.” (Read more nuanced research on the positive and negative effects of “slum tourism” here.)
You could say that we were looking at the beautiful, brightly colored houses, but I think that would be disingenuous. Had I lived in those homes, I would not want people paddling around looking at me, remarking upon the way my community lives. The original cruise we booked had us paddle through a cave, and then we received an email that we had received an “upgrade” on our cruise the day before. I would have preferred to paddle through the cave.
Instead, we did a walking tour of a cave which was also super meh. We were not exploring, we were walking about 100 yards total around in a circle. Had we known more what to expect, we would have enjoyed sitting for a few more minutes together on our private balcony.
Rich’s first time wearing a life jacket!Kayaking through the fishing village. Amanda paddles; Rich rests his feet.
The Ugly
I got stung by a jelly fish. Or maybe by seven jellyfish. I had stings all over my body.
The staff made a big deal about docking in a spot with water that was “safe” to swim in, and I was actually the one pressuring Rich to jump in this time. We were two of the first people in the water, and then a young guy jumped in a minute or two later, and it was clear something happened to him in the water. We were remarking on what it might be, when I felt like I had been electrocuted– pain shot through my body like electricity.
“Something got me,” I said. “I have to get out now.”
Rich, who was wonderful while the attack was happening and for the entire time after, later conceded that his first thought was hoping I was okay and his second was to get himself out of the water before whatever it was came for him.
As soon as I was back on the boat, my skin turned prickly red and white bumps and welts appeared. And it hurt. I was really trying to be brave because, I mean, we are around the world adventurers (ha!), but it was scary and it hurt. In retrospect, I can’t believe I didn’t cry. Or that Rich didn’t cry either! I was a wreck, and gore/medical emergencies are not his favorite.
One of the staff members on the ship poured vinegar on me. Another started rubbing limes on my welts. One said not to shower, the other said shower immediately. We went back to the room where first I took a cold shower and then Rich read to take a hot shower and the we rubbed every medication in the First Aid kit all over my body. Rich was as calm and cool as a cucumber.
Ouch.All over my body.
My frustration with the situation was that a.) I was the most uncomfortable I have been in years and b.) if they told us there was a chance of there being attacked by a jellyfish (but probably 7 jellyfish) I would have opted out! I got stung as a kid so I had done this before. It hurts!
Based on the staff’s quick response, it clearly had happened before. Another guest told me at breakfast the next day that they had participated in a night fishing activity and seen about 20 jellyfish in a five minute period! Come on!
So the Halong Bay cruise was not my favorite. We attempted to do the fanciest, most luxurious thing of the whole trip, and I ended up having the worst experience! I preferred eating hot dogs and camping in Iceland! Go figure. You live, you learn.
Day 62: Hue, Vietnam
After we disembarked from the boat, we had a six hour ride back to Hanoi, then we took a super easy bus back to the Hanoi airport, and then we flew to Hue, Vietnam. We got to our AirBNB at about 10:00 PM, which was actually a room in an adorable boutique hotel.
We sat next to a gentleman on our flight who had also been on our cruise and talked travel and life the entire flight (not like us– we are way too introverted to enjoy talking to strangers). He, his wife, and his teenage daughters live in Lisbon, Portugal, but he and his wife had lived in New York working in investment banking in the 90’s. We really enjoyed exchanging travel stories, and they were incredibly encouraging when we told them about our trip.
The gentleman also shared that despite owning his own investment banking company in Portugal, the most important thing he does every day is to make it home in time to have dinner with his wife and daughters. The family was really wonderful, and it was our pleasure to have met them.
Exploring Hue
After being on a boat for several days, it was nice to stretch our legs a bit. We walked about 30 minutes to the Imperial Palace, a complex filled with beautiful buildings from when Hue had been the capital of Vietnam.
At the entrance to the PalaceRich with a golden dragon! He likes to have his picture taken with animals and creatures, FYI.Amanda at the Imperial Palace, from when Hue was the capital of VietnamRich at the Imperial Palace
We then walked another hour to visit the Thien Mu Pagoda, or the Pagoda of the Celestial Lady, an ancient temple overlooking the river. Most tourists do not walk quite this far–opting to take inexpensive tuk tuks instead– so we got curious looks both on the way there and on the way back!
Together overlooking the riverAt the PagodaRich at the Pagoda
We returned back to the hotel where we took advantage of the hotel jacuzzi and fell asleep in hammock chairs (I know, rough life!).
For dinner, we ate at one of our favorite restaurants of the entire trip: Nook Cafe and Bar. I had a delicious veggie curry and Rich ate honey fried chicken with coconut sticky rice. Yum!
Delicious veggie curryThis is Rich’s happy, I’m-about-to-eat-food face.
Hue was super hip, and I think we both could have happily stayed longer, enjoying being in a Vietnamese city that is a bit more modern with a slower pace than Hanoi. If you are planning a trip to Vietnam, we would definitely encourage you to add Hue to your list.
I am a bit behind on the blog (what’s new?), but I am so excited to start sharing about our time in Vietnam, beginning with Hanoi.
I’m going to “jump in” with a little analogy: When Rich and I were in Rovinj, Croatia, there was a swimming spot on the sea located off of some rocks right by the town. There were two ways to get into the water. You could climb down a ladder and ease into the water or you could climb up on the biggest rock, run, and then jump at least ten feet down straight into the sea.
I took the ladder; Rich ran and jumped off the high rock.
Deciding to start our first trip to Asia for either of us in Hanoi was definitely jumping off of the highest rock. From the second, we stepped into the Hanoi airport, we were in a quite different world.
Let me be clear: we had a great time. Hanoi is an incredibly culturally rich city that has faced and overcome monumental challenges. In our time there, we learned a ton– both about Vietnam and about ourselves.
Day 56/57: Intercontinental Travel and Arriving in Hanoi
If you are a faithful reader, I left you last in Cefalu, Sicily on day 54 of our time abroad. I’m going to fast forward a bit: on day 55, we traveled by train from Cefalu back to Palermo. In the early morning (~4:30 AM) of day 56, we started our 24+ hours of travel to Hanoi which looked like:
A bus from Palermo to the airport
A flight from Palermo to Rome
A flight from Rome to Taipei
A flight from Taipei to Hanoi
A bus from the airport to our neighborhood
Quick Highlights of the Long(EST) Travel Day
Lounge Access. The international lounge in Rome was amazing, and we enjoyed a big breakfast. When we landed in Taiwan, the pace of the airport was a bit frenetic, and at the security checkpoint, the Taiwanese official spotted a small pair of scissors in Rich’s bag that we had no idea we had. We emptied everything out of his bag to discover the scissors came with our first aid kit and had already made it through about 1000 security checkpoints undetected. Suffice it to say, we needed the zen of the lounge in Taiwan, and it delivered.
Our Long Haul Flight on China Airlines. We have no complaints about this flight, and we have one really big kudos: The in-flight entertainment options included a 25 minute film on the Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl last season. We are HUGE Eagles fans, and I first found the film and watched it while Rich was sleeping. I cried. No really, I actually really and truly cried. When Rich woke up, we watched it together. Then he watched it two more times before the plane landed. I didn’t tell you this, but Rich may have cried each time he watched it too.
Arriving in Hanoi, Vietnam
So when we left our apartment in Palermo, Italy, it was about 4:30 AM on Monday local time, and when we landed in Hanoi, it was 11:00 AM on Tuesday. Crazy, huh?
We read that there was an easy, and cheap, bus (Bus 86- ~$1.50/person) to take us from the Hanoi airport to near where we were staying in Hanoi, and we were able to find it and get on pretty quickly.
Rich and I knew this day of travel was going to be challenging, particularly once we arrived on a different continent. We have gotten a fair number of questions from readers that basically boil down to how do you keep from killing each other, and one way is by talking through situations where we know we will want to kill each other in advance. It’s like running a race and visualizing where the hills are going to be and how you are going to keep your mind right when you get to them. We had already talked through staying calm, taking our time, remaining patient, etc.
Still, visualizing Hanoi and being in Hanoi are two totally different things. Once we got off the bus, we had about a 15 minute walk in the middle of the day with all of our belongings through the streets of Hanoi in approximately 95 degree heat.
What you should know about walking in Hanoi:
Sidewalks are not for walking. They are almost like personal carports. On the sidewalks, people cook food, park motorcycles, sit in small plastic chairs, burn trash, drink beer, sell items, make flower wreaths, prepare meat, keep animals, exercise, etc. You can try to walk on sidewalks…
Traffic signals are meaningless. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles, tuk tuk drivers, and pedestrians somehow just make it work, regulation-free. Someone told me that you just have to close your eyes and step into traffic when crossing the street and trust that the motorbikes and bicyclists will find a way around you. Let’s just say Rich and I did more hand holding (hand gripping?) in three days in Hanoi than we had previously done in three years of marriage combined.
The smells are overpowering. Some of the smells are breathtakingly positive– imagine freshly baked bread and sweet fruit– and some are a bit sickening, mostly where meat is being prepared. Walking down the street is like walking through kitchen after kitchen. The intensity of the smells was something I had not anticipated.
So learning to walk in Hanoi is probably best done without carrying all of your belongings after 24+ hours of travel. We made it to our AirBNB which was four flights up a stairwell with no air conditioning (we hardly ever fight but there may have been 30 seconds of screaming while we tried to get the key lock box open), and then immediately opened the door to our beautiful AirBNB and took off all our clothes (sorry to be graphic, but that is exactly what happened. We were literally dripping with sweat. And we’re married.). We had arrived!
Our super chic– and most importantly, well air conditioned– AirBNB
Day 58: Exploring Hanoi
Exercise at Hoan Kiem Lake
If you enjoy exercise, do not go to Hanoi without making it to Hoan Kiem Lake at 6:00 AM. It was everything.
So Hanoi is hot. And as I shared, the sidewalks are useless. If you want to exercise, you need to do it very first thing in the morning, and what better place to do it than at Hoan Kiem Lake, a centrally located lake surrounded by a large park.
We arrived at the lake right at 6:00 AM and exercise was already in full effect. There were runners, cyclists, workout classes, men lifting weights, and groups doing Tai Chi.
The weight lifting area at Hoan Kiem LakeThe walkers and cyclists at Hoan Kiem LakeSome group stretching
We ran around the lake one time, which was about a mile, and we were, once again, the sweatiest. Rich wandered over to where the men were lifting weights and did a few bench presses after a local gentleman invited him to join in. There were no women anywhere near the bench so I used that as my excuse to stick to running.
My strong husband lifts really heavy weights
The morning had the feel of a community 5k– people happy to sweat, laugh, and be healthy together. I loved this.
Coffee, The Ngoc Son Temple, Bun Cha, and the Temple of Literature
We grabbed coffee at the Note Cafe (super cute) and then went home so that Rich could participate in Fantasy Football Draft #1 (of 3) because #priorities.
My Note at the Note CafeAmanda at the Note Cafe post-workout. Everyone who visits leaves a note behind!
After that, we headed to the Ngoc Son Temple, a temple dedicated to Confucius and Tran Huong Dao, back at Hoan Kiem Lake.
From there, we walked to Bun Cha Huonh Lien, the famous spot where President Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate bun cha (imagine a variation on beef pho) together. The bun cha was delicious and cheap.
Selfie with the picture of President Obama and Anthony Bourdain. My sweaty hair is proof that we are really and truly in Hanoi.Bun Cha- 85000 Vietnamese dongs (their currency) = ~$3.62Rich is excited for his bun cha!
Our last stop of the day was the Temple of Literature. This temple dates back to 1070 and honors scholars throughout Vietnamese history. The educator (and nerd) in me thinks this is the coolest— if you did the best on your royal exams, given by the ruler himself, you had a statue of you erected for posterity. Amazing.
We also overheard a tour guide tell this priceless story about a man who spent his whole life studying and preparing for these exams and finally took it and passed when he was 80+ years old. #growthmindset #neverstoplearning
Inside the Temple of Literature. I *think* that is Confucius.Amanda with a bonsai tree at the Temple of LiteratureRich at the Temple of Literature complex.
When we got back to our apartment, we took a long, glorious, air conditioned nap! The heat takes it out of you!
Day 59: Our Visit to the Hanoi Hilton
Day 58 was light and fun. Day 59 anchored us a bit. We were Americans visiting a country where individuals in our parents’ generation had waged a war.
The Hoa Lo Prison
The Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton tongue-in-cheek by Americans during the Vietnam War, is a must visit in Hanoi.
The museum is in Vietnam, run by the Vietnamese, and thus, very much reflects a Vietnamese worldview. The tour starts by showing how the French built the prison and then continuously renovated it to hold more and more Vietnamese prisoners. It heralds the “brave communists” who risked personal safety to compose newsletters and encourage one another while imprisoned. The museum highlights several Vietnamese prisoners who were able to escape through a cistern and honors communists who paid the ultimate sacrifice by displaying photographs of their being beheaded.
You are able to walk in to almost all of the cells.
Outside of the Hoa Lo Prison, aka the Hanoi Hilton.
At the end of the tour, there are two small rooms dedicated to sharing the story of the captivity of the American pilots during the Vietnam War. The room shows smiling pictures of American soldiers playing basketball, strumming their guitars, celebrating Christmas, eating full meals, and receiving medical care.
Senator John McCain passed away two days after our visit to the Hanoi Hilton, and our visit in combination with his death, certainly made Rich and I think and talk a lot about bravery, propaganda, and how communities tell their own stories.
Senator McCain went months without medical treatment. He spent six years of his life imprisoned in Hanoi. He considered suicide because he was being beaten multiple times a day. While he refused an early release unless soldiers imprisoned before him were also released, he did sign a false confession he would regret all of his life.
A picture of Senator McCain visiting years later
When the Vietnamese were held in the Hoa Lo prison, the treatment was brutal and inhumane. When Americans were held, the treatment was kind and generous. Who the storyteller is changes the story.
A depiction of how the Vietnamese were kept by the French.
Hanoi Coffee Station, Banh Mi, and Bia Hoi
On a lighter note, we enjoyed some good food and drinks!
Banh Mi. A banh mi is a traditional Vietnamese sandwich on french bread. They are ubiquitous, cheap, and delicious.
Enjoying banh mi!
Bia Hoi. Bia Hoi is the local draft beer in Vietnam. It is very low alcohol content– about 3%– and each one costs about 35 cents. Bia Hoi was exactly what we needed after our visit to the Hanoi Hilton.
A much needed bia hoi. The best part is that they are served ICE cold.
Hanoi Coffee Station. In Vietnam, the coffee is typically served with condensed milk, and often with additions such as egg, butter, and coconut. Our host at the Hanoi Coffee Station explained to us that this is because Vietnamese Coffee is particularly bitter, and the flavors are necessary to make the coffee taste good. This gentleman extolled the Hanoi Coffee Station’s process of selecting and roasting their beans and truly he made us two of the most delicious cups of coffee of our entire time abroad.
Highly recommend the Hanoi Coffee Station for coffee and conversation
Our host at the Hanoi Coffee Station wanted to know more about how we drink coffee back in America. We told him about our favorite coffee, La Colombe, which started in Fishtown, our neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and how they had developed an amazing draft latte. He asked about our travels, and we shared that we were , in fact, traveling for nearly a year.
This bright, kind, interesting young man then said very directly that because of the low wages in Vietnam, he would probably never leave the country, and it gutted me. Sure, we made some sacrifices to save money for this trip, but we did absolutely nothing to influence our both being born in a country with high wages and boundless opportunities, particularly for white, straight, healthy individuals like ourselves. Talk about unpacking your privilege backpack.
In Hanoi, many people live their lives on the sidewalks. They wake up before dawn and work until after dusk. They sweep the streets, they butcher animals, they prepare food sitting on low plastic stools or in deep squats. They laugh and love and yell and show kindness, and they have much more demanding lives than Rich or I could imagine living. While our time in Hanoi was sweaty and crossing streets was more than a little challenging, the experience was eye opening, humbling, and expanding, and I am glad we decided to dive in head first. I will always remember and appreciate our three days in Hanoi.
It’s step back time! As we go place to place, packing and unpacking, lugging our backpacks, checking in for flights and checking in to AirBNB’s, the big picture– that we are taking a YEAR of our lives to travel the WORLD together– can get lost in the details.
In this post, we want to back away from the blur to share some of what the past 30 days has looked like. And feel free to look back at our first 30 days to see how much has changed!
Dates Included: July 26 – August 24, 2018
Countries Visited: 4 (Greece, Malta, Italy, Vietnam)
Percentage of Meals Eaten in Airport Lounges: 8% (7)
Percentage of Meals Provided by Hotels or AirBNB’s: 5% (5)
Physical Activity
If you read about our first 30 days, you know that Rich and Amanda spend (almost) all of their time together, and the FitBit gives Rich credit for a million more steps. See more evidence below.
Rich
Total Distance: 445,621 steps (209.41 miles)
Average Daily Distance: 14,854 steps (6.98 miles)
Daily High: 29,413 steps (13.51 miles)
Daily Low: 5,311 steps (2.44 miles)
Amanda
Total Distance: 354,694 steps (158.89 miles)
Average Daily Distance: 11,823 steps (5.30 miles)
Daily High: 23,787 steps (10.39 miles)
Daily Low: 4,512 steps (1.97 miles)
Intellectual ActivitY
New category because Amanda likes to win at things that are clearly not competitions too.
Rich
Books Read: 5 (The Sunrise, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, The Godfather, Davinci Code)
Amanda
Books Read: 9 (Mediterranean Summer, The Shore, The Sunrise, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Revival, My Brilliant Friend, The Godfather, Little Fires Everywhere)
Overall Costs As Percentage of Budget
Flights: 15% ( 5% decrease)
Other Transportation (Buses, Trains, Ferries, Taxis, Funiculars): 8% (13% decrease)
Lodging: 44% (2% decrease)
Food: 19% (4% increase)
Sightseeing: 5% (4.98% increase)
Other (Books, Toiletries, Trips to H&M): 10% (8.7% increase)
Favorites:
Choosing is so hard!
Favorite Meal:
Rich: Charcuterie at a’Putia Bottega Siciliana in Agrigento, Sicily
Amanda: Salami Sandwich at Caseficio Borderi in Siracusa, Sicily
This foccacia sandwich in Sardinia was a close runner-up for favorite meal for Amanda.
Heraklion: Great AirBNB view (pictured!), great city
Favorite Mode of Transportation:
Rich: The Flight from Rome to Taiwan (Meals! Movies! Naps! Eagles NFL Super Bowl special watched 3 times!)
Amanda: The Funicular in Trapani, Sicily
Favorite Beach:
Rich: Stintino, Sardinia
Amanda: Stintino, Sardinia
Need we say more? Stintino wins best beach unanimously. Bonus: We got chairs and an umbrella!
Favorite Town Center:
Rich: Valletta, Malta
Amanda: Siracusa, Sicily
Favorite Book:
Rich: The Godfather
Amanda:Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Least Favorite Moment:
Rich: Being trapped outside of the apartment in Alghero while Amanda was trapped inside with our AirBNB host’s father who only spoke Italian because the key wouldn’t work in the lock. And the major bus delay in Agrigento due to Sicily’s reverance for the Assumption of Mary. And probably pretty much any other time we had to wait a long time for something.
Amanda: Getting stung by a jellyfish swimming in Halong Bay. The end.
Waiting = not Rich’s favorite
Most Favorite Moments:
Rich: Exercising with thousands of Vietnamese locals at Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi at 6:00 AM, watching the sunrise over Halong Bay, and finally reveling in beach chairs in Stintino.
Amanda: Seeing the temples at Agrigento, watching our sandwiches get made in Siracusa, and successfully crossing the street in Hanoi without dying.
DELTAS:
Life’s a dance, you learn as you go. Some things we have learned/might do differently in retrospect:
Familiarize ourselves with local holiday and Sunday schedules. It seems like this one got us every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation while we were travelling in Sicily and half the stores were closed or the bus schedules had changed. We are going to google major holidays in each new destination before we arrive and everything is closed.
Slow down! While we have a whole year to devote to travel, there are times when it seems like not enough time to see EVERYTHING we want to see so we try to get in as much as we possibly can. We did that in Sicily, moving city to city to city and wound up exhausted by the time we reached the end. As my dad used to say, you can do anything you want, but you can’t do everything you want. Moving forward, our goal is to stay everywhere for at least three nights to avoid giving ourselves travel whiplash.
The things Rich and I like to do at home are the things we like to do on the road. We like to read, we like to run, we like to go on long walks and explore the neighborhood around us, we like to have time to work and feel organized, we like to cook and eat in, we like to get 7-8 hours of sleep, and we like to spend time together. When we prioritize doing these things, we are relaxed and energized and in a good space to take in and reflect on the unbelievable world around us. When we pretend like we are contestants on the Amazing Race and jet from city to city or skip lunch or go to sleep at 3:30 AM, we are cranky and off. It doesn’t matter how incredible the destination is if we are too grumpy to enjoy it. Happiness is a state of mind!
Feeling super relaxed in Agios Nikolaos, Greece. Those four days were full of running, reading, eating, and going to the beach.
LOVES:
Living in a state of wonder and seeing things with neweyes. I haven’t written about Hanoi yet, but let’s just say, it is a city like no other city I have ever seen. I have also never seen a beach with water as blue as the water in Stintino, Sardinia, I have never before watched thousands of people welcome a statue of Mary riding on a boat to their town with fireworks, horns, and candles, and I have never explored ancient Greek temple after ancient Greek temple at sunset. It is so exciting to be excited and experience true wonder and awe so often.
Stretching new muscles. Blogging and managing social media is new work for me, and planning hundreds of hours of travel, lodging, and touring is new for Rich. It feels good to try something really different and to learn and grow.
Spending time together. This made the list in the first thirty days too! I feel like this one year of marriage is probably worth about 5-10 in terms of learning about and enjoying each other too. We have experienced some amazing, wonderful moments, and we have also navigated the hot, humid, and busy streets of Hanoi with very heavy backpacks to reach our AirBNB that is up four flights of oppressively hot stairs. It’s not always pretty, but we are grateful for every second of it.
