We have spent the last two weeks getting to know Vietnam. There is one resounding truth we have discovered - we are not going to have enough time in Vietnam. To be fair, we have maxed out our visa, and we couldn't actually stay longer, even if we wanted to. But there is so much diversity here, we keep saying we want more time!
Our time in Vietnam began with a flight into Da Nang, a coastal city in central Vietnam.
We are not visiting southern Vietnam, as we wanted to be situated in one spot for all of the holiday period, and flying into Ho Chi Minh city just didn’t make sense, as it added more than 15 hours on the train to leg it up to Hoi An. We’ll have to save the south for next time.
Da Nang was a cool spot! There are nice, white sandy beaches, right by the city. The harbour area is pretty, and they have an amazing walkway beside the river. The city had a pre-Tet buzz, but also felt relaxed and welcoming. To us, Da Nang feels seriously underrated, and we’ll be back.
Alas, we only had one day in Da Nang, as we were heading onto our base for Tet. Hoi An. Much awaited, beloved by so many of our friends and family. We were seriously amped for this stop.
Our accommodation for the ten days was a homestay on Cam Nam Island, across the river from the old town. During the drive in, we watched as sellers set up roadside stalls of kumquat trees and yellow chrysanthemums, for people to decorate their homes with. We particularly loved spotting the motorbikes transporting these plants for home delivery - sometimes creatively perched between their legs while they weaved through the traffic!
Hoi An old town is beautiful. Stunning yellow buildings lit by multicoloured lanterns; it’s like something out of a dream. However, we will be honest. It wasn't as peaceful as we might have anticipated. This appears to be because
Hoi An is in the spotlight of Chinese and Korean tourism at the moment
It is recommended as one of the best places to be for Tet, and lots of people listened!
We still loved Hoi An; we just had to be thoughtful about how we enjoyed it. Relaxing afternoons in cafés, biking outside of the central area, visiting the beach, and spending time in the Old Town in the morning before tour groups arrived, this all helped us to feel the love for this beautiful place.
Staying on Cam Nam meant we had a meandering bike in each day. This was definitely a highlight! I can’t quite believe the difference from when I first biked in and tried to navigate a busy intersection when reaching the old town (to help you visualise, I emergency jumped off the bike and nearly careened into a fruit stand), compared to how much more confident I felt when we were ten days in. Every bike from our homestay had a quirk, but as long as the bell was loud (to announce our presence at intersections) and the brakes were good, we were willing to give it a chance. I didn’t fall off once, which is an achievement, and a relief since there weren’t any helmets. Jerry frequently asks me if I’ll bike like this back home. My answer is still firm - if I biked like that back home, a car would 100% run me over on day one. Maybe I’ll bike the riverside trail more often though!
Tet was a standout of our time in Hoi An. This holiday is quintessentially about family, so we knew we couldn’t really experience it as foreigners. However, there were still lots of elements we got to enjoy. On new year’s eve, we stayed out to watch the epic fireworks displays and the lantern lit boats.
Afterwards, we biked home in the early morning, with the streets aglow from everyone sitting outside their homes, burning hang ma (paper offerings, jokingly referred to as lucky money by our tailor).
Hang ma is a big thing in Vietnam, and is essentially paper money, burnt as an offering. The reasons behind this vary a little depending on the family - some burn it to give them luck and prosperity, others believe this money will return to them in the afterlife, and others do it to pay off the debts of their ancestors. This is my loose understanding, as explained by Sam, our tailor, as well as a little bit of my own research. The first days of the new year were filled with markets, people playing games on the streetside, and karaoke. LOTS of karaoke.
We also were able to share some lovely moments with our homestay family, including some ang pao and biscuits from us, and a home cooked meal from them (which included SO many extra servings of noodles. We could barely make it up the stairs).
We also found some fun activities to keep us busy over the days of Tet. Many of Hoi An’s famous tailors shut their doors during the holiday, however there were still many that kept their doors open. We visited lots of tailors before settling on our favourite. We did the maths, and it didn’t feel worth it for me to get anything tailored. I am fortunate enough to be straight sized, so mostly I just have issues with pants being too long. However, Jerry is not blessed in this department, and struggles to get workwear that fits back home (even when he gets it tailored). So, it was time for Jerry to get a suit (plus some extra suit pants and business shirts).
Because we were staying for a longer time, our visit to Sam at the tailors became a daily occurrence. Sam was our window into the world of Tet, explaining so much while she chastised Jerry for playing with the pins in his clothes (he kept sticking his fingers with them) and encouraged him to eat more 😂 A few Europeans came in and thought Jerry was a tailor, which became a shared joke quickly. I don’t know how many times we’ve heard people ask “You Vietnamese?” to Jerry, or just immediately launch into a conversation with him. My favourite is when Jerry decided to try bartering in the market, and asked “how much?” in Vietnamese. Now, if I did this, I might get some brownie points for knowing a few words. We’d then chat in English, with the help of the vendor’s trusty calculator to haggle the price. However, this did not work for Jerry. The vendor immediately assumed Jerry was Vietnamese, so he answered (shockingly) in Vietnamese. Jerry then looked confused, re-asked in English, and got chased by a grumpy vendor, shaking his hands in exasperation. Lesson learnt - if you look Vietnamese, and speak Vietnamese, people will probably assume you are Vietnamese. How odd.
We also enjoyed a lantern making class. This felt like being back in primary school, when the teacher is teaching you how to make something, and you are being cheeky with your friend at the table while making a mess with the glue. We had such a fun afternoon, and left with two quite lovely lanterns. These have been gifted to our homestay, as they really don’t fit into our bags (sob).
Coffee has been a big thing here in Vietnam. I've developed a permanent eye twitch from re-entering the world of caffeine. Weaning back is proving tricky, as everyone keeps offering me delicious cups of tea, and the coffee is some of my favourite I've ever tried. We’ve become big fans of Cong Caphe’s signature drink (strong coffee, coconut milk, and a dash of sweetened condensed milk, blended with ice). It’s amazing. Having it at 2pm will keep me up all night. But still, it’s amazing, so I did that more than once. On our last day in Hoi An, we joined a coffee making class, and learnt to make 5 different coffees from Vietnam.
Vietnamese hot black coffee
Saigon iced brown coffee (called milk coffee in the north).
Hanoi egg coffee
Hue salt coffee
Coconut coffee
Jerry has developed a liking for the salt coffee, and I can’t choose a favourite between the salt and the egg coffee. Neither of us usually have sugar in our coffee, but sweetened condensed milk is like a drug. I’m obsessed.
After sending Jerry’s tailored clothes back to NZ (and a few souvenirs for me - I was not missing this opportunity! No lanterns though, they were too breakable), it was time to say goodbye to Hoi An. Even with ten days, I still feel like there was more we could have done. We really set up a routine here, which we enjoyed and needed. And more than anything, we met some amazing people, and really got to know them.
From Hoi An, we headed onto Hue, the imperial city. Once again (if you can’t tell, there’s a theme), we LOVED Hue. It was such a tranquil place, with green spaces, walkways beside the river, and park chairs around the imperial city moats.
Since Jerry's favourite coffee from the class was the salt coffee from Hue, he quickly found his local spot, Phinholic, to indulge his newfound love. I’m taking a break from coffee at this point, so I take envious sips of Jerry’s drinks and try to appreciate having good nights of sleep and an untwitching eye. The food scene in Hue is also excellent. Thanks to some excellent recommendations from Gabi, who gave my mum and dad a food tour back when they visited and sent us some fantastic options, and a recommendation from our homestay owner, we ate like royals. Fitting for this city.
We took a day tour in Hue, as there was so much we wanted to see in a short time. It was a fantastic tour, with a great mix of experiences.
We started the morning on one of the many dragon boats on the Perfume River, then explored a range of pagodas, mausoleums, and other cultural sites around the city. The imperial city was always going to be a highlight.
Once again, we find ourselves learning so much history about a region we haven’t learnt that much about before. Vietnam is a socialist country. We knew that the Vietnam/American war happened, and we knew a little bit about French influence in the region, but hearing about the monarchy of Vietnam, the events during the Indochina wars, the occupation by Japanese in the second world war, and the different perspectives on the “American” war, has all been enlightening. We still have lots more to learn. I’m lucky I have the Hamilton City library app on my phone, as I am churning through ebooks at a rapid pace!
I’m writing to you from the local Vietnamese train, on the Reunification express line. We’re three hours into our thirteen hour journey.
Earlier today, I experienced some of the harsh realities of travel, being violently ill in a café bathroom after checking out of our accommodation, while we waited to catch the train (which gets into our stop at 3-4am). We're heading out to slightly more rural areas, including the Ninh Binh region, famous for its limestone karsts, and then onto Mai Chau, one of the up and coming regions known for its rice fields. My initial goal was just to survive the train ride, as all I wanted to do was lie down in the train station, but I seem to be recovering now. Fingers crossed the train will rock me to sleep and my stomach will play ball. Catch you in rural Vietnam!
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