Chapter 17: Good Morning, Vietnam!
Hoi An and Tam Coc, Vietnam, January 19-28
It’s a good thing travel keeps you young, because the mistake I made at the beginning of this leg definitely gave Camille a few grays.
Friday, January 19, 2024
We woke up around 5:30 am in Penang to catch a taxi to the airport. Relaxed and unfazed by air travel, we spent a lot of time in lounges across our flights from Penang to Kuala Lumpur to Da Nang, Vietnam.
On the first leg to the airport, when I checked my bag, an airline staff member questioned a discrepancy on my visa: they noticed that the month of the expiration date was different from what was written on my passport (off by one). I mentioned that it was just a typo, and that the year was correct (2031 – not a concern for quite some time). They ended up letting me on the flight to KL. Little did I know how big a deal this typo was.
Having lounge’d it up, we were excited to board our midday flight to Vietnam. Everyone else made it past the airport staff and state-run security offers. I was the last of our family to go. The officer reviewed my passport and visa for Vietnam. The month of my passport expiration date didn’t match what was on my visa, they said. I was not allowed to board the flight.
Jay, Crystal and Camille were already gone, probably in or nearby their seats. The security officer recommended I call my spouse. After Camille came, they gave her the option to leave me behind to go ahead to Vietnam, or stay together with me.
Camille had really been looking forward to spending time in the first city we were to visit in Vietnam – Hoi An. We had apportioned just enough time to see it. Missing this would mean we’d only have a day, maybe a half day, in the historic city center.
Camille chose to stay behind with me.
I’m the luckiest oaf in the world. As the plane took off, we sat in front of the gate, laptop out, figuring out contingencies.
For those that don’t know, getting a visa for Vietnam is a whole thing. All e-visa applications take days to process – up to a week – without any status updates. These are handled in a central government office in Vietnam. We applied quite early for them, albeit in such a rush such that I entered the month wrong. We had no idea how we could jump to the front of the queue in this system.
Worse, the clock was ticking. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Friday. If I didn’t have a way into the country by the end of the work day, we would have to wait till after Monday to find a way into the country. That would mean missing seeing all of Hoi An, if not derailing other plans.
The Vietnam consulate in Kuala Lumpur was about to go on break in 10 minutes, at 2pm. I was deciding between calling them right then or in about an hour when they opened, to ask if it was worth driving into the city to beg them for some sort of visa that would let me arrive the next day.
Of course, Camille found a better approach – she is the best Google searcher I know. She discovered a possible path to apply for an emergency visa on arrival. The forms were confusing and we didn’t know if it was legit or not. Luckily, I found a WhatsApp number to ask questions (I spoke with a woman named Ms. Lee). After some time chatting, we decided that this was our best path forward.
The way the visa on arrival process works is that I fill out a form, send a picture of my passport, and get put on a special list recognized by that central government office which says I can pay for a visa at the arriving airport. It was in the late afternoon and the paperwork had to be handled by 6pm that day.
With no next step in mind, Camille and I hunkered down in that airport lounge. We spent all day there, writing blog posts and preparing for the rest of our trip. I checked in about once every hour on chat to see the status of the application, which would determine if we would book a single night stay or three. Due to this ambiguity, we had nowhere else to go.
One of the activities that occupied our time was visa-palooza. By this, I mean we filled out all the paperwork for the rest of our visas for the foreseeable future. We had a system where one of us would check the other’s work to catch silly mistakes that could give us headaches later. We applied to Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and India. These were all the visas we would need to get until summer when we plan to go to Kenya! I’m glad we made the most of our limbo.
It was 5:30 pm and I hadn’t heard back from the emergency visa service yet. I had messaged my gal 30 minutes before with no response. We were getting really, really nervous. I pestered her once again, noting the time and how close we were cutting it. She pointed out that it was only 4:30 pm in Vietnam, and we had much more time before the office closed. While this was a relief, Camille and I were both frazzled, and made arrangements to stay anywhere for at least the night. While we were preparing to go to some hotel that we booked, I got the verdict: I was approved for the emergency visa on arrival.
We were staying at the closest, cheapest hotel to the airport, located outside of a university in the ‘burbs of Kuala Lumpur. We hear that the city of KL is a wonderful place to visit, but we were only in the mood to book a flight, stuff dinner down our gullets, and find a printer to finish the last visa-related task. Our night here was informative of what we thought life would be like in Malaysia. We hung out in a hotel-mall area full of college students dining on cheap eats. We were the recipients of great kindness from a mini mart who printed my documents – including changing the toner on their printer – just because we asked. We gawked at an orange cat outside of a Mixue ice cream shop, and went right to bed. It was an exhausting day, but we were actually going to go to Vietnam.
Saturday, January 20, 2024
As soon as I got off the flight in Da Nang I knew that I would like Vietnam. The weather was perfect. It felt like I was back in San Diego, a far cry from the sweltering humidity of our time near the equator.
We took a shuttle provided by our hotel to Hoi An, some 45 minutes away. We dropped off our bags at the room well past lunchtime. We were really, really hungry. We chased down Jay and Crystal to an alleyway restaurant and ate an incredibly delicious bowl of noodles and Vietnamese coffee.
To make up for lost time, our second destination in Hoi An was Izi Wear, a custom clothing shop renowned for their linen garments. We really hit it off with the main seamstress there, Bich. Their work seemed top notch and we ordered about a dozen garments between the four of us.
After finishing our errand, we enjoyed a walk around the river. This ended with us at a few cocktail bars with a view. Hey, it was happy hour! (It’s always happy hour in Hoi An.) It was a beautiful afternoon and the river were stunning. Though, Cam and I started to feel some pretty bad jet lag due to our early morning wake up. I did all I could to stay awake.
We regrouped at the hotel (I was forbidden from laying down even for a second) and then went to our first of many banh mi shops. We’d later learn that this was the best shop in town – Banh Mi Queen. Man, it was good!
After dinner, we took another tour around the river, this time at dark. Though, not too dark – everything was illuminated in lanterns, including the river. We took a boat ride through this wonder, a perfect way to end the day.
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Banh Mi Queen had quite an effect on us because we had it again for breakfast. It was a lucky time to be there, because we got to meet the Banh Mi King – the daughter of the Queen introduced us to her father. He was in his 80s and totally regal. It was a good way to say goodbye to the city center as we left to stay nearby the beach. We headed right to the shore after checking in to our new hotel, since it was supposed to rain all weekend except for this day.
We spent most of the day laying on chairs under umbrellas, reading our Kindle books and dipping in the ocean. The local beer was crisp and cold, unlike the water.
After our sun and soak, we retired to the hotel to do some trip planning. It was already late in the day, so no time for a nap. We found a great dinner place called the Green Avocado a short walk away. The whole restaurant must have had five tables; we took up two. The food was totally excellent – dalat (the local wine), stuffed squid, and roast pork. We had a nice conversation with Jay and Crystal about parenthood, raising kids, and education.
Monday, January 22, 2024
We found out that Crystal tested positive for COVID soon after waking up. It’s bound to happen traveling these days. I remember noting there was a surge back home in the states when hearing the test results. What a popular way to be American ambassadors abroad! (A note from Crystal: I had six booster shots. My sickness was intense but short.)
After our cao lau breakfast, we headed back into town for the first fitting of our new clothes. It was nice to see Bich again, though she seemed busier than our first encounter. Our clothes fit quite well and looked amazing even if they needed some alterations.
Nearby was Anthony Bourdain’s favorite banh mi place (since, like, the 90s?). We tried their special, which featured half a dozen forms of protein. I’m a traditionalist who orders BBQ pork and finds myself disappointed when I don’t. The banh mi was good, but it was no Queen. As a side dish, there was a big group of early-20s-somethings across from us and we got to eavesdrop on their getting-to-know-you conversations. Jay and Crystal ordered their sandwiches to go so they could return to the hotel and rest. Cam and I stayed in the city center for a bit longer. We went to an art gallery, took in the paintings and briefly pestered the docent with questions.
In the evening, we went to the beach to enjoy the sunset over “happy hour” beers. For dinner, we went to a seafood restaurant where you could greet the fish you would be served. They spent their final hours inside kiddie pools right outside the entrance. We ate in front of the water, balmy sea breeze in our faces.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
This morning, it was pouring rain. Instead of seeing the sites, our agenda was to transfer hotels.
In light of Crystal’s sickness and the near inevitability of Jay’s to follow, we refigured our Vietnam plans. Jay and Crystal would skip our next destination and spend more time in Hoi An to recover. They would later fly to meet us in the northern part of the country. Cam and I would spend another night in the city center to make up for the day we lost. Jay and Crystal joined us at the same place for the same night before taking up residence by the beach.
After settling in to our new place, we left for another fitting at Izi Tailor. During this visit, it dawned on me how rare and good a clothing opportunity this was and I ordered two more button down shirts. My conviction must have been convincing, since Jay followed suit with two more shirts, too. Crystal was definitely being a good sport with us extended the time away from her bed.
After our errand, we found quite a good pho place down the street. The sign on the restaurant entrance boasted equal prices for tourists and locals alike. 90% of the economy of Hoi An is tourism, so I wonder how this actually shakes out. Either way, the pho was exceptional. The kumquat juice was so delicious and refreshing, I insisted that Crystal order one since she had a troubled appetite. She drank it down. On the way back home, we found a nice alley to drink egg coffees in.
Egg coffees were new to us. These are dairy-free frothy coffee drinks invented in Hanoi in the 1940s. The foamy layer is made from whipped egg yolk and sugar, though recently these can be found with sweetened condensed milk. We drank a lot of egg coffees while in Vietnam.
Cam and I had another evening together to ourselves. We went to a cool cocktail bar we’d been eyeing near our first hotel. I got to try a drink inspired by traditional Chinese medicine served in a martini glass. We were craving banh mi again (it was really, really good in this city). This time we opted for a new top-ranked place: Phi Banh Mi. We really liked it, and appreciated that they put unconventional toppings on their sandwich (cheese? avocado?). We ended up eating two of the last three sandwiches they made that night; it sold out as we sat eating.
On the way home, we passed by a local bakery. We brought home pastries for ourselves, Jay and Crystal.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
This hotel had a bountiful spread at their breakfast service. They also had what was close to Vietnamese coffee on tap. We thoroughly enjoyed it all. Jay and Crystal departed to their beach hotel after breakfast, where Jay delivered Crystal first before packing up all their luggage.
Jay, Camille and I went to one last fitting and first round pickup at Izi Tailor. While the latest shirts that I ordered needed some more adjustments (that Crystal and Jay would be able to pick up for me) we now were thrilled to have these new clothes! Since the new round of garments just needed a final pass, we ate lunch nearby – at a chicken rice place – so we could quickly return. We picked up these items and sorted out when we would get the final final round of garments.
Getting custom clothes was a great way to make it feel like we lived in Hoi An. Having errands really added structure and purpose to our day. Along the way, we loved venturing down alleyways. Some we became quite acquainted with, however brief our stay.
Cam and I took these clothes, stuffed them into our bags, and took a taxi to the railway station. We were off to Ninh Binh via overnight train! Jay and Crystal were originally due to ride the train with us. Because they didn’t, we had a whole compartment to ourselves. I’m glad it shook out this way, because the space wasn’t much bigger than the two of us and our bags, let alone double.
The train went up the coast of Vietnam almost all the way to Hanoi. It was an 11 hour ride that we started in the dark. We would wake up and enjoy watching the Vietnamese countryside pass us by. Until then, we ate what felt like a home cooked meal from the meal cart and watched Howl’s Moving Castle, a classic Miyazaki movie, on our phones.
Thursday, January 25, 2024
The morning train car was quite cold! The scenery out the window more than made up for it. We soon found out that the weather in Ninh Binh was like this, too. There was a unusual cold snap passing through northern Vietnam the time we happened to be there. Gone was the temperate Hoi An sun; we would only have chilly, cloudy weather for the rest of our stay in the country.
While I said we were going to Ninh Binh, I should be more specific. There is a small town near the city that has near all the sites that travelers go to, a place called Tam Coc. These historical and natural vistas are close by, only a bicycle or motorbike ride away.
We stayed at the Tam Coc Family Hotel. The owner of this establishment, who we only know as “Mama”, made all the difference for our time in the area. She was a super sweet host who took care of us way above and beyond expectation.
This day was somewhat of a down day. We ate some really, really good pho and took a nap in our cold room. We booked a big tour for ourselves for the next day. We went out for some beers, and made friends with a group of Aussies on vacation.
Friday, January 26, 2024
We saw practically the whole area riding on the back of motorbikes today! The hotel had the trip all planed out for us, we just had to hold on tight to our seats.
The first stop was a boat ride at Trang An. There was practically no line, but the area was set up to handle huge amounts of tourist traffic. We were really grateful to be there in the off season. We were paired in a boat with two Korean gentlemen also visiting on vacation.
We rode around breathtaking scenery and under long cave passageways from one pagoda to the next. It was misty, maybe a bit drizzly, but plenty bright. We appreciated the good boating weather. One highlight, especially for Cam, was getting to see one pagoda under renovation. To see the middle of a temple being built underscored the detail of the handiwork involved.
The next stop was Hoa Lu, Vietnam’s capital around a millennium ago. It was a beautiful place, but we didn’t stay long. We were getting pretty weary from hunger. Plus, the place was somewhat small and lacked interpretive signage. After, we went to a lunch place picked out by the tour. It was as mediocre as it was expensive. The tour was so all encompassing and delightful, we didn’t care too much that we were delivered here.
Bai Dinh, our next stop, was a MASSIVE Buddhist temple complex. It boasted to be the largest hallways of Buddhas in Asia. It certainly was the biggest one we’ve encountered. It wasn’t limited to hallways of Buddhas either; it had a huge pagoda and stupa tower. This all was built relatively recently (2009-ish). It felt like going to dharma Disneyland. Hey, maybe Disneyland is just an American spiritual complex.
We had one more stop left in our plan: the Mua Cave. It wouldn’t be too long before sunset, and this destination involved a pretty big climb. We were tired and asked our drivers to just take us home. We’re so glad that we did. Back near the hotel, we ate our first bun cha for dinner. It was so so good.
Cam knew about bun cha before I ordered it. It is almost like a Vietnamese fajita plate featuring pork (often, pork sausage), onions and bean sprouts. Also like fajitas, instead of making your own tacos, you roll a spring roll — the dish is served with rice paper, rice noodles, and fresh herbs. In place of salsa, you get fish sauce (which is much milder than the ones you’d find at home). Please forgive the Southern Californian analogy.
Saturday, January 27, 2024
With the Mua Cave as our only plan for the day, we enjoyed the morning at a cafe with a beautiful view. We brought our typing devices and wrote while drinking sesame and caramel coffees.
When the morning was spent, we started our big outing. We picked up two rental bicycles from our hotel and rode them to the Mua Cave. We took a path that was meant for walking, so it directed us in the dirt path between two rice patties. This was my bad looking up directions. If we hadn’t gone down this path, we wouldn’t have seen the water buffalo and rats in the patties. Anyways, we made it to the base of the cave.
The Mua Cave is a bit of a misnomer. The place does indeed have a cave, but the big draw are the two monuments at the top of the mountain above. There are old stairs carved into the rock that lead you to an incredible view. The area also features some sort of luxury eco-hotel, which we couldn’t imagine anyone enjoying staying at. When we were there, it was incredibly crowded from the entrance to the peak and I can’t imagine wanting to stay in a place with a mob at your doorstep.
We climbed through a river of people going up and down the stairs to the top. It was a hoof. We took in the view whenever we caught our breath and once again when we finally reached the peak.
I still can’t believe that we were originally going to fit in this climb in the previous day. It took a lot of time and energy out of us. After spending the afternoon there, we were really glad we split up our outings.
Mama had invited us to join her for dinner that night. We weren’t sure what that meant; we just knew to meet her in the dining area in the evening. We went home for showers to get cleaned up. I put on a cute outfit that featured the new linen blazer I got in Hoi An. We met her in the waiting area as discussed, and she was taken aback that I came down with wet hair. In fairness, I was visibly cold as it was chilly out; I didn’t want to take the time to blow dry my hair since I normally air dry and we were late. Before I knew it, Mama, blow dryer in hand, was fanning my hair with her hands and warm air. Mama’s husband (Papa?) offered us shots of his homemade moonshine. It was a good start to the night.
We realized that what Mama meant is that we should go to her family restaurant a bit out of town. That sounded good to us; it was highly rated and Mama had taken good care of us so far. We drunkenly walked to dinner at the Tam Coc Family Kitchen. The meal was indeed really really good. We ordered bun cha again. We knew this dish involves wrapping pieces of pork sausage in rice paper with rice and fresh herbs, but Mama still gave us a lesson. To our surprise, this included her hand-feeding us the example.
After dinner, I was tired due to the late hour and drinking. I returned home. Camille opted to get a late Vietnamese massage. She got totally wrecked.
Camille here. The massage was so incredibly intense. I booked for just a hair wash (heavenly, especially since the shower in our accommodation was iffy), but ended up with back and neck massage too. Some parts were amazing, like the hot stones, but she plucked my tendons like guitar strings. I was sore for two full days; it hurt to lean back in a car seat.
Sunday, January 28, 2024
We left Tom Coc in a rush. We were late for our morning “limo” ride to Hanoi (it was a van) on the way to Haiphong. It was a big commute day where we changed vehicles twice before arriving at the Hanoi airport. We waited for an hour or so for Jay and Crystal to arrive from Hoi An. Then, the four of us took another van ride to Haiphong.
Haiphong is a big, modern Vietnamese city that is not really traveled to by tourists. There aren’t historical sites like Hoi An or Tam Coc, and most people go to the nearby island area (Cat Ba – more on this in the next chapter). It was cool getting to see a city like this, to get a feeling of how contemporary Vietnamese urbanites live.
For the most part, this evening we laid low. We checked in to a very comfortable apartment-style hotel room. I was not feeling too well and stayed in. Jay, Crystal and Camille went out to dinner to a fish soup place. According to Camille, no one there spoke a lick of English. They ordered by pointing on the menu. A child stared at them like he had never seen a white person before.
After dinner, we watched TV and did laundry in the room, getting ready for the adventures planned the next day.
Awesome. I loved it