North Vietnam

Ha Long Bay

Hanoi

We really had no expectations coming to Vietnam, except we knew we needed to come here. It had been calling to us since traveling to South East Asia five years ago. Reading A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain just solidified the inevitable. We originally planned on staying here for two weeks, but after the visa fee for Americans more than tripled in price at the end of August we decided to stay a month. The visa is now $135 per person, plus a $25 approval letter fee, one each, done online and is mandatory for visa approval on arrival. The visa is valid for multiple entries for one year. We figured we'd split Vietnam up into sections, North, Central and South, spending 10 days in each region.

We flew into Hanoi, stayed in the Old Quarter and quickly set out for the number one adventure in the city...crossing the street! Standing on the sidewalk, used not for walking but for parking scooters, you are forced to walk in the street, near the sidewalk, always looking out for a slight opening to begin your crossing acrobatics. The slightest hint of an opening is your chance to move, slowly, alertly. You are dancing with the vehicles, coming both directions and not necessarily on the correct side of the street. As you move the vehicles move, ever so slightly, and it becomes intimate as you make eye contact, pleading for a safe crossing, smiling as it's kinda fun. It's invigorating, making it to the other side, intact. It's like getting cold water thrown on you, while taking a restful mid-day nap. It's an extra shot of expresso in your double latte. It wakes you up and makes you want to do it again and again.

We weren't really here to play frogger, we were here to eat and book adventures outside of the city. First up, bun bo nam bo: tender strips of grilled beef, shredded lettuce, sliced cucumber, fried shallots, crispy bean sprouts, fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts atop a mound of steamed vermicelli noodles, mixed together for a bowl bursting with complimenting flavors. We ate at this restaurant, at 67 Hang Dieu Street, twice. Both times this place was packed. You walk in, one of the staff points you to a spot at a shared table, promptly takes your order (there's only a few things on the menu, written on the wall) and serves you a fresh, stemming bowl of deliciousness. No loitering, this place is a turn and burn establishment, so once you're done, you're expected to leave. It's one of our new comfort foods and priced just right at about $1.50 for a large bowl.

Bun Bo Nam Bo

Up next, bun cha, which we didn't even know about until we met up with Meghan, one of Jason's high school friends' cousins, living in Hanoi. After touring the Hoa Lo Prison, we met Meghan for coffee at a local commi-themed cafe and had a great time learning about life as an ex-pat in Vietnam. Meghan gave us excellent pointers, which we used throughout our month in Vietnam, and told us we should have dinner, now famous because Obama ate bun cha here with Anthony Bourdain in May 2016, at Bun Cha Huong Lien. It's off the beaten track, but oh so popular among locals. We arrived at dark and received a lot of looks as we walked our white butts up several flights of stairs, trying to find two empty spots. This place was packed, three or four stories of dining tables. We waited in the cramped hall, where paper goods were stacked along the wall, dirty dishes waited to be taken down in the elevator, for two seats to open up. After a few minutes these two kind and friendly gentleman invited us to share their table. The man next to Jason gave us the run down of what to order and how to assemble the meal.

First comes two large plates of vermicelli rice noodles, then a large plate overflowing with various greens, lettuces, herbs, lime wedges, bean spouts, then a large bowl of growth with grilled pork. Traditionally this includes pork patties, but for some reason we didn't get these. Jason, per the advice of our table mates ordered a crab roll. The picture showed a large plate of small fried spring roll looking things and he ordered one. And, exactly, one small, fried, spring roll looking thing was served. Good thing too, as we were so full, there's no way we could have finished a whole plate.

Pho in the north is different from the south. Up here it is not served with the extras: bean sprouts, lime and fresh basil. Here, it's just a bowl of delicious broth, noodles, a little meat and scallions. It's delicious, super simple yet fresh and flavorful. Pho is traditionally eaten for breakfast, but can be found all day long and won't break the budget, any budget.

Hanoi has several sections, with the name of the street informing you as to what you will find on it. We can't read Vietnamese, but you'll quickly figure out what street you're on by simply being aware of what you are surrounded by: shoe street, silver street, chicken street, beer street...you get the picture.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake are closed to motor vehicles and quickly fill with tourists and locals alike. Teenagers facilitate local games for young kids, portraits are painted, newlyweds take night photos with the lake in the background, before heading to their reception at one of the many upscale hotels nearby. We came here twice, taking advantage of the lack of motor vehicles. There's also an extensive night market which begins one street down from the lake and extends through a number of streets. This is crowded and scooters buzz through the narrow walkways, making it an uncomfortable shopping experience. The best thing about the night market, if you ask us, is the popsicle lady. She has a small rolling cart with a metal contraption that she pours her homemade batter into, adds a long wooden skewer and out come these delicious, creamy five-bite popsicles in the following flavors: taro, durian, strawberry, chocolate and coconut. One popsicle will cost you less than $0.20.

Eat sandwiches all throughout Vietnam. Our favorite sandwich place in Hanoi was next door to our hotel. I think it's called Banh Mi Hoi An, it's a small chain with a number of locations throughout the Old Quarter. They have four sandwiches to chose from, all include pate. They also have four flavored iced teas to chose from. We tried them all and they were all delicious. Our favorite was pate and egg. The bread in Vietnam gives French bread a run for it's money. An outer crust that crunches as you bite through to a soft, airy, white center. We met an English speaker here who advised us to rent scooters in Sapa and get out in to the country.

In all, we spent five nights in Hanoi. From here we took a bus to Sapa, returning to Hanoi for a night before heading to Halong Bay, returning once again before flying to Hue.

Sapa

We were excited to get to Sapa so that we could be cold. We have been sweating profusely for the majority of this trip and my new Laos slippers need to be worked in. There are several ways to get to Sapa: the most expensive and most time consuming way is by night train (starting at $36 per person), next is by sleeper bus (about $9 per person), and then a variety of buses that run during the day, including sleeper buses. We chose a luxury limousine van for $18 per person. It picked us up from our hotel, dropped us off at our hotel in Sapa, provided water, snack and oversized leather, reclining seats for seven. We were passed frequently by sleeper busses throughout the six hour drive, but it was worth the extra expense.

Sapa is a picturesque town situated at just above 4900' in the Hoang Lien Son mountain range near the Chinese border. Sapa's landscape includes terraced rice fields, lush vegetation, waterfalls, and Fansipan, the highest peak in Indo China. This area is also home to a number of colorful hill tribes, such as H'mong, Dao, Muong and Tay. As you gain in elevation the dress and physical features begin to change. The colors of the fabrics are more vibrant, tribal. Roadside stalls litter the winding road, selling honey, and fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables.

We arrived to our hotel, on the outskirts of town, in the rain. It was cold. We checked in, put on all our warm clothes, grabbed our umbrellas and headed into town, which we couldn't see because we were in a cloud. Town was literally covered by the clouds, we didn't realize how close it was until the next morning, when opening the blinds and stepped out onto our balcony that we realized the extra $1 per night for a room with a view was totally worth it.

Room with a view

In Sapa you have a number of hiking adventure options, led by local hill tribe women. There is a two day hike available to the top of Fansipan, staying overnight with a tribe family. We chose to pay $27 each to ride the longest cable car in the world. It takes about 25 minutes to travel the 6.2kms. It opened in February of this year and is still under construction. Upon reaching the top it becomes clear how extensive this project is. A large, and quite over priced restaurant and souvenir shop welcome you off the cable car, then it’s up hundreds of steep stairs to the top, which are best taken slowly as the air is thin. A variety of buildings, various statues and a funicular, all under construction. On a clear day the views from here would be spectacular.

Fansipan

Monastery at Fansipan

Buddha statue, under construction at Fansipan

Fansipan Peak

Our view from Fansipan Peak

Our favorite part of Sapa, besides the cold temperatures, was zipping around the mountains on a scooter. We stopped at a hill tribe roadside market and enjoyed freshly roasted sweet potatoes, hot tea and buffalo jerky. We hiked through a H’mong community and ate more roasted sweet potatoes. We will search for these throughout Vietnam, never finding them as delicious as they were up here.

Roasted sweet potato

Roadside tea

Down the hill from our hotel is the H'mong community of Cat Cat. We paid the entrance fee, parked our scooter and hiked through the picturesque town, getting a touristy peak into the lives of this hill tribe.

There are many restaurants, cafes and hotels in Sapa, sure to make your trip here tasty and affordable. Scooters rent for $4-6 per day, you pick it up near empty and must fill it with gas before heading out. We highly recommend renting a scooter, or two, pack a rain poncho, put on all your cold weather clothes and get out on the road.

Getting gas in Sapa

We spent three nights in Sapa and could have easily spent a week here, with a scooter of course. Having wheels changes things and allows for a richer experience. We took a sleeper bus back to Hanoi where we rested up for our journey to Halong Bay the next day.

Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island

If booking any type of trip while in a city in Vietnam, find The Sinh Tourist. There are knockoffs, so do your research to find the legit office. They are the best priced, most friendly, professional and you don’t feel like you’ve just been slimed by a used car salesman. After talking with Tracy at The Sinh Tourist, looking through pictures of boat options we decided on the 3-day/2-night tour, with one night on a 3-star boat and one night in a 2-star hotel on Cat Ba Island. Halong Bay is about 3 ½ hours by bus from Hanoi. The package we bought included a pick up from our hotel. The drive goes quickly with a pit stop at a craft market that supports the local disabled and blind community as well as marble carvers. Prices on processed snacks and soft drinks aren’t too bad and you can buy and mail postcards from here. Halong Bay port is owned by one very rich man. The Bay is owned by several rich business men and they are dumping a lot of money into it. If we return in several years, I doubt we will recognize it. The port is a cluster of boats. Most are run down from the years of being in the salty air, but they are all afloat and ready to pack on passengers, and there are a lot of us.

Our boat, Sea Sun Cruise

The organizational skills to make this operation run are dizzying. We wait in one of two covered areas, serving snacks, drinks and icecream as well as souvenirs, until a motorized wooden taxi boat picks us up to ferry us to the boat. The boats are so packed in that we have to gently ram our taxi in between two boats so that we may board. We are welcomed with a small glass of cold juice and escorted to our rooms. Ours is large, with a queen bed, a twin bed and a full sized bathroom. It’s clean and comfortable. Soon, we are headed out to the bay, while being served lunch. We chose the 3-star boat because the food is reportedly much better. The food is nothing to write home about, the fish is overcooked and rubbery, most everything is fried and luke warm. Rice is good, especially with soy sauce. They display ice cold beverages as if they are included with your meal, they are not and are expensive. The only beverage included is the morning coffee and tea. Staff is indifferent, bored and unengaged. After about an hour of motoring through the rock formations we stop and drop anchor for the night, among dozens of other boats. We get on our taxi boat and motor over to a floating kayak rental.

After kayaking for 45 minutes we return to the taxi boat and motor over to one of the natural wonders of the world, the Sung Sot Cave also called Surprising or Amazing Cave. It's the largest cave in Halong Bay and one of the largest in Vietnam.

Inside Sung Sot Cave

View from Sung Sot Cave

We return to the boat for a quick glimpse of the setting sun and lounge before dinner, which is not as disappointing as lunch, but more of the same overcooked, under seasoned and luke warm food like items. It’s quiet and dark out here and we are gently rocked to a quick sleep. Breakfast is buffet style and the tastiest meal yet. Staff is quick to place their tip envelops at the end of each table. Since these don’t initiate a great response they wheel out a large glass tip box. It remains virtually empty the entire trip, staff spends more time on their cell phones and resting than engaging with patrons. We head out to tour a pearl farm, which is quite interesting to see how they manipulate the oysters to create a pearl. It’s repetitive, hard, isolated work. There’s a floating pearl jewelry store here, prices aren’t too bad.

We head back to the boat for a quick swim before packing up our room. Not everyone swims, it’s kinda a gamble as the water is brown and soon we will see how littered it is with plastic, Styrofoam, boat parts and we are quite convinced, human excrement. But we don’t quite know this yet and jump, happily, from the side of the boat and float for the allotted 20 minutes. A staff member calmly informs us that there is a huge jellyfish about 200 meters behind us. I watch it from the deck of the boat as it makes its steady approach toward us.

Jellyfish, 200meters behind Jason

Our boat consists of people who bought the one night package, the 2-night on the boat package, the 3-night package, etc., so now we have to meet up with other boats to fulfill what we all paid for. We all disembark to different boats, while new people fill our boat. We settle on to a two-story sitting boat for the journey to Cat Ba Island, dropping people off at secluded alcove resorts along the way. This is where we begin to see the garbage. It’s clustered in pockets against the rock formations. It’s floating in an endless stream with the current. It’s depressing. We ask our tour guide what the Vietnamese government is doing about it and he states there are government workers who are paid to clean it, but it doesn’t happen often. He voiced concern over the rapid growth of this area, with the ever growing number of tourist boats polluting the water and air. If something is not done about the apparent legal dumping of anything you want in the bay, people will stop coming here as it will just be a floating dump. I vow to write to the Vietnamese Minister of Tourism.

After several hours of motoring through the beautiful rock formations we arrive to a small alcove where we hop on bikes for a tour of a small, rural community with their own organic farm! Key word is small. There’s really nothing going on here, although there is a lovely school.

We finally arrive to Cat Ba island, pile on a bus and get to the city from the port. It’s quite large and growing. Hotels and guest houses line the main road that separates the city from the water. It too, will not look the same in several years. We check into our 2-star hotel and are shocked as to how nice it is. And it gets better with a delicious dinner! We wish we would have stayed here another night, rented a scooter and toured the island. There’s a lot to see and do here, with a number of restaurants and cafes. Breakfast is just as delicious as dinner and is served early as we have a lot of ground to cover today. Overall we enjoyed this experience and recommend it. If this is on your radar of things to do in your lifetime, do it sooner than later. We also encourage you to write to the Vietnamese Minister of Tourism to ask them to clean up their waters, as it affects all of us.

Of all the places, I thought Northern Vietnam would have lingering disdain for Americans. Nowhere did we feel this. We were welcomed with open arms and almost celebrated. People love Obama and were quick to tell us that they have family or friends living in America. I was shocked by our warm welcome, quickly realizing that I had been a little fearful of how we would be received. Throughout our trip in Vietnam we are made aware of what the American War really looked like.