My trip to Vietnam (loooooong post)

This year my work granted me a 28 day sabbatical leave after being with the company for seven years.  I decided early in the year that I would focus on my health and weight loss for the year and as a reward for accomplishing my goals that I would set out on an epic adventure to a foreign land, first time in a new country since I was very young.  Many friends have told me how awesome it is in Vietnam for many years, from the beautiful landscapes, bustling cities, incredible (and cheap) food, and of course the super friendly people, I decided that I would go there for the entire trip.  I had only some loose plans of where I wanted to visit, the flight from SFO to Ho Chi Minh City (yet locals still refer to it as Saigon) was the logical place to start.  The flight being 16.5 hours, with an +13 hours time change, leaving at 9:00pm and arriving at 5:00am was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  However the jet lag and lack of sleep is definitely difficult, and arriving so early when you cannot check in until 2:00 leaves you without sleep for what feels like a week.  After dropping my bags off at the hotel I hit the streets and wandered around the blocks taking in the scenery of the area.  I chose to stay in D1 near the Ben Thanh Market, known as a place to buy virtually anything and haggle people on price, it's full of places to eat and shop for many blocks around.  I had my very first bowl of Pho? at a famous Michelin Star restaurant popularized by Anthony Bordain, but was not as impressed as I though I would be with the flavor for being half way around the world.  I eventually got to check in and hang out at the bar on top of the Hotel and had my first beer and finally was off to sleep for something like 12+ hours.

Awesome Al!  Good for u, r u still there?

After a couple days of recovery, and quickly growing tired of the Saigon heat I made my first move to Central Vietnam to the town of Dak Lak Buon Ma Thout, which is at least 10 degrees cooler and quite a bit cheaper. Dak Lak is the land of Coffee and Elephants and I stayed in one of the nicest hotels for the entire area, costing less than 40$ per night with a breakfast buffet that had the best and strongest coffee I ever had in my life and during the entire trip.  While there I visited a few Buddhist temples, the outdoor markets, ate so many new and delicious foods, visited some beautiful places, walked miles around town every day and drank many many beers 

I happened to be there during the 120th anniversary of the city of Dak Lak, and was treated to an incredible celebration in the center of the town full of cultural dancing and singing, a bit about the history and importance of the region as a cultural melting pot, and a big fireworks show at the end.  The local news spotted me in the crowd and being the only non-vietnamese I got to have an interview for their broadcast, which I was not prepared for at all  The people in this area were the most friendly in all the places I visited. I turned a lot of heads being the tallest and largest person pretty much everywhere I went.  Especially kids had to do a double take first time seeing me 

Also visited a Cacao Farm and Coffee shop, where I got to have a taste of the cacao fruit and juice.  So much effort to turn that into chocolate!

Awesome Al!  Good for u, r u still there?

No, i've been back a couple weeks now and just getting to widdling down my 1200 pictures to an NCKA size post 

The epic food journey was well underway at this point, and I probably too 500 pics of just food I ate but will just show a few of them for now.  Having been a huge fan of Pho? for 20 years, I still didn't know much about the local dishes except what I saw watching Youtube videos.  The different soups and the options you can get are really staggering, all of them amazing in their own way.  If you didn't like a particular dish you could try it at a dozen different places and they will all be a bit different.  Doing some research on Google helped to find the spots that have been operating for 20 or 30 years, and those are the best places to try.  I cannot begin to explain most of the dishes but I can show some pretty good food porn.  The best dishs I had in this area was Banh Xeo and Banh Beo, the first being like a seafood crepe omelette and the latter being a steamed rice flour dish, my mouth waters just thinking about it. The owners just loved my reaction and asked for a photo with me afterwards haha

I even tried a few different escargot dishes which were actually quite good

I also visited a place that had a small petting zoo near a lake and elephants that you could ride for a short time through a coffee plantation. The elephant super well cared for as I watched and had lunch before deciding to get on top one of the largest land mammals and the only time I've ever been up close to one. 

Thanks for sharing your trip with us and many great pictures Al.  I haven't been back there for over 10 years.   Thanks again for bringing back memories of my root.

something for me to read for the jetlag.  Happy new year from Vietnam!

Awesome trip report! That had to be a wonderful experience.

Thank you for sharing your trip.

Al

 

Very cool Al!!
Love the food porn and stories
I'll take seconds

Always wondered what a post-war Vietnam would look like.

Al that looks like a great trip! Do you speak the language at all? Did you have any issues communicating or finding your way? I’ve done a few trips where my language skills were limited, but was lucky enough that people were friendly and patient with me to the point where I was able to get by.

Looks like a great trip. Did you fish?