My trip to Vietnam (loooooong post)

The guy fishing was ripping a bait along the tops of the lillys, maybe for snakehead...

Wow!!! 

Thanks for sharing about your trip, Alain, particularly for us folks who don’t go to FB. It looks/sounds fantastic! I hope to get there.

Man that looks like a trip of  your lifetime Al!!!
The food looks amazing and sounds like it was!!
Scotty

Absolutely stunning! What an adventure.

I wonder if I could convert my foot-pedal kayak to foot-paddle...

What a beautiful place, you’re a lucky dude

The Yangtze River had similar landscapes all of which are now hundreds of feet underwater after it was dammed

Somewhere I have a dvd (sent to me by a marine scientist during the MLPA shitshow) showing the amazing seafood farming going on there

So glad to hear ur trip was awesome.  I went back last yr w my parents, first time since the Big Evac.  Id love to compare notes with you smtime about cost.  Our trip set us back waay more than anticipated!  And the air n water pollution was also surprisingly intense in places.  Cant wait to hear about ur fishing efforts

So glad to hear ur trip was awesome.  I went back last yr w my parents, first time since the Big Evac.  Id love to compare notes with you smtime about cost.  Our trip set us back waay more than anticipated!  And the air n water pollution was also surprisingly intense in places.  Cant wait to hear about ur fishing efforts

For sure!  Central Vietnam is less popular and a lot cheaper, 50% compared to Saigon for hotels and food. Yeah, the air and water pollution is definitely difficult for me as well.  Literally people will just throw trash out their window while driving.  Burn piles of garbage by the side of the road.  And any public waterway is just full of trash and no one seems to think about it at all.  It's a fact of life there, I get it, but I still have an urge to clean it up when i'm around it.

Finally some fishing stuff 

While in Hanoi our good buddy B0B said that just down the street from my hotel was a fishing store he knew of so I went there to see what a fishing shop was like in VN.  It was actually really well stocked with a lot of different rods, poles and hand-lines and notably a bunch of stuff to fish for carp.  I decided I'd get a hand-line reel as a souvenir, made from jackfruit tree, hoping that we will do the hand-line tournament again this year.  Although it's probably a dumb idea, I had the nice lady rig it up for carp fishing with a float and bobber setup.  The ninja rig looking hooks in the picture are some sort of fish snag setup, super crazy looking way to fish, i'm guessing by sight.

When I returned to Dak Lak I found another store and decided to buy a tenkara rod and have it setup for carp fishing as well.  This seemed like it would work a lot better than a handline at least when I finally got a chance to try fishing somewhere.  The mom and pop store owners were very friendly and patient while I used google translate to ask questions and they set me up with a couple rigs, gave me a "secret" powerful carp bait, and gave me some ideas where I could try fishing. 

There was a spot that is actually a Campground, well glamping that is, on a really sweet little lake.  You could sit on the dock and have beers brought to you, have the restaurant cook up food and party by the lake and have fun on the water with SUP's.  I gave it a shot with both my handline and the tenkara rod and my secret carp bait    I talked with kids and loaned one of them my rod for a bit he seemed super interested in fishing. There were for sure some big fish in there, the occasional splash kept me excited, but in the end I only got one tiny foul hooked fish.  It was super deep actually, and adjusting my float as far as it would go just didn't seem like it would work at all. At least I caught one fish on my trip 

Thanks for the fishing trip report and pictures Al.  Your could ask them to cook the fish that you caught and they will gladly do it for you 

The last place I went to visit was on the coast of Central Vietnam called Nha Trang, about a 4 hour drive.  Before I could check into my hotel I had to kill a few hours so I visited the Po Nagar Temple (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po_Nagar) an over 1200 year old temple with an interesting history.  Sadly much of it had been destroyed but rebuilt over time.  It's original glory must have been astounding!  My hotel was close enough to walk to the beach, at $20.00 per night with a pool and walking distance to the market and tons of food, I enjoyed just being in that area and hanging out at the beach and eating great food. Here you could get sea food from the local market on a pier as fresh as could be.

n happy NY Al u look like ur well on ur w8 loss journey.  Keep at it brother

I had the million dollar (vnd) lobster ($40 USD) fried in butter and garlic, the best lobster I have ever had.  I took a boat ride out to a small island, past about a hundred fish farms along the way, and went to a paid beach resort with gentle waves and warm water to just relax and enjoy.  After that we boated to a floating restaurant with a pick-and-eat menu where you could pick from fish, crabs, shrimp and squid to have cooked right then and there for you.  Not the cheapest option, but what an incredible experience like something out of an Anthony Bourdain episode.  As boats raced past the swell would make the whole structure bend and sway on the barrels that supported it.  The grouper I had two ways fried and as hot-pot, both were very very good.  Also had fresh squid steamed with vegetables and a fish cake made from tuna.   

Lot of cool old boats to look at along the way as well.