One woman's journey through the world
We recently finished 30 days in Vietnam and while we had some good times and met some wonderful people – both Vietnamese and travelers – I can’t say I love the country. If I’m honest, I spent most of those 30 days (1) wishing we hadn’t booked a departing flight in advance so we could get the hell out, and (2) trying to keep my anger and stress to a
By the time we started planning our trip to Halong Bay, we were a tad weary of Vietnam. Exhausted by hawkers and disappointed by the Mekong River Delta, and Hoi An tailors, fed up with being pushed around like cattle and generally treated with minimal respect. But unlike My Son, over-touristed Sapa and Ninh Binh, we weren’t willing to skip the UNESCO World Heritage beauty that is Halong Bay. So
Diving in Vietnam is available in a few spots: Nha Trang (a place we were told to skip by just about everyone including a Vietnamese man who grew up there), the remote Con Dao Islands (not within our time/financial budget if we wanted to see the rest of Vietnam), and the Cham Islands off Hoi An. As in Cambodia, the macro life is what diving off Hoi An is all
I don’t recall when I first read about Hoi An but when I learned that the town is full of tailors and new clothes can be had for cheap, it made my list of must-go places in Vietnam. Not only are the tailoring options plentiful, there’s an old town with buildings that weren’t destroyed in the American-Vietnam War, a full moon festival that has nothing to do with partying, excellent
There’s much to love about Dalat, a mountain “resort” town north of Saigon. We didn’t go canyoning or pay a visit to the Crazy House but we still fell in love with this relatively calm city. These are just 12 things we love about Dalat. 1. You can walk around without sweating through every fiber of clothing you’re wearing. Dalat has been a resort area since the French controlled Vietnam
Along the lines of blackwater rafting in New Zealand, I’ve wanted to see the floating market on Vietnam’s Mekong River delta since I read about it more than a decade ago. Vendors live in their boats on the river, selling fruit and vegetables to locals in large quantities. Each vendor erects a bamboo pole at the bow with a fruit or vegetable tied to it showing what she sells. A