A HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA

A LEAP OF FAITH

ANGKOR WAT - 5/24

Growing up during the Vietnam War had skewed my view of ever visiting the country. It was a horrific time for this young man and these United States. Decades later I still had misgivings about a trip to Vietnam and it was a “leap of faith” (and a slap to the back of my head by Janet) to agree to travel there.

I can report now, after spending three weeks traveling from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with several stops in between that Vietnam was one of the better trips in my lifetime. The country is beautiful, and the people of Vietnam are warm and friendly and genuinely pleased that we would ever return to their country in peace.

The ominous history of Vietnam was there, if you sought it out, and I have friends who fought in the war who were skeptical about our travels. There were too many bad memories for them, but overall, despite the past, the latter-day Vietnam left us with many fond memories.

YEAR ZERO

Cambodia was even more difficult to consider as a vacation destination, given the history of the Khmer Rouge and their frenzied genocide of the 70s. Pol Pot wanted to reset Cambodia to “Year Zero” and an agrarian state free from all foreign influence. Some estimates have the Khmer Rouge purging nearly 2 million people in four short years as the regime targeted middle-class citizens and intellectuals. People were rounded up by the military and sent to “reeducation” camps where they were forced into labor, starved, tortured and executed. There is a colloquial term for this: The Killing Fields.  

WHERE PEOPLE GET THINGS DONE

Although the Vietnam conflict consumed our attention, the chaos of Cambodia was even more unnerving. As the depraved murder spree by the Khmer Rouge was slowly revealed to the world the quagmire of Cambodia became fodder for sensationalistic films and sarcastic, derisive songs by punk rock groups. Watching the 1984 film “The Killing Fields” was eye-opening and frightening. How could this happen? I remember watching a documentary with the facts told from the Khmer Rouge’s viewpoint and was shaken to see the chilling cold-hearted approach children took to killing their neighbors to further Pol Pot’s revolution.

The Dead Kennedys took a snide approach to it in their 1980 song “A Holiday In Cambodia” eviscerating over-privileged college students who think they know it all and contrasting it with the brutal reality of the Khmer Rouge.

Sure, it’s punk rock and can be dismissed as such, but what happened in Cambodia was real.

POST-TRIP

APSARA DANCER

It was into this swirl of memories that we decided to tack on a post-trip to Cambodia with Overseas Adventure Tours (OAT), a small-group tour company that we discovered in researching Vietnam. OAT offered a pre-trip and this post-trip to Cambodia. Our trip to Cambodia was particularly small with just another couple staying after the “Inside Vietnam” portion of the OAT trip.

The five-day trip included roundtrip airfare from HCMC to Siem Reap, which is the gateway to Angkor Wat. This massive Buddhist temple was first built as a Hindu temple and is depicted on the flag of Cambodia.

We stayed in one hotel and made daytrips to Angkor Wat and several other temples, received a water blessing from a Buddhist monk who was also an IT specialist, waded into the revelry of Pub Street for a few drinks, haggled with vendors in the night market for trinkets that we gained for astonishingly paltry amounts, cruised the massive Tonie Sap lake to see a floating village, attended a show of Apsara dancers, the traditional Cambodian art form, watched a family make rice noodles which we had a chance to sample, and learned how to fold lotus flowers to make an offering at a temple. 

SIEM REAP PUB STREET

It was a beautiful, relaxed trip and the Cambodian people are wonderful. It would have been easy to forget the past horrors of Cambodia, if not for the Stupa we saw that held the skeletal relics of those unfortunate souls.

Stupa, Siem Reap Cambodia

Thanks for reading.

Cambodian future

Love Janet and greg

OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVEL

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

                                       Dead Kennedys / Holiday In Cambodia

HCMC! JUST LIKE I PICTURED IT

(AHEM) IT’S SAIGON

HCMC SKYLINE

In the ensuing years after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 if you called Ho Chi Minh City by its original name, you would be invited to the Communist Party’s offices for a cup of tea.

Not good.

Since 1986 though, when the Doi Moi economic renovations were rolled out, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has risen from one of the world’s poorest countries to a middle-class economy. Things are still very cheap for us while there, but money talks and calling the largest, wealthiest city in Vietnam Saigon is much more relaxed.

Yeah, officially the city is still named after Uncle Ho, and Ho Chi Minh City is listed as such on maps, road signs and airport ticker boards, but HCMC and Saigon are both recognized. Afterall, they never changed the name of the Saigon River, and they still brew Saigon Beer.

“Ho Beer” doesn’t have the same panache, I guess.

WORLDBANK OVERVIEW OF VIETNAM

Saigon…er HCMC… is a sprawling city more reminiscent of say New York than Vietnam, and its wealth is evident in the growing infrastructure. On our recent trip to Vietnam with the small tour group company, Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), several fellow travelers who had been to Saigon … er HCMC… a few years ago were amazed by all the new skyscrapers that had sprung up in the interim.

CARAVELLE MARTINIS

Yet, despite the gleaming new buildings and models posing for photo shoots on the streets, the high-end shops, and even a few craft beer establishments, there are people in Saigon … er HCMC… using charcoal braziers on the sidewalk preparing street food and the scooters buzz like hornets on the busy streets, and most importantly you still cannot drink the tap water.  

Yes, do not drink the tap water anywhere in Vietnam. Bottled water only. Trust me.

MARTINIS IN SAIGON

Better yet, avoid water altogether in this cosmopolitan town and drink a well concocted martini. Here are a couple of places where we’ve enjoyed a drink and a beautiful view.

CARAVELLE HOTEL for Happy Hour

Go to the rooftop bar for the Caravelle Hotel’s 2 for 1 happy hour. Marvel at the gleaming expanse of Saigon as you linger over your martini perched on their open balcony. With top shelf vodkas and reasonable prices, the Caravelle is just across the street from the Opera House and across the square from our next gin mill.   

CARAVELLE HOTEL SAIGON

THE CONTINENTAL HOTEL

The Continental Hotel, Saigon

First opened in 1880 this hotel was built to accommodate French travelers after the long cruise to Indochina. During the Vietnam War the Continental was where all the press hung out and presumably drank. Notable guests of the Continental were Hunter S. Thompson who covered the last days before the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the British author Graham Greene. Greene was a long-time guest at the Continental and conceived his novel, “The Quiet American”, about the end of French colonialism in Indochina and America’s early involvement in the Vietnam War while staying there. Made into a film twice, the second one stars Brendan Fraser in the titular role.

Proud of her place in history, there is a corridor near the entrance that contains several placards that chronicle the Continental’s past and her storied guests. As it was too hot and humid for us to sit outside at café tables on the street we sat inside in the large airy hotel foyer. The high ceilings were to help dispel the tropical heat and there is a large garden in the interior. Even if you don’t drink you should visit the Continental in Saigon… or whatever you want to call it.

The Opera House is directly across the street.

THE CONTINENTAL SAIGON

HCMC CRAFT BEER

Beer is popular in the tropical temperatures of Vietnam and every city we visited in Vietnam had their own brew. Country-wide you could find 333, Larue and Tiger Beer. The capitol had its Hanoi Beer, a pilsner, and Bia Hoi, a beer brewed daily and found mostly in the bars along Beer Street.

Huda in Hue

Hue had Huda, a lager. While cruising along the spectacular Halong Bay, a Halong pilsner is necessary. Apart from the Hoi An Brewing Company there are also small craft breweries in that tourist town. Heineken has been in Danang since 1997 where they brew all Larue and Tiger brands as well as Bia Viet.

In the tourist town of Nha Trang we had craft beer at the Louisiane Brewhouse situated right on the beach.

Saigon Beer is found everywhere in Vietnam, but there are two notable craft breweries in HCMC. One is Pasteur Street offering a full array of styles. There are 8 taprooms in Saigon and thankfully one was just around the block from our hotel, the Central Palace Hotel.

PASTEUR STREET BREWERY, VIETNAM

Heart of Darkness is another craft brewer. They also have a taproom in DaNang and they name their beers after characters in the film Apocalypse Now. Especially appealing is Kurtz’s Insane IPA.

HEART OF DARKNESS BREWERY VIETNAM 

Central Post Office Saigon

BECAUSE YOU CAN’T DRINK ALL THE TIME

Central Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral

I know this article so far has been about alcohol, so go visit the Saigon Central Post Office at No. 2, Paris Commune Street. It is one of the oldest buildings in HCMC. 

Central Post Office interior

Construction began in 1886 and the French Colonial building with neo-classical European design elements like arched ceilings and decorated with Asian influences looks more like a train station. It is a working post office, a gift shop and a beautiful building to visit.

The “secret” CIA building

now

then

When you exit the post office look to your left to see the “secret” CIA building a block or so away. History buffs may recall the iconic last helicopter taking off from that building in 1975 during the fall of Saigon. The building is not open to the public, but it is worth a picture. 

Notre Dame Cathedral

If you’re into visiting churches, the Catholic Cathedral across from the post office might be interesting. Erected by French Colonialists in the late 1800s, Catholics were running the government in South Vietnam and were biased towards Catholics at the expense of Buddhists. This led to clashes in the lead up to the Vietnam War.   

If you visit the grounds of the Basilica, be sure to check out the statue of the Virgin Mary.  In 2005 the statue was purportedly shedding a tear down her right cheek which lured thousands of pilgrims.

Ben Thanh Market

Whatever souvenirs you need go to the massive Ben Thanh Market and prepare to haggle, especially if you decide to venture to the interior where vendors will nearly tackle you to get your business. This beautiful massive market has everything. We bought a t-shirt and a carry-on luggage piece that cost about $13 USD.

BROKEN RICE AND PIZZA

Overseas Adventure Travel provides most meals. Though we were in Saigon for just three full days with two of them filled with road trips, we still managed to eat out on our own.

Com Tam Moc

Broken rice are kernels that have been damaged in the handling process and once considered inferior. There’s nothing wrong with the rice, but poor farmers would eat the broken kernels because it was cheaper. It is now a staple of Saigon cuisine and is popular with locals and foreigners. Usually served with pork or eggs, you can eat Com Tam with a fork.

The Com Tam Moc restaurant was a couple of blocks down from the hotel.

COM TAM MOC SAIGON

Ciao Bella Il Primo, 11 Dong Du Street

Sometimes you just need comfort food. After three weeks of Pho and fertilized duck eggs, pizza beckoned.

CIAO BELLA IL PRIMO, SAIGON

CENTRAL PALACE HOTEL SAIGON 

 

DAY TRIPS

Using HCMC as a base, OAT took us on a couple of day trips out of HCMC. A couple of hours drive by coach each trip was remarkable and historical.

Cu Chi Tunnels

Cu Chi Tunnel Rat

Cu Chi is a vast network of tunnels that are not far from Saigon proper and during the war served as the Viet Cong’s base of operations during the Tet Offensive. Stretching to over 200 km to the Cambodia border the tunnels were the terminus of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It’s kind of eerie and even unnerving to some to experience the tunnels like a tourist and one can book a day tour. It is a popular tourist excursion. Outside the entrance there are derelict war machines like a tank and an airplane and there is a firing range for several types of guns used during the war.

There’s a gift shop.

CU CHI TUNNELS

Mekong Delta and Coconut Candy

Another popular day trip out of Saigon was to take a sampan along the Mekong Delta. As a youth the Mekong Delta was mentioned nightly on the news, and it was intriguing to see it. The sampan slipped along the sediment filled water passing fish farms as we drank coconut water from a coconut. We visited a small farm on one of the islands and met with the owner who gave us fruit from his garden. We then transferred to a smaller sampan to visit a coconut candy factory. There’s a gift shop here too. Art, leather goods, artifacts and of course coconut candy are available for purchase.

Sampan on the Mekong

Later we stopped for lunch.

There are several outfitters for similar tours. OAT just told us to get on the bus!

Saigon… er HCMC…. was a great end to the Vietnam portion of our trip.

Up next…it’s a Holiday in Cambodia.

OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVEL 

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

LUNCH

COCONUT CANDY "FACTORY"

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

NASHVILLE 2024

together again

THE ATHENS OF THE SOUTH

Looking over my entries at the Vacations From Home blog for this year I realized they are all pretty much about Vietnam. That was a great trip, an exceptional trip, and I still need to write more about Vietnam and Cambodia, but I wanted to tell you about our trip to Nashville.

We had been there before, several years ago. My daughter lives in Nashville and we decided it was time to reconnect with her.

On our previous visit to the Music City we did all the touristy things, like renting a car to see the Grand Ole Opry, where we took a backstage tour, and to drive down Music Row, where all the recording studios are located. We visited the Johnny Cash Museum, (not a pay toilet) and bar hopped along the Honky Tonk Highway of Lower Broadway.

IT’S ALWAYS 5 O’CLOCK IN NASHVILLE

Starting at the Cumberland River Broadway stretches out for several blocks and bulges with lively bars. This is perhaps Nashville’s biggest draw, and the city is a popular destination for bachelor and bachelorette parties. The streets are filled with pedal-bar and loud party vans and every single bar has a band playing their heart out for tips and the hope to be discovered. One place, Tootsie’s Orchid Bar, has three stages for music and a rooftop patio. It is right around the corner from the Ryman Auditorium, the original site for the Grand Ole Opry.

the view from Tootsie's
Rooftop patio

TOOTSIE'S NASHVILLE

The bars operate from 10am to 3am and throughout the day Nashville is a constant party scene. For us, day drinking only, the nights are too rambunctious.

LOWER BROADWAY NASHVILLE 

TO THE GODS

If you’re stumbling about on Lower Broadway, you probably know Nashville is called the Music City, but it has been known as “the Athens of the South” for a much longer time. The city is home to many institutions of higher learning, like Vanderbilt and somebody thought Athens of the South was an appropriate nickname.

Athena in Nashville

In 1897 the city held the Tennessee Centennial Exposition and in keeping with the learned-sounding moniker erected an exact replica of the Parthenon in Athens, the most prominent temple on the Acropolis. The one in Nashville’s Centennial Park is in much better shape though and this new one also has inside a 42-foot-tall statue of Athena. We visited the Parthenon last time, and for a fee you can enter the temple to gaze upon the goddess, or you can be cheap and admire the picture.

THE PARTHENON NASHVILLE

TENNESSEE WHISKEY

This time we didn’t rent a car, but took ride shares to get around. We limited our time on Lower Broadway to two short pub crawls, one with my daughter and another with just Janet and I at 11:00 am, because you HAVE to do that at least once whenever you visit Nashville. Most of our time with my daughter was going out to dinners. 

TASTING AT LEIPER'S FORK

One day we hailed a ride to visit my daughter at her job and on another day we had a driver take us out to Leiper’s Fork distillery, a small batch distillery in nearby Williamson County, and in operation since 2016. Before our tour of the rustic facilities, we drank slushy drinks at their outside bar and then sampled several of their whiskies on the tour. On the ride back Janet wanted to crack open one of the bottles we purchased at their store, but I reminded her they were gifts.

Book a tour through them.

LEIPERS FORK DISTILLERY 

We stayed in a Sonder Hotel, there are a few in Nashville, and they have properties around the world. Ours was on Church Street, just across Rosa L. Parks Boulevard and everything on lower Broadway was a short walk. Broadway was the adjacent street, but Church was tree-lined and much quieter. On one of our strolls Janet and I discovered several interesting and quirky places that were the polar opposite of the frenetic revelry just a block away on that Honky Tonk Highway.

SONDER HOTELS

Sinatra Bar and Lounge

222 4^th Avenue North

This classy joint opened in 2023. Just off Church, the Sinatra Bar and Lounge claims this is where Manhattan meets Palm Springs. Open with high ceilings and brass fixtures at the bar tended to by men in waist coats we imbibed a couple of martinis….not Frank’s preferred Jack Daniels. There was a piano and singer in the middle of the two-tiered restaurant performing classic songs. The whole place exudes “cool’ and is the antithesis cowboy boots and hee-haws.

I had worked as a roadie for FAS in the late 80s and well, we had to go.  

SINATRA BAR NASHVILLE

Skull’s Rainbow Room

One of our bar neighbors at Sinatra’s told us about Skull’s Rainbow Room on Printer’s Alley, just around the corner from our perch. Printer’s Alley was the center of publishing in Nashville and now it’s a nightclub scene. Skull’s Rainbow Room is a nightclub that features dining, live music and burlesque shows.

SKULLS RAINBOW ROOM

Makeready L&L

Tucked in the Noelle Hotel on North 4^th Street, and just up the block from Printer’s Alley, this place pays homage to the printmakers and publishers that would come here after work and their tag line of “work like a dog / drink like a fish” gives a hint at its history.

MAKEREADY L&L 

HIDDEN BAR

Printer's Alley Nashville

Also part of the Noelle, the Sandworm is best described as a speakeasy. Drawn by the lanterns decorating the Makeready that was closed, its entrance on Church Street, our curiosity was aroused by our recent trip to Vietnam. Though it was closed for the night the door was open and we crept in and eventually found the entrance behind a nondescript door in a brightly lit corridor. The tag on the door said utility room. It led to the Sandworm, filled with couches and a full bar and a couple of patrons who greeted us vociferously. A bit unnerving, we felt like we stumbled onto a forbidden world, but this place is another example of life beyond the frenetic Lower Broadway, just a block away.

Good luck finding it.  

THE HIDDEN BAR

GERMANTOWN

This quiet section of Nashville is where my daughter lives and is a few blocks north of downtown. Like Church Street, Germantown is a different world. It is quiet with brick sidewalks and Victorian style buildings, and some great restaurants.

GERMANTOWN, NASHVILLE 

Pelato

1300 3^rd Avenue North

Specializing in Italian food in sharable plates portions, Pelato was packed on a Monday night. We ordered way too much food, as always.

Make a reservation.

PELATO, GERMANTOWN 

The Iberian Pig

607 Overton Street

Set in a repurposed industrial building, this tapas bar and restaurant had two levels. Located in the Gulch, an urban area under redevelopment that is between downtown and Music Row. This is a trendy section of town with lots of restaurants and nightlife. Don't miss pigging out on the daily Jamon happy hour from 4 to 6 pm.

IBERIAN PIG, NASHVILLE

THE GULCH, NASHVILLE

 

Hattie B’s

112 19^th Avenue South, Midtown

No visit to Nashville would be complete with a visit to Hattie B’s. Spicy hot chicken is what they serve and the sometimes overly lengthy lines just to get in the door is worth the wait.

There are several locations in Nashville, including the airport.

HATTIE B'S 

NASHVILLE SOUNDS

19 Junior Gilliam Way, Germantown 

NASHVILLE SOUNDS

This Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers plays in First Horizon Park. There is a massive guitar jumbotron in center field. We took in a game that went into extra innings. We were able to walk from our hotel to the ballpark, but took a ride share back.

It was great to see Nashville and my daughter again. 

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

You know what they say about big feet...

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

DALAT, VIETNAM

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE

DALAT, VIETNAM

Sainted followers of this whimsical travel blog know we here at Vacations From Home central are serious about coffee and our next stop on our recent tour of Vietnam was to Dalat a picturesque town in the central highlands. This is where coffee is grown and the coffee culture in Dalat can leave one feeling jittery with delight over the prospect of drinking weasel shit coffee at the source of its excretion.

Yep, that’s what they call it: “cà phê phân chồn” and it is expensive. The Civet is a type of weasel that eats coffee beans. They pluck only the ripest coffee cherries, and the actual coffee bean passes through their GI tract, partially fermenting the beans as they merrily make their way from one end to the other. Industrious Vietnamese who find food sources in a myriad of odd places, think partially fertilized duck eggs or rats, discovered if they rinse off the crud and roast the beans a very strong and flavorful coffee can be brewed.

We had read about this odd coffee and wanted to sample it when given the chance. We were told Dalat is the place.

coffee prep

As part of an add-on tour with Overseas Adventure Travel, the immersive small group company we chose for our adventure, we traveled by coach to the Me Linh Coffee Garden outside of Dalat where we were invited to tour the grounds and enter the enclosure where the civets are held. The large enclosure serves two purposes. The first is the excreted beans are easier to collect and secondly it prevents the critters from being poached by hungry Vietnamese. Afterwards we were all given individual coffee Phins and relaxed over this strong coffee in their outdoor café that overlooks the pastoral plantation. If needed sweetened condensed milk was provided.   

Hill tribe boys

While there we were able to purchase coffee, and artifacts and textiles from one of the hill country tribes of Vietnam. There are over 50 different “tribes” or ethnic groups living in the hills of Vietnam. We visited their village and met with the village elder, visited a Catholic church, watched kids playfully cavort about to gain our attention and crashed a lively wedding. The people of the village are Vietnamese but looked different than our local guides.

ME LINH COFFEE GARDEN DALAT

Hill tribe textiles

Also, as part of this day-long tour we went to a flower farm where we were invited to select our own long-stemmed Gerber Daisy, after first being taught how to grasp the stem at the base of the flower to pluck it.

OVER THE MOON

Dalat is called the city of the eternal spring, and the French colonialists would build summer homes here to escape the tropical temperatures at the coast. It is often said one can experience four seasons in one day in Dalat: spring in the morning, summer at noon, autumn in the afternoon and winter in the evening. The homes are romantic and reflect the French influence and there is a large lake in the middle of town. Dalat is a popular destination for honeymooners. Because of the temperate weather in Dalat a lot of crops are grown here like carrots, cauliflower, cabbage and potatoes, as well as peaches, strawberries and bananas…and coffee…and the surrounding hills are covered with fields.  

Flower Farm Worker, Dalat

We only had two days in Dalat and we didn’t really see the town, but the Sammy Hotel where we stayed was French influenced and it was the first time in our visit to Vietnam where we didn’t have the air conditioning running at full blast. We slept with the doors to the balcony opened..

SAMMY HOTEL DALAT

CRAZY HOUSE

CRAZY HOUSE STAIRS

We were able to visit an odd attraction down the street from the hotel. Hang Nga Guesthouse, affectionately known as the “crazy house” looks like it was lifted from a Dr. Seuss book.  For a nominal fee one can walk the grounds and climb the twisting stairs that lead to more stairs like an M.C. Escher painting. Whimsical decorations are everywhere, like various animals and sea creatures, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. It seemed out of place and bizarre, but it was worth a visit.

CRAZY HOUSE DALAT

PASS THE SPRING ROLLS

Also, as part of the OAT experience, we dined with a local family. Such dinners are arranged by OAT. Traveling is not just about seeing the tourist attractions, but learning customs and understanding the people of Vietnam. 

Crazy House Dalat

 

Our 14-member entourage was broken up into smaller groups and we went with another couple to visit a young couple and their two children. Before dinner we engaged in some conversation as we learned about their hopes and aspirations and shared some of our culture. We were entertained by their young son who played hide and seek with us and their daughter who played a piano for us and later we all posed for a selfie gathered in their living room.

During dinner we watched with amazement as the mother would pick up individual kernels of rice to eat.

OVERSEAS ADVENTURE TRAVEL 

our room in Dalat at dawn

with the church's sexton

Hill tribe boys

Thanks for reading.

Love Janet and greg

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj

NHA TRANG, VIETNAM

WORLDS COLLIDE

NHA TRANG VIETNAM

Our next stop on our recent tour of Vietnam was the popular resort city of Nha Trang. A wide golden sand beach curves for miles along the South China Sea with strikingly beautiful islands in the distance. Palm trees line the promenade on glamourous Tran Phu Street which brims with upscale resorts and restaurants. 

Vietnam was once an impoverished country, but Nha Trang shows how the government’s Doi Moi or renovation project is working and very well.

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

Nha Trang is very popular with Russian tourists for good reason.

From 1979 to 2002 first the Soviets and then the Russian Navy maintained their largest naval base outside the country in nearby Cam Ranh. Familiarity with this beautiful curving stretch of golden sand beach and inviting waters of the bay have Russian travel agencies booking packaged tours for their comrades.

NHA TRANG

Travel to Nha Trang took off after the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in the early 2010s. Those were once popular Russian vacation destinations, but that area’s instability had them shifting to Vietnam for travel. It’s easy for Russians to travel to Vietnam. They don’t need a visa to enter the country, unless they exceed 45 days, and now Nha Trang has become so popular with the Russians they boast their own “snowbirds”, preferring to winter in Nha Trang to avoid the brutal cold of the motherland.

WAIT! THERE’S MORE

Vietnam is also popular with the Chinese and South Koreans, lured by cheaper costs and better weather. The Chinese need a visa like US citizens that is good for 90 days, while South Korean nationals can visit Vietnam without a visa for 45 days.

Before the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns up to 2,000 Chinese were flying in daily on package tours. Today it is about 25% of that number.

Blackpink, K-pop

 

Vietnam is popular with Koreans not only because the price and weather and the Korean food that can be ordered in restaurants, but also because extremely popular Korean K-pop groups, like Blackpink, perform there.  

The Vietnamese also come to Nha Trang, although the prices here are a bit steeper than in other parts of the country.

There is the Vinwonders Water and Amusement Park on Hon Tre Island. To get there you take an aerial cable. There are plenty of beach activities in Nha Trang proper. Mostly the Vietnamese and Koreans are up very early and hit the beach before the day heats up and not wanting to get a suntan. White skin is more appealing to them and the Russians come later in the day. There is scuba diving and jet skis for hire. It all makes Nha Trang a very viable tourist destination. 

WHAT’LL IT BE?

The influx of so many tourists from so many different countries has led to menus that are printed in several languages: Korean, Russian, English, Chinese and Vietnamese, so one doesn’t necessarily have to point at the pictures to order. Standard Vietnamese fare like Pho and Binh Mi are readily available throughout the city, which is renown for excellent seafood, but there are some Russian enclaves in Nha Trang that Cyrillic is all that is printed. 

NHA TRANG

AMERICANS  

To reach Nha Trang, our tour company, Overseas Adventure Tours (OAT), had us fly out of Da Nang (another resort town with high rise resorts and not far from Hoi An) to HCMC (Ho Chi Min City / Saigon) on Vietnam Airlines. We then transferred to another plane to reach the resort town. They were short flights, less than an hour for both, but we got Delta Frequent Flyer miles for flying on Vietnam Airlines. I know, there’s always some sort of angle with Vacations From Home.

VIETNAM AIRLINES

We stayed two nights at the Em ‘oi, a boutique hotel with a very expansive breakfast buffet. We didn’t have a view of the sea from our hotel room, but we could see the Long Son Pagoda where there’s a massive white Guatama Buddha statue on a nearby hill. According to the Guiness Book of World Records this is the largest Buddha statue in the world, so it wasn’t difficult to see.

EM 'OI HOTEL, NHA TRANG

EM 'OI HOTEL

We didn’t run into any Russians, Chinese or Koreans when we first arrived; we would run into them on our second day when several of us went to the beach and later that evening when we went out to dinner. Our first encounter with the many languages on a menu was right away though. After we stopped at a gleaming high rise shopping mall to withdraw some Dong (and become a millionaire again…2,000,000 VDN = $80.00USD) we got ice cream in the mall at Crazy Mango. Their various offerings like mango ice cream were listed in several languages. While still in this mall we stopped at a very busy and well-stocked supermarket for snacks and alcohol.  

CRAZY MANGO, NHA TRANG

Dinner that first night was on OAT and we visited a very local Vietnamese restaurant that served us raw food like meat and calamari and vegetables that we would cook on charcoal braziers on our tables. This place definitely did not have a website.

NHA TRANG

The next day we saw more of local Vietnamese life by hopping on scooters for a tour of the city and the surrounding countryside. The scooters were all being commandeered by inhabitants of a village we would eventually visit. Before we left the city proper though we stopped at a Birdcage café. This is where men come with their birds in cages and they would hang them in the middle of what essentially was an empty lot and as the men sipped coffee and chatted, their “girlfriends” as our OAT guide called them also chatted between themselves. Presumably not in Russian.

The village elder was in the South Vietnamese air force and he and the rest of the citizens of this village were all sent here by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after enduring reeducation camps after the war. We drank a lot of rum infused drinks and had lunch as we were told the story of the elder and the villagers. Some of us ate duck embryos. Fertilized duck eggs with partially developed embryos are boiled and eaten from the shell. Janet tried eating it, but only got a bite or two. In Vietnam this “delicacy” is called Hot Vit Lon. Avoid, even if it offends your hosts. 

YUM

Yes, I still kiss Janet.

PARTY ON

That night we first went to a craft beer hall on the beach. The Louisiane Brewhouse served respectable beers and had a full menu, but we were eating elsewhere. After a round of brews we walked over to the very posh Sailing Club.  

Open and airy and steps from the beach this elegant place served great food at expensive prices and had a great mixed drink and wine list. The place was filled with lots of different nationalities, Koreans, Russians, and Chinese. The staff spoke perfect English. There was also a stage set on the beach with a band playing music and lots of people were dancing. No, we didn’t see any Russians dancing the Prisyadka, and not even a Mazurka or a polka, but there was a table that was taking hits on a water pipe. I declined an offer from a comrade who tried to wave me over speaking to me in Russian. I had to say Nyet.      

LOUISIANE BREWHOUSE, NHA TRANG, VIETNAM

THE SAILING CLUB, NHA TRANG

Nha Trang is a lively place, and as was the case with every place we visited in Vietnam we wished we could have lingered there longer.

Sigh.

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NHA TRANG

BIRDCAGE CAFE, NHA TRANG

© 2024 by Gregory Dunaj