Central Vietnam: Dong Hoi/Phong Nha

We left Saigon very early Sunday morning to fly to Dong Hoi. From there, we drove about 40 minutes to Phong Nha -- a small, sleepy, and impoverished town where cattle roam the streets and the main activity is finding ways to beat the heat.

Kyle and Ryan met us there, and the next morning, the four of us joined Oxalis Adventure Tours for an initial 70-kilometer drive to a small village. From there, we trekked 3.5km through fields and a river until reaching the mouth of the first cave where we stopped for lunch.

The rest of the day, we hiked, we swam, we explored. The depths of the caves looked like the surface of the moon, and we were Armstrong and Aldrin. The grounds seemed almost sacred with few explorers having come before us.

Camping in the jungle of Vietnam was far from glamorous. It was sweat and bug spray, hammocks that were like small coffins, and a makeshift outhouse infested with wasps and mosquitoes. We made it though! (And, as cool as it was, I think we were all glad that we hadn't opted for the two-nighter.) 

The next day, we explored one last cave before returning to civilization. Ken Cave was my favorite. Its mouth was a pool of clear freshwater. We jumped in and swam, floating on our backs on occasion to peer at the ceiling, which looked like coral at the bottom of the ocean. Once we reached darkness, our headlamps caught light of spiders and bats and formations hundreds of millions of years old. 

The trek back to town was pretty treacherous thanks to the heat, the mosquitos, and the lack of a proper trail. Although they were accompanied by a hot bowl of pho, cold beers at the finish line were much welcomed (and well deserved, I'd say).  

Fatty Tuesday: Vietnamese Food

Food wasn't the only reason why we chose to travel to Vietnam, but it was a big motivator. We were excited to try pho and banh mis from the source. Come to find out, good Vietnamese food is hard to come by in Vietnam.

Our first dinner in Saigon was a Lonely Planet "top choice." It was more so "meh," so much so that I couldn't tell you what we ordered 'cause I can't remember what we ate. The next day, we tried pho at a local hotspot (literally) aptly named Pho Hoa. In 90-degree heat and 75-percent humidity, I couldn't bring myself to take down a hot bowl of steaming beef noodle soup. Not surprisingly, Mike took one for the team and I got to try some of his. The broth was delicious; I could have held the bowl to my mouth and drank the whole thing myself, even in the heat and humidity.

The food tour on night two was the highlight of our foodie adventures. Tiger Tours took us first to a make-your-own-summer-rolls joint where we wrapped grilled pieces of marinated pork and beef in rice paper, adding lettuce, fresh herbs, and pickled veggies. This was our favorite. The second stop required a more open mind: besides grilled shrimp, we sampled goat udder and crocodile curry. Goat udder? Chewy and not a favorite. Crocodile? Also chewy and similar to (you guessed it) chicken. The third restaurant specialized in seafood: the chili crab and the small, delicate scallops were the most memorable of our dishes there. We ended on a sweet note with a simple flan for me and a coconut-mango combination for Mike.

Summer rolls; goat udder and okra; chili crab; crocodile curry

Once we got to Hanoi, we made it our mission to find a banh mi since we hadn't had one up to that point in the trip. We tried several and grew more disappointed after every one. Slices of gelatinous meat and pâté replaced the grilled pork and pickled vegetables we had been expecting. We all agreed: we couldn't wait to get home to get ourselves a good banh mi.

Our one dinner in Hanoi slightly made up for our food losses. Madame Hien served up a foie gras pho that won't likely be forgotten. But overall, I have to say, we weren't too impressed with what we ate. Perhaps expectations were set too high. Perhaps we just didn't know where to go.

Southern Starting Point: Saigon

Expectations were low for Saigon (aka, Ho Chi Minh City, HCMC). I hadn't heard good things; most of them warnings about savvy thieves on motorcycles cutting the straps of tourists' backpacks as they whizzed by them. But our thirty or so hours there were wisely spent and we enjoyed leg one of the trip.

We walked by Notre Dame Cathedral and a vintage post office on our way to the War Remnants Museum. American war planes and tanks (Vietnamese trophies?) were this museum's garden sculptures, encircling two sides of the plain, open-air building. Its third side was a replica of prisoners' living quarters and torture chamber, a foreshadow of the other horrors that waited to be detailed inside. The first floor covered the protests of Americans and other nationals against the U.S. Government, while the next ones documented the atrocities of the war with photographs of the maimed, the tortured, and those born with birth defects caused by the use of defoliants (chemicals like Agent Orange). By the end of it, I couldn't bear to look at another picture or read another description. Yes, the museum was terribly biased and propagandist, but I left the place feeling sick to my stomach and hoping that if I had been a child of the 60s I, too, would have stood up against such inhumanity.

One of the less horrific photographs, but just as heartbreaking, I think. 

The next tourist spot was less brutal -- the Reunification Palace, which housed the president of South Vietnam. It was a walk back in time to 1975 when communist tanks crashed through palace gates, seeing Saigon surrender to the North. The building was left just as it looked on that day.

We ended our stay in HCMC with a food tour led by two college students employed by Tiger Tours. With Mike on the back on one motorcycle and me on the other (!), we rode with them to four different spots in the city (don't worry, Mom, we wore helmets). Details coming tomorrow for Fatty Tuesday.

A flower market pit stop during the food tour

Zhoumo kuaile!

This week has been a weird one for me. I've been feeling pretty restless, with one foot firmly planted in Shanghai and the other taking an imaginary leap back home. It's the calm before the storm. It's the week before Vietnam, which is the week before we sort and pack.

Although there have been a few hurdles in preparing for Vietnam, I'm glad it's here -- the finale trip. And yes, we will be making it back to Shanghai, having to fly south before going north again, and waking up before dawn to do so.

Adventure awaits with a food tour booked in Ho Chi Minh City, an overnight cave expedition in Central Vietnam, and a cruise in Halong Bay off of Hanoi. We're meeting two of Mike's childhood friends in Phong Nha (where the caves are located), and I think I'm more worried about keeping up with the boys (from a drinking perspective) than anything else.

Enjoy the week! I'll be back with a recap.

Cruise boats in Halong Bay
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/165296248798571281/

Zhoumo kuaile!

A week from today, we'll be traveling to Vietnam... but we may not get to leave the country. Our flight back to Shanghai on June 15 got cancelled, and we're now tasked with finding an alternative. You may have heard that relations right now between the Chinese and the Vietnamese are strained at best (click here for the latest from CNN). Well, the whole thing is putting a wrench in our seemingly perfect itinerary:

Friday, June 6: Arrive in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) 

Saturday, June 7: Explore/eat our way through HCMC 

Sunday, June 8: Fly to Dong Hoi and explore Phong Nha because...

Monday, June 9: At 8:00 a.m., we depart for a two-day caving expedition (wish me luck!)

Wednesday, June 11: Fly to Hanoi 

Thursday, June 12: Depart for a three-day/two-night cruise in Halong Bay (that's what I'm talkin' about) 

Saturday, June 14: Arrive back in Hanoi

Sunday, June 15: Leave Vietnam?  

To be continued...