Category ArchiveEverywhere Once |

Deception and Redemption in Hue, Vietnam

by Brian on January 26, 2015 in Asia, Travel, Vietnam

This was more than a meal. It was a rebuttal.

Any hopes we had of drying out after we left rainy Hoi An were quickly dashed. Our next destination has a reputation for notoriously bad weather, and in that regard Hue, Vietnam, more than exceeded our expectations.

In addition to the unrelenting cold and rain, the city also greeted us with a dose of unexpected irony. We had literally just pushed the print button on an article calling false every bad thing we had heard about Vietnam. Instead of the unfriendly and unscrupulous people we had been told to expect, everyone we actually met was exceedingly warm and helpful.

I guess we should have known that bad things happen when you tempt the Fates because it was the very next day that we boarded a bus to Hue.

Where to Eat in Hoi An, Vietnam

by Brian on January 19, 2015 in Asia, Food & Drink, Travel, Vietnam

Head to Hoi An’s Central Market for the town’s best Cau Lao

Hoi An, as I mentioned earlier, was somewhat unkind to us. But it wasn’t just the rain. In addition to dodging drops we also had a terrible time finding good places to eat, let alone great ones.

Partly, I think we just got spoiled in Hanoi. It was so easy to find delicious meals in Hanoi that almost anywhere else would seem a disappointment by comparison. And so it was initially with Hoi An.

Don’t get us wrong, Hoi An is a lovely city. But it really is a tourist town. Unfortunately, many of its eateries reflect that. Too many cater to what they think westerners want and serve up mediocre food at inflated prices as a result.

In the past we’ve been able to side-step tourist cuisine by avoiding the places where tourists eat. But in Hoi An, that strategy didn’t always work. We had bad experiences at upscale places as well as downscale ones and everywhere in between.

Through sheer persistence, and a week of trying, we did eventually uncover these handful of standouts.

Postcard Pretty Hoi An

by Brian on January 12, 2015 in Asia, Vietnam

Hoi An was unkind to us in a way. We knew we were visiting this central Vietnamese city near the end of its rainy season, but with a week to spend in the relatively small town we figured we had more than enough time to see and do everything. We were wrong. The rain was nearly relentless for seven straight days.

This Post Brought to You by a Total Disregard for Intellectual Property Rights

by Brian on January 7, 2015 in Asia, Vietnam

The most remarkable thing about the Water Puppet Show in Hanoi, Vietnam, was the way in which absolutely nobody cared if you photographed it or even shot video.

The performance itself, one of the “must do” attractions in Hanoi, was only vaguely interesting. It’s an hour long display of an art form originally developed by rice farmers as a way to entertain one another after their fields flooded. Staged in a pool of waste-deep water, wooden puppets (controlled via submerged poles manipulated by puppeteers hidden behind a screen) act out tales of rural Vietnamese folklore.

A Day in Ha Long Bay

by Shannon on January 5, 2015 in Asia, Vietnam

“The police are behind us. Jump on!” I heard from over my shoulder as we leapt through the doors of the still moving mini-bus.

The driver’s offense: idling in Hanoi city traffic. No officers gave chase, though, and we settled into our seats and set out with a small group on an overnight outing to scenic Ha Long Bay in northeast Vietnam.

Several hours later, after a honking-filled ride along highways chaotic with traffic, through dusty small towns, and past watery rice fields, we got our first look at Ha Long Bay’s dramatic hallmarks—limestone pillars rising from the water and mostly shrouded in mist. We knew we were rolling the dice by coming to this striking spot in December, which is the start of Vietnam’s winter. In fact, several days earlier, severe rain storms had forced tourists back to Hanoi shortly after making the lengthy trip out to Ha Long Bay. Read More…