December 2024

Thoughts.

Vietnam was a years-long, bucket-list adventure, and delivered on pure sensory overload. You haven’t lived (or almost died) until you’ve crossed a street in Hanoi with two 11-year-olds. Takeaways: banh mi, pho and salt coffee forever. Delightful humans with mad skills on motorbikes. Awful air pollution. Deeply ingrained artisanship. A fascinating mix of war-hardened hustle and varying perspective on communism from North to South. 

While we loved Vietnam, Cambodia unexpectedly stole the show. What started as a quick Angkor Wat add-on became the highlight of our trip. With tourism still recovering post-Covid, we had incredible places nearly to ourselves. We biked past temples, kayaked on Tonle Sap Lake, and glided past floating villages. Our female-run, non-profit travel agency connected us with local entrepreneurs and showed us a Siem Reap most tourists never see. And, our gentle, kind and funny guide Vatay opened up about growing up in Cambodia and really made us feel like we caught a glimpse of real life.  

Of course, the chaotic adventure in both countries came with sobering reminders of war and oppression. Being an American in Vietnam felt complicated, especially reflecting on today’s global politics against the backdrop of yesterday’s war. And Cambodia’s wounds from the Khmer Rouge genocide are still visible decades later, with a generation’s education lost, and driving to find their way now. But in both places, we found resilient people writing new chapters while honoring difficult histories. Any trip that alters our taste buds and our perspective is a trip worth taking.  

Stay.

• Oriental Jade / Hanoi. Nice hotel in the middle of the action. Especially on Christmas Eve. Who knew the heralded angels would hark until midnight.   
• Au Co Cruise / Halong Bay. We loved our experience floating on the bay, although I’m almost certain we were just doing circles around one or two of the islands. But, the kids had free range of the perfectly sized boat and we met some lovely families. Each day there were activities – kayaking, cycling, cooking classes, and a cave visit. Two nights definitely recommended. 
• Sala Lodges / Siem Reap. Easily our favorite hotel. Beautiful, peaceful and a lovely pool.
• Boutique Hoi An Resort / Hoi An. Beachside hotel. In the summer it would have been fantastic. In the rainy season, it just felt far. 
• The Myst Dong Khoi / Ho Chi Minh. Coolest vibe of all the hotels. I felt like we were on a movie set in the middle of “a major Asian city”. Part two, true.. 

Eat.

• Pho Ga Khanh Beo / Hanoi. My favorite food experience of the trip. Watching these women climb precipitous steps balancing steaming trays of soup was an acrobatic feat in itself. Come for the circus and stay for the Pho Ga. 
• Hoang’s, Banh Mi 25, Bun Cha Dac Kim, P Ly Quoc Su / Hanoi. All good, all recommended, and all swarming with Vietnamese guides & their American / Expat charges. 
• Cafe Giang / Hanoi. Egg coffee, coconut coffee, salt coffee, oh my! You cannot blink without seeing another coffee shop. Go to as many as you can. 
• Beyond Unique Escapes Cooking Class / Siem Reap. Kind and creative hosts. We started in a local market where organized chaos reigns. It overwhelmed the kids, but that’s what we are here for.  
• Banh Mi Phuong / Hoi An. I share another of my other favorite banh mi’s with the great Anthony Bourdain. 
• Morning Glory / Hoi An. Touristy but charming. We really liked this place.  
• Banh M Ba Huynh / Ho Chi Minh. Delicious, enormous, yum.

Play.

• Wandering / City Tour / Train Street / Hanoi. The streets are how you understand Vietnam. Cooking on the corner, chaos in markets, coffee everywhere, colossal club scene. We did get pretty good at street crossing but, not for the faint of heart.
• Quang Phu Cau Incense Village / Hanoi. Vietnam’s artisans blew my mind. Entire communities specialized in a single craft passed down through generations. In one village, nothing but incense – hundreds of vibrant sticks drying in the sun. In others, conical hats or Chả Quế (cinnamon-spiced pork). Americans have lost touch with how things are made … no Amazon Prime, just pure artistry. 
• Temples! / Siem Reap. All of the greats – Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thum, Bayon Temple and Prasat Ta Keo – are nestled in a beautiful national park. I didn’t realize how much like Yosemite temple-hopping would be! The park got more crowded as the day wore on, but beside Angkor Wat, it never felt overwhelming. My favorite of all: Ta Prohm by bike. 
• Tonle Sap Lake / Siem Reap. Took a speed boat, then kayaked and met some of the families living on the massive floating villages. One of the most special days thanks to Vatay and Mr. Song. 
• Pho Ho Lantern Workshop / Hoi An. A super fun workshop making authentic lanterns.  
• Tra Nhieu Village / Hoi An. Another artisan village specializing in wood carving. We loved biking through the rice paddies and eating lunch in a tiny village with a local family. 
• Vespa Street Food Tour / Ho Chi Minh. It’s a thing. Embrace it. And hold on tight!
• Saigon City Vintage Car Tour / Ho Chi Minh. We toured the city with our hipster guide in a vintage VW Bug. It was fun but unnecessary. In general the city tour is not to be missed, in part because it includes the War Museum (note: very graphic for kids, ours did not come through the exhibits).
• Cu Chi Tunnels / Ho Chi Minh. This was a major highlight, although a sobering one. We traveled via speedboat to the tunnels, which gave a tangible perspective of the impossibility of the Vietnam War. 
• Mekong Delta / Ho Chi Minh. Definitely a place to visit but the traffic was horrific. We had done a similar tour in Hanoi so it didn’t necessarily feel worth the time spent in the car. Still, the river is impressive for its scale and importance to the region, and we got a real sense of local life.

*Note: For this one we used a travel agency recommended by a friend. I highly recommend Keith at the primary agency Jacada, as they pulled off a big trip tailored to outdoor adventure in a relatively short amount of time. We were also really impressed by About Asia, the non-profit supporting local business.
They put a lot of care into the experiences, not just the sights.

• Jacada Travel – Main partner
• Trails of Indochina – Vietnam
• About Asia – Cambodia and Laos