Craig's Vietnam

I’m honored to be the first person to be a “guest blogger” on Arizona Buffapho.  I know that I speak for many of us who are loyal fans of Steve’s blog that it seemed that he was having way too much fun in Vietnam, that he was eating food that sounded amazingly delicious, that he was meeting warm and wonderful people, and that he was seeing incredibly beautiful and scenic places.

Well, it all seemed too good to be true and I decided to take a trip to Vietnam to see it all for myself. This is the story of my experiences in Vietnam, and the clear and honest truth of what Steve is really experiencing in Vietnam.

Let’s start with the food. Well, before I took the trip, I decided to re-read the whole blog from start to finish and pick out Steve’s favorites and to test them all for myself.  Here was my list:

Breakfast: a) Pho, b) Yummy Yogurt in pink bag with 5 cups, and c) Bahn Bao from the 6/2 blog.

Lunch: a) Bun Bo Nam Bo from the place next door, c) Bun Cha from the place three doors down, and c) My Xau Bo

Dinner: a) Porridge, b) Quan An Nhon (sp), and

Drinks: a) Ca Phe Sua Da, b) Tra Chanh, c) Ca Phe Trung from rooftop from 5/15 blog

Well, all I can say in response is YUM! YUM! YUM! Every single thing I ate throughout the whole trip was outstanding, just as Steve said in his blog. I too became addicted to Pho and Ca Phe Sua Da for breakfast. Now that I’ve had Bun Bo Nam Bo, Bun Cha, and My Xau for lunch, I no longer have any interest in Panera Bread, Cosi, or Noodles and Company.  It took us about 3 days to get the yogurt in the pink bags (we were too full the first day, we almost couldn’t find it the second and ended up with caramel flan not yogurt the second day, and we had success when Chi came with us on the 3^rd day!).

While on the trip I learned how to make several Vietnamese dishes during our trip to the Con Dao Resort and on the Serena Cruise and I’m coming home with a cookbook, several Vietnamese recipes, a Ca Phe Sua Da maker, fresh ground Vietnamese coffee, and rice cakes to make spring rolls.  

Spring Roll-making action shot!

If any of you find yourself somewhere near Madison, WI in the coming weeks, stop by for some authentic home cooked Vietnamese Cooking. I’ll try not to disappoint.

 Now let me move on to the places we stayed and visited.  Steve and I started our trip in Saigon and stayed at the Park Hyatt, which was an amazing place (as you can see from Steve’s blog entry just below). We didn’t get to spend too much time in Saigon, but we did have time for a wedding.

We then went on to the Con Dao Resort and it was truly a paradise- somewhat similar to places we’ve stayed in the Phillipines, Bali, and the Maldives.

We cycled, relaxed, walked on the beach, swam, caught up on our sleep, and did some fresh fish shopping.

We then spent two days at the Nam Hai resort near Hoi An. Here’s a taste of what that was like.

Hoi An was an amazing city with an incredible market place. We enjoyed wandering through narrow streets, meeting lots of friendly folks who wanted us to see their shops (somehow folks knew I was a tourist!), drinking Ca Phe Sua Da, and getting lost in the Vietnamese culture.  We were (fortunately or unfortunately) befriended by a very persuasive tailor who somehow convinced us (okay- it was me) to buy several hand-tailored clothes that I didn’t need. But what an incredible experience! Here’s a picture of Steve smiling broadly because he loves shopping so much! 

After a brief stopover at Steve’s wonderful apartment in the Serena Tower, we went up to Ha Long Bay for a one-night cruise. Ha Long Bay is an incredibly beautiful, albeit touristy stop.  Steve and I, and the 28 Taiwanese guests that balanced out the customers on the cruise, sang Kareoke until all hours out on the deck because the air conditioner went out (or maybe we dreamed our participation due to the 90 degree heat in the cabin in the middle of the night!).

These pics pretty much capture our adventure in Ha Long Bay, including a shot of the 7-11 lady who pulled up to our boat to offer us water, beer, oreos, fruit or pretty much anything else you could buy in a 7-11 at home!

Finally, we went back to Hanoi and spent the next 3 days being Hanoians. What an amazing place, and what an incredible city. In a whirlwind 72 hours, we got to see all of Steve’s favorite restaurants (above), go to the Opera House to hear the symphony, walk around the Old Quarter to do Christmas shopping and see the true essence of Hanoi, and drive out to the countryside to experience the physical beauty of Vietnam and visit a beautiful Pagoda out west.

I can see why Steve loves his Honda motorbike too- while I needed to suppress screaming at many times when he pulled out into an oncoming stream of taxis and thousands of bikes, riding around like that was incredible invigorating and fun.

Finally, I wanted to save the best of my impressions for the last, and that’s about the people. For any folks that haven’t read David Lamb’s book, “Vietnam Now,” I’d encourage you to do so. I read it on the way over and in my first few days there, and the book talks about how incredible warm and gracious the Vietnamese people are.  He doesn’t give that sentiment enough justice, as I immediately became enamored with all of Steve’s friends and with the warmth of everyone we met.  While I love hanging out with Steve, I must admit that spending time with Chi and Mr. Thanh was a true highlight of my trip. They are incredibly friendly, smiley, warm and thoughtful people (as is Mr. Thanh’s girlfriend Van and what I sense of Chi’s future husband the Politician).

You can just tell how wonderful they are from their pics.

When Chi and Steve thought I was simply setting up the camera for a timer-shot, I caught them acting out an impression of Asian tourists we typically see when we travel. Aren’t they adorable?

(Steve had no idea this picture was being taken...and is convinced
that an imposter took his place when the photo was actually shot!)

David Lamb talks about the draw and addiction of Vietnam to visitors like me. I must admit that I was skeptical that any such thing like that would happen, but I have to confess that it happened to me too. While the food is wonderful yes, and while the country is scenic and exciting and invigorating, it’s the people like Chi and Thanh that make it really special.

Steve is truly very fortunate to have spent 6 months there- I can see why he wanted to go and why there would be a draw to stay, and I was very, very sorry to leave. Vietnam left a major impact on me in just 8 days- I plan on going back again and again- and who knows, maybe someday we can call it home for a little while