Let's go to Vietnam

Arriving late in the night, I was concerned how to get to the city. A friend complained he payed way too much for the ride. He sat down in the first free taxi and paid 40$, which was four times too much. The meter was obviously rigged! But in the middle of the night in a strange city, he couldn’t even negotiate so he overpaid for his lesson. Ever since he only took the known and fairly reliable taxis of the companies Mai Linh and Vinasun. To avoid trouble I’ve decided to order a transfer throught the Green path transfers. Traveler’s experience was positive and my fair was paid for in advance – so I’ve reached the hotel without complication.

I was planning to spend the night in one of Vietnamese HI hostels, but there was no free rooms available. Luckily I found a board for a good price nearby. This was not a problem even in the middle of the night, as the streets of Pham Ngu Lao have many hotels and boarding houses. This is where most of tourists stay, for there’s a good selection of fairly priced boarding options, as well as shops, tourist agencies, beauty salons and, for me the most attractive, the variety of restaurants. Compared to our prices back home, everything seems cheap, but it’s still worth to take some times as prices do vary tremendously. Vietnam knows how to prepare a tourist offer, so they are trying to tempt you with offers and happy hours on every corner.

 

The life in this part of the city is literally happening on the street, with an endless stream of pubs with tables on the sidewalk. If there’s some free space, a food stand will pop out in the evening, with a stove and a rich array of cuisine to offer at best of prices. Gusts will get their food on small tables and chairs on the sidewalk and when it gets too full on the road itself! So the busiest of streets get overcrowded in the middle of the night, and the motorists have great problems to get through, not to mention the cars, which drive among restaurant tables. As the prices are really affordable, even young Vietnamese people love to hang out here and have fun late in the night. Cocktails are very popular, as well as local beer (Saigon, Hanoi, Huda) but also freshly squeezed tropical fruit, which sells like honey. Some restaurants are on top of the highest buildings and are worth a visit, to get the full view of the vivid city below and the great view of the business centre with its tall skyscrapers.

 

One night I came across an interesting pub Cafe Zoom. It caught my attention by many old time Vespa scooters of the famous Italian designer, parked in front of it. The inside was also accordingly thematically decorated with posters, photos and even some motor parts of these popular two-wheelers. I had excellent shrimps in curry sauce in the restaurant, but other dishes were also very tempting, with some (like hamburgers) more offered with European and especially American tourists in mind. A talkative waitress reviled the secret of old two-wheelers in this restaurant – it’s the headquarters of the Vietnams Vespa Adventure agency, organizing tours across the city and its surroundings, or even tours lasting several days. I was easy to convince and I decided to take up the half day adventure on the pack of a scooter, which was among the most pleasant trips I took on the whole stay in Vietnam.

 

Scooters, currently mostly modern Japanese, are an inevitable part of daily life in Vietnam. A car is too expensive and usually not too practical for the traffic jams in the city, so a scooter is much faster. This makes the streets filled with honking scoters zig-zaging all over the place, with up to five grown people, and a pet or baby on board. And I haven’t even mentioned the huge loads of stuff they pack on those two wheels. During the trip I’ve felt like becoming a part of a busy hive, while swiftly humming from here to there. Actually, I had a similar feeling while walking as well, as crossing a wide road can become a real adrenalin filled adventure, as traffic signals are used mostly for colourful decoration and nobody, and I really mean nobody, stops for a pedestrian! You have to bravely stand on the street and slowly make your way forth. Scooter drivers are not too fast and skilfully avoid pedestrians. They only get confused is a pedestrian stops or takes a step back, so never do that while crossing a street in Vietnam!

Besides the chaos in traffic I also remembered the excellent food, which I’ve tasted already the first day. Vietnams cuisine is mostly influenced by the Chinese, but also Thai and other neighbouring nations. Their food is not considered spicy to them and they add fish sauce to it. The sauce looks a lot like soya sauce and is prepared in a similar way, only it features fermented fish instead of soya beans. And it smells the part. But the taste is great especially in combination with many different spices and herb they add. Apart from spring rolls, various vegetable, fish and crab dishes I really loved their soup called pho. It’s a noodle soup with rice noodles, meat and a lot of fresh vegetables, which the locals already eat for breakfast, but can be served also for lunch or dinner as it is served in a large bowl. I wanted to learn more about their cooking secrets, so in a place called Hoi An I visited the Morning glory, one of the most famous Vietnamese restaurants, where they offer afternoon culinary classes for a number of years now. After visiting the local market where we got to know the key ingredients, the class has started under the tutorage of the experienced chef Vy. To my delight we also prepared the pho soup. We’ve prepared the fresh vegetables as a sauce and side dish to chicken and made a fresh green mango salad, yes, mango can be eaten before becoming ripe as well. Usually they grate it into a salad with a pinch of lime, peppermint and seasoning and we’ve also added roasted peanuts and sesame seeds. Delicious!

 

Despite the flood of online information I’ve actually taken the old school traveller’s guide to Vietnam with me and it was very handy. It helped as a guide to even get to know the country and plan the trip, but also to make on the spot decisions about exploring certain places. I’ve decided to take the legendary Lonely Planet with me, which is still top of the notch in the field. The data was current enough and sufficed for various needs any user could wish for. Even the printed prices are more or less similar to the actual ones, except for the tourist sights, which have been raised in the past year.