I’ve had a wonderful time exploring all of these countries but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking, somewhat obsessively at times, for the last 2 months about getting back to Vietnam. I think it’s a combo of the people, the food & the variety of places the country has to offer. So I’m going to hit a couple spots I couldn’t squeeze in during the first 3+ weeks as well as one of my faves from round one.
As an aside… you know you’re traveling a lot when you run into 3 different couples & one solo traveler (the New Zealander from Mandalay) you’ve previously met in the Saigon airport. Three of the encounters happened in quick succession & all were venturing into Vietnam for the first time & wanted some travel advice. So I did introductions & held a sort of Vietnam travel info session at an airport coffee shop to help them plan their trips. They exchanged info in hopes of connecting later. I was going in a different direction but it was a pretty proud moment. Not gonna lie.
My first stop in Vietnam was the island of Phu Quoc, off the southern coast for some R&R on the beach for 4 days after my 1.5 week sprint through Myanmar. It was gorgeous. I had previously heard it was pretty well developed & a not-so-secret stop on the tourism circuit. Perhaps I would’ve thought that after enjoying those nearly deserted beaches on my previous jaunt north along Vietnam’s SE coast but certainly not after after having visited Bali recently. A very good indicator I was going to like it was the fact that I was the only non-local on the connecting flight from Saigon. So it’s still very much a domestic Vietnamese holiday destination. Generally, I’ve found that I really like those places. This was more of the same.
Second stop was Dalat, a city in the central highlands that provides a reprieve from the heat. While the rest of the country is sweltering, it tops out at 75 here & gets down to 69 at night. So I’m freezing of course since now I’m accustomed to 90+ degree weather. But I wanted to visit as I’ve heard lovely things. It’s nestled in the mountains with lakes & is a good spot for some serious trekking & adventure mountain biking. Since I ditched my tennis shoes in Bali in favor of some hippy pants, I didn’t come equipped with serious trekking gear & I wasn’t really feeling the land-based adventure sports, I instead focused on exploring the adorable city of Dalat. I couldn’t shake my laziness from Phu Quoc as I spent 2 full days wandering aimlessly & hopping from one quaint cafe w a great view to another, stopping to read a book & enjoy a smoothie/tea/coffee/beer. The city screams of French colonialism & there are delicious little French pastry shops everywhere that drew me in by selling macarons, my fave. Lazily touring the city, in addition to delicious meals out, was the gist of my time in Dalat & I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps I’ll be back one day & motivated to do the adventure stuff. It’s funny, other places (like KL especially) I’ve felt the need to rush through the city, knocking out all the major sites as I think subconsciously I figured I likely wouldn’t return. That is so not the case with anywhere in Vietnam. I don’t feel any pressure to knock things off someone’s supposed “top 10 things to see” list maybe bc I know deep down that I will definitely be back.
Saigon was my first repeat stop on this trip, deservedly so. It’s such a cool city. It was a welcoming feeling in a taxi headed to my hotel as I recognized landmarks & parks & intersections. Despite staying in the same area as last time, I discovered new charming areas of the city I had previously missed. I spent zero time at tourists sites. All I did was eat. And walked, wandering the city, discovering new neighborhoods, parks, cafes & pastry shops to work off the prior meal so I could look forward to the next. I had to enjoy as much of this food as possible. I had a lengthy list of restaurants to tick through as this Saigon-based couple I met 2+ months ago in Vietnam at Doc Let beach provided recommendations for the best local dining. Going off that list, I had incredible pho breakfasts (oh how I had missed those), great lunches at street food restos & perhaps the best meal of the trip so far at a lovely little hole-in-the-wall resto in a house on an alley that I never would’ve otherwise found. Absolutely delicious.