Vietnam & Cambodia Video

Here's the video we made for our time in Vietnam and Cambodia. This stretch of the trip was extra special since we got to spend so much time with family (Tony and Anna Marie) and friends (Steve, Lisa, Luke, Hugh). 

Music is by The Temper Trap and Hot Chip.

Enjoy.


Honeymoon Phase 4 - Vietnam & Cambodia from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Water puppet show in Hanoi

Here's a glimpse of the water puppet show we caught in Hanoi.  It's amazing what these artists are able to do from so far behind a curtain.  The artful tradition dates back to the 11th century, and is still one of the top attractions for those visiting Hanoi.  More info here.

Water puppet show in Hanoi from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Days 106-108 Wednesday-Friday February 24-26 Hanoi, Vietnam

Okay, we did a ton while in Hanoi with my parents and loved so much about the city, but when all is said and done, what we’re going to talk about the most down the road is the Sofitel Metropol hotel in which we stayed.  We slept in a luxurious room filled with pillow menus and Hermes toiletries.  We ate and had complimentary happy hour drink in the club level restaurant.  We were catered to by our personal chefs.  And we never wanted to leave the hotel.  We know it sounds incredibly materialistic and that we should be excited about such different things in this incredible city, but we can’t help ourselves.  This hotel was as good as it gets.  We’ve been spoiled ever since Tony and Anna Marie showed up, and it hit a peak when we set our bags down, no, when our butler set our bags down in our heavenly room.

 Our room's bath tub where Tania spent many a moment during our time at the Sofitel Metropol.

But we did do more while in Hanoi.  We toured Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum (which was impeccably and tastefully done), the presidential grounds (which is probably the only yellow mansion to pull off that color so well),  small but impressive pagodas, and the Hanoi Hilton, which is the prison where so many Americans were taken hostage, including John McCain during the war.  Touring this jail now converted to a museum, we read the obligatory propaganda while looking at pictures of the horrific conditions these soldiers needed to endure, and also artifacts such as McCain’s flying suit in which he was captured over Lake Ho Tai.  Our tour guide gave us a fascinating tour through the city.

 Outside of Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.

Speaking of our tour guide, his name was Mr. Ein and he looked like he was about 16.  In fact, though, he was 35, married, and lived with his family in his parents’ house because that is the duty of the youngest Vietnamese sibling to live with and care for the parents.  He was the quietest of our tour guides, but as soon as we hit the Hanoi streets, he knew everybody that crossed our paths.  Apparently he knew the entire city because he was raised and went to school here.  He studied tourism, and did a hell of a job showing us his hometown.

In addition to enjoying one of Vietnam’s most treasured traditions of water puppetry, we also took a cooking class with famous French chef Didier Corlou, who is most well known for opening the restaurants at the Sofitel Metropol.  He was since gone solo and opened his own place, Verticale.  We met him and his wife at the restaurant, and he gave us a private tour of his favorite local market.  After the ingredients were purchased, he passed us off to his wife who drove us to their private house about 30 minutes out of town.  We weren’t happy about spending so much time in the car, but we forgot all about it when we walked through the gate into their incredible home.  The mix of zen-like decorations and countryside furniture, chef Corlou’s wife taught us how to make dishes such as curry chicken skewers, bun cha, and fresh and fried spring rolls.  We enjoyed our work over a nice glass of wine in their living room.  It turned out to be an amazing experience, one that we hope to replicate soon by testing our newfound skills.

The rest of the group also went on a tour of the city via cyclo, which is a bike drawn carriage famous in these parts.  I didn’t join them, instead opting for a nap, massage, and hair cut, but the report back was that they had a blast on the cyclos and exploring the inner parts of the city.  Don’t worry, though, Tania and Anna Marie made up for lost time by booking a spa day of their own the day before.  When you can get so much service done for such little money, it’s hard to pass up.

 Momma cruisin' the town on a cyclo.

My mom’s tour group Cox and Kings made reservations for us at several trendy (for all the right reasons) restaurants where we enjoyed some of the best meals we had on the trip.  Top notch every step of the way, which shed a whole new light on Hanoi versus the first time we were in the city and eating pho in corner holes in the wall.   If you ever want to experience this city, or any city in the world for that matter, give Anna Marie a call because her taste and connections will never disappoint.

We only had a few days in Hanoi before taking off for Ha Long Bay, but we made the most of the time by learning how it’s always been done in this city, and how well it is done nowadays.

Rice paddies in Hoi An

We went for a bike ride to the beach outside of Hoi An, and stopped to explore the inner-workings one of the rice paddies that we had been passing in trains, cars, and buses over the last two weeks. Once inside, we quickly became friends with some locals and a water buffalo.


Rice paddies in Hoi An from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Public bus ride from Hanoi to the Cuc Phuong National Park

At the departure time, all but one seat was full and we were ready to go. An hour and a half later, the aisles were filled with people sitting on bags of rice, and about 15 more people than seats filled the public bus. Oh the joy.

Public bus ride from Hanoi to the Cuc Phuong National Park from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

A view from the middle of Lake Ho Tai in Hanoi

We spent our only full day in Hanoi this time around wandering around the city, hitting all of the sites that we won't see with my (our) parents in a few weeks.  The rain didn't ruin the day, just added to the fun.

Walking around Hanoi from Craig Palumbo on Vimeo.

Days 74-75 Friday-Saturday January 22-23 Hanoi, Vietnam

We didn’t spend much time in Hanoi since we’ll be back up here with my (our) parents in a few weeks.  Yet while we were in the city, we quickly got to know its layout, and were able to confirm many of the stereotypes that preceded it, the first of which was that this place is busy!

We finally made it to Vietnam!  Tania on the cusp of Lake Ho Tai.

And damn these people love to honk their horns!  Whether its to inform unfortunate people that happen to be approaching the same intersection, or to tell one of the infinite number of scooters to get out of the way, horns are honked and honked and honked.  And with such narrow streets as those in the old quarter, that makes for a loud and clustered environment.  Crossing the street is a talent, too, one that every person better learn if they’re going to survive in the big city.

I called the whole thing annoying.  Tania then coined the epic term “Hanoi-ing”.  Similar to when the entire city of Shanghai was under construction for the 2010 world expo and we coined that getting “Shanghai’d”, being Hanoi-ing is a term we’ll carry with us well back into the US.  Either way, at first glance, the street scene in Hanoi seems chaotic, but after giving it a few minutes, you’ll notice that (as Vanessa so wisely put it) the whole thing is organized chaos.  To the untrained eye, it’s chaos.  But to those that are familiar with it, it flows as simply and efficiently as possible.  Therefore, organized chaos. 

Friday night we got to our hotel late and walked down the street for some authentic Pho.  We had read that in Vietnam, a restaurant’s appearance oppositely reflects the quality of the food, so we picked the dungiest looking joint that was still open at 9pm.  And boy was the pho delicious.  Such a simple dish that warms the soul like a good chicken soup.  So comforting that  we headed back to call it an early night.

On Saturday, we walked through the sporadic rain over to Lake Ho Tay (HOO WAT?  HO TAY!) and browsed through several wats, stopping for a delicious lunch at a spot named Vine.  We had delicious comfort food while taking the elegant setting, and while getting to know the manager who also recommended some good restaurants in Hue and Hoi An.  That gave us enough fuel to stomp across the rest of the city through the rain, finally getting us to the train station so we could buy all of our tickets for the upcoming trek through Vietnam before they were sold out due to the madness known as Tet.  Luckily we were well trained in dealing with pushy sales people like those who assaulted us at the train station because without that training, we would have 1) never been able to properly purchase the tickets we needed, and 2) fend off people trying to get a piece of the pie we were buying.  But we did it, and treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the Lonely Planet staple 69 Bar-Restaurant.  Hehe.

Being the old fogies that we now are, we followed dinner with a quick bia hoi (preservative-free beer sold for $.10 on every street corner) amongst all of the other locals and expats sitting on children’s plastic chairs.  Then off to bed.  We had a bus to catch the next day to the Cuc Phuong National Park,

So it was a very quick trip to Hanoi, but it gave us enough of a glimpse of the city to get us very excited to really explore it with the parents in a few weeks.