This Expat Life (Month 57): Traveling with My Mom & Sis in Vietnam
After moving abroad in July 2014, I started compiling monthly roundup posts about life as an expat in Southeast Asia and all the nitty gritty that goes on behind the scenes here at Travel Lush. Check out my most recent monthly roundup posts Dec/Jan, February and March.
The month of April was a bittersweet one for me. I spent the first half of the month traveling around Vietnam with my mom and sister. I can’t even express how much I enjoyed spending so much time with them. We honestly had a blast traveling together and just being with one another. But when they went home it left a big void in my life here in Saigon. It’s been a really long time since I’ve spent that much quality time with anyone in my family, so it was rough to say goodbye. I’ve said this a million times on this blog but being away from family is the most challenging thing about living abroad.
Ugh, anyway, aside from the post-travel, post-family blues, April was an amazing month.
So let’s get to it.
Hoi An
After spending three fun-filled days showing my family around my adopted home of Saigon, my mom, sister and I headed off to Hoi An. Because Hoi An is famous for its aging colonial buildings, boutique shops and pretty beaches, I figured it would be right up their alley. That being said I was a little nervous about Hoi An’s hyper-tourism.
I was right to be nervous because Hoi An was pretty packed with tourists. But, because I had a general idea of what to expect, I was wasn’t all that put off by it.
All in all, we had a really nice time. We rode bicycles through rice paddies, frolicked in the waves at the beach, went shopping at boutique stores, sipped wine while overlooking the river, and cooled off in our hotel pool on a daily basis (I may or may not have accidentally fallen into the pool…with an unopen beer in my hand…in front of a bunch of people…and…I was totally sober).
We also took a couple of side trips to hike around the Marble Mountains and explore the My Son ruins. I’ll be writing more about these trips soon.
Hanoi
After Hoi An, we flew to Hanoi where we spent a few days exploring the city. This was also the place we chose to spend my sister’s 40th birthday. I spent a large chunk of my time there stealthily shopping for birthday presents, researching restaurants and rooftop bars, and sneakily planning her birthday with my mom.
I’m not all that familiar with the city but her birthday ended up being amazing. I highly recommend Red Bean Central Restaurant if you’re headed to Hanoi and are looking for a place to celebrate a special occasion. Oh, and the rooftop bar there should not be missed!
Another highlight of Hanoi was the egg coffee, one of the many foods (or in this case drinks) that the city is famous for. I always thought it sounded gross so I never really sought it. Oh. My. God. It’s basically the greatest thing ever. That being said, I’m kinda glad I don’t live in Hanoi because the temptation to drink them all day long would be too great.
Bai Tu Long Bay
I really wanted my family to experience a Halong Bay cruise since neither of them has ever done anything like that before. But I’ve heard all sorts of negative things about how overcrowded and polluted Halong Bay is now. I can’t verify whether or not that’s true, but to be safe I booked us on a three-day cruise to Bai Tu Long Bay instead. Bai Tu Long Bay is in the same general area as Halong Bay, it’s just a little farther afield. It was equally as stunning as Halong Bay. They actually restrict the number of cruise ships that can operate in Bai Tu Long Bay, which eases crowding.
I loved my experience there. My sister and I woke up to watch the sunrise over the bay and its countless limestone formations, my mom and I conquered our fear of kayaking (well, maybe it was my fear of making a fool of myself), kayaked all around Bai Tu Long Bay and we each ate our weight in Vietnamese food at every meal. Man, they really feed you on those tours. The three of us definitely had the most fun out of everyone on that ship. We drank, we laughed, we swam, we played cards, we gabbed. It was just so nice.
Back to Hanoi
We spent our final night in Hanoi sipping on martinis and eating mashed potatoes (two of my favorite things) at a rooftop bar overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake. Our timing was perfect. Not only was the sun about to set, but it was happy hour. Go us! Just as our martinis arrived I started getting swarmed by these large flying bugs. I literally jumped up and ran away from my seat assuming everyone just thought I was a complete maniac. But then I realized that everyone at the bar was swatting flies away, spraying themselves with bug spray like fiends and generally freaking out. Multiple flies landed in my martini and flew down my shirt. It was gross. But hey, travel is never perfect. This was a rather comical way to end our trip. Thankfully, the flies stopped swarming after the sun went down, but it was a wild 15 minutes.
That night really was bittersweet because we all knew the big trip we had spent months planning and talking about had finally ended. We hugged goodbye at the Hanoi airport the next morning. My mom and sister flew back to California and Colorado, respectively. And I went home to Saigon.
It’s rough being away from them but the trip was such a success that I really do think we’ll take more family trips in the future. (Where to next mom and Jamie??)
Buying plane tickets to Danang
Because Aaron is a professor and has summers off, we usually spend our summers in another country. Since my job requires that I stay in this time zone, it limits where we can go. Lately, we’ve been spending a lot of our time in Indonesia, namely Bali and Lombok. But we kind of wanted to do something different this year.
We couldn’t really think of a place in Asia that we really wanted to call home for the summer so we decided to stay local(ish). I really enjoyed my time in Hoi An and have heard great things about Danang, a beachside city right up the coast from Hoi An. So we bought plane tickets to Danang. We’ll be there at the beginning of June!
Aside from a week at a beachside Airbnb, we don’t really have firm plans. We could just rent a place and stay put all summer or we could go somewhere totally different. Either way, I’m kind of excited to escape the suburbs of Saigon for a while.
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How did your April shape up? Did anyone else out there experience highs and lows last month?
I will be interested to read about how you like Danang. We visited a few years ago and it certainly wasn’t one of our favorite cities (although no doubt that was largely because we hated our hotel). But, we drove through in 2018 on our way to Hoi An and it looks like things have changed significantly. Enough so that we have it on our list of places to try again next time we are in Vietnam.
Bad hotels are the worst. I’m interested in how much we’ll like Danang too. I probably wouldn’t choose to spend so much time their if I didn’t have to work but it seems great for a work/life balance. Plus, the beach!