El Nido, Philippines: Island hopping and pig slaughtering.
southeast asia
Port Barton, Philippines: Rum in the Sun
Puerto Princesa, Philippines: Hello, Palawan (goodbye, hot water)!
Vietnamese Food: Everything we ate during our first visit to Vietnam
Edit: I wrote this after traveling in Vietnam for the first time. Since then, I moved to the country, and went totally nuts on the food. If you want to learn more about the cuisine, check out my Food-Lover’s Guide to Vietnamese Food. It took me 2 years to make and contains over 75 dishes.
A Food-Lover’s Guide to Vietnamese Food
Can Tho, Vietnam and Beyond.
The Story – Can Tho, Vietnam
A bus from Vinh Long (1.5 hours, 50,000d/$2.50) took us to Can Tho, our last stop in the Mekong Delta. It is the fifth largest city in Vietnam so it’s nothing to be balked at and isn’t exactly a sleepy little Mekong town.
Vinh Long, Vietnam: Vinh Love You Long Time
The Story – Vinh Long, Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Ben Tre, Vietnam: Tour-less in the Mekong Delta.
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The Story – Ben Tre, Vietnam
We almost decided not to go to the Mekong Delta. It’s one of the places we found the most difficult to research transportation for. Even Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a Shoestring suggests that the easiest (and cheapest) way to do it is to buy a tour from a travel agent in Ho Chi Minh City. This may be an easier option but the idea of spending three days on a tour bus, cramming in as many towns as possible, and eating in the prescribed restaurants is not really our scene. We decided to go at it alone.
Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon? (Sooner or later…one has to take sides. If one is to remain human.)
Our Budget Guide to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The Story – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Our First Visit
Having spent the last few weeks in the safety and comfort of Vietnamese beach resorts, we were a little nervous about venturing to Ho Chi Minh City. We pictured it as a huge, vast metropolis with billions of people milling about on their motorcycles in conical hats. We thought it would be dirty, and we thought the overpopulation of Vietnam would be felt here the most.
Vietnamese Beer Review
There are 329 beer producers in Vietnam. Sara and I would love to try all of them but we don’t have the time or the liver to spare.
Beer brand popularity widely varies from province to province. This is because there are so many breweries and the cheapest, and freshest, beer is often the one made by the closest brewery.
Huda (Hue, 4.7%, 450ml, 10,000 dong/$0.50)
Ryan: A pretty clean taste. Easy to drink. Who da man? Huda da man! 6
Sara: It’s good — not too strong. I wouldn’t buy it if it weren’t cheap and plentiful here. I think the volume of the bottle is ideal. You can really taste that Danish technology. 7
Mui Ne, Vietnam: Resort to it.
The Story – Mui Ne, Vietnam
We left for Mui Ne from Nha Trang, taking a bus that we booked through our hotel. We usually book buses directly with the company to avoid the commission fee that hotels and travel agents charge, but we were having a hard time finding a bus ticket office. The only ones that we could find were sleeper buses (Sara’s worst enemy). The hotel hooked us up with Tan Hanh Travel (126,000d/$6). We found out that the bus’ ticket office is at 14A Tran Hung Dao and if we had booked directly through them, we would have only paid $5 for the ride (that’s a savings of 2 beers!).
Vietnamese Tropical Fruit (and how to eat it).
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The Mekong Delta provides many treats to a traveller: the abundance of river waters, the friendly people, the less-touristy cities, and the freshly grown tropical fruits. We decided to indulge in the latter. If you enjoy this article and want to learn more about Vietnam’s amazing food, I have a guide with over 75 dishes Food Lover’s Guide to Vietnam
Want to travel Vietnam? We did it for $20/day! Check out our Budget Travel Guide to Vietnam
Nha Trang, Vietnam: Sun, Sea, Sand, and Scams.
The Story – Nha Trang, Vietnam
From Quy Nhon‘s nearest train station, Dieu Tri, we took SE5 (220,000d/$10.50) at 3:09pm and arrived in Nha Trang around 8pm. That night Ryan vowed never to ride a Vietnamese train at night again, after witnessing a mouse run out from under our seats, across the aisle, and towards an adjacent lady’s bag of corn that she had on the floor.