I intended to become a vegetarian in 2023, and Vietnam was at the start of this journey in January. I did make an exception one day to try an authentic bowl of Vietnamese Pho, but outside of that, I did my best to stick to a vegetarian diet. Not having experience at the time was difficult because I didn’t understand how to get my nutritional needs met while on the move in a foreign country, but did find a few good vegetarian and vegan spots including a vegan Bahn Mi joint and THE BEST cashew cheese I’ve encountered in my freaking life. Vegan cheese can be fairly hit or miss, and this spot was such a hit that I tried figuring out if they shipped internationally after I left Vietnam (Sadly, they don’t. For those of you interested, it’s a place in Ho Chi Min City in the south of Vietnam called the Kashew Cheese Deli).

I arrived a bit before John Litchenberg (Aka, Pirate John) did, and upon arrival treated myself to a rich cup of a treat known as egg coffee. There’s a photo below if you’ve never heard of this.

A note on the egg coffee: It’s fluffy- like marshmallow meets crème brûlée meets eggnog. 10/10 would recommend if your diet allows for egg. It’s served hot. I had an experience the day I got to Ho Chi Min city, where I went to get some egg coffee that’s on the 5th floor walk-up of an old building without an elevator. It’s not the most accessible café for anyone dealing with mobility issues, but if a five story walk-up pose a challenge, you also can place get an order from Grab, which is basically the Uber Eats/ Uber of SE Asia.

No sooner than I sat down on the balcony facing the street and placed my order, a small parade playing a playful but somewhat melancholic melody materialized out of nowhere and started marching down the street right below me giving me an opportune view. What impeccable timing! It felt like I got a personal nod and welcome from Ho Chi Min City.

I wasn’t necessarily intending to, but accidentally went to Vietnam during Lunar New Year entering the year of the Rabbit. I initially was confused as to why half of the businesses were closed or closing for no apparent reason while we were there. As it turns out, everyone closes up shop about a week before the Lunar New Year. Lunar New Year was asinine. I’ve never been stuck in worse traffic in my life, and that’s not an exaggeration, New York, Los Angeles, and India included. Our hotel was about 15-20 minutes away from the main events (Which we stumbled into completely incidentally and only because I was craving chocolate that night and was hell-bent on going on a mission to go get some from a chocolate shop which turned out to be smack in the middle of the Lunar New Year celebration). On more than one occasion a sudden and unstoppable urge to get a specific food item has, led me to EXACTLY where I’m (clearly) supposed to be in life. Getting there wasn’t as much of a problem as getting back was. In South East Asia, you’re able to get affordable scooters on either Uber or Grab, and they’re able to weave in and out of traffic with much less effort than a vehicle. Even on the scooter, we were gridlocked in, and the heat from the exhaust of several thousand scooters and cars was omnipresent and inescapable. Was it worth it to experience Lunar New Year in South East Asia? Absolutely! But it did take a few hours to make it out of the tangled mess that only sprawled a few miles, but was packed so densely that no one could escape.

There are few places I’ve traveled to that I feel truly incomplete with and have a strong urge to return to, but Vietnam is high on that list. I MUST return!!! I had to drag myself out of there kicking and screaming and clawing at the ground to proceed to my next scheduled destination. I absolutely did not want to leave. My heart and soul wanted to stay and ride the trains across the country as far as they’d take me, eat delicious Bahn Mi, and meander through vibrant outdoor markets. I had attempted to bisect January between the Philippines and Vietnam, and don’t feel I fully did either place justice. I easily could have spent several months in Vietnam. It was heavenly.

Plus, we got to go to Sun World! Ah yes, Sun World in Ba Na Hills. I have fond memories of getting drunk on a few too many glasses of sweet, warm mulled cider and then drunkenly getting lost in a rather large maze of tall, well-trimmed bushes intended as a fun activity for visitors to find their way through. I’ve also got fond memories of bumper cars and being let to the front of the line because I was the only person in line by myself (my travel buddy John& I had split off for a couple of hours in order to get in all of the experiences we wanted individually). Sun World is essentially a sprawling amusement park in the hills of Vietnam. You must take the very long aerial cable tram cars that ascend into the clouds to get to the park. There’s also a famed bridge that appears as though it’s suspended by a set of monolithic stone hands that you can check out inside of the park.

I opted to continue north to the city of Hanoi via an overnight sleeper train, while my travel companion chose a quicker journey via an airplane. The train had individual rooms with bunkbeds; two sets of two- four total. I was reading Harry Potter at the time, and for the first half of the ride had the train ride all to myself to read. All of a sudden about halfway into the 17 hour train ride, a shadow appeared at the door. The door opened slowly- almost ominously, and in came two light-spirited Russian guys in their early thirties. We quickly figured out that I’d apparently gotten in the wrong train car, but it was previously empty and no one checked. Apparently the train car I was technically supposed to be in was a car with a family and screaming infant taking up three out of the four beds. Fortunately, I easily made friends with these two, and they didn’t mind sharing a room and helping rescue me from a potentially awkward and uncomfortable eight hour train ride. The rest of the journey was spent attempting to speak Russian, mostly failing, and enjoying an exchange of travel stories with newfound friends, sharing snacks, enjoying a few drinks and travel tips, and eventually getting a sound night’s sleep.

I’d say the hilight from Hanoi was Train Street- a tiny alley through which normal sized trains pass more than once a day. The alley is lined with cafes and restaurants with patios for dining, except the passage is so narrow that the patio furniture has to be pulled in and then set back out each time a train passes (photos below). There will be a day when it’s time for me to return. I can’t exactly say when, but I know Vietnam is calling me back.