One of the must-do excursions from Hanoi is visiting beautiful Ha Long Bay by boat. You can do this as a daytrip but it is even better as an overnight cruise. Luckily we had a budget surplus from our weeks in Missouri that we could apply to booking the cruise, which is a little pricey…

Da Nang was our favorite of all the cities we visited in Vietnam. We spent two weeks here following our two weeks in adjacent Hội An. It helped a lot that we chose the perfect neighborhood as our base, Ngũ Hành Sơn, which has My Khe beach on the east and the Hàn River to…

Not long after arriving in Da Nang (more on that in the next post), Chad and I took off on an overnight trip to Huế, which was Vietnam’s national capital from 1802 to 1945 (when communism replaced imperial rule). In addition to being an important historic site in Vietnam, Huế (which is pronounced like “way”…

After our mixed feelings about Ho Chi Minh City, we were eager to see if we’d like Hội An more. There was ample reason for hope – Hội An is a much smaller town at around 120,000 people, a UNESCO World Heritage site as “an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating…

I’ve written before about the travel phenomenon that Chad and I have dubbed “the Japan effect.” Basically, this occurs when you go from someplace that fits your preferences perfectly (Japan, Buenos Aires) to someplace with some challenges. After spending only a week in Japan prior to our arrival in Vietnam, our first days in Saigon…