Unfortunately the weather was some of the hottest we have experienced on the trip (similar to Bangladesh), and since most activities were outside and/or minimally air conditioned, there was little relief.
We stayed at Chez Linh Linh, yet another AirBnB gem. The place was unfortunately on the outskirts of town rather than in Old Town, but also fortunately from a travel planning perspective (more on that later). It was owned by a lovely Vietnamese family that spoke English, French and Italian, and I even got the chance to practice my French with several French families who were also staying over! (With Vietnamese culture being so influenced by French colonialism - coffee, pastries, banh mi - it's no wonder that this is now a popular destination for Frenchies.)
Our first night we went out in search of Hanoi's famous cha ca, a culinary delight that I first tasted during my visit in 2008. Stan and I have tried to recreate cha ca many times at home and it has become one of our favorite exotic recipes. After some trial and error (the original Cha Ca La Vong was closed for the evening), we finally ended up at Cha Ca La Vong 2, the diviest of dives clear on the other side of town. Outdoor seating, 100% local patrons, warm bottles of beer accompanied by ice from who knows where... We took one look and thought "this is the place!" Within minutes, we were convinced to order the most expensive fish on the menu, but it was well worth it for the juicy sea bass-like fish that we received. Sautéed with dill and green onion, it was almost like I remember, only much less dilly and much more selection (Cha Ca La Vong only serves one dish with one type of fish). I wonder if this much variation in such a famous dish is to be expected. Somehow, Stan claims to prefer my version. However, we were glad to have been able to try a new place and considered the outing to be a success.
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| A long search but finally got our cha ca |
Our first full day was spent wandering the city. The first order of business was obviously to chow down on some typical Hanoi-style pho bo (beef noodle soup) on a recommendation from our hosts. Solid as always, and surprisingly great meat (always a potential dealbreaker for me).
We then hopped on a couple of motos and tried unsuccessfully to find a little-known bunker that was secretly used as the central command center for Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Eventually we gave up and headed to the Temple of Literature, a Chinese-influenced temple for scholars which I remembered to be a serene respite from city life. It still serves that purpose, but it was definitely teeming with more tourists than I remember... Bad for us but great for Vietnam's booming tourism industry.
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| At the Temple of Literature |
Lunch was bun cha, another Hanoi favorite involving ground pork patties in a sweet fish sauce broth, fresh herbs and rice noodles. Yum!
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| Bun cha in the front of someone's living room |
It should be noted that we are now embracing our growing waistlines. All in the name of collecting life experiences!
At this point we headed back to our homestay for some much-needed A/C and rest before setting back out for one of our highlights: a cooking class! Our class of 6 first explored a wet market (fresh food), where we saw fresh tofu being made, frogs, crickets, dog blood sausage and unusual produce that none of us had seen before. It was a fantastic crash course in local cuisine and we were able to ask our teacher how different foods are prepared. After walking around with our jaws agape, we headed back with a bit of soybean milk and fertilized duck egg for all to try (in addition to the recipes on our formal "syllabus")!
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| Tofu maker |
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| Wet market tour |
We made the following items, almost completely from start to finish:
- Banana flower salad
- Caramel pork
- Seafood spring rolls
- Peanut & Black Sesame Che (Vietnamese dessert soup)
All were incredibly tasty and surprisingly easy (once you have all the ingredients and proper slicing tools). We are now more motivated than ever to make use of our newly-acquired cookbook!
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| Our teacher, showing us how to properly prepare the banana flower |
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| Master chef at work |
And by the way, the soybean milk was fantastic and the duck embryo was surprisingly tasty, despite it being visually horrifying.
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| It actually comes as an egg, but this is for shock value |
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| Pounding sesame seeds and peanuts for dessert |
Day 2 started with an awesome bike tour led by Lâm, our homestay owner. His family has lived in Hanoi for 300 years and he grew up in a "village" (what we would call a neighborhood) within city limits, so he knows what he's talking about. We used our 18-speeds to zoom through back alleys crowded with moto commuters, produce markets and early morning shoppers before finally easing onto the main roads, where we shared the road with just about everyone! Strangely it was more comforting to be on a bike in a crowded street going the same speed and direction as everyone else rather than to be a pedestrian trying to inch his/her way across the road.
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| Bike tour with remnants of B-52 bomber in background |
In between torrential rain bursts we made a couple of key stops. First we ate banh cuon for breakfast at Lâm's favorite childhood stand - seriously some of the most incredible street food we had. Homemade rice paper stuffed with a magical blend of ground pork and wood ear mushrooms. We then stopped at a lakeside coffeeshop where we sat on tiny stools on the sidewalk like locals. Apparently not a stretch, as everyone in Vietnam seems to think we look Vietnamese - even me! One final stop at the mysterious secret bunker that we missed on our prior excursion and we headed back home to regroup.
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| Seriously local banh cuon - this lady has been making the same dish for 20 years |
Lunch was bun oc, snail noodle soup. Neither of us were huge fans, probably because of the room-temperature vinegary broth, but also for me there was a bit of slime factor... Still worth trying to see what all the fuss is about!
Most of the rest of the day was spent wandering the city, particularly the Old Town, where we drank traditional raw egg coffee, followed by awesome $10 massages by professionally trained therapists at a school for acupuncture (both fantastic Lâm recommendations). Fortunately we were holed up in a cafe when the first remnants of Typhoon Kai-Tak came through. It was quite a sight to see Hoan Kiem Lake flood in a matter of minutes!
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| Coffee with egg. Sounds questionable but actually delicious. The egg made it silky smooth and creamy like a latté without milk. Good option for the lactose intolerant! |
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| The typhoon killed 40 people in Vietnam, but this flooded lake was no match for traffic |
Unfortunately the tropical storm would mean our much-anticipated overnight boat trip to Halong Bay would be cancelled... Fortunately Thuy, the wife at our homestay, also works as a travel agent. She had made our boat reservations, as well as booked or flight to Laos, and she was able to get a refund on the cruise and switch us to an earlier flight to Laos at an extra cost of just $10. How refreshing to be able to travel without the hassle of exorbitant airline fees! Then, as a bonus consolation prize for not doing our cruise, we were invited to help make and then eat homemade spring rolls - hands down the best we ate in Vietnam.
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| Spring rolls, family style |
So it looks like we'll be coming back to Vietnam another time to check Halong Bay off the list. Like we needed any other reason after our incredible culinary tour!
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| Sunset on West Lake |
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