I arrived in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Vietnam about an hour prior to my husband. I had been away from home for two months, so I was excited (and anxious) to see him. It melted my heart to see him come through customs with a giant smile on his face. It was now time for me to transition out of solo, budget, and penny-pincher (or baht, ringgit, dong, kyat pincher) traveler to one that has two people in mind on a nice vacation. Michael used Starwood points, so we took a taxi to the Sheraton hotel. The first thing we both noticed (even so late at night) were the motorbikes…everywhere. The way the Vietnamese utilize these bikes is utterly fascinating: full families with infants on  only one bike, a man with a refrigerator…you get the picture. We decided our first stop (the next day) would be to visit the Lunch Lady. Michael had his eye on her since he watched Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations episode on Vietnam. Frankly, it was nice to have Michael plan everything. I’ve surprisingly not had much down time since I left, so it was nice to mindlessly follow along. On the way, we saw Notre Dame cathedral and the post office. After learning to confidently walk into a sea of motorbikes flying by you, we finally made it to an unassuming corner with a street food station where the lunch lady herself was brewing up her daily special of soup and spring rolls (fresh and fried). We sat in tiny plastic chairs and were delivered our food without ordering. Each day the lady makes a different soup, and she serves it until it is gone (often early). The food did not disappoint. That afternoon, we had a flight to Da Nang and then on to Hoi An, so we headed to the airport. We would be back in Ho Chi Minh once Michael’s dad and sister joined us.

I tried to get Michael to write the Hoi An blog post in order to mix it up a bit and allow my readers to have a special feature/guest perspective, but he quickly declined. So you’re stuck with me. Da Nang had the closest airport to Hoi An. It was a wonderful city with mountains and beach. Based off the construction and development of high rises, I imagine it will change drastically in the next ten years as I’m sure it has in the last ten. We arrived to our homestay Orchid Garden later in the night and found that our electricity was out. It came on after ten minutes, and the owners gave us free passion fruit drinks to apologize and welcome us. It was a romantic little place full of orchids and lanterns. The room was great, and the walkways snaked through the property passing little bungalows and greeting you with more variations of orchids. Hoi An is a charming place, specializing in silk lanterns and tailored suits. Early morning (thanks Michael!), we walked around the town. Even early, it was extremely hot and our clothing was drenched in sweat. We stopped by the market and saw some of the other tourist stops in Hoi An. For lunch we stopped at a restaurant called Banh Mi Phuong, another gem Michael found thanks to Anthony Bourdain. It was so hot that we took our Banh Mi sandwiches to go, and headed back to our room. The sandwiches were indescribably tasty and cheap. In the early afternoon, we borrowed bicycles from our homestay, and headed out to the nearby An Bang beach for a relaxing afternoon. The evening in Hoi An was remarkable. The lanterns, the river, the buildings, and the people out and about made for an unforgettable evening just strolling around. We tried to go to dinner at two popular places, but they both were full. We decided to take away tacos from Chao Taco-Hola Taco for an evening in where we watched a movie. It was another early morning with a tour to visit My Son, an area of ancient ruins created by the Cham empire. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is settled beautifully beneath the Cat’s Tooth Mountain. These Hindu temples were constructed between the 4th and 14th centuries AD. Many are still well-preserved, but a cluster of them are in ruins from B52 bombings by the Americans in the Vietnam War (you can see the giant holes in the ground). It was a rather hot day, but our tour guide was entertaining. His English was very poor (accompanied by an interesting tone and accent), but he had a giant smile. The other tourists were getting annoyed because they had paid for an English guide and couldn’t understand him, but Michael and I had a good time. Instead of taking the bus back to Hoi An, we took a boat along the Son Thu Bong river. Each afternoon when we were resting, we got hit by major rain storms. They were short and sweet, and they came at the perfect times. Once the rain had stopped, we headed out for a nice evening at a fabulous (and cheap!) restaurant Morning Glory. We enjoyed some of Hoi An’s local foods of white rose dumplings, wonton soup, Vietnamese pancakes, and cao lầu (a rice noodle dish that Michael had his own date with). This restaurant was one of our favorites on the trip. After a wonderful time, we headed back to Da Nang for our return flight to Ho Chi Minh to meet Allison and Mike (Michael’s dad and sister). We enjoyed stops at the night market where I helped myself to some sticky rice and found a place for a much-needed pedicure for the bottom of my feet. I’ve walked so much the last two months that my feet were the worse they have ever been, and now that my husband was here it was probably time to make them smoother. The place called Lady Beauty Nail & Spa had a lady at the front that was very rude and was not giving me what I paid for, so she will have a Trip Advisor review coming soon. Any beauty or massage services are extremely cheap on this side of the world, so I am sure I will feel like I am getting ripped off when I return home. We ate at two good restaurants before Mike and Allison arrived. At Cuc Gach Quan, we had a banana leaf salad, baby zucchini blossoms, sea bass, and chicken. It was rather expensive for southeast Asia (not for the US though), but the ambience was really nice. We also enjoyed pizza at a place called Pizza 4P’s. Michael downed an entire margherita pizza himself, and I enjoyed the four cheese and honey pizza. I haven’t eaten large quantities since I left home (plus the extra walking), so I’ve actually lost 16 pounds. Now that Michael’s here and picking good restaurants, it will probably all come back. We took the leftover pizza and ordered an extra, so that we’d have food for Mike and Allison after their long flight. It sure is nice to have company.