Vietnam – Less Car, More Life

Vietnam: Jungle to City.

Crocodile Lake in Cát Tiên National Park.

Square peg, round hole. That’s what we say to each other a lot when we’re in a hot and humid place where walking is tough and sweaty and the constant heat makes us cranky. We always need to get some physical activity. Long walks, a hotel gym, or hours of bicycle touring keeps us calm and sane. Without that we quickly become out of sorts. And in some countries it’s really hard for us to get enough exercise, and when one of us gets extra cranky about it, the other says “square peg, round hole”. But, in Vietnam our occasional query of why, why do we do this to ourselves is silenced when we get to experience a place like Cát Tiên National Park.

Monkey marks the spot. That’s Cát Tiên Park.

Our lodge host showing us where to catch our predawn ferry for the next days gibbon walk.

Cashew nuts. Vietnam is a big cashew grower and exporter.

Cát Tiên is not super popular with western tourists yet, but on weekends it explodes with Vietnamese up from Saigon to experience the countryside and jungle, and catch glimpses of gibbons, silver langurs, macaques, and crocodiles, and lounge by the river enjoying the wide open spaces while drinking beer and singing along to Karaoke. “It has an area of about 720 km² and protects one of the largest areas of lowland tropical forests left in Vietnam.”

Huge Tung tree in the park. During the American war this area was sprayed with agent orange exfoliant, but the large trees survived and the jungle has grown back.

Our lodge host explained that the park had gained some fame on Tik Tok recently, prompting loads more weekend visitors. It was great to see so many visitors, but we did find that our slightly expensive tours with park guides were mostly if not all western tourists since the prices were quite high for most local tourists. We are always game to spend money trying to spot wildlife since it supports conservation and provides jobs for locals, and, we are fine taking our chances seeing or not seeing wildlife. Our gibbon trek seemed to be going badly after a dark morning walk into the jungle and no sound from the gibbons who usually sing a pre-dawn chorus to each other.

The forest canopy as the sky grew lighter. Come on gibbons, where are you?

A German couple on our tour, we were all thrilled to actually spot gibbons. They came swinging through the trees.

A male gibbon. Males are black and the females are light brown.

Our guide making sure the giant hollow in the tung tree was snake free before letting us in.

There were bats inside, and a big spider.

On our walk back, a group of Taiwanese birders.

Back to the Green Hope Lodge to relax by the river.

A walk out for lunch and a cafe stop.
The small concrete street was lined with cashew and pomelo trees. Hot enough for Rich to use the shade puddle umbrella.

The dominance of local tourists meant there wasn’t much in the way of food variety in town. Our lodge served food, much the same fairly simple menu served by other lodges and hostels in the area, so even when we walked out to eat somewhere other than our lodge, the food was very similar. There was very little flavor in most of this local tourist variant of Vietnamese Food. We decided that the first place to expand to even a slightly western menu would be super successful. We were there for five nights and by day three we were craving some variety from the fried rice and noodles. A pizza or burger would have been a welcome change.

Out for a sunset river boat ride to look for birds and more monkeys. We seriously thought our boat driver was going to charge up these rapids! He faked us out and then did a photo shoot.

A Bee-eater keeping watch over their nest, which is a perfectly round hole in the riverbank.

Our boatman pivoted from fishing to taking visitors in boat tours. He also spends time picking trash out of the river and taking up abandoned fishing nets.

He was a pro. Helping us take photos, binoculars to borrow for bird watching, and feeding us pomelos as we looked for macaques – which we saw.

And he let Rich drive the boat for a little while.

The travelers to Vietnam who are motorbike or scooter competent or capable have a very different experience than those of us who aren’t comfortable driving a scooter, or who might feel uncomfortable as a scooter passenger. Scooters are the main form of transportation in Vietnam, with locals scootering literally everywhere. Why walk when you can scoot? Families of four, five, sometimes six or seven, all ride on one scooter. Dogs, shopping, all manner of goods are piled on. I do regret that we’re not scooter drivers, but I think that ship has sailed.

Our host insisted on giving us rides to the ferry dock one morning. It was a nice short distance for us to experience being passengers.

The ferry coming across the river to take us to the National Park.

And then another small boat took us to the island where the Primate Rescue Center was located. What a worthy organization. Most of the monkeys are rescued from the illegal pet trade and most can eventually be released back into the wild.

Rich was very happy to perch on a tiny chair and eat some more flavorful Pho for lunch at a small local restaurant.

It was a typical small local restaurant, with very good Pho.

We were charmed by the small streets and the local custom of evening strolls in the slightly cooler temperatures.

Friday and Saturday nights brought not only more visitors but weddings as well.

Canopies were set up to make more party space.

We were a bit worried about the noise as this party was quite close to our hotel, but the loud sound system was pointed away from us, and quieted down about 11pm.

In our constant quest for physical activity we borrowed bikes from the lodge to ride out and visit some local sites – including a cacao farm.

In the rural areas there are still locals on bikes, not everyone scooters. Yes, we’ve made that a verb now. Scootering.

I gave up and turned back to save my wrists from my ill fitting bike, but Rich pressed on and brought me back cocoa powder from the farm.

And another Pho lunch. These photos don’t capture the heat and humidity. The owners took pity on us and aimed a fan directly at our table.

We weren’t done trying to see wildlife so the next day we headed off for a hike to Crocodile Lake, to hopefully see crocodiles. Back to the ferry dock, a 20 minute ride in a truck to the trail head, and a 5 kilometer hike to the lake. We got going early since you have a better chance seeing crocodiles early in the day.

I must have said “No more jungle hikes!” at least twenty times in Vietnam- and here I am on another jungle hike!

We thought we’d seen big trees already, but this 400 year old Tung was stunning. It’s nicknamed the Thunder Lizard.

Our hike out to the lake felt fast as we had met up with a young Canadian cycle tourist and we chatted the whole way. She had flown into Saigon from New Zealand, bought a bike, and started pedaling. Much cycle touring chat ensued. When we got to the ranger lodge at the lake I waved at the three workers on the boardwalk to the dock and they gestured to come down and yelled “crocodile!”. We hustled down.

It was a bit unclear how the crocodile ended up with an oar on him, but the ranger needed it back before he could head out on the boat to drop the other two off across the lake.

Why are you wearing an oar, Mr. Crocodile?

I guess he finally got tired of us exclaiming over him and headed back into the lake.

With Alison, the intrepid cycle tourist. We were all very happy to have seen a crocodile. There was one more small crocodile sunning by the lake but the big one was the hit of the day.

Alison headed out to where her bike was parked and we relaxed and bird watched for a little while.

Siamese Crocodiles had disappeared from the lake and were successfully reintroduced in 2002.

Ferry back to the other side of the Dong Nai River.

And a very welcome iced coffee at a cafe just up from where the ferry docks.

And Allison showed up! She had a problem with loose handlebars and had no Allen wrench. The cafe owner told her to wait, he hopped on his scooter and was back in five minutes with an Allen wrench to fix her handlebars. The Vietnamese are so nice. Maybe not super friendly right off the bat but helpful.

And she’s off again! I loved her intrepid spirit. Not sure I could handle the heat cycle touring in Vietnam. She was looking forward to getting to cooler northern areas. That’s the bike she bought for $200 in Saigon when she landed.

Our time at Cát Tiên was ending, a car and driver took us on the 3 hour drive to our hotel in Saigon, the Park Hyatt Saigon, where we were really looking forward to the gym and swimming pool. We like to mix it up when we travel. A basic but comfortable room at a lodge and then a fancy city hotel. Simple food in the countryside and then anything you could want in Saigon.

Including a pretty strong craft beer scene.

Hồ Chí Minh City People’s Committee building. With a statue of Hồ Chí Minh in front.

Fantastic dinner at The Old Compass Cafe and Bar. Tucked down an alley and up a narrow staircase.

Handling the heat and crowded streets is still tough in Saigon. No one calls it a walkers paradise, that’s for sure. Our schedule was pretty set with a morning swim, breakfast, excursion and lunch out, then retreat to the hotel to relax, cool down, gym and swim, and then out again for dinner.

Lots of ducking in to cafes to cool down and relax.

Always pick a cafe on a quiet side street.

It looks like it takes nerves of steel to ride in Saigon.

We don’t have nerves of steel so we opted for a tour through XO Tours.

First stop, a 24 hour street market where we could finally learn the names of some of the fruits we’d been eating.

Such amazing selection of fruits and vegetables. Just watch out for folks shopping by scooter.

Dinner stop with delicious food and fun company.

It was only us and two sweet young Australian guys, and the all female tour drivers were so much fun.

The restaurant was in the ground floor apartment of the building where Hong, the woman at the head of the table and one of the company’s founders, grew up.

The French and American built apartment blocks in district 10 are a fascinating bit of real live history. Still full of families and shops on the ground floor.

A living space carved out of an unused bit, and Hong’s auntie who had stopped by for a visit.

Hello Auntie! The building behind us is the new high rise version of public built housing. Newly built but not as well built according to the locals.

Definitely higher density, but lacking the community feel of the old blocks.

The ground floor apartments are more expensive since you can run a restaurant out front. The old apartment blocks are called vertical villages.

Riding around Saigon at night on the back of a scooter is amazing. A bit nerve wracking, but the ladies are so skilled at handling traffic and nervous visitors, all while pointing out sites and explaining Vietnamese life. After the dinner stop Hong took us up to the third floor apartment where she grew up with 15 or so other family members, and where her Uncle still lives.

The water towers which used to be the water supply. The leaking water was a draw for the neighborhood children.

Every bit of spare space housed someone. This open air dwelling was at the foot of the staircase.

One of the hallways. Every apartment we went by folks inside called out hello and waved.

Hong’s Uncle in the apartment which so many family members shared. The ladder behind Rich led to an attic space where a family slept.

Looking across at another vertical village.

Hong explained that the people living here always shared the space available. Families moved in to whatever space was livable, and some we western visitors wouldn’t believe was livable. The former trash room? Now an apartment. The final landing on the stairs? Someone’s living space. But we were greeted with smiles and waves. Hong explained that residents were glad that visitors took the time to come to District 10 and see how they lived instead of just staying in wealthy District 1, where our hotel was.

Our drivers waving back to us as we peered over the hallway railings

Dessert drinks on our final stop after a scooter ride through the flower market. Tamarind peanut on the left, and coconut and lemon grass jelly.

And almost at the end of a unique and moving experience.

One last photo of us all pretending to ride one scooter, true Vietnamese style.

It was jarring to return to our fancy hotel, and sobering to think about the road Vietnam has traveled.

Of course we had to celebrate Saigon’s newest step forward- Metro Line 1, opened in December 2024.

Already popular, and with five more lines planned and under construction sure to be a success.

Already an Instagram Tik Tok photo shoot location.

This line quickly goes above ground as it heads out of downtown, a fun sightseeing ride.

Thảo Điền station. A popular ex-pat and foreign worker area.

On our last full day, a walk around the river.

Our last visit to Saigon was nearly 20 years ago. It is unrecognizable.

But still the traditional fishing goes on.

It was a good reminder that a country can be torn apart, face horrific destruction, pit citizen against citizen, and come out the other side and rebuild.

The Happy Travelers looking forward to an extensive Saigon Metro System.

Cooling Down in Dalat

Sometimes you need to just chill. With fresh memories of Flores, Indonesia we made our way to Dalat, Vietnam, with two single night layovers back in Bali and Ho Chi Minh City. A slow flight itinerary reduced the risk of a missed connection and meant we could enjoy a few nights of assimilation at modest corporate “airport” hotels with gyms and pools. Slow travels.

These travelers happy to be up in the cool climate of Dalat; at least for a bit.

We often get asked where we are going from other travelers and our responses often puzzle people a bit because we move slower than many and when you are nomadic, your needs and desire from travel merge with your needs and desires for general life. You need to back off the travel accelerator a bit and coast more from time to time. Flores, Indonesia was fantastic, but pretty demanding and we were moving frequently since landing in Taipei over a month ago. Our time home in the US was also a bit hectic, with lots of moving about.

Traditional ways are still embedded in the fabric of Dalat, despite so many new hotels and development. And agriculture is still key.

For example, we decided to spend 17 days in Southern Vietnam visiting just three places, starting with a week in Dalat (or Da Lat). In a normal Vietnam vacation, people might visit 5-10 places, this was also our third visit since 2007, so we didn’t feel the need to spread ourselves too thin. The country is huge, and there is still so much we haven’t seen.

Our home for the week was in the heart of the city on a network of hilly alleys.

Our comfy studio space at Feliz Homestay

We loved the view and lively energy of the car free alley we looked out onto. And mostly scooter free.

We had read a lot about Dalat as a favorite with other nomads and expats. But the draw for us really was finding a place to enjoy Southern Vietnam amidst cooler temperatures. After 18 days in Indonesia’s heat, the “City of Eternal Spring” sounded like a solution. And a place with enough to do and explore for a week.

What else do you do on a week apartment stay? Visit the local Go! Hypermarket.

Durians were specifically banned in our building but certainly available.

DaLat sits at over 1500m (4900 ft) on the Lam Vien Plateau of the Southern Highlands. It’s surrounded by hills and small mountains and has over 250,000 people in the city and over 650,00 regionally spread out from a fairly dense core. Like so many places in Vietnam, it’s seen tremendous growth and somewhat haphazard development over the past 30 years and many here say it has lost its soul. We could certainly see the development and growth, but it’s still an eminently pleasant place.

Mandatory stop at any bicycle themed coffee shop.

“Little plastic chair Street” (our name) was a scene and packed on the weekends with regional tourists.

The main roads in the center are closed to traffic on Saturday and Sunday nights, so it turns into a giant street gathering with vendors, food, themed mascots, and a cacophony of music and sound.

Cheryl enjoying the quirkyness and people watching on car free weekend nights in Dalat.

A week in Dalat meant we could really relax and explore.

And yes, civilization and tourists means a fantastic pizza feast at Primavera Italian Restaurant. And my first real red wine in months.

The historic Da Lat train station is a charming Art Deco legacy of the French occupation and footprint on the region.

They are advancing restoration plans for the entire 84km train line from Da Lat to Thap Cham where it will join the North-South main line. It ceased operations in 1973 when local fighting during the American War got intense. The restoration would be awesome.

Warm up sax on the train platform while boarding. Nice.

But for now you can enjoy a slow 7km ride to Trai Mat. It was a fun ride, especially when the music started shortly after departure.

And then the dancing! Amazing energy on the 9:55am train.

Enjoying the views and gardens from the train.

Lots of greenhouses and agriculture in the area. Da Lat is a huge supplier of year round produce, flowers, tea, and wine.

Vietnam National Railways actually runs the tourist train too, so they will be ready if the entire line is reopened and regular passengers service starts up again. Maybe less dancing and music though?

Cheryl and I got the last two seats on the train and were sitting at opposite ends. Luckily, she could spot me in the crowd.

Perhaps it’s not the charming place of yesteryear, but it still offers a lot to the visitor. We felt like if you spent a day or two in Dalat, you might easily miss the charm beneath the bustling main streets. More upscale restaurants, coffee houses, and craft beer is often a sign of the apocalypse, but for us, they were also somewhat welcome. Also, it’s a huge destination for Vietnamese tourists, so mixing in with that scene is always fun; and often more interesting than a place full of foreigners. What do striving middle class Saigonese like to do on their weekend getaways to hills and mountains? Eat, drink coffee, and take lots of selfies.

How to make more of a day of a 30 minute train ride? A temple visit followed by a 7km walk back to town of course. The pine tree forest and areas around Da Lat were actually very pleasant despite this bleak stretch of road.

Loaded up with lime, peppers, and assorted greens.

Classic local Pho Bo with all the fixings. It was the best we had so far on this trip to Vietnam.

After our noodle bowl top up, we were very surprised to hear sirens screaming by and leading a women’s bike race through town. Da Lat’s temperate climate and hilly terrain makes it ideal for cycling and training.

Off the main road on a bit of a single track adventure back to Da Lat. Cheryl being a trooper amidst my randoneering with the limited maps of Maps.me

As we got back closer to Da Lat, we were rewarded with some of the local development architecture. Not our style. There are dozens of much larger hotel projects sprouting up all around the city.

The temperature in Dalat was perfect for exploring, with peak temperatures of about 72-78F during our stay and lovely evenings that even required pants and a second layer. We also met some interesting people, including a nice couple from Davis, CA who were in Dalat for three months on her work assignment. (Hi Lori & Pete!) It was great to relax over drinks and food with some fellow Californians and get their insights from their extended experience in Vietnam.

The main market in Dalat is lively; but mostly focuses on selling flowers fruits, confections, and regional specialties. Oh, and endless supplies of cold weather gear, in case you need a thick down jacket when the temperature dips to 60 -;).

One of 100 stalls all selling the same thing? The peak local tourist season must fuel the business as it was slow when we visited in early March.

We couldn’t resist this charming place in our alley.

Dalat pork meatballs and Bahn Khao (egg custard pancakes).

The lively commercial corridor of Phan Đình Phùng just below our guest house alley. Dalat has decent sidewalks and the scooters seem to be making more of an effort to keep some space clear. Got our $4/month SIM cards here too -:)

This busy street also had our favorite local wonton and pork noodle joint, Tiệm Mì Tàu Cao

Although quite walkable, door to door scooter life is still the norm here.

Enjoying cool drinks and cool breezes at the classic Thuy Ta Cafe on the lake.

Another cool coffee house H.OG after our . morning walk and visit to the Crazy House (which is worth a short visit).

A hip coffee house (or two) a day was what the doctor ordered in Dalat.

Our good Vietnamese-American friend from San Francisco (Hi Dan!) thought Dalat was a bit ordinary and reminded him of parts of Northern California. We agree with that, it’s certainly not the most captivating or unique place in Vietnam, but it is an eminently pleasant place to hang out and explore. The hills, valleys, and alleys are fun to wander. And it is the new Vietnam in all its glory, for better or worse. Oh, and we did love the climate!

Sunday is a big wedding day around Dalat as we noticed starting another day of exploration around the lake on foot.

As we left the lake to explore the hills, this little guy joined us and seemed to be looking for some companionship.

We did not encourage him, but he was relentlessly dedicated. He was also mellow and seemed sweet natured.

Cheryl named him « Teller« after the silent member of the entertainment duo « Penn & Teller » since he disappeared often, only to reappear suddenly at your side!

One of walk destinations was a bunch of semi abandoned, semi-restored French colonial villas. They were a popular photo shoot spot for wedding parties. Teller liked them too.

We briefly looked at this large development in progress and thought we finally lost our little buddy. Nope, here he comes.

So we ducked into a fairly fancy coffee house in this upscale neighborhood and thought Teller would give up and maybe wouldn’t be allowed inside the mostly enclosed space.

Nope. Teller made himself at home and got a well needed rest! The restaurant owners all seemed to assume he was just our dog and paid us no mind.

So well sugared and caffeinated again, we all continued our doggy adventure and soon crossed the tracks to the next neighborhood.

Not so fast was the clear message from this pack of dogs that grew to about 12 or more! Alas, Teller’s adventure with us was over. We made it onwards, he did not.

More alleys to explore, but already missing our friend.

And finding out way home amidst the secret spaces, flowers, and gardens

Always coffee available, even from cute bicycles.

But in addition to the hidden alleys and hills of Dalat, which arguably take some sleuthing (and Maps.me) to find, Dalat is surrounded by hills, trees, and even larger national parks further afield. The challenge for the foreign visitor is finding places that you can actually hike or walk. There are really no published trail maps or networks…private and public land is vague, and access is often restricted. The locals are not really into hiking or even walking for recreation or transportation. A scooter always seems like a smarter solution. But we managed and it was certainly safe enough to walk places, even if sidewalks and road crossings were often a challenge. so we stuck to curated paths, like Dalatana Falls, or just exploring closer to the city center.