Vietnam Part I

31 days later, I arrive to LAX and am greeted by my best friend, Carly, ‘Thank god, you are home. Thank god too,’ I say.

Not to say the trip was terribly bad NOR great but about smack in the middle good and it was certaintly an adventure! I failed 31 days of local, organic, food, well that’s not entirely true, maybe a week when I was in New Zealand…..that is a later post.

Rewind to Thanksgiving day, 31 days before; stuffed with a true send off of Organic Turkey and Sangiovese by family, I arrive to LAX to find myself amongst a sea of Asians. EVR, the Taiwanese airline carrier would be where I’d spend the next 18 hours of life. I check-in to find that the connecting flight from Taipei to Hanoi was cancelled. I needed to get in touch with my mom pronto already in Vietnam. Well, turns out she gave me the wrong cell phone number. Oh well, I will figure it out.

Fast forward.... a day and a half later, exhausted and delirious, I arrive to Hanoi, greeted/harassed by Vietnamese ‘Taxi’ drivers offering to take me anywhere. With my choppy Vietnamese skillz, I manage to fend them off until a gentlemen walks up with a sign that reads, ‘TU, TRAM-ANH”, (my Vietnamese name), sent by Mom!

As we drove into the center city, moped drivers wearing colorful surgical type masks surrounds us; literally in front of us, beside us, and behind us. Dusty air, unfinished facades of buildings, endless fields of rice paddies, and mopeds filled to the gills are the first images. I get to the hotel to find Mom standing by the window in anticipation of my arrival! The next few hours were great, exploring the streets with Mom in her country, seeing my roots, and even a cyclo ride around the city. I had the best spring rolls that night which utilized the freshest rice paper, crab, pork and herbs. Followed by crispy ‘cakes’ of shrimp straight out of the sea, and a new dish to me of Green Mango, Papaya, and Calamari Salad.

The next day, my friend Gerlyn arrived and it went downhill from there, we’d travel from the top of the country to the bottom, barreling our way through Ha Long Bay, Emperors’ palaces, beach resorts, the ‘city of lanterns’, and finally, my mom’s home town of Saigon. Most importantly, ambushing our way through the food specialties of each region so much so, that I got sick on Day 7 and ate ‘Westernized’ food, also forcing me to skip many meals the rest of the trip! But I still have a few highlights….continue reading friends.