The Reunification Express Train, Vietnam
Hey, either take a 1 hour flight from Saigon to Nha Trang or take a romantic trip on a train, just like in the movies…
Being rocked, whether by your mother when you were a baby, standing in front of your favorite prog metal band or now relaxing in a sleeper car, is comforting. From our view, once out of Saigon, we found the countryside beautiful and interesting. Lush and green vegetation rolls by then snippets of crops that I don’t recognize. It is self-inflicted laziness. I joyfully read a sci-fi book I have on my iPhone. Then go back to being hypnotized as I stare out the window.
We reserved a 4-bunk cabin on the train. Private… kinda nice. Think 8-hour plane ride with a nice view and you can lay down and sleep in a bed if needed. Much like Schindler’s List or the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, it is highly recommended, but only once. An 8-hour train ride is about 4 hours too long.
There came a time to find the ‘dining‘ car. Huh, well… my trek through 11 cars reminded me of the movie by Korean director Bong Joon-ho; Snowpiercer. If this doesn’t make sense, it is ok. The movie is a near futuristic dystopian tale set on a train where the last of society remains.
Outside it is 93 degrees, though it feels like 100 with humidity or so says my phone. I see a couple of farm workers taking a break and sitting in the shade. It has been 126 days since I officially retired. It seems like 100 years ago. Though from my view at this moment, watching Vietnam flow by and as I watch a line of water buffalo, everything seems 100 years ago.
Nha Trang, Vietnam
The elevator incident...
There is no doubt I missed an opportunity of a lifetime. It should have been my Hindenburg, my Tiananmen Square, It should have been my Kiss on V-J day in Times square.
To the left is an artist representation of the photo that will never be.
Diane and I entered an empty elevator on the 29th floor of the Tui Blue Hotel in Nha Trang, Vietnam on the morning of March 6th, 2024. The elevator stopped a few floors below. The missed opportunity that soon followed will haunt me the remainder of my life.
Eleven beautiful Vietnamese women joined us in a now crowded elevator car. They were all parading in traditional ao dai dresses, which are long, colorful and very form fitting. I could not understand any of the excited chatter, but some function (maybe a modeling contest) was about to happen somewhere in the city, and they were a part of it.
In the chaos, wrong buttons were pushed, and we ended up back on their original floor. When the elevator opened even more stunning women were ready to join us. This led to much laughter and comradery. So much so, I kinda felt like ‘one of the girls’. 🙂 Give me a break, there were 12 women and only me.
At some point we ended up on the lobby floor and we all left the car smiling. As Diane and I walked toward the exit doors of the lobby it hit me. “Oh, my god… what have I done! ” Even as I edit these notes, I have a pain in the pit of my stomach. I do not know if I will ever recover from this sickening debacle that I must now learn to live with. I now know how Pete Best, the original drummer for the Beatles felt. I had the world’s greatest selfie opportunity and did not take it. .
At the crossroads of hunger and darkness:
There are two kinds of people in this world. The ones who look at this fish and think ‘yummy’ and the ones who say “It has eyes! Ahhhh”.
I think it has a lot to do with where, when, and how you grew up. In my family, fish to me and my siblings meant one thing: Mrs. Paul’s Fish Sticks that were baked in the oven. Vegetables tended to be out of a can, many times green bean cadavers by Western Family brand. Shamefully, at that time (one) I didn’t like pizza, (two) dunked fish sticks in ketchup, and (three) had my older brother make special spaghetti sauce alone without chopped onions, peppers, or seasoning.
I have never eaten at a restaurant with my mom, dad, and siblings. The first time I went to a restaurant with an actual waitperson was my senior year of high school prom with Carrie Skeen.
Then over a short period of my life ‘the change’ happened. I worked in the kitchen of a high-end restaurant for 5 years, starting at age 17. Beginning as a dishwasher then advancing to line cook then further above. My culinary world changed dramatically. I learned to cook, I learned to adapt recipes, and most importantly I learned to eat. I have not looked back. Thank you, chef Ray Wells. for having faith in me.
I have not reached the Diane level of eating. I think the only thing she won’t eat is a Filippino dish called Balut. Do not look that up, seriously. This information will haunt your dreamscape for the remaining days of your life. You cannot unlearn this information.
I really didn’t like shellfish until it was the only thing for dinner when I met her mom, and I was trying to impress. My ‘fish’ world had certainly evolved in my time with Diane. I can honestly say that I super look forward to a meal that starts with raw oysters on the half shell. When I see ‘fish eyes‘ I know that the fish is fresh. Raw salmon or tuna known at sashimi is one of my fave foods. Admittedly I still get a little queasy with large clams and other crustations. Though I have come a long way from Mrs. Paul’s Fish Sticks.
La Velvet
La Velvet. A highly recommended, super cute, 12-customer sized restaurant. Located just 850 meters away. We walked there…. and took a taxi back 🙂
Meet Victoria, my first Ukrainian that I have met. Ever. I think. It was a good start. She was our excellent waitress at La Velvet located down one of those alleys that you see at night and think… what’s down there? We started with a mojito and a beer (Hoegaarden, one of my favs) and moved on to a tuna niçoise salad.
I am hoping to meet more Ukrainians and Russians in both Nha Trang and Hoi An. I want to be a better world citizen and not let my own prejudices cloud my mind. People are people.
Am I going to get into the Russian/Ukraine war? At first blush, no. Why? I’m ignorant, with no more knowledge that media will allow. Do I have strong opinions. Oh, for sure.
Friday night pizza night...
I am inspired by the entire evening. After finding what seemed like an excellent Italian restaurant online, we were not disappointed. We ordered the pizza diavola, which turned out to be the spiciest pizza of my life. Just in case we also ordered panzanella. This also was delicious, but it is the wine that turned my head. It was the best wine I’ve had in at least 4 months. Montepulciano served at a perfect temperature of 63 degrees. Normally most restaurants in this part of the world store both red and white wine in the same refrigerator. It now is up to you to cup the wine glass using both palms to warm up your glass for a more acceptable temperature. I’m sure other people in restaurants we dine in wonder what I am doing. Is he praying?
Diane had Campari, soda water and vermouth, known as an Americano Cocktail. I felt it necessary to make sure the wine was excellent, so I had two. Diane also made sure her cocktail was excellent. At just under a kilometer, we would normally take a taxi home, but one step led to another and soon we were walking down interesting alleyways, sidewalks and eventually through a night market. I’m so glad we decided to walk. It gave me a boost in confidence with the city. I think it escalated it to a ‘yeah, we maybe could live here’. Oh, and the limoncello on the house on the way out did not hurt our spirits. The beginnings of a Lion dance with loud drums and cymbals across the street drew our attention. We started our walk this direction and this capped off the end of a lovely Friday night.
Below, the open air La Cala Italian Restaurant.
When we approached the hostess stand, I replied, “No, I don’t have a reservation“. I was entertained by his answer of “now, that’s gonna be a problem.” Usually, we soften that up in the west, but I appreciated the honest and candid response. Sometimes one loses some of the nuance when it’s your 2nd or 3rd language. We had a 20-minute wait that took only 10 minutes. The place seemed full but a table for the two of us was found nestled between a Russian family and two European women traveling together. A lovely dining experience ensued. And BTW, we returned a couple days later. -)
Here are a few random alley shots from the walk home from La Cala. Exciting? Maybe not, but true and candid.... definitely.
Having dropped down to 79 degrees at 7pm it was a comfortable evening especially with the 6-mph wind to cool it further.
Below is the street market we stumbled upon. To the left a ‘beer‘ sign that many times is catnip to Westerners.
A day trip to city of Da Lat 'the Seattle of Asia'
Railway station tour at Da Lat.
If ‘it‘ happened once, I would not have blogged about it. The first time, while visiting the Long Son Pagoda, a well-dressed Asian man in his 60’s with his wife seemed to recognize me and asked me if we could take a selfie. He did not speak one word of English. In the end, selfies were taken, my hand was shaken, later kissed and then we moved on. I surmised he thought I was Richard Gere or somebody famous. Then two days later while visiting Da Lat a group of 4 teenage girls also asked for a selfie with me. With more thought, I think my hat makes me look like a character in a British novel especially with my white skin in this neck of the woods. I think I like the Richard Gere reference better, but I’ll take what I can get.
The train station tour took an unexpected turn.
Datania Fall Tour
To get to Datania Falls you must, or you get to, ride the tram. Each ‘car’ is for two people, and you have a ‘break‘ so to speak if you want to slow down a tad. Actually a lot like a bobsled during the Olympics.
Diane really enjoyed the ride. It took 8 or 10 minutes to get down to the bottom. It was about an hour to short. It really was a hoot!
Linh Phuoc Temple
Our day would not have been a such a great day without our guide extraordinaire, Hieu. He and his driver picked us up at 7am and we returned 10 hours later. I’m grateful to have spent the day with him. I learned a great deal about Vietnam culture from him.
The city of Da Lat is almost a 3-hour drive away. Even the drive itself was… ‘worth the drive itself.‘ Once out of the city we drove through bright green rice fields nearly as far as the eye could see. Then soon we were greeted with the nearby mountains with pine tree forest. The road serpentined for the remainder of the drive at a fair uphill grade and though dense forest. Occasionally there were signs of people with a few small villages and sporadic homes. I will forget the details of Vietnamese life from my perspective of that car, driving through rural country. Kids playing, women sweeping during the heat of the day, dogs on the side of the road. A thousand details.
Walking around with Hieu was like being with Google in human form. Diane and I are now a lot more knowledgeable about Da Lat. It was on the list to see if we could retire there. Hilly, rainy, cool and nestled in a pine forest, it reminded me of an European version of Seattle for sure. Developed in the early 1900’s by the French, you can see the influence.
During our day we visited a pair of Catholic churches and the historic train station where I was accosted by a group of teenage girls.
The Buddha statue is made up of 650,000 dried flowers and takes 36 days to cover. They replace the flowers every two years.
The Linh Phuoc temple is nothing less than a marvel. It is made up of millions of pieces of colorful bottles, bowls, porcelain tile, teacups and even brown glass which I’m sure are old Rainier beer bottles :-). the result is a mesmerizing mosaic that is indescribable. It makes me wonder how long it took to complete.
Every part of this complex is covered in a colorful mosaic of glass.
Conclusion
We went and saw Dune at a local theater. You get to do that when you are not trying to cram everything into a few days. We had 7 nights here in Nha Trang. The other side of that coin is not making huge efforts to see touristy things. If Nha Trang had the world’s largest ball of yarn I think we might just skip it. This is how we currently roll.
When reading up on Nha Trang, a tidbit I gleaned from other bloggers and such is that there is quite the presence of Russians here. Note to self: don’t rely on outdated ‘opinions‘. Hieu said “yeah, this place used to be overrun with Russians. But the war changed all of that.” I ran into the occasional Russian, but it was rare. I did see a few menus with Russian as one of the options to read. But that was about it. If people from Russia, or Ukraine, or even Israel are fleeing their countries for safety I am glad they made it here safe and sound.
Our time here was well spent. We saw some sites, we ate some excellent food, we rubbed shoulders with some peeps to get more of a feel for Vietnam. I felt myself grow with learning about others through travel. Diane and I give ourselves 6 mulligans each day for being incorrect about something. At the end of most days, I am down to one or two. We have yet to determine a penalty if we run out of our daily mulligan allotment.
Ok, I have re-written this conclusion several times. Ultimately it was our guide’s (Hieu) input that gave me inside information and inspiration to be kind and thoughtful of others. Our days in Nha Trang were better with his input.
You cannot throw a baseball and not hit a couple of excellent Vietnamese coffee shops. Around the corner from our hotel, I took a photo of four coffee shops.
Thank you for reading! Next stop Da Nang and Hoi An, Vietnam…