DANANG, VIETNAM – This month marks a milestone for us on our world travels. Three years ago, on June 15, 2017, we bid farewell to our home of 25 years in Western Washington state and set off with one-way tickets to Edinburgh, Scotland intending to travel around the UK for a couple months.
Ten weeks later we hopped back across the water to the U.S. to visit friends and family on the East Coast and the Midwest. Then, after two months in the Seattle area wrapping up some final loose ends, we flew off to Asia.
We landed in Hanoi, Vietnam, where our intent was to look around for a couple months before what we hoped would be a years-long exploration of China.
Due to political tensions at the time, we decided to kick our China trip farther down the road. So Hanoi became our temporary home for the next seven months.
Hanoi was just the beginning…
From Hanoi we made short forays into other parts of Vietnam – including Ha Long Bay, Sapa and the Mekong Delta – all the while checking out the wonderful historical and cultural attractions of Vietnam’s capital city.
And just last week we marked another anniversary – two years since we arrived in Danang, looking for cleaner air and a slower pace of life after the incredible hustle bustle of Hanoi.
We’ve written before about our first year “on the road,” but in the two years since that review we’ve visited a few more countries – Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bhutan – and we’ve seen a lot more of Vietnam.
Some of those adventures were already recounted here on our blog, and we’ll be writing and sharing photos of more in the coming weeks and months.
For now, we’d like to share some of the highlights of our expat life so far. Here are just a few of the superlatives, unusuals, mosts and leasts we’ve experienced on our three-year journey.
Some highlights of our expat life
Most Pleasant Surprise: Just how easy it is to travel around Asia without knowing the language.
We always try to learn a few words in the language of any country we visit… “Hello, good-bye, thank you, how much does it cost?” and so on. Knowing even a few local words goes a long way in establishing rapport with the people we meet.
But anymore, many of the locals speak at least some English. It really has become a near-universal language in our globalized world. And the translation apps most of us have on our phones make learning the local language even less of a necessity.
Shopping is easy
Shopping is easy. Likewise, ordering restaurant food. Smiling and pointing at what we want and holding up the number of fingers to indicate how many pieces or servings usually leads to a successful transaction.
Merchants in the local markets often use a pocket calculator or phone to show us the cost of our selections. Sometimes they pull the appropriate amount of cash out of their till to show us, graphically, how much to pay. And sometimes they just pluck the correct payment right out of my handful of money. I must admit it took more than a couple times for me to get used to that.
Most Fascinating: Our first week in Hanoi’s Ancient Quarter, with all its crazy hustle bustle, sights and sounds, unfamiliar smells, people, shops, market stalls and more, wins this one hands down. Everything was new and exotic. And even after two and a half years in Southeast Asia we’re still surprised almost every day by something we’ve never seen before.
Beautiful vistas wherever we go
Most Scenic: This is one of those “hard-to-choose-just-one” categories. So here are our top contenders:
Halong Bay: We’ll never forget floating through this unique labyrinth of other-worldly karst islands jutting skyward from the water’s surface, with another and another and another waiting just around the next turn. Included on virtually every tour of Vietnam, our overnight cruise was another of those cliché-worthy “once-in-a-lifetime” labels.
Mu Cang Chai: This northern Vietnamese province is covered in terraced rice fields stretching from winding river valleys far below almost to the very tips of the mountains. A vast panorama swabbed in strokes of green and gold as far as the eye can see.
Bhutan: Culturally, physically, spiritually, our weeklong tour of Bhutan ranks high on our Best-Ever list. But since we’re talking scenic here, Bhutan has the most remarkable views from the top of the world. Rare air!
Vietnam’s traffic is not for the faint of heart
Scariest: Vietnam traffic. In Hanoi, we literally put our lives on the line every time we tried to cross a street of any size.
With a nonstop seething scrum of motorcycles, taxis, bicycles, cars and trucks speeding willy-nilly down the road, popping out of blind alleys without warning, and paying scant attention to directional lanes or intersections, being a pedestrian in Vietnam is not for the faint of heart.
Somehow, we survived Hanoi and found Danang traffic to be a bit more civilized – though still crazy compared to back in the States.
Most Beautiful: Probably the temples… everywhere. There are so many temples strewn across Southeast Asia. Each one is different in its own way, and all of them offer a colorful glimpse into the culture.
We’ve visited dozens of Buddhist temples during our travels, as well as several Hindu temples, a few ancient Cham sacred sites and even a Mosque. And every one was beautiful in its own way – architecture, murals, sculptures, location or ambiance.
We love an ancient mystery
Most Mysterious: We have a couple major contenders in this category:
Stone circles and standing stones. Everyone’s heard of Stonehenge. But there are hundreds more stone circles scattered around the United Kingdom (more than 1,300 by one count). Experts are divided on just what their original purpose was. We visited several during our journey around Scotland. One that was especially haunting was located on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.
The Plain of Jars: Consisting of thousands of huge carved stone jars scattered around hundreds of sites in the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau, experts believe the jars were associated with burial practices during the Iron Age. The quantity of jars and their massive size (from one to three meters in height and diameter – around three to 10 feet) is mind-boggling.
Sampling local food is the best reason to travel
Favorite Local Food: There’s no way we can choose only one! Sampling local food specialties is one of the best reasons to travel.
Fish & Chips: Three summers ago, in Scotland, I ate what was probably the best fish and chips in the world (at least what I’ve seen so far). For around $7 I was served a massive battered filet of melt-in-your-mouth freshly-caught fish, a mound of deep-fried-to-perfection chips, a dollop of mushy peas (a British staple, I understand), and a frosty hand-pulled pint of Guinness stout. I thought I had surely died and gone to heaven. Mel’s never heard the end of it…
Pho: In Hanoi we could get a huge steaming bowl of Pho – that delicious Vietnamese soup with a rich chicken broth, fresh homemade rice noodles and large chunks of tender chicken – for just a couple dollars. I think the last bowl of Pho I had in Seattle cost me around $7, plus the tip.
Banh Mi: Our favorite Banh Mi vendor was just a block from our Hanoi apartment. At their dinnertime sidewalk food stall they grilled skewers of marinated pork over a glowing charcoal fire – fanning the flames with one hand while turning the skewers with the other. They filled a fresh baguette with as many skewers as we wanted, layered with fresh greens and a squirt of spicy Vietnamese hot sauce to make a delicious sandwich. All for less than $1.50.
Start the day right
My Quang: Here in Danang, one of our favorite breakfast spots (set up on the sidewalk at the local wet market) serves up delicious bowls of My Quang, another regional Vietnamese specialty.
With a base of savory stock (simmered for hours), each steamy bowl has a large dollop of fresh wide rice noodles, thin sliced ribbons of barbecued pork and one or two halves of boiled egg. Each serving is garnished with a smattering of roasted peanuts and accompanied by a plate mounded with a variety of fresh greens, shredded banana flowers, wedges of lime and enough flaming hot peppers to burn down a small village. All for less than a dollar a bowl.
My only complaint about our My Quang stall is having to squat on tiny plastic stools at a child-sized table. I can settle down onto the stool with no problem but getting back up after my meal can be challenging.
Travel beats working out at the gym
Most Physically Challenging: Our trip to Bhutan last fall, especially our first full day on the ground when we hiked up the side of a mountain to Cheri Dorji Dhen, Bhutan’s first Buddhist monastery, established in 1620.
One of our party clocked our hiking distance that day at just over 10 kilometers – more than 10,000 steps – with an altitude gain of around 300 meters (roughly 1,000 feet) – and then back down again to our 2,600-meter (8,500 feet) starting point.
In comparison, our trek four days later to the famous cliffside Tiger’s Nest Monastery, while still incredibly physically challenging (with a longer distance and more altitude gain), was not as tough as that first day.
Travel is good for your health
Happy Surprise: One of the biggest happy surprises about living in Southeast Asia is how much better I feel physically. In the Pacific Northwest I had chronic back and joint pain that worsened during the colder months and never really went away even in summer. But since we moved to Vietnam’s tropical climate my pain has all but disappeared.
Best Value: Pretty much everything. Our dollars go a lot farther here in Vietnam than they did back in the States. Rent, utilities, groceries, restaurant prices, telephone and Internet, getting around. They all cost much less than similar purchases in the U.S.
After three years on the road the best is yet to come!
Best of the Best: We’ve certainly enjoyed our lives these last three years out here on the road, but both of us feel like the best is yet to come. Stay tuned!
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Hey, it sounds like things are turning out all right for you two. Love the food pieces … and those gorgeous rice paddies. I never have been a big fan of “elevation gain” on a hike, but I can enjoy getting high on your photos, for sure.
Carry on!
Hi Susan, Yeah, the elevation gain in Bhutan was quite the challenge. Our walks around town here in Da Nang are all on pretty much level ground (except, of course, for the uneven and broken sidewalks, which are treacherous in their own way).