Food Fit for a Rama

Chang Mai is known for, among other things, good food.  Northern Thai food in known as Lanna. and is different than what we think of when we think of Thai food. 

We found a night street food tour through Viator and Mr. J was at our hotel a few minutes early.  One of the advantages of having a group of 5 means that most tours are (almost) private.  For this one, we were joined by an American, Kate, who teaches English in Japan.  We piled into his SUV and headed out to a night food market outside the north walls of the Old City.

Let me state right now that we ate too much food that night, but damn it was worth it.  Here is a list of the things that we tried:

Tom Saap Stand

Tom Saap – A soup of pork broth, galangal, lemon grass, and kaffir lime with mushrooms and chicken

Nam Tok Moo – Grilled pork that has been sliced served with toasted crushed rice, onions, and chili.  This is topped with a fish sauce and is eaten with sticky rice that you roll into a ball and eat with your fingers, making sure to sop up every bit of the tasty sauce.

Pad Gra Pao Gal Kai Dao – Stir fried glass noodles with egg, Thai basil, and meat.  Christopher really liked this one and said “Oh my God this is good” to which Mr J said in Thailand it is “Oh My Buddha” or #OMB.

Yum Gai Saab

Yum Gai Saab – This is a spicy chicken salad that has a flavor profile similar to a green mango salad, but the textures are different.

Pad Pak Bun –Sautéed morning glory or water spinach that reminded me of mustard greens.

Kaho Ka Moo-- This is a slow cooked pork leg served with rice.  The particular food stand that we went to was made famous by Anthony Bourdain a few years ago on CNNs Parts Unknown. The proprietor is known as The Lady With The Hat for the cowboy hat she wears.  It reminded Patrick and I of a good pork carnitas with a sour orange sauce.

Mango and Sticky Rice—How can you go wrong with the dessert.  We had it the first time in Bangkok earlier this year and almost never fails to please us—warm sticky rice, cool mango, and topped with coconut milk.

Lao Khao -- Mr. J asked if any of us wanted to try some whiskey.  Never one to say no, I joined Kate.  Two shots were measured from the bottle (which happened to be a beer bottle).  The clear liquid was poured into glasses.  In one hand we had our glass and in the other we had a slice of lime that had been dipped in salt.  And much like taking a shot of tequila we drank and then sucked the lime.  Later I did some research and found out that this is a local Thai moonshine made of distilled fermented rice.

At this point we left the north side of the Old District and drove to the south side for a couple more courses.

Khao Soi – A dish from Northern Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos that is noodles and meat in a coconut curry sauce.  Almost anything with coconut milk is tasty and this one was too.

Khao Soi 

Rotee – Rotee is like a very thick, creamy crepe that is filled with banana and topped with a drizzle of chocolate.  Cut into bite size pieces we each had a skewer and quickly devoured this last dessert.

So this was our experience of Chang Mai’s street food scene.  This is the third of these tours we have taken in Southeast Asia (Bangkok and Hanoi were the others) and it is great way to get to know a city and to get comfortable with it.

Training Day – Hanoi Style

The best laid plans don’t always work out.  We got going early to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  As we past the entrance in our Grab, we kept going and going to the end of the line.  It was a LOOONG line.  We took our place at the end of the line filled with Vietnamese and Chinese, plus a few westerners.  While everyone else waited I walked forward to see how the line was actually moving.  I discovered, rightfully so, that school groups were allowed to enter the line midstream.  My estimate was we had a 3-4 hour wait to see Uncle Ho.  We quickly moved to Plan B.

We walked the entire line at a good pace which took about 13 minutes.  We ended up at the street in front of the mausoleum and got some great shots.  I was also the attention of some Chinese tourists (it happens in Asia when you’re 6’6”) and had pictures taken with a husband and wife.  Sarah thinks I am a minor celebrity on Asia.

Plan B was the Temple of literature, about a 20 minute walk away.  This walk was through Hanoi’s version of Embassy Row.  At one intersection Christopher pretty much just stopped as he didn’t recognize a flag.  After a while we walked across the street and discovered it was the Azerbaijani Embassy.  His highlight was the Singapore Embassy though.

The Temple of Literature in Hanoi has been there almost a thousand years and is considered Hanoi’s first university.  Comprised as a series of 5 courtyards, this is a peaceful place and a very popular place with tourists.  The 2 story wooden temple in the fifth courtyard is beautiful inside.  And the way the old, thick wood muffles the sound makes it a special place.

We then made it to the Hanoi Opera House which was a bit of a disappointment as the front was covered with staging and scaffolding and only a little of its grand architecture could be seen.  We also made a quick stop through the “other” Hanoi Hilton which looked similar to just about every Hilton I have stayed in.

For lunch we headed to Bun Cha Huong Lien, the restaurant made famous by President Obama and Anthony Bourdain sharing a lunch of bun cha and a beer—so we did the same.  We were warned by our street food guide that it was now quite touristy and yes, there was a bit of a wait for a table—but damn the food was good.  The broth was light, but so full of flavor.  Julie added some additional garlic to hers and I added to hot chili peppers.

This restaurant had taken its fame and expanded upwards, but the food is great (we got the Obama Combo—bun cha and a beer).  The building has a small footprint, so each floor is small.  We ended up on the top floor which was cool because when the lunch crowd subsided it was were the staff ate—and we got to finish up with them.  On the way down we also paid our obligatory respects to the glassed in table where Obama and Bourdain dined.

Train Street was our next stop (no pun intended).  For those that don’t know, I have a bit of an infatuation with trains, so this was on my list of things to see in Hanoi.  And it was worth it.  Here a singe set of tracks runs close to homes.  It has become a popular spot for tourists.  The residents have taken what would be a detriment in many places and turned it into a positive.  What was a back alley now has small cafes where you can sit on small chair, drink a beer or iced coffee and watch the world go by.  A few shops are beginning to appear, we found a great one that makes paper and cards. 

 

But don’t get me wrong, this is also a working section of town.  There was an outdoor barber clipping away, the mangiest set of chickens that I have EVER seen, and laundry being done between the tracks.  We found a paper store where different types of paper are being made and bought some interesting cards.

For our last night in Hanoi we had a street food dinner on a narrow street close to our hotel.  Restaurants lined the street and you sat on the ever-present small stools.  A policeman monitors the street to make sure that stools don’t encroach too far into the street. 

Julie learned about this as an office started yelling at the proprietors of our restaurant and made Julie stand up and took her stool away.  Julie thought she was being arrested by the military and the look on her face was priceless.  As soon as the police went to the next restaurant, another stool was handed out and Julie could resume her meal.  Life goes on.

A Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh Christmas

After 3 days on Ha Long Bay we were back in Hanoi.  Hanoi is so different that Ho Chi Minh City, especially the Old Quarter with its narrow streets filled with cars, cycles, walkers, and bikes.  This time we had three rooms right next to each other, each with a balcony facing the street four floors down.  Sitting on them watching the world go by was a great way to spend 10 minutes or 2 hours.

My favorite was watching the small store across the way.  There were always scooters coming and going.  First one guy would drop off ten cases of beer. They would be dutifully logged and taken into the back.  Next a scooter would come up and they would load a dozen large boxes onto the back then time them down with rope and sometimes some packing tape. There might be another box placed in the foot area for good measure.  Scooters are a way of life in Vietnam which has the highest per capita motorcycle ownership of anywhere in the world.

Christmas Eve dinner was spent at the rooftop restaurant in our hotel.  The had reached out in advance asking if we wanted a reservation for Christmas (and by Christmas we realized they meant Christmas Eve) and we readily agreed.  It was a little cool up there, but everyone had a Christmas vibe going on and they were pouring Christmas cocktails.  A memorable Christmas for sure.

But there were other things to do.  We took 2 Grab cars from our hotel and headed out to the Hanoi Botanical Gardens.  While not nearly as big, varied, or polished as Singapore’s Botanical Gardens, we enjoyed our time there.  After paying our 40,000 Vietnamese Dong, the first thing that we saw was a pair of peacocks in a large enclosure.  Also with them was a rat eating the same bird seed they were, a reminder that we were in a third world country.

We stumbled across an exhibit of bonsai trees that were old and gnarled.  Some of these had to be 50+ years old.  Many had small ceramic temples incorporated into their bases that just added to their aesthetic.  There were probably about a hundred of these trees, each on a stand that placed them waist high.  Some had blooms, maybe bougainvillea?  One even had small fruit on its trunk resembling tiny apples.

From there we ended up at the Ho Chi Minh Museum.   It was in the middle of a large park and has a definite Soviet style architecture.  Brutalistic may be a better term.  Two long flights of marble steps lead up to a large statue of Uncle Ho.  The exhibitions inside were hard to describe.  You entered one through a large tent flap and it was like you were inside a large red tent with a brick floor and not much else.  Some were a little more typical like gifts given to the leader, but they were in cases low to the ground.  And the exit was the complete opposite of the grand entrance-- you walked down 3 flights of stairs like a high school built in the fifties. 

From there we walked passed the mausoleum knowing that we would come back for it.  And here was when we made our mistake.  We decided to take two taxis rather than wait for a Grab.  Perhaps it was because we were tired, perhaps it was because we have lived in Singapore too long, but we didn’t negotiate the rate in advance.  We know better.

I showed the hotel card to the driver and Julie did the same in another car.  And off we went.  (Our car did pass a statue of Lenin that was pretty cool.)  Patrick, Christopher and I were dropped off about ½ block from our hotel, but that was OK since it was a one-way street and going around would have been a problem.  The meter read “654.”  So I assumed at first it would be a little less than 7,000 VND which seemed too low.  I then thought about 65,000 VND which was a little higher than our Grab fare to the gardens.  But no, it was 654,000 VND which pretty much wiped Patrick and I out of cash.  Julie and Sarah got taken as well for about 500.000 VND (they didn’t have that much, but the driver let them out anyway).  Not a big deal as we are talking a total of somewhere around $50 USD for both, but still….

In the morning we arranged a FREE tour through the hotel.  There is an organization that coordinates college students to lead tours.  For the kids (yup, when you are my age they are kids) they get a chance to practice their English.  We met Phuc and Chi in our hotel lobby promptly at 9 am.  We showed them where we were interested in going on a hotel map and off we headed.

First stop was Hoan Kiem Lake, about a 10-minute walk away.  Chi shared with us the story of the lake with its sacred turtles, the last of which died in 2016.  There is a famous red bridge that goes over to a temple on a small island.  Much of the temple is under renovation, but they do have the last sacred turtle under glass.  It turns out that this was the last of this species, or so was though until very recently.

Saint Joseph’s Cathedral was the next stop.  On our way there we saw our first of what would become somewhat frequent sightings of sidewalk barbershops.  A chair, a mirror hanging on a fence, and a pair of scissors seems to be all it takes.  The overhead is low, that’s for sure.  The cathedral popped out to us with its twin towers and aged patina showing through.  Inside was typical.  What stood out to me was the iron work on the windows that appear to have been inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright.  There were definite Prairie School elements in them, a little discordant in Hanoi.

We liked the neighborhood around the cathedral and decided we needed to come back at night.  Two places stood out to us.  The first was a coffee place called Eden that was above the square in front of the cathedral.  We figured the view at night would be special.  The second was Pasteur Street Brewing Company that was behind the cathedral.  This HCMC-based brewer has some tasty beers, some we get in Singapore.

Chi and Phuc then took us to Hoa Lo Prison, also known as “The Hanoi Hilton”.  As we were walking to it our first hint that we were there was the walls topped with broken glass and electrical wires.  This prison was originally built in 1886 by the French.  Anyone who has seen the movie Papillon about Devil’s Island knows the French could be brutal when it came to prisons.  And by the displays we saw, this one was no exception.

 

Most of the displays were on the French years and the way the Vietnamese patriots handled prison life with communism study groups, despite being shackled to their bunks.  In some cases they were shackled with their head lower than their feet.  My favorite story was how over 100 prisoners (out of 500) escaped one night in 1944.  I can imagine what prisoner count was like the next morning.

There were a few displays on the period of this prison that I was familiar with, acting as a prison for US pilots shot down, including John McCain (later a US Senator) and Douglas Patterson (later US Ambassador to Vietnam).  In war, the victors get to tell the story that they want and that was certainly the case here.

By this time we were hungry and tired and we ended up at a wonderful, large Vietnamese restaurant called Quan An Ngon.  It was beautiful and reminded us of a restaurant we went to Tlaquepaque near Guadalajara Mexico.  This was a French colonial building with a large courtyard that was covered.  We were directed upstairs to a smaller room with beautiful tile floors.  Ordering of the shared plates was a joint affair, and there was plenty to choose from.  And the quality was as good as the selection.  We loved everything.  At this point we were done and left Chi and Phuc, but only after they ordered us two Grabs (see, they don’t use taxis either).  

We headed back to our hotel with some detours to hit an ATM (do you know how rich you feel when you withdraw 2,000,000 dong?) and a little shopping.  Some shopping was practical like Nike t-shirts (5 for less than $20USD) to replace ones that have been worn put in Singapore.  Other shopping was more cultural, like a carved wooden stamp of Buddha from a small husband and wife owned shop.  He did his carvings right on the floor of the shop.  For about $15USD it is a great memory of Hanoi.

Later that night was a walk back to Saint Joseph’s for dinner at the brewpub.  In the “It’s a small world” department, Patrick ran into a coworker from when he worked in our Congresswoman’s office in DC during college.   A flight of beers, a steak banh mi, and we were done for the night.  While everyone else waited for a Grab I walked back to the hotel.  Walking alone is much faster than walking as a group of 5—and I beat everyone back to the hotel.

x

Ha Long You Been Here?

Vietnam is such a beautiful country.  We have been to the south twice, but for this trip we headed north.  After spending a memorable afternoon and night in Hanoi, we headed to Ha Long Bay, about a 4 hour ride away.  Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site and quite a place to visit.  This spectacular bay is filled with almost 2,000 limestone islands that look like they should be in a James Bond movie.

There is no shortage of cruises to choose from, almost overwhelming in fact.  After much scouring of the internet, we chose Pelican Cruises.  Why?  First, and perhaps most importantly they had staterooms available for the small pre-Christmas slot of time we had.  Secondly, they were well reviewed on TripAdvisor.  While we don’t base EVERYTHING on TripAdvisor, they are a good go-to site for us.  Lastly, they had the perfect stateroom for us: The Royal Suite.

Traveling with 3 adult children meant that we needed 3 staterooms.  The “kids” got a double and a single, while mom and dad got the Royal Suite.  What this meant for us was more room, a larger bathroom, two walls of windows, but most importantly a private veranda towards the bow that could seat the five of us comfortably (once we “migrated” a chair from one of our other rooms.  This private space meant we could easily relax and watch where we were going.  And where we were going was always spectacular.

Getting to Ha Long was easy.  We were picked up at our hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi at 7:30 in the morning in a very nice van that held 7 guests.  About half way to Ha Long we stopped for a toilet break at a place with very nice bathrooms.  They also had a large showroom of Vietnamese crafts, many produced right there.  We left about 20 minutes later and about $250 lighter as we bought a weaving and a lacquer painting that we had shipped via Fed Ex to Singapore.

We arrived at Pelican Cruises office with a bit of organized chaos—as the arrival and departure of 3 boats should be.  Anyway, we got our boat sorted out and we were on our way.   A little time spent in our rooms as we cruised away, then it was time for a buffet lunch in the dining room.

First stop was a pearl farm in which you could kayak the bay or visit the pearl farm and learn about cultured pearls.  We choose the later as 3 of our group were challenged by oncoming colds.  It was interesting to see how they culture pearls, but at the end we enjoyed Vietnamese coffees on a sundeck –time well spent.

After that we steamed to an island that had both a beach for swimming and a climb up to the top for sunset views.  Again, being cold-challenged, we opted to sit on our boat’s rooftop deck, drinking margaritas, and playing Mexican Train dominos—we made the right choice.  While the sunset pictures we saw from others who made the climb to the top were stunning, our sunset was beautiful as were the margaritas and company.

The next day was a real treat.  We had chosen a 3 day/2-night cruise instead of the standard 2 day/1 night one because the shorter one seemed so hectic as you aren’t even on board for 24 hours.  We made the right choice.  What we didn’t realize is that through the magic of good scheduling our boat had both 2-day and 3-day cruisers on it.  What that meant was that for our second day we got on a day-boat as the 2-day passengers headed back to port. 

There are a lot of boats in Ha Long Bay, many times we would count upwards of 20 similar ships.  But it was calm and really didn’t feel crowded.  Because each ship is small, typically about 40 to 50 passengers, it seems intimate.  And the ships chug slowly between stops.  So there is not the feeling of hustle bustle. But what we did on Day 2 was get on a dayboat with 2 other couples (a total of 9 of us) and head to a much more remote area of Ha Long Bay.

The boat we were on held, according to counting seats in the dinning room, about 24 passengers.  So with 9 we could spread out and enjoy our one hour cruise to our first stop, Cua Van village.  And the scenery on the way was wonderful.  We even saw big oceangoing ships a short way away.  But we focused on the steep limestone islands.  They were beautiful up close, but even more stunning through the mist, like a painting.

Cua Van is a floating fishing village.  In 2014 it numbered over 500 residents in about 125 floating homes.  It was then that the government relocated the village over to the mainland.  Why?  Can you imagine over 500 people living without electricity, sanitation, or running water.  Environmentally it took a toll on the area.  Also, there weren’t any schools in the village.  And Cua Van wasn’t the only village, the government relocation impacted a total of seven villages.  But two villages on the bay have been repopulated and Cua Van now numbers about 125 residents.

At Cua Van we got into a bamboo sampan boat with a fisherwoman that took us around the village.  Between the homes there are floating pens that raise fish, groupers and red snappers are the prevalent fish.  This concept of aquaculture is fairly new and seems to work for them.  The houses are very minimal, maybe 5 or 6 meters square.  It was not unusual for a dog to be tied up nearby. The docks were supported by large plastic blue barrels.  These same barrels could be found on the dock to store water brought over from the mainland.

The fishing boats were unusual, at least to us.  They were painted turquoise with other bright highlight colors.  There were outriggers that could be spread out to handle drift nets.  And strung above the gunnels were large glass lightbulbs that would be used for night fishing.  To the fishermen in the village these boats were a tool they needed to make a living.  To me they were works of art placed in a remote village.

We paired with another sampan as we were rowed around the village.  Our rowers also had small, round fishing nets at the end of a long pole that they used to snag trash floating in the water.  Part of me felt this was an attempt to tug at our heartstrings a bit, but putting the cynic on me aside, I hope this is indicative of a change in attitude—let’s hope so.

We ended up back at the dock after about 45 minutes and then toured a small museum telling the history of the village, its relocation, as well as its fishing and folklore history.  They also had pictures about an American pilot shot down in 1964.  I still find it surprising how this country now has such a strong tourism tie to the US.

After lunch and a swim, we headed to Hang Tien Ong, a cave which we didn’t know what to expect.  The 9 of us and our guide Tom were the only ones there.  This archeological site was first used by man 10,000 years ago.  Today a lighted trail takes you through this cave with stalactites and stalagmites.  At one point Tom took us off the formal trail into a craven that had stalactites that he could actually play a percussion piece.  We then had an hour trip back to our main boat.

When we got back there was a whole new group of passengers on board.  They had done the pearl farm and were preparing to do the climb up to a viewing platform.  We however headed to the rooftop deck for more margaritas and some Mexican Train.  That, and another sunset.

The next morning was a trip to a cave called Hang Sung Sot.  A tender took us over where we climbed steps to the cave entrance.  While on day two we saw few people, today we were with a lot winding up the steps and paths in the cave.  The cave consisted of three chambers filled with stalactites and stalagmites.  Each chamber got larger as we walked through the cave.  In the second chamber was a pink lit rock mentioned in Atlas Obscura.  The final chamber was huge.  It felt like something you would see at Disneyland

We were so happy that we did the 3-day cruise.  This middle day was a real gift.  Somewhat off the tourist track, the bays were empty of people and boats.  And when we did see people, they were not tourists.  (OK, one exception.  On the way out to Cua Van we saw several speedboats swerving through wakes, full of yelling Chinese tourists.  But they disappeared quickly.)

Ha Long Bay is a beautiful place that should be visited.  By all means spend the little extra and do the 3-day cruise.  This is a relaxing trip where you are always seeing stunning views, everywhere you looked.