Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Travel Insurance

Pros, cons of picking travel insurance

July 13, 2013|Gregory Karp | Spending Smart

A close relative dies just before you leave for a Caribbean vacation, and you have to cancel your nonrefundable trip to attend the funeral. Or, you're hiking in the Alps, have an accident and need to be airlifted off a mountain.
These are the types of nightmare scenarios that make even confident travelers nervous. And they're why travel insurance can be an attractive idea.
But whether travel insurance, also called trip insurance, is a good buy for consumers isn't clear cut.

Saigon - aka Ho Chi Minh City

Saigon skyline at night (photo by Son Michael Pham)

A Tale of Two Asias

by Luis R. Rigual | Modern Luxury Dallas magazine
Thirty-seven years after the end of the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh City is still evolving. Tradition versus modernity is a battle that wages on in emerging countries all over the world, but in the former Saigon the yin-yang of then and now is palpable everywhere.
A walk down Dong Khoi Street in the shopping zone of town reveals a literal picture of this dichotomy. On one side of the thoroughfare: blue-chip shops like Chanel and Cartier touting their logo-ed riches behind immaculate glass; on the other: barefoot merchants chopping fish heads and hocking obvious counterfeit goods from ramshackle kiosks.
Yes, luxury has arrived in HCM City, but the capital’s colonial heritage and make-do spirit are still alive and well.
This contrast of identities continues everywhere I go. Aboard a speedboat on the Saigon River while on an aquatic tour of the city, I spot the telltale signs of new infrastructure (high-rise cranes, dredging, road construction) as I catch a whiff of smoke emanating from nearby burning sugarcane fields—a clue of farmers preparing their lands for the next harvest the same way their ancestors have done for hundreds of years. Steps from the City Hall palace built in 1908, I encounter the Vincom Center Mall, Vietnam’s first green, energy-saving building. In the business district, my eyes can’t help but be drawn up to the Bitexco Financial Tower, a 68-story glass skyscraper that’s a beaming symbol of Vietnam’s new capitalist sensibilities.
“It’s extremely modern and contemporary one moment, and old and complete mayhem the next,” says tour guide Holly Richter over drinks at the rooftop of Shri, a restaurant on the 23rd floor of the Centec Tower (another one of the city’s tall, glossy structures). “I think that’s what this city has always been about.”
Catering to these two personalities on the hospitality end is the Park Hyatt Saigon in District 1. Barely 6 years old, the regal hotel (a “best of” regular in most travel magazines) was designed to evoke the city’s French colonial past. This romantic nostalgia is most prevalent in the lobby lounge, with its high windows, hurricane chandeliers and a majestic piano that springs to life with music just as dusk begins to settle over the city. The hotel’s 244 rooms and suites are just as sophisticated in tone with warm colorations and furnishings: two-poster beds, vintage photographs on the walls, oak flooring, ceiling fans and palmetto shutters that are reminiscent of grand old Caribbean plantations. Enhancing the decorative trappings of tradition is a slew of modern-age amenities: satellite-connected LCD flat-screens and wireless Internet, as well as 24-hour butler, in-room dining, and concierge services. In the roomy marble-tiled baths, rain showers, designer toiletries and plush bathrobes are just some of the creature comforts reflecting the hotel’s five-star status.
The in-room pampering doesn’t compare to the indulgences at the Xuan Spa, which takes its cues from the Vietnamese spring and the four natural blossoms that celebrate the season’s essence—apricot, orchid, chrysanthemum and bamboo—and which are all somehow incorporated into various treatments.
Equally attuned to its host city’s duality are the hotel’s restaurants. With its veranda overlooking Lam Son Square, Opera becomes a daily morning stop during my trip for hearty and fragrant pho noodle soup, too warm a treat for the hot and humid days that permeate my visit in early fall, but one I nonetheless can’t resist, especially when paired with the endless variety of American sides and exotic fruit juices. However, it’s the East-meets-West culinary approach at the more formal Square One that ultimately wins me over. Helming the restaurant is Chef de Cuisine Benjamin Attwater, a young Australian who’s all too aware of HCM City’s gastronomic customs and the discerning palates of the Park Hyatt clientele. His menu is a happy compromise of both worlds.
Following a visit to the nearby Ben Thanh Market, where many of his ingredients are sourced, Attwater invites our group to a cooking class with his sous-chefs. After much head-nodding, pointing and broken English, we emerge from one of the eatery’s five open kitchens and into its darkly lit dining room with prime examples of Square One’s specialties: spring rolls with pork, mint and mustard leaf; pomelo salad with shrimp; grilled prawns with herbs impossible to pronounce; and a steamed freshwater fish none of the toques could identify in English.
Not that anyone cared. Like the divergent sights in Ho Chi Minh City, some things just defy description.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Safest countries in Asia for female travelers

BUSINESS INSIDER

The safety of female travelers became a mainstream issue earlier this year amidst rape concerns in India,  the disappearance of a solo female tourist in Istanbul, and the rescue of two kidnapped women travelers in Ecuador.
The well-being of women abroad isn’t a new topic, but  the reputation of destinations and their female-friendly activities are more important than ever as more women start traveling, especially alone.
Statistics suggest the women’s travel market is worth more than $19 trillion a year and forty percent of corporate travelers are women.
Hotels started catering to the needs of female travelers in 2010 and the trend has since increased. This year, Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh joined a number of major hotels in New York, London, and Berlin in instituting a women-only floor.
Safety is especially a concern in Asia where the world’s fastest growing tourism market and a number of male-dominated cultures are mixing for the first time. The following infographic ranks the top ten safest countries based on crime rate, personal safety, night safety, rape crime per 100,000 population, and global safety rank.
Singapore tops the list with a very low crime rate, 0.1 percent rate of assault, and 1.1 percent rate of reported theft.  India does not make the top ten and served as the primary flashpoint for concerns surrounding female safety earlier this year.
The full list of top ten of safest Asian countries is outlined below:
10. Kazakhstan
9.   Viet Nam
8.   Mongolia
7.   South Korea
6.   Hong Kong

5.   Australia
4.   Japan
3.   Taiwan
2.   New Zealand
1.   Singapore

read full article in Business Insider

Traveling in Viet Nam - North to South by Train

Traveling in Viet Nam - north to south by train

By MANABU SASAKI/ Correspondent
The Asahi Shimbun
For a while there, it looked like Vietnam would introduce Japanese  Shinkansen train technology to connect the country's north and south in just five and a half hours.
But it is not to be.
Although it takes more than a full day for the existing North-South Railway to cover the 1,726 kilometers between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the line is still much beloved by local people.
The rail link, which survived U.S. bombing in the Vietnam War, has become a symbol of the country's healing brought about by unification.
At 7 p.m. on May 8, a 13-car train, pulled by a China-made "D19E" locomotive, began to chug out of Hanoi Station. Images of Japanese "Hinomaru" national flags and cherry blossoms adorned the passenger carriages.
It was the first of a series of trains that are scheduled to run on the line until Sept. 23 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam.
The first train was expected to arrive at the terminal, Saigon Station, at 4:10 a.m. on May 10, after a 33-hour journey.
A one-way first-class ticket costs 1.845 million dong (about 9,000 yen, or $90). That provides the passenger with a bunk in an air-conditioned sleeper compartment that can accommodate four people. The fare is almost the same as for a flight between the two cities.
A ticket for a bunk in a sleeper compartment without air conditioning costs 1.342 million dong. Passengers willing to nap on wooden seats need pay only 728,000 dong.
Because most of the train cars are more than 10 years old, window frames and metal fittings for the bunks are rusty. However, the toilets and wash stands are well-maintained, and clean sheets are provided.
Although all of the passenger cars were air-conditioned, the equipment was not functioning properly in some of them, prompting passengers to try to stay cool with paper fans.
Some male passengers removed their shirts and huddled in the flexible gangway connection between carriages, where it was drafty.
At 8:39 p.m. on May 8, the train pulled in to Nam Dinh Station, about 70 kilometers southeast of Hanoi. Nam Dinh is a satellite city of the capital.
Waving Hinomaru flags, students of a Japanese school there welcomed the train.
After leaving the station, the lights of running motorcycles and buildings along the railroad gradually gave way to rural scenes and sleepy agricultural communities.
An elderly woman began to put on pajamas she had brought with her. A man, clearly a factory worker, slouched over two seats. A middle-aged woman threw herself on the floor by spreading a straw mat.
"Rich people use airplanes. But we use this railway, even though it takes much longer," said a 20-year-old university student, who gave his name as Thang. Then, he leaned on the back of his seat and positioned a small backpack in his arms.
Immediately before the train arrived at Dong Hoi Station, at 5 a.m. on May 9, an announcement, which sounded like a traditional Vietnamese ballad, blared out. It was a wake-up call.
Brownish-red tile-roofed farmers' houses and green rice fields glistened in the morning sun.
After leaving the station, the train slowed as it approached a bridge that was being repaired.
"We are repairing that bridge," said Yoshitaka Komuro, 55, director of the Hanoi representative office of Japanese construction company Tekken Corp., who was traveling in the same compartment.
Construction of the North-South Railway began in 1899. Trains didn't start running on the line until 1936, however.
During the Vietnam War, many bridges on the railway were blown up. The line was restored in 1976. Because of that, the railway came to be known as the symbol of unification for North and South Vietnam.
Engineers, funded by Japanese government yen-loan programs, have fixed aging track and many of the bridges.
Repair work has been undertaken in 63 places, and completed in 29 of them.
Bridges that were antiquated or in such a poor state of repair that trains had to reduce speed were replaced. As a result, the travel time between Vietnam's two major cities was slashed from more than 70 hours to around 30 hours now, when conditions are perfect. There are plans to slice six more hours off the travel time.
According to Komuro, the replacement of bridges is an intricate operation. It involves erecting a bridge next to the one to be demolished, and then nudging it into place.
The final stage of a bridge replacement requires about 80 engineers from both Japan and Vietnam working together. The task usually takes about four hours.
At 10:10 a.m. on May 9, the train passed through the scenic Hai Van Pass, which served as a stronghold for French, U.S. and Japanese forces during World War II as they tried to track enemy positions.
The pass possesses a commanding view of the turquoise South China Sea. The train arrived at the pass 30 minutes behind schedule. However, a train employee said, "There are no problems."
A woman from France, heaving a bulky backpack, said cheerfully: "This train has a unique atmosphere, which is different from those of trains in any other countries. I am so excited."
In northern Vietnam, the sky has a darkish hue. But as the train entered the central region, the sky took on a brighter aspect.
After the train negotiated mountain slopes, Da Nang, the commercial hub of the country's central provinces, came into view.
Carts stacked with lunch boxes, yoghurt and other types of food moved up and down the train. Passengers can choose side dishes of grilled chicken or fish. A lunch box with rice was priced at 40,000 dong. Yoghurt was 10,000 dong.
Stalls selling bananas or rice wrapped in leaves, like "chimaki" (rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves), were positioned in front of stations.
It was tempting to leave the train to make a purchase. But the stops at each station are only for five minutes. The smart option seemed to be to stay on board.
Thus, the dining car beckoned. Rice noodles, called "pho" and a Vietnamese specialty, had already sold out. Wheat noodles, called "mi," were available, however. They were priced at 30,000 dong.
The train trundled southward through areas of rice fields. The scenes that passed by reminded me of Japanese agricultural villages. But something was different: There were no tractors, only water buffaloes pulling hoes. Farmers harvesting rice wore sedge hats.
The sun began to go down.
Soon after 9 p.m., a ballad sounded on the intercom to encourage passengers to get some shut-eye.
A Vietnamese family who had been in my compartment from Nha Trang, known as a beach resort, were on their way home in Ho Chi Minh City after spending their holidays at relative's house near the beach.
At 4:05 a.m. on May 10, the train arrived at Saigon Station in Ho Chi Minh City. Through the window, I could make out buildings of the country's largest city, even though it was still dark. The train, which had made up for a delay, arrived at the terminal five minutes earlier than scheduled.
"As I told you, there are no problems," the rail employee said proudly.
In 2010, the Vietnamese Cabinet gave the go-ahead to introduce Japanese Shinkansen bullet trains. But the decision had its detractors, because of the huge cost, estimated in excess of 5 trillion yen. The decision remained in limbo, pending parliamentary approval.
Then in March this year, Transport Minister Dinh La Thang said, "Our country is still poor." The remark spelled the death knell for the project for the time being.
Tran Quoc Dong, deputy general director of the Vietnam Railway Corp., told The Asahi Shimbun, "The Shinkansen is attractive. But, first of all, we want to make efforts to improve the systems and services of the existing (North-South) railway."
The state-run railway operator aims to introduce Japanese technologies in the fields of communications and safety.
"It cannot be said that faster is better. There is also a way of enjoying a trip by boarding a train at night and arriving at the destination in the morning," he said.
By MANABU SASAKI/ Correspondent

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Agent Orange ... more than 40 years later

Toxicity found in breast milk of mothers in dioxin-affected areas

DONG NAI (VNS)– During the war in Viet Nam, US troops stored more than 98,000 buckets of Agent Orange at Bien Hoa airbase in the southern province of Dong Nai. After they overflowed several times, the contamination level far exceeded what regulations permitted.
Today, the breast milk of women in Bien Hoa City still contains more toxic dioxin than that of women in other areas.
In so-called dioxin "hot spots" – Da Nang, Phu Cat District in the central province of Binh Dinh –toxicity levels are even higher.
These troubling findings emerged as part of a study on dioxin's effect on newborns conducted by Kanazawa Medical University and the Dong Nai Department of Health. During the study, doctors took more than 200 blood and umbilical cord samples from babies born near the Bien Hoa airbase. They also drew breast milk samples and checked the development of the infants' nervous systems.
According to the researchers, newborns' heads in Bien Hoa City were bigger than in Da Nang; the babies who were born prematurely gained weight slowly.
A representative from the Japanese university said that the researchers would continue studying dioxin exposure in food in Bien Hoa City, as more than 90 per cent of dioxin entered people's bodies via food products like fish and dairy.
The airbase has long been recognised as a toxic spot. In the period of 2009-10, the province discovered three more spots near the airbase that were seriously affected by dioxin. -- Vietnam News

Photo of Nga, a young and talented Vietnamese woman in Hanoi. Nga lived under the care of the Thanh Xuan Peace Village (Hanoi) until recently when she started her studies in university. The Thanh Xuan Peace Village is a care and training center for children with disabilities linked to Agent Orange. Nga is one of the many recipients of Kids Without Borders Teach Me To Fish scholarship.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Traffic in Viet Nam

Getting our team ready for the 18th HumaniTour Viet Nam (September 12-24, 2013). Still one week left to sign up for this mission.

Here is a taste of traffic in frenetic Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City):
Traffic In Saigon

Not to worry. We will help you crossing the streets ;)
Still, make sure you have travel insurance coverage.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Upcoming HumaniTour Viet Nam - September 2013

Time to sign up for the 18th HumaniTour Viet Nam

September 12 – 24, 2013

Traveling With A Purpose

Carol Pucci – Seattle Times: They'll do the usual sightseeing, but they'll also take time out to visit schools, orphanages and hospitals, delivering clothes, medical supplies and toys they spent the past few months collecting. It's called traveling with a purpose, a chance to not only explore another part of the world, but to make a difference in people's lives. ...

Penny LeGate – KIRO television: Participants get a whirlwind swing through north, south and central Vietnam, dropping in on some of the country's most famous sites. Sprinkled throughout are visits to orphanages and schools and other important places. Traveling with Pham, the inaccessible is accessible. He is our educator, our translator, our facilitator, and the connector to packs of needy kids. ...

For more information, email: info@kidswithnoborders.org .

About Kids Without Borders: an all-volunteer international governmental organization based in Sammamish, Washington.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Agent Orange


Effects of Agent Orange ‘ongoing silently’ in children

As a child in Japan, Hiroko Tanaka saw a television report on Vietnamese twins who were attached at the head at birth. The deformity was blamed on their parents’ exposure to the herbicide known as Agent Orange.
Agent Orange and its active ingredient dioxin is "one of the most toxic compounds known to humans,"according to the United Nations.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, during the Vietnam War, the U.S. military used Agent Orange to kill trees and plants that blocked visibility from the air and provided cover for Viet Cong fighters hiding in the jungle.
The defoliant contained dioxin, which can cause cancer and is being investigated for other possible side effects by the World Health Organization. It harmed U.S. soldiers and Vietnamese and contaminated some areas of the country.
The TV report she saw as a child made a strong impression on Tanaka and as an adult she sought to explore the lasting effects of Agent Orange through photojournalism.
Tanaka worked in the U.S. as a staff photographer for a Philadelphia newspaper for four years. In December 2011, she moved Guatemala to learn Spanish and gain new cultural experiences and now volunteers as a photographer for a nonprofit and also freelances.
While visiting her homeland in 2011, Tanaka hopped a flight to Vietnam for a two-day visit. The hotel receptionist got her an appointment to visit Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.
Among other things, the Peace Village ward of Tu Du Hospital cares for about 60 children with severe deformities, many of whom were abandoned at birth, Tanaka said. The hospital blames Agent Orange for deformities in this ward.
“They just live there,” she said. “They don’t go to school; they can’t leave; they don’t go out.”
She also found stillborn babies and fetuses in jars, which are kept for research to find out why the babies were born with abnormalities. The hospital told Tanaka that as children born with deformities skyrocketed, those that didn’t make it were preserved. In the “reference room,” some of the jars were dated back to 2000.
According to the Vietnamese Red Cross, babies born near lands heavily sprayed with the herbicide have illnesses and deformities at a higher rate than normal. Adults in these areas also develop cancer and other health problems at a higher rate, and as many as a million Vietnamese now have health issues associated with Agent Orange, they said.
In part because of political and logistical difficulties, there is so far no conclusive international research showing a direct correlation between Agent Orange use in Vietnam and health problems. Still, the U.S. government recognizes that exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides causes cancer and additional health problems and presumes certain birth defects in children of Vietnam veterans.
The WHO said a link between wartime use of Agent Orange and conditions like cancer and diabetes is still being investigated.
Developing fetuses are the most sensitive to exposure, and newborns are also vulnerable to some of the effects, they said.
The effects of dioxin can last for generations, said Dr. Michael Skinner, a biologist and professor at Washing State University.
Research done by Dr. Skinner and his colleagues found more dramatic incidences of ovarian and kidney disease in the third generation rats than in their directly-exposed great-grandparents.
Dioxin has an extremely long half-life, around 7 to 11 years, according to WHO, and bio-accumulates in fat cells, which is unusual for most compounds.
Dr. Skinner, who has not examined children in Vietnam, said it is hard to say for sure whether dioxin is the cause of their deformities. But, he said, “Under the appropriate conditions, even without direct exposure, it’s a possibility.”
The chemical can also be consumed by eating large quantities of fish in some parts of the world, as well as working in environments like hazardous waste sites or the pulp and paper industry.
“It seems like the problem continues forever,” Tanaka said. “It seems like it’s over but it’s ongoing silently.”
Tanaka said the children at Tu Du are more fortunate than disabled children who stay at home without special care.
“I want people to know they exist,” she said.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2013/images/01/25/agentorange.tanaka/avatar.jpg
Hiroko Tanaka is a photojournalist living in Guatemala, where she freelances and volunteers for a non-profit.

– Elizabeth I. Johnson, CNN



http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/30/effects-of-agent-orange-ongoing-silently-in-children/

Note: you can learn more about Kids Without Borders works related to Agent Orange from many of our previous postings here or via:
KWB & Agent Orange

Sunday, February 3, 2013

A good-food journey through Vietnam


A good-food journey through Vietnam

A professional foodie slows down and eats very well on a trip through Vietnam.
The Washington Post
Almost always before I travel abroad, which is almost always for the purpose of eating, I steep myself in homework. In search of the best possible meals away from home, I scour websites, reach out to embassies, talk to people who have lived where I’m going, delve into relevant cookbooks and ask foreign-born chefs to spill their secrets. As a professional food writer, I often spend weeks and months planning just where I’ll be eating.
Vietnam was different. Long on my bucket list, a trip to the country was simply an impulse purchase made one evening. The only assurance I had that I was doing the right thing came from the Manhattan that was keeping me company and the name of a guide that a good friend swore by, Nguyen Xuan Quynh.
For the first time ever, I put my travel trust in the hands of one person. Equally rare for me, before I got on the plane I gave the owner of Vietnam Now Travel just a short wish list of things that I wanted to do and see: Have silk pajamas made. Take a cooking class. See if I can squeeze through the Cu Chi Tunnel of wartime Vietnam. Beyond that, all I had to do was tell Quynh (reach him at quynh@vietnamnowtravel.com) what cities I wanted to visit and my hotel preference.
Before I met Quynh on the last leg of the trip, which also took in Hoi An and Hue, he assigned me guides who were savvy about food. Thanks to them, I left no banh mi untasted. But they, and the man whom I later learned his clients call Mighty Quynh, also introduced me to one of the warmest cooking teachers anywhere, Anh Tuyet, whose eponymous Hanoi restaurant, below her apartment, was the scene for one-on-one instruction; a boat trip that I can still savor in my mind; and the 90-minute massage of my life, possibly the best $20 I spent all year.
Some snapshots of a trip where I let someone else do the ordering:
A history lesson with classic food
My first impression of Cuc Gach, a former French colonial house, is less than favorable. Oh, it’s a looker, this narrow restaurant that climbs three floors. But the presence of so many non-Vietnamese diners in the place feels wrong. Hadn’t I asked my guide for a taste of home — his home?
As we stroll through several snug dining areas, I figure that I can at least feast on the design during my inaugural dinner in Ho Chi Minh City. The restaurant is a beautiful tribute to recycling and nature; a trim stairwell serves as a bridge from one floor to another and looks onto a small pool animated with live koi — a touch of the country in the city, the fish a Vietnamese symbol of luck and prosperity. Whoever dressed Cuc Gach has a good eye, and an interest in history.
That someone is Tran Binh, an architect native to southern Vietnam and devoted to what he learned about his craft from the countryside. The Vietnamese have a saying: If you start something, use a brick first. Cuc Gach translates into English as “a brick.”
Our chaperone for the first leg of my Vietnamese journey, Lam Quang Huy, grins as we ease into our seats on the top floor of Cuc Gach, a peaked tile roof over our heads. It isn’t the four-poster bed frame turned into a curtained table for six nearby that elicits his reaction, but an old Lygo milk canister holding chopsticks, the container a throwback to his youth. Little stories are behind every detail in the restaurant, where bright green morning glory stems are put to use as drinking straws and the music brings back the Vietnam of the 1970s. As the owner’s grandmother did, the kitchen staff makes almost everything in-house, from the pickles to the tofu.
Unusual (and hard!) for this professional eater, I leave the ordering to Huy. He asks the waiter for soup, followed by “something salty” and vegetables, a selection of three dishes that typify the region. As we wait for the soup, Huy teaches us how to mince red chilis with the tips of the chopsticks and sings the praises of fish sauce, or what he calls “Chanel No. 5.” No meal in Vietnam is complete without a dash or more of nuoc mam.
We devour a catfish soup made sweet and sour with pineapple and tamarind, and deep-fried mackerel framed by julienne green mango. Our guide, raised southeast of the Mekong Delta, approves. “Food by my grandmother,” Huy compliments the spread.
The meal concludes with the requested vegetables: bitter melon, bok choy, pumpkin and Vietnamese greens over which rich fish sauce is spooned.
Lessons learned: Even though they might look similar, the vegetables in Vietnam taste more green, more vivid, more of themselves. Also, first impressions can be wrong.
10 Dang Tat, Ward Tan Dinh, District 1, Saigon; cucgachquan.com.vn/en. Dinner about $15 a person.
A memorable shipboard meal
There are dozens of other boats chugging leisurely across the jade-green water of Ha Long Bay toward the ancient limestone rock formations, hundreds of craggy towers strong, that became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. I can’t help thinking that the vessel I’m on, christened Cong Nghia, is the choicest of all transportation. The boat is clean, the crew is genial and there’s no bumping into anyone. While the vessel can carry nearly 50 passengers, today there are just two paying customers and our chaperone, Quynh, on board.
We are free to roam around; the cheery blue top deck offers sun, breeze and an ever-changing postcard view. We eventually dock and make our way to a trail that takes us deep inside one of a nearby island’s caves, illuminated throughout with colored spotlights to show off its many nature-made sculptures. “Paradise” is the contemporary (and apt) name of the enormous cave. However, Quynh points out a particularly voluptuous formation near the end of the 35-minute visit that prompted the local fishermen who discovered it 13 years ago to call it “Fairy’s breast.” No male seems to be able to resist having his photo snapped with the Marilyn Monroe of rocks. (Guilty!)
Spelunking gives everyone an appetite. No sooner do we return to Cong Nghia than lunch is served on the window-wrapped main deck in a wide booth, the table draped in a blue cover that almost disappears amid the flurry of dishes. First, a little dip of black pepper, red chilis, salt and kumquat juice appears. Next, some ocean crab, which a cook cracks at the table, and a plate of shrimp, which she deftly peels for us as well. Marvelous on its own, the sweet seafood, culled from the water we’re gliding on, becomes electric after a dunk in the citrusy hot sauce: big flavors from a wisp of a galley.
Vietnamese cooking emphasizes the balance of flavors and textures as well as the principles of yin and yang, or the heating and cooling characteristics of ingredients. The perfume of fresh ginger (considered hot) announces a big bowl of steamed elephant trunk clams (cool), so named for the long white meat inside the shells. Tender squid with crisp bok choy, and finely shredded cabbage glistening with oil and biting with black pepper, keep our chopsticks moving, too. A plate of carved, sliced cucumbers refreshes the palate between bites of the seafood and (there’s more?) herb-scattered butterfish.
Only three hours have passed, but between boarding and disembarking, I feel as if I’ve been to the dawn of time and back, a journey punctuated by the most memorable meal of a year that has been packed with them.
A three-to-four-hour tour of Ha Long Bay on Cong Nghia costs $120 for up to 48 passengers; lunch is an additional $20 per person. To make reservations, email quynh@vietnamnowtravel.com.
A don’t-miss restaurant in Hanoi
If you have time for only one meal in Hanoi, make it at Quan An Ngon. There are finer restaurants, and less crowded ones, but none that match the sheer number of dishes (200) or variety found in this aromatic and animated collection of 20 food stalls.
Quan An Ngon pays homage to rural food peddlers whose stands play the role that restaurants fill in the city. Although the dining destination, modeled after the shacks found in the Red River delta, offers seating inside a two-story building, the fun takes place outdoors, where booths staffed by dozens of cooks ring an open-air courtyard packed with row upon row of dark wooden tables. (Grab one; they go fast.)
You get a menu, but better to have your guide, in my case the Mighty Quynh again, show you around the perimeter and point out the selections. Each stall posts a woven bamboo sign announcing its specialty in Vietnamese. But you probably don’t require a translator to tell you that the tiny grilled birds at one stop are sparrows and that the fleshy steamed attraction at another stall is pig’s ear, wrapped in rice paper with lettuce, mint, scallions and noodles.
Talk about one-stop shopping! All of Vietnam — north, south, central — appears to be represented at Quan An Ngon. Smoky grilled pork on a bed of vermicelli noodles with a tuft of fresh herbs makes me sad to be saying goodbye to Vietnam, as do steamed snails enlivened with garlic, fish sauce and lemon leaves. As we put a small dent in the menu, giant fans suspended from the trees help us keep our cool and steer fragrant cooking aromas our way. Before heading to the airport and home, I manage to squeeze in some boozy fermented black rice and yogurt and make a friend of it.
Quan An Ngon, 18 Phan Boi Chau St., Hoan Kiem str, Hanoi. 011-84-4-39428162138.
Tom Sietsema is the food critic for The Washington Post.
http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/2020250715_vietnamfoodxml.html

Monday, January 7, 2013

Saigon

The 17th HumaniTour Viet Nam
November 2012




Teach Me To Fish Program

The 17th HumaniTour Viet Nam
Sunday November 18, 2012

Reunion dinner in Saigon with the orphans in Kids Without Borders Teach Me To Fish Program.








Tu Du Peace Village

The 17th HumaniTour Viet Nam
Saturday November 17, 2012

Visiting the Tu Du Peace Village, a care and rehabilitation center for children with disabilities caused by Agent Orange.





Go Vap Orphanage

The 17th HumaniTour Viet Nam
Saturday November 17, 2012

About the Go Vap Orphanage, please visit: Go Vap Orphanage on Facebook









Visiting the former U.S Embassy in Saigon

The 17th HumaniTour Viet Nam
Friday November 16, 2012

We were guests of U.S Consul General to Viet Nam An Le at the American Consulate. This same site was the American Embassy before the end of the war in 1975, where the last American left by helicopter before the fall of Saigon.




Kids Without Borders Teach Me To Fish Program

The 17th HumaniTour Viet Nam
Tuesday November 13, 2012

We are in Hai Phong City and tonight is the reunion dinner for the orphans from the Hoa Phuong Orphanage who are/were supported by KWB Teach Me To Fish Program.