{"id":641,"date":"2010-07-11T18:06:01","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T01:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interspacedesign.wordpress.com\/?p=641"},"modified":"2021-06-25T12:40:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T19:40:46","slug":"vietnam-a-land-of-contrasts-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/vietnam-a-land-of-contrasts-part-1","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam – a Land of Contrasts (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vietnam is an elongated S-shaped strip of land, stretching from the fertile Mekong Delta<\/a> in the south to the karst-filled scenery in the north. This is a country 33 times longer than its narrowest width, resulting in surprising diversity among its peoples, food, and landscape.<\/p>\n

We landed at Ho Chi Minh City<\/a> (formerly Saigon), a teaming, vibrant metropolis which is the biggest city in the country. It took a bit to adjust to the sweltering humidity, but the tropical monsoon climate is why fruits are so abundant throughout the year.<\/p>\n

\"Road<\/a>
Sight of cyclos 10 to 12 across and a block deep never ceased to amaze me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since our two favorite past times are checking out local foods and markets, the hot weather was a great excuse for trying out all the ice cream I could find, including my husband\u2019s favorite, durian<\/a> ice cream (and no, he\u2019s not Asian). We did the obligatory Cu Chi Tunnels<\/a> tour, but really found browsing around the B\u1ebfn Th\u00e0nh Market<\/a> and cooling off at Fanny\u2019s ice cream caf\u00e9 much more fun.<\/p>\n

After a short stint in Saigon and getting our fill of ice cream, pho (hearty noodle soup usually served with a plate of UFO herbs) and banh\u00a0xeo (yummy Vietnamese omelets), we headed for Angkor Wat<\/a> in Cambodia, eventually wound up in the Imperial city of Hue<\/a> in Central Vietnam.<\/p>\n

\"Plate<\/a>
Plate of banh xeo, a pancake with crispy edges, stuffed with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although reflecting heavy Chinese influence, the Imperial architecture showed more restraint than Beijing\u2019s Forbidden City, and as a result was more approachable. Sad to say, the ‘imperial feast’, popular among local restaurants, is really designed for tourist consumption.<\/p>\n

\"Entrance<\/a>
Entrance to the Imperial Palace at Hue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dragon<\/a>
Dragon carving detail above Palace entry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hoi An<\/a>, our next stop, is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site and is a quaint old town with hundreds of structures protected as historical landmarks. It\u2019s great for strolling around, with pleasant cafes, bakeries, and shops housed in restored pastel colored colonial buildings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lantern<\/a>
A lantern shop in Hoi An.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But one of the highlights of our stay was the discovery of a Central Vietnam specialty –\u00a0my quang<\/a>\u00a0– a wonderfully flavorful noodle dish that we had for breakfast one day.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My quang, a turmeric colored noodle dish from central Vietnam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other was our cooking class at the Red Bridge Cooking School. It was fun learning to make banh\u00a0uot\u00a0(fresh rice paper) to use it for the cha gio\u00a0tuoi\u00a0(fresh rice paper rolls of shrimp), as well as banh\u00a0xeo\u00a0and Vietnamese eggplant in clay pot among other dishes. It was a great deal considering the cost of the class also covered our lunch, non-alcoholic drinks, and a scenic boat ride along the Hoi An river to the school!<\/p>\n

\"Cargo<\/a>
Cargo boat covered with palm fronds. Boats plying central and southern coasts always have eyes painted on the bows for good luck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo journal on trip to Vietnam. Part 1 covers Saigon\/Ho Chi Minh City in the south, the ancient Imperial city of Hue and quaint town of Hoi An in central Vietnam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,15],"tags":[22,38,63,92,128,130,132,134,140,144,184,216,226,268,277],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-food","category-travel","tag-angkor-wat","tag-banh-xeo","tag-cambodia","tag-cu-chi-tunnels","tag-halong-bay","tag-hanoi","tag-ho-chi-minh-city","tag-hoi-an","tag-hue","tag-imperial-palace","tag-my-quang","tag-red-bridge-cooking-school","tag-sapa","tag-vietnam","tag-world-heritage-site"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/hoian1lanternshopsmall2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8751,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions\/8751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interspace-design.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}