Traveling to Vietnam: Street Food and Packing List

April’s just around the corner and if you’re considering a trip to Ho Chi Minh City and wondering what to pack for this type of super humid weather…read on my friend, read on.

What I remember from my trip in Vietnam.
1. Food is delicious
2. I felt safe walking around alone but with caution
3. Crossing the street is not easy and requires pure focus and confidence
4. The economy is booming and you can see it through the city’s hustling and bustling atmosphere.

This was my 1st time traveling to mother land. Not only was I shit scared of being on a 12 hr flight (scared of flying) from Madrid but the fear of getting food poisoning from street food, pick pocketed, getting lost and maybe ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time, nerves kicking my butt about meeting my entire family for the first time, etc. The list goes on. Everything was new to me, of course I had questions popping up in my head. Overall, I was excited for what lies ahead.

I finally landed in Saigon, stepped out of the airplane and felt the super hot wet air slapping me in the face for wearing a thick black coat, black leggings paired with leather black boots. Note to self, pick your clothes wisely when packing. Immediately, I started sweating. I walked out of the airport and almost instantly, all of my relatives recognized me through my facebook photos. While all of the women in my family greeted me with full hugs and kisses, my uncles and dude cousins gave me respectful half hugs 🙂 For two weeks in Saigon, I ate like a queen. The food in Vietnam is no joke, it’s fucken delicious. My cousins took me to all of the good spots to eat (always good if you know locals). I barely went to any fancy restaurants to eat. I actually got most my food from street vendors and from casual restaurants. My rule of thumb is to only eat at busy places to avoid the Saigon Squirts lol. Though, I do not recall the names of any restaurant I went to, I can tell you I had Pho (beef noodle soup) almost every morning, Mi (egg noodle soup), Com Tam Suong Bi Cha (Grill Pork over rice with shredded pork, vietnamese ham, veggies), and tons of seafood hot pot called Lau. Omg, everything tasted 50 times better in Vietnam than back home in the Bay Area. Here’s a list of legit places you can try out according to other folks who’ve gone to Saigon:

RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS
Com Tâm 390 (Rice plates)
Pho Le (Beef noodle soup)
Banh Canh Cua 87 (Udon noodle soup)
Pho Hòa (Beef/Chicken noodle soup)
Quán Bánh Xèo 46A (Vietnamese crepe)

Click here for more recommendations:

While I was in Saigon towards the end of April, I remember two things: sweating and eating a ton. I brought probably 4-5 outfits with me to Vietnam and only wore 2 outfits for the 2 weeks I was there.

Here’s what not to wear: black leggings, slippers, purses, jewelry.

Black leggings made with cotton and spandex are not breathable, avoid slippers because your feet should never be exposed when you’re constantly roaming the streets, purses are no no’s because it can easily get snatched, and jewelry draws too much unwanted attention and potentially danger.

Here’s a packing list for apparel when traveling to Vietnam in April
1. Simple Tanks
2. Tom Shoes
3. Maxi Skirt
4. Pants (Convertible, thin, and quick dry) 
5. Oversized Blouse 

Tanks can pair with anything making it easy to wear. Tom shoes is thick enough to protect your feet from the filth that some streets may have and thin enough to allow your feet to breath in hot weather. Maxi skirts are soooo comfortable to wear and packable! Traveling pants will come in handy if you want more flexibility in movement, hassle free when it comes to wrinkles, and you can easily hand wash and it’ll dry within a few hrs. Oversized blouses are awesome in protecting you from the sun, loose enough to let some air flowing through the shirt, and thin enough to let you move around easily.

If you’re planning a trip to Saigon and worried about what to wear that is culturally appropriate, the list above will suffice!

Have fun!

 

 

 

A Healing Trip to Barcelona

After my trip in Paris, it was my first time ever experiencing the real feelings of being “alone” in a “foreign country”. The idea hit me pretty hard and got me scared and trembling. I finally got my ass on the plane and decided my next destination would be Spain. Barcelona was the closest and cheapest place to enter into from France. Barcelona it was!

It was a relief knowing I was at least going somewhere so I no longer felt scared. I landed in Barcelona and immediately walked out to catch the cab for around $30 USD to get to “Hostel O’Paralelo”. I read some raving reviews about this place being “super friendly” and in a good location. Since I was desperate for friends, I booked this place without a second thought. What a great decision I made! Not only did I make new close friends but it made everything felt very homey. I had such a good time the four days I was in Barcelona that I basically forgot to take pictures while I was there (which I personally regret).

First day, I met the staff and they were incredibly friendly to me. They let me play music in the lobby/kitchen then we started chatting about my travel experiences. The staff later invited me to join their communal hostel dinner for free then party together later into the evening. I agreed!  It was just nice to be able to talk to a person lol. I no longer felt alone.

I finally went to my room where there were 3 other hostel mates. I saw a friendly face in the bunk bed right next to me so I quickly introduced myself to this Canadian friend. The conversation went on great as burningman became our main topic of interest and also a common factor for us both. From there on, we explored Barcelona together on foot for the next 3 days.

1st night in, the entire hostel got together and had a very drunk Spanish dinner in the backyard. We played really bad music for the fun of it all then we all walked on over to the night club around 2am on a Monday. The club was huge and completely packed. Loud American rock music was playing and everyone was dancing and jumping around. I was just blown away to the fact that “it was a Monday morning” and everyone is clubbing. America doesn’t do that lol. Blew my mind! I actually got tired and hungry at 2:30am so my sweet Canadian friend walked me back to the hostel, after he went back to the club. From there, I ran into my other 2 Norwegian hostel mates smoking a joint with their skateboards in their hands. I welcomed myself to use their skateboard and in their cool Norwegian accents they said “go for it!”. I took one of the skateboards and just road downhill into the empty streets of Barcelona. It was quiet, no one was out. All I heard was my own voice shouting out laughter and the two Norwegians that were smiling and cheering me on while I was going fast down the street. This was around 3am. What a time to remember!

2nd, 3rd, 4th night in, I took strolls around Barcelona by myself and discovered great architectures, great food, the busy beach, beautiful parks nearby, and cool fun shops. But what I mostly fell in love with is the old and crampy narrow streets. It was different from what I ever seen in America. I also spent some days hanging out with my hostel mates discovering other parts of Barcelona on foot, including the famous soccer stadium. Also, Barcelona has a beautiful park with row boats, a huge fountain, etc. Good thing I found this place by accident.

I actually extended my stay for one more day. I wanted to leave when most of my hostel mates were checking out.

My time in Barcelona was amazing and it’s mostly because I was always surrounded by great folks. Great people and beautiful city.

Paris Party Time

After Berlin, we headed off to Paris for a specific type of party. We flew on Airberlin airlines. It was a short and comfortable flight, only 1.5 hrs or so.

We got to Paris and immediately caught the cab to Bastille (we could have easily taken the metro but I was too lazy to drag around luggage). Bastille is located in 11th Arrondissement part of Paris. Paris works like a clock if you look at the map. Each neighborhood is numbered going clockwise.

Right when we arrived to the airbnb location of where we were staying at ($64 USD per night is considered cheap in Paris), we couldn’t even find the address on any of the buildings so we asked for help from some neighborhood dance center and they totally ignored us. Basically they didn’t give a fuck up about lost-looking tourist like myself lol. So great! My boyfriend and I are looking like confused idiots in some random alley way in Paris not knowing what to do exactly but then a lady walked outside of her building and lighted a cigarette. She looked at me and I looked at her…for about several very long seconds to try and figure each other out. Voila! She was my airbnb host. We finally got settled into her cozy crib.

We strolled around the neighborhood and to my surprise, there were so many people out and about. There were restaurants, cafes, small mom and pop shops every where. So many people were just sitting outside sipping on beer and just chillen. I thought it was a quiet neighborhood until I actually took the time to walk around. It was very festive and with plenty of bars and clubs around.

We took the metro everywhere, mostly making stops at the most touristy areas like the Eiffel Tower (beautiful area to cruise around on foot) and the Republic metro stop. I felt fairly safe just walking around (of course there are some sketchy areas you should be able to sense right off the bat).

Night time fell and it was time to get into our interesting attires and head out to party our faces off. A burningman party at La Machine du Moulin Rouge. That’s why we came to Paris in the first place. If you don’t know what “burningman” is, please read this: http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman. It’s a very special event that takes place in the U.S. but with attendants coming from all over the world. Burners in Paris decided to create their mini version of burningman and of course, I had to be there.

Before heading to the party, we had dinner around 11pm or 12am which is perfectly normal in Paris on a Saturday. We started to head out to the party around 2am from the restaurant but we nearly ran out of luck. The particular metro line we needed to take was closed and all of the cabs were full. We walked and walked as close as we can to the venue and in hopes, maybe an empty cab we show up magically along the way. After 45 minutes of wandering the streets of Paris, passing by gypsies who were sleeping on mattresses at the side of the sidewalk, an empty cab finally came to the rescue. OMG! I was getting so sleepy. It was already 3:30AM. We finally got our asses to the party. Right when we walked in, a bunch of women in el wires and glow in the dark body paint started smothering paint on my boyfriend’s face and body. A second later, he looked like a tribal man with neon colors all over. That’s when I knew it was going to be a wild night. We partied with people we knew and also with those we didn’t know. Everyone was wonderful. My boyfriend and I managed to dance, jump, and dance some more to techno beats until the sun was beginning to sneak up on us a little bit. It was definitely a night full of black lights, funny costumes, dancing wavy bodies, laser stage lights, cardboard shaped elephants, and some jungle looking decor. It was fabulous!

Next morning, it was time to depart with my boyfriend. He had to head back to the U.S. and I stayed to continue my travel. For the first time, I was truly by myself, a solo traveler at this point on. I was really scared so I cried a little…well maybe a lot, missed my flight to Barcelona, and I was never more desperate for a companion until then, but eventually I had to pull myself together. At this point, I learned how to comfort myself by words of comfort that played over and over in my head and I forced myself do things that would make myself feel better (like eating sandwiches. I absolutely love sandwiches). Eventually, I rebooked my flight to Barcelona and got my ass on that plane. I felt instant relief just to know that I was actually going somewhere.

The only plan I had for Barcelona was staying at the One Paralelo Hostel, everything else was just going to have to go with the flow.

To be continued…

The Wonderful Berlin

Just want to put it out there that Berlin is one of my favorite places on earth 🙂

We took the train from Prague to Berlin. It’s relatively close. Only a 4 hour ride. We booked it through this website http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/

It was actually my first time ever taking the train. I was a bit nervous so I booked first class ahead of time which was only about $20 more than the regular economy seating. What a great decision it was. It was on a Sunday and the first class section was nearly empty. The attendants were so kind and the seats were super comfortable. Smooth ride it was.

We finally got to Berlin and took the cab to our airbnb place in Kreuzberg (only $25 per night!). I immediately fell in love with this place. This city is definitely meant for biking and walking, everything is very accessible by foot, metro, or bike. There are so many good restaurants all around the area and almost all have outdoor seating. Throughout the day, there are always people out and about. AND best of all, everyone is so freaken nice. It’s a blessing in the skies.

So, there are 3 places I always ate it when I was in Berlin: Cocolo Ramen, Mustafas Gemuse Kebab, and some random Turkish Restaurant (I don’t remember the name! :*O ) Fast service and it’s really good. I don’t think I ever had bad food in Berlin. The price range for a meal at a casual restaurant usually starts at $12 USD.

During the day time, we rented bikes for free from the DB bike stations that are located almost every other 4 blocks or so. Keep in mind, it’s only free if you get the basic rate and park the bike every 30 minutes. Moreover, we biked from Kreuzberg and into Mitte (nice ritzy neighborgood). This way we surprisingly stumbled upon many of berlin’s landmarks like the berlin wall, Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz, Tiergarten Park (awesome park!), Holocaust Memorial, and so forth. Biking is a great and safe way to see everything. The biking lanes are all part of the sidewalk which makes it much more safe to bike than compared to biking in NY or SF with bike lanes being in the street.

During the night time, we partied with our Airbnb host. He took us to a rock club in mitte, a 80’s theme party in some unknown club, and we ended up at Cookies the last night in Berlin. Cookies is the only name that I remember lol. It’s also a great semi fancy nightclub with 2 dance floors one hip hop and the other disco/techno. There are a bunch of other random rooms to hangout throughout this place. When I was partied in Berlin, everyone was so friendly. I had several unplanned dance battles aha! It was great.

Overall, I had such a great time in Berlin that it made me think about moving there lol. Most folks speak English which makes it easier for me since I don’t speak German, it’s incredibly safe, and it’s festive all the time! I love it.

Exploring a little bit of Eastern Europe: Budapest & Prague

Right after Helsinki, my next stop was Budapest. Fairly short flight. It was about a little over an hour as I “think” I remember. Everything was already planned before I got to the destination. Why did I choose to visit Budapest? Well, it’s because my friend convinced that it’s a cheap and friendly place with plenty to do.

Right when I landed in Budapest, I was already feeling the heat through the airplane windows. Come to find out that I was the only idiot wearing a thick long coat while everyone else was wearing shorts, dresses, and skirts. I took a cab straight to the hostel (Carpe Noctem). Carpe Noctem is known as a party hostel with raving reviews on tripadvisor. Not knowing any one living in Budapest and craving to experience the party life in their well-known ruin bars, I had no other choice but to crash at this party hostel. It was a great decision! I made tons of new friends there. The staff were super friendly and all the guest were always hanging out together in the lobby or the kitchen. By night we all hung out at different clubs and bars. I remember partying at Retox, Szimpla Kert, and Instant. My favorite by far was Szimpla Kert. I must say that was the coolest bar I’ve ever seen in my life. There were so many levels to it. It’s actually a three level bar in a ruin building with hookah lounges available, outdoor patio with art cars lying around, a mini jungle-looking tree in the middle of the entire complex, and much more. I also want to add that this was a MONDAY night and the place was packed. Great vibe.

Another thing I enjoyed about Budapest are the pastries. They’re fucken amazing. All I did was walk around the neighborhood and ordered some pastries at any random shop and every time, it blew my mind away. So freaken delicious. There’s this one restaurant that I would like for you to try. It’s called W35, probably the best burger joint in the world.

Next up was Prague! I flew to Prague from Budapest and was probably the only person who would do that. Everyone takes the train, no one flies apparently. The flight was 5 or 6 hrs shorter than the train ride but about $40 dollars more costly.

I got to Prague and immediately checked in to my airbnb place. I realized the place was located up a flight of dreadfully long stairs from a strip club but the rest of the neighborhood was decent. I forget which neighborhood I was in.

Prague is definitely a beautiful city. There’s so much history. You can spend two days just wandering around Stare Maestro and explore the farmer markets, the big clock, the night clubs (Roxy and James Dean) nearby, rooftop restaurants, the sexy looking Charles Bridge, the cute shops all around, and etc. You can also take the tram/bus all the way to the top of the hill to explore the big castles. This city is absolutely stunning! BUT, there’s a few things that threw me off course:

1. People kept trying to rip me off (maybe because I looked like a lost American or something???)
2. Got charged to use the restrooms even in some restaurants
3. Not a fan of the food there

This is my opinion. Maybe yours is totally different, but overall, Prague was a cool place to check out.

My next stop is Berlin!

A Week in Finland!

What brought me to Helsinki, Finland??? My close and dearing friend Nils. A proud Finnish he is, he was able to convince me to come visit his homeland. I booked a one way flight from San Francisco to Helsinki for the next month (no return flight booked!). Packed my bags, rented out my room, and had a sweet farewell party with family and friends, then I up and left for Europe right after. The flight cost me about 550 USD, and it took 16 hrs to get there via Finnair (great airline by the way).

Once I got to Helsinki, I realized everything reminded me of Ikea. Found out their main specialty is industrial design so that explains it. The city overall is cold of course, cozy for some reason, and quiet. The people there seem a bit more shy compared to loud Americans and incredibly good looking (well dressed). Gladly, I had a friend who introduced to the locals and showed me around town to all the cool spots.

We went everywhere: shopping center, terraces with views of Helsinki, outdoor cafes that had a fireplace along the frozen baltic sea, tech company parties that party HARD lol, and many affordable beautifully decorated restaurants. The food in Finland is definitely delicious! Enough said, I want to talk about the best part now and that is the finnish sauna.

Thank god I have an amazing friend who invited me to his summer home that had a sauna. Nothing feels better than to hangout in a hot steamed sauna during freezing cold weather, but that wasn’t it! It’s not a complete finnish experience until you dip into the frozen baltic sea. That’s right! I did it. It looks like a tough one to do but it was actually the most exhilarating and refreshing feeling ever!

Would I come visit Helsinki again? YES!

The Planning for…West Coast Roadtrip Extravaganza

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Back to the topic of West Coast Roadtrip Extravaganza!

Here I’m going to walk you through how I planned the 2-week long trip from San Francisco, CA to Vancouver, BC. For the two weeks of traveling, I can say that I spent a little over a thousand bucks. This includes everything. Not too bad but I could have saved a little more with more careful planning. Learn now to do better next time around.

Here’s how we did it:

Car Rental: We rented our 4WD from Avis. This was the most affordable option we can find. Avis also allows their cars to be driven into Canada. Plus, we were able to get a discounted rate with a free upgrade from a bunch of promo codes listed on their website. The total cost of the rental for the 2 weeks came out to be a little under $700. Sweet deal!

1. From San Francisco, CA to Medford, OR
Drive time: 5.5 hrs
We stayed here for one night through airbnb.com. The cost of the airbnb place was around $50 for the night. We got an entire cottage to ourselves which was nice. In the evening, we went to one of Medford’s popular bars called 4 Daughters Irish Pub on a Monday night. There were plenty of folks playing darts, shooting pool, and others hanging around the digital fireplace sipping their drinks. It’s definitely a cozy and fun bar to check out if you’re around the area. During the day time, we drove another 1.5 hrs away from Medford to check out Crater Lake National Park. What a snowy and semi-slippery drive it was, but afterall, the lake is absolutely stunning. Definitely worth the hassle getting there.

2. Medford, CA to Portland, OR
Drive time: 4.5 hrs
Oh Portland! We stayed at a friend’s place for 2 nights. We love you Paul! What a great friend he is. He introduced us to tons of bars and restaurants that were usually the basement of some house. Sounds strange but it’s actually the up and coming scene in Portland. I remember we stopped by a famous Vietnamese restaurant called Pok Pok (also belonging to a house). Everything we ordered was freaken mind blowing. Fried chicken was my favorite. Most of the time we were there, we biked around town. The wind was freezing cold but it was a great way to explore many parts of Portland, which includes visiting Burnside Skate park. The folks there were uper friendly.

3. Portland, OR to Seattle, WA
Drive time: 3 hrs
Seattle! I left my heart in Seattle…I swear. Originally, we were only supposed to spend 2 nights there but I think we stayed for 3 nights. We stayed at City Hostel that is conveniently located on a busy street where there are tons of bars, restaurants, clubs, etc. The district is called Belltown. It was around 30 bucks per night to stay at the hostel. I met many new friends from Australia, Brasil, and Switzerland during my stay there. I had a blast. Many restaurants in Seattle have happy hour all day long which means you’ll be served great food for a good price (I’m comparing this to San Francisco price). Restaurants I often ate at is Japanese Cocina and Local Pho. Affordable and delicious. As for the night life, Capitol Hill is where all the parties are at. This location has a little mix of everything. Other than that, we explored the “gum wall”, public market where the original Starbucks started, Columbia Tower for the view, Space Needle, and so forth. O by the way, free parking can be found in the residential area behind the Space Needle.

4. Seattle, WA to Vancouver, BC
Drive time: 2 hrs
Vancouver is absolutely stunning. It is a huge city! It’s very clean, full of new condominiums, and everything is so convenient. We stayed for 4-5 nights. The first night we stayed at Samesun Hostel for around $35 per night. The rest of the nights we stayed at an airbnb location near Stanley Park for $50 per night (split between my friend and I, it was more affordable than the hostel). If you’re in Vancouver, check out Robston Street! There are many cool shops there with beautifully lit up trees lining up along the street. We also stopped by Stanley Park, Lion Gate Bridge, Museum of Anthropology, English Bay, Yaletown, and Chinatown. There are many many great asian restaurants in Vancouver. Theie Dim Sum will make you touch the sky. Unfortunately, we did not get to visit Whistler and Capilano Suspension Bridge. The last 3 days of our trip kicked our asses. Yup, we caught the cold flu. One more thing to keep in mind, parking is a problem in Vancouver, just like any other busy city. Every parking space is either metered or restricted to limited hours.

Anyhow, I hope this helps if you’re thinking about a west coast road trip! It was definitely a great and affordable way to go out of the country for a little.