Xin chào
Welcome to Vietnam ☺️ Strap on your Andes helmet, and allow me to whisk you away to a sea of honking scooters alongside fresh earth, golden rice fields, and copper pod trees to charm you with their beckoning sway.
Scents of savory fried tofu and sweet milk flower will fill your nose once we reach the heart of Hà Nội. Be careful to not burn your calves or kick any passersby as you dismount the scooter parked on the sidewalk in front of Café Giàng. I’ve made both of these mistakes.
We’re at this café to try the famous cà phê trứng. This is a special egg coffee invented in the 40’s during a time of necessity. When there was no cream available, a man named Nguyen Giàng whisked together a combination of eggs and sugar.
Struggle meals often stick. Not only did this creation suffice for the time being, it also became one of Vietnam’s most beloved delicacies for years to come.
At about 100mg of caffeine per cup, Vietnamese cà phê is much stronger than American coffee. Coffee shops are an impressive social component of Hà Nội’s thriving community, and often stay open until 11 p.m, or just never close. People are happy to gather for coffee well into the late hours of the night.
The most delicious and popular coffees to try are cà phê trứng, along with cà phê sữa, coffee with condensed milk, bạc xỉu, white coffee with lots of condensed milk, cà phê dừa, coconut coffee, and the recent but iconic cà phê muối, which is salted coffee with a hint of caramel.
On my first day in Hà Nội, I checked into a hostel and walked around Hoàn Kiếm lake. A very young Vietnamese girl spotted me out as a foreigner and asked if she could join me on my walk to practice her English through conversation.
I’m like, child, where is your mother?
This girl spoke perfect English because after school, her mother made the two-hour drive by scooter each day from their village to Hà Nội for “English Lessons”. These lessons involved a hunt for approachable foreigners to speak with, and her mother safely observing from a distance. Her mother did not speak English, since they lived too far away to interact regularly with foreigners.
Over six generations ago, my family lived northeast of Hà Nội, in the Bắc Ninh Province. While Southern Vietnam only has two seasons, Northern Vietnam is home to all four. Hence, falling leaves and Autumn poetry.
The middle section of Vietnam is the most difficult place to live because of their monsoons from September to April. Northern Vietnam uses a 6-toned language, while Southern and Central Vietnam have 5 tones and varying dialects.
Vietnamese language is adaptable, and it boasts special meanings and imagination. Over time, it has been influenced by Chinese, French, and English.
The very landscape is full of legends and stories that connect history with symbolism. According to my Grandma, Ba Thuy, Hà Nội is the central city of the North, based between three rivers. Hà means “river”, while Nội is “middle”. It is surrounded by River Đáy River Hồng And River Nhuệ.
During the third dynasty, King Lý Thái Tổ saw a flying dragon and named the capital of Vietnam “Thăng Long”, “Rising Dragon”, for this reason. The dragon flies west from Hà Nội, over Bắc Ninh, and to Hạ Long Bay. For this reason, “Hạ Long” means “landing dragon”. Naturally, I followed the flight of this dragon and found myself in Hạ Long Bay.
I wondered if my ancestors spent their time here. There was not much development so it may have looked the same. I felt glad to experience a natural, undeveloped Vietnam. The biggest cave discovered here is called Son Dong, which is three caves beyond Hạ Long Bay.
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On my upper right-hand side, I noticed the rocks look like feet dangling off the cliff.
When I returned to Ha Noi, different family members took me to their favorite restaurants and cafés. My cousin Tanh took me to the Lý Club. I found this restaurant to be the most interesting because it serves as a French Vietnamese cafe in the morning, a Latin American club at night, and the very hospital my Uncle was born in long ago.
My Aunt took me to a café that used to be her house. She got me three different drinks: milk bubble tea, chia seed lemonade, and cà phê sữa; I liked them all a lot.
I made my way to the Múa caves by rowing through green fields of baby rice. Since it wasn’t quite rice season yet, the young green stalks were harvested to make cơm, a rare Vietnamese dish, and piled near the crops.
My great-Grandfather was an engineer for the very train you’d take to travel across Vietnam. He is among the first group of Vietnamese engineers. The railroad ran from the North to the South, and Cambodia to Laos. During that time, his wife and family moved with him from North to South, and then Laos and Cambodia all throughout the time spent working on this railroad.
From Hà Nội, I visited the surf in Đà Nẵng and the old village of Hội An.
I ended the trip in Bà Nà (Lady Ponagar) Hills before leaving for Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City was once called Saigon. There’s a noticeable political and linguistic difference between terms used by the old and young generations in HCMC. The Northern government named Ho Chi Minh City after the old president, because his strongest desire was to unite the country.
I ate incredible food in Ho Chi Minh City because I made it my mission to find everything that my Grandma would buy from the markets. This included bánh xèo, bánh giò, bún chả, bánh cuốn, xôi đậu phộng, cơm tấm, xôi khúc, nước mía, bánh giầy, giò lụa, and even bánh chưng, which I had on Vietnamese Independence Day.
I ventured out to visit Củ Chi Tunnels, and learned about the strategies that were in place for the Vietnam war. It was common for familes to crowd into their home’s 4 sq meter bunker when they heard bombs dropping. Since the Vietnamese could escape through the Saigon river, Củ Chi was chosen as the prime location between Saigon and Cambodia.
Tunnels were dug by hand with no electricity, and the Ho Chi Minh trail was long, stretching from North to South. There were 16,000 gorilla forces and 5,000 of them were women.
I thought about how babies were born in these tunnels. People tried not to enter the fighting zones or go out at night. War changed the peaceful countryside of Củ Chi. Above these tunnels 60 years ago, my Grandma had become established with her laundry business and prepared to move my family to O`ahu.
My Grandmother is Thuy Thu-Lam Nguyên, the first Vietnamese concessioner with PX . She wrote a book about her life, “Fallen Leaves”, printed by Yale University a few years ago for the students to study about Vietnam.
Returning to Củ Chi, now that the war is over, I saw that there are still many hazards and death traps in the well preserved tunnel. It is a reminder of the privilege I live in to not witness the war crimes my family did.
I used my privilege to visit Vietnam as an appreciative tourist, while many of my elders who fled during the 40’s are unable to return because of their PTSD.
I didn’t know what to expect in Vietnam. I was afraid that I wouldn’t resonate with any of it because I am only a quarter Vietnamese. But walking in the footprints that my Grandmother left only a few decades ago sparked a deep gratitude in me.
I plan to get my Bachelor’s degree and some TESOL classes under my belt by spring 2023. The dream is to graduate on my birthday, May 8, and move to Vietnam to teach English for a year before graduate school.
So that’s my future. It’s incredible where study abroad has lead me after saying yes to every opportunity that came my way.
Presently, I am safe n sound in Colchester, England and spending my Autumn term at the University of Essex. For the first time, I get to watch the leaves change color as I take classes, begin my next blog, participate in clubs, and create my Gilman Scholarship community project.
Stay tuned to learn more about the University system in England, because this really is a great school and I’m already enjoying my classes and societies so much.
