The transition from Bali to Vietnam was quick compared to our transition from the US. We had one short layover in Ho Chi Minh City, in which we caught our first glimpse into Vietnamese culture. I’m not going to lie, I was worried. Balinese people are so soft-spoken, gentle, and kind. This was not the feeling I was picking up from the HCM airport. The lady checking in our luggage was slightly terrifying. The Vietnamese people seemed to have a sharpness to them that we had not really seen before, in Bali nor the Pacific Northwest. As our time went on, I realized it was similar to the east coast/west coast kindness I’ve heard of existing in the US. The Vietnamese people have a bold brashness to them. They will always give you an honest answer if you ask a question, even if it’s not exactly what you want to hear. They will also go far out of their way to ensure you are well cared for.

We hired one driver while in Hoi An, who happened to live about five minutes from our Airbnb. His wife owned a clothing shop in a busy market. We visited several times and were treated like family by many of the women working there. While I was trying on clothes that I had tailored, the kids were led away and given chairs, water, and even banana and Nutella pancakes when they mentioned they were hungry. The women never let me pay them for the things they provided to the kids either. I did have to keep an eye on Jack, as they kept teasing him trying to convince him to come home with them and become their son-in-law.

Vietnam has much better infrastructure than Bali. The roads were wider and well taken care of, the traffic wasn’t bad at all, and the bridges were beautiful. I sent everyone for haircuts and they were absolutely fantastic. The girls were very big fans of the 30+ minute shampoo and head massages they got before the haircuts, as well as getting their nails done with me. There were several theme parks nearby, lots of tourist activities, lovely cafes, a variety of artisan classes, and so much amazing food. The more developed countries certainly have their perks.

One of the drawbacks I noticed in the Hoi An/Da Nang area, was that there was nothing to compare to the art of Bali. It had a much more sterile feel to it, similar to the US. We did visit a marble carving gallery that was full of stunning things. None of it seemed to embody the culture the way the Bali carvings and architecture had.

Marble Mountain was one of the places that we visited that left me in awe. There are many caves with many different shrines inside them. It was very cool to see how many different religions were being practiced right next to each other in the same spaces. I have always felt most spiritual in natural spaces. Instead of tearing down what most religions would say was created by a god or gods to put up a man-made building to worship said god(s), they used the natural space to do so. There were Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Confucianist, and local religious shrines all inside the same caves. I found it to be a beautiful thing.

We had a lot of fun in Vietnam and, though we have a long list of places we would like to see, it absolutely goes on the list of places we would return to.

Goodbye Vietnam, you’ve been fun. I leave a piece of my heart here for always.