S5-E1-Vietnam Visa updates and Land Travel tips taking in Phan Thiet Hue and Quy Nhon S5-E1-Vietnam Visa updates and Land Travel tips taking in Phan Thiet Hue and Quy Nhon Episode 01 S5-E1-Vietnam Visa updates and Land Travel tips taking in Phan Thiet Hue and Quy Nhon 00:00 / 49:10 We kick off this New Show and the beginning of Series 5 with some exciting news regarding E-Visa entry to Vietnam being extended from 30 to 90 days. Stay tuned for more news as it comes through, however it starts 15th August. Now on with the show. We invite you to sit back, relax, and embark on an exciting journey through Vietnam by train as a wonderful way to explore Vietnam overland. We'll not only explore the beautiful landscapes this country has to offer but also introduce you to various overland travel options available in Vietnam. By hopping on and off a train, you can experience the country in a rewarding and cost-effective way while connecting with locals in their own backyards. Our guest today is Simon White, an expert in bilateral business between Australia and Vietnam. Despite his professional background, Simon is a passionate advocate for Vietnam's travel scene. He loves discovering new venues, sampling street food, and exploring local food markets. Together, we'll delve into the option of booking just the first couple of days upon arrival and then improvising the rest of your trip. We'll discuss how easy it is to utilize local transport, such as Grab, to get around and the joys of strolling through towns, trying local cuisine, and discovering hidden gems down local alleyways. Simon will share his experiences in various locations, including Hue, Phan Tiep, Quy Nhon, and Saigon. [00:00:56] Visa changes in Vietnam. [00:13:12] Train travel in Vietnam. [00:16:31] $10 all-you-can-eat seafood. [00:24:04] A luxurious eco resort. [00:31:31] Exploring Vietnam's rich history. [00:35:53] Get a local SIM card. [00:38:19] Grab a motorbike experience. [00:42:25] Vietnam's different times of day. [00:45:44] Amazing food experiences in Vietnam. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

5497c6da-0f62-4f67-8da4-fe3c637ff35dTravelling Vietnam for the first time? What About Vietnam S1-E09 Vietnam Travel – First Impressions Kerry Newsome : Xin chào and welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast. My name is Kerry Newsome and I am your host. Today we're going to do something a little bit differently in the sense that I wanted you to meet someone to talk about first impressions of Vietnam. It's a little bit hard for me to do that now because obviously traveling back and forth over many, many years, there's probably a big chance that I have become a little bit desensitized to some things and maybe don't notice them as apparently as they are for a newbie to the country. I'm really delighted to have Meghann on the program today, as her and Zach came to Vietnam in March of 2025 to do the Son Doong Cave Trek, which is a marvelous thing to do, a highly skilled thing to do for, you know, I don't, I wouldn't put that in the barrel of, you know, just something for the average bear. So, you know, they're skilled trekkers, they've done that before and, you know, they've got experiences to draw on to do it. But we're going to hear more about from Meghann’s point of view, just those first few hours, the first few days you know, traversing the traffic, ordering food, meeting some wonderful people, you know, getting their take on Vietnamese war history and understanding and appreciating the Vietnamese and their culture of forgiveness and just, you know, really starting to immerse themselves into the country and get a feel for the region, especially of Phong Nha, where I think they got to, you know, spend some quality time with some locals. Meghann is very honest and open in her sharing. She's got a delightful story, which you have to hang on for till the end, about souvenirs to take home. So, well worth the wait. But, you know, I put this in the Season 1 series because it's part of what I think you as a first-time traveler will get some benefit from hearing because it's not talking about Vietnam of old, it is talking about some of the aspects of Vietnam as it sits today. And I can't do that effectively without someone like Meghann who you know, coming from the US, coming fresh into Vietnam and Southeast Asia. You know, Meghann can do that justice where I can't really do that. But it was great to share with her and remember some of the aspects that I found, you know, way back in 2007. So, you know, sit back people. I've put a link to the blog that Meghann and Zach put together called The Grah Life, so you'll see that in the show notes that you can see some of their other adventures as well. Sit back, stay tuned, there's a great show ahead. Let's say hello to Meghann. Hi, thanks for having me. Maybe give us a little bit of background to yourselves, yourself and Zach, and yeah, we can take it from there. Meghann Grah: All right. So we are travel bloggers under, we call ourselves The Graw Life. It's a play off the good life using our last name. And we just have a love for the outdoors and inspiring others to get out there and try new things. And we're based in Washington State, so we are American. And Vietnam was like a very big, big trip for us. Kerry Newsome : Meghann, tell us the year that you went to Vietnam for the trip. And I know you did Son Doong, and I'd love to talk to you about that, but we probably won't get that in this show. But what year did you go? March of 2025. Wow. So, nice and fresh. Fabulous. Let's roll it back. Let's talk about your first impressions of Vietnam. And you can be blunt, you can be open, but I want you to share what your first impressions, the city that you landed into, your flight to there, because I have a lot of US clients. So, you know, Share away. Meghann Grah : Okay, so we flew in and out of Hanoi, and I'm not sure if it was the 20 hours of travel, but when we arrived, being in the city was just very overwhelming, very overstimulating. I was pretty tired of planning by the time we got around to booking lodging, so I took recommendations from a friend about where to book lodging in Hanoi. We went to the Old Quarter, of course. And they recommended this Airbnb on a street that closes on weekends and becomes a walking street. I was like, perfect. We're going to arrive on Friday. It'll be nice and quiet. And I had read that a lot of lodging is really noisy. So I was like, OK, even if it's not as noisy as other places, it's still going to be a little quieter if the street closes. And then we arrived. And they were having a celebration for International Police Day. I believe it was, there was like an entire stage set up that was like the size of a three-story building, like right outside the Airbnb. And they spent all of Friday practicing and doing sound checks up until midnight. And then at like 7 or 8 AM on Saturday, they started with huge drums. It was fine because we were waking up early that day to go to Hoang Bay, but it was just so funny because we were like, oh, like, you know, thinking like, we'll get a quiet Airbnb on our first night in Hanoi. And it was not quiet. I was going to say, um, I was lazy and I booked that Airbnb for the weekend that we left Hanoi to, like left the country. So that was our last Airbnb. I was thinking like, all right, it's still going to, you know, the street will still close to cars. Um, it'll be much quieter this time. There's not going to be a huge festival there. We got into town and could not figure out why there was just massive amounts of people outside of the building after it took us all day to figure out what was going on. But, uh, the building that's like on that end of the block was being demolished. or it was like set for demolition, I think later that month or something. Yeah, so everybody was going to take pictures and see the building one more time before it got demolished. So again, it wasn't quiet at all. Kerry Newsome: How do you explain that to people, that offense to your senses when you arrive into Vietnam? Do you think it's the motorbikes or do you think it's the sounds? Do you think it's just the chaos? Yeah. Do you think that's the overload? Meghann Grah: I think it's a little bit of everything, but it was also just like the amount of people there and everybody's on a motorbike versus like in cars. I've been to New York and there's lots of cars and lots of people. It seemed like Hanoi had more people and more motorcycles and maybe more noise too. So yeah, just more of everything. Kerry Newsome : Yeah. And as I said, I, uh, I'm bad because I, I don't really appreciate that enough for people. I think when I talk to people about their first time to Vietnam, I forget to ask them about those first impressions and to probably set the expectation for people that it is going to be you know, quite confronting about your lodging, where it is. And the other thing I think to add to this is that Vietnamese don't seem to notice it. You know, they don't understand space, like they don't understand the effects of whatever they do is going to affect another person. They don't seem to be able to moderate those situations for Westerners because it doesn't matter whether you're in a crowd or whatever, they can't conceive what would be upsetting you or what you would be struggling with or find difficult. And I know this because when I've traveled and I've had a guide and I've said something to the guide and said, like, why are all these people here? And he would say, you know, what people like, this is just kind of an ordinary average day. And I'd say, oh, okay. So, I'd have to kind of readjust my thinking. And that's why when you go out to some of the outer areas where, you know, you're in rural landscapes and things like that, you kind of breathe a breath of fresh air because you go, oh, okay, this is kind of more what I'm used to because there's more space, less noise and more nature to help offset the urbanization, I guess, of the city. How did you find getting around? Did you decide to just walk it and and kind of figure it out on your own? Or did you get a guide? How did you decide to navigate the landscape? Because you didn't have that long before you went to Halong Bay, did you? Meghann Grah: No, so we only had one night in Hanoi before we headed back to Halong Bay. So our trip was a little chaotic. I don't know if chaotic is the right word. I mean, I don't want to say not very well organized, But our whole trip was planned around when we were in Song Dong, the cave. So we flew into Hanoi, spent the night there, went to Hoang Bay, spent the night there, went to Ninh Binh, had one night there, then had to go back to Hanoi so we could catch a flight to central Vietnam to get to the caves, and spent two nights there. And it was just like a lot of ping-ponging around as much as like seeing as much as we could before we headed to the cave. Kerry Newsome : Direct flights because you would have had to get to Dong Hoi to get to Phong Nha caves and you would have had to go back to Hanoi to get the flight because that's the only connection that you can get because Phong Nha is sort of like it's relatively easy to get to but as long as you're on the main routes Let's talk about expectations versus reality in the sense of, okay, you're in Hanoi. How did you go crossing the street? How did you go ordering food? All of that kind of stuff. Meghann Grah: All right. We knew that crossing the street was different than here in the States. The traffic never stops and it goes every direction. I think the second time Zach crossed the street, he said, “I was born for this”. I love it. And meanwhile, I'm just saying, don't cross the street without me. And I'm like clinging to him like, wait for me. Cause I didn't like it, but he loved it. Kerry Newsome : I love that. I was born for this. Like I, because I'm, uh, I'm, I'm small, I'm quite short, And I mean, okay, I've got blonde hair, so I kind of stand out a little bit. But in the speed of the tracking, I've learned these really clever techniques about crossing a road. Because being small also, you can get easily missed walking across. So when I see somebody about to cross the road, be that a local or be that a couple or a group of people, I kind of jump in and join them just to create more bulk when you're crossing into that. And then my second technique is around picking my points. So there's no way I'm gonna cross five lanes or six lanes, et cetera. That's putting my life at too much risk. But maybe if I go further down the road, it'll be reduced to two lanes. And even though they might be merging, because there isn't lights or whatever, it means that there's less in that corner or less in that intersection. So then I can cross that with quite a good level of confidence. Meghann Grah : That's how I cross the street as well. And then both of us would also just try to be strategic around what vehicles were passing by. And if there was a larger car, you can kind of use them to block traffic for you in one way or another. So, yeah. But I did find that going with a group of people, whoever happens to be crossing, was the way that I felt most comfortable crossing the street. Zach was good to just go on his own. Kerry Newsome: Yeah. And because, see, the other interesting part about it is that people think, oh, there's cars there, so that gives it some sense and sensibility. It actually doesn't. The cars are the ones that can cause the most damage. And obviously they don't have quite the same agility as the bikes. The bikes often aren't going very fast. They're going probably about 40 K in some areas, maybe only 20 or 30 K. And plus they can stop, you know, like on a heartbeat where the car is bigger. The conversation I have with people around the people who drive the cars, is that some say people that are driving those cars are driving them like they're bikes, but being aware of the stream and the kind of car or bike or whatever that's coming down your way or coming towards wherever you are, this is kind of all happening in your brain at the same time, don't you think? You're picking your point, you're managing the whole situation around this would be a good time, this wouldn't be, let's wait. And so you're kind of adjusting to the environment without you realizing it, but it's kind of happening in the background of your brain. Meghann Grah : Yeah, definitely. I felt like it was, I wasn't ever so used to it that I wasn't realizing it. I was very much aware of being strategic and and choosing the right place and time. Kerry Newsome : And what happens with your brain once it starts adjusting to this, it also starts to become less sensitive to it. So you do become conditioned to it over time. You get into some kind of rhythm with it and it kind of calms down. I try to say to people, and we're going to talk about the food in a minute, but I try to say, just give yourself a few days. You will find there is, it might look like chaos, but it'll become organized chaos to you. And you will get to manage it so that it doesn't feel like such an affront every time you step out the door of the hotel. Would you say that's right? Meghann Grah: Yeah. Yes, definitely. And after you're there for a few days, you see how efficient the traffic is too. It's like, wow, everyone is getting to where they need to be and minimal delays, no stopping at stoplights. It's, yeah, it just flows. Kerry Newsome : And I like the, just the whole ease of it that you can get on the back of a bike. Like one time I stayed in a hotel and I wanted to get to a certain region. And it was kind of, oh, I could get an Uber and whatever. And I'm just chatting with the receptionist and I'm going, you know, I need to buy this. Where would I go for this and blah, blah, blah. She said, look, do you mind? I can actually take you. I'm finishing my shift. I've got a spare helmet. You can jump on the back. So literally, within minutes, I'm on the back of her bike. with the spare helmet that is from the other receptionist that's at the hotel. And then she's driving me through the traffic to get there and then pulls up right at, literally right in front of the glass door of the boutique that I wanted to go to. And I'm going, No parking station like two blocks away that you've got to pay with a machine to park your car or whatever. I'm going, I love this. A bit like Zach, you know, I was born for this. I'm going, I love this. This is, you know, kind of what really gave me a buzz. We're talking about, you know, ordering the food and things like that in Hanoi. How did you find adjusting to that? Meghann Grah : So I guess let's preface this. I have celiac disease, which means that I can't eat gluten, which is found in wheat and some soy sauce, stuff like that. So generally here in the US, I will look up a restaurant online and see what their menu is. you know, see if their hours say that they're open. Um, and just, just to know that I can like eat there. And, uh, so when we arrived in Hanoi, we did that and it's laughable now because the hours that restaurants say they're open on Google maps is not accurate like whatsoever. Uh, so we ended up just walking around and you find spots to eat, you eat, where places are busy, so food is turning over. Yeah, so that was my biggest thing. It was like, don't rely on Google to find restaurants. Just go walk and explore. And eating with celiac disease was really easy. One thing, you have to use very simple language. If I say, is this gluten-free, I'd get a weird look. Kerry Newsome : What are you talking about? Meghann Grah: Yeah, but if I said, is this rice or wheat? I would say like 75% of the time they'd say rice. I'm like, okay, cool. So it was very easy to eat having celiac. Kerry Newsome : What was your mainstay dishes as a celiac? What would be? Because I have the question come up a lot with people that have celiac or they want gluten-free or yeah. So this is really handy information, Meghann. Meghann Grah : Oh, good. I liked Bonsaio, the crispy pancake. Kerry Newsome: Love it. Meghann Grah: My favorite. To die for. Yes, it's so good. I think I ate that, I don't know, at least four times, if not more. Let's see. Oh, I think it's rose dumplings in Hanoi, or I mean, no, Hoi An. Kerry Newsome : Is that right? Rose dumplings? Yes, they're particular to that area, actually, the rose dumpling. Yes, I could live off of those. Meghann Grah: And yeah, just knowing that having dumplings at all is really cool and special because dumplings here in like the Seattle area almost always have wheat. So I haven't had dumplings in like 15 years since I became diagnosed. Kerry Newsome : So, because, yes, because I'm thinking a lot of what they make as far as like noodles are all rice flour. So that suits you perfectly, doesn't it? Meghann Grah: I honestly, I have not traveled anywhere that was like so easy to eat. A lot of pho, I loved that for breakfast. Yeah, just like spring rolls and stuff like that. Kerry Newsome : Yes, because it's good for vegetarians as well. Meghann Grah : We did a street food tour and it was really, really fun because we were trying things that we probably wouldn't have found on our own. and a lot of dishes, new dishes as well. But it also just gave us the confidence to try more street food and to be aware of what to look for. So I highly recommend that. It was really fun. Oh my god, we ate so much food. It was so good. Some of the bonseo we had on that street food tour, was better than the bon sale I found at a Michelin star restaurant later in the trip. Kerry Newsome : So in that, are you saying that it's probably a good idea to get on a tour or have a guide or whatever? Because I try to say this to people when I'm planning their trips. You don't know what you don't know. You don't know where you're going, whether or not it is the best place. It might say on Google. Do you really want to trust that? Meghann Grah : Yeah, I would say it's definitely worth it to book a food tour. you know, whatever kind of food tour you want. We wanted street food because that was like what we were most uncomfortable trying and wanting to learn about. And then our street food tour host also gave us lists of restaurants and dishes to try in the cities that we were going to next, which was Hoi An. And we would not have found one of the restaurants she recommended, like, you know, without her, you know, you walk into an alley and there's a restaurant there and that's like it was just full of Vietnamese people whereas like a block or two away it was restaurants on like the the main strip in Hoi An the night market street and those ones looked okay but they looked uh they were just obviously touristy and not the kind of experience we wanted And this restaurant was authentic. There were locals eating and obviously like great food. And our food tour host gave us specific dishes to try in each place. So we were like, okay, like, I don't know what that is, but it's on the list of food to try. So we have to do it. And that was really fun because we might not have eaten or tried those things had we not had that list to reference. What about seafood? Oh yeah. Gosh, we tried all sorts of stuff. There was a fish dish that we never caught the name of on the street food tour. When we were in Halong Bay, they served us lobster and shrimp. Kerry Newsome : It's amazing, isn't it? Back in Australia, lobster and crayfish is really expensive. I mean, it's good, but in Vietnam, it's just normal for people to order lobsters and crayfish. and it's so fresh because they've brought it in on the day. I love the food in Vietnam. Meghann Grah : The food is amazing and it's all so fresh. Here in the States, I'll buy groceries like once a week and you can tell that everything is, it's delivered that day. It was probably picked that day. And it's so fresh. It's a big difference. Kerry Newsome: It is. And I love how they use dining and having a meal together as a real celebration, like they really celebrate food. And you can understand from where they've come from over the years of hardship to really appreciate and there's a lot of gratefulness around food for everybody. So, you know, they do place a lot of emphasis and care about it and they love their food and they're really excited when you want to try it. And, you know, it's really a joy. How did you find just handling the pace and kind of, I guess, the social norms over there? Meghann Grah: I guess culture here in the United States is very busy, you're always on the go, you're always doing something. It was a huge contrast. The pace was very relaxed. It's normal to sit down at a restaurant for an extended period of time to eat your meal, or you can sit at a cafe with one drink for as long as you want. Yeah. We've been to Europe, so we've experienced that before, but it's still just as shocking experiencing it again after being out of that area for a while. So yeah, it was just very relaxing. And at first, it's hard to- Slow yourself down. Yeah, it's hard to slow yourself down and relax. But by the end of the trip, we were like, let's just go find a cafe and sit down and watch the traffic go by. And it was interesting because even though it was very relaxed and we had read that the culture was very go with the flow and timeliness is not emphasized or made into a big deal, like we had rides scheduled throughout the trip and every time we had a ride scheduled they were there like five minutes early so like they're very timely uh we had rides scheduled with um like different tour operators or guards yeah different tour operators and whatnot uh just because we had some some big rides so it was just interesting to have such like a relaxed culture but then like you know obviously you want your ride to be on time um we're like you know maybe maybe they won't be because the culture doesn't value timeliness as much but they were always early or at least on time like it was cool to be able to like depend on them when it was important but also to be able to like relax Kerry Newsome : If I think back to 10 or even 15 years ago, Vietnam had a much more relaxed approach to time. Schedules were flexible, delays were expected, and things just moved at a different rhythm. But today it's very different, especially in the major cities and key tourism areas. Vietnam's now handling a much higher volume of travelers with more organized tours, tighter logistics, and busier roads. As a result, operators have had to really sharpen up. Particularly the reputable ones have become far more punctual and professional in order to keep everything running smoothly and get everyone where they need to be on time. That's not to say it's the same everywhere. In a regional area, things can still feel very slow, more spontaneous. But in general, the country's pace has picked up and there's a stronger culture of time awareness than ever, ever before. So when Meghann talks about guides showing up early or tours starting right on time, that's not a fluke. It's actually a great reflection of how Vietnam's tourism industry is evolving and in many ways maturing. You do have to kind of pay attention, I think, to the local environment and get into the swing of that. Out of the places you visited, where did you spend the most time? Meghann Grah : Yeah, that was Phuong Nga. So our cave trip was Yeah, well, four days in the cave. It was like five days total. And then we had one extra day. We arrived one day early. So we had six days in Phong Nha. And the next place we stayed the longest was Hoi An. That's where we headed afterwards. And before the caves, we were in northern Vietnam and hitting up all the places. And we only stayed a day in each place. And it was exhausting. traveling between each place took longer than we anticipated. Google is not accurate again. I totally agree with you. I think if you're going to spend the time to get there, you should take a couple of days to enjoy it and get a sense of it. Kerry Newsome: The thing is, it takes you sometimes almost a big chunk of the day to get to the place. So you're arriving, you know, in the afternoon. So then you get the evening and then you get the day. But then at the end of that day, you're moving on and you go, God, you know, I just got here. Meghann Grah : The first half of our trip was too fast. And I, we loved getting to see Halong Bay and Ninh Binh. Um, but I like, we both agreed like, Oh, okay. If we would have had at least one extra night in each location, that would have been better. Kerry Newsome : And, and that's, I think, uh, the kind of, message I try to get to people about, you know, what you see on these websites and what you see. And even in some of the group tours where they're going, you know, it's like a bucket list of tick that box of, you know, Hanoi, Hoi An, Hue, Nha Trang, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, if you're doing all that in 12 days, it becomes a blur. People become exhausted. That's all they remember about the trip is the exhaustion, not the actual place. because they're kind of just seeing it through a very quick window. And I don't think it does the places justice either. Let's talk about climate, because if you've ever traveled in Vietnam, you'll know just how much the weather can shape your experience. Vietnam stretches a long way from north to south, and with that comes a lot of variation. You can be soaking up the sunshine in the south while it's still cool and misty in the north, or even caught in an early downpour somewhere along the central coast. For Meghann and Zach, they spend a good portion of their trip in Phong Nha, a stunning region known for its caves and lush landscapes. And they were there in March, which can be a bit of a transitional month. In fact, I was there 2024 and it was super hot, which wasn't characteristic for that time of year, but you get what you get. So, you know, March is not quite the dry season, not quite rainy, just that in between when things can shift quickly from warm and sunny to cool and damp. So, I was super curious, how did Meghann and Zac find adjusting to Vietnam's climate, you know, overall? And did their time in Phong Nha throw any surprises for them? Let's hear what Meghann had to say. Meghann Grah : Okay, so Zac does not do well in humidity, like heat and humidity. So, we chose to visit in March because, you know, in cooler climate, not too humid then. I think when we arrived in Hanoi, I think it was like really hot that weekend or something like that. I can't remember. It was like, yeah, or, oh, I think they had just had a heat wave and it was cold. Yeah. Um, but it was cold. So the locals were like bundled up and we're in t-shirts like, oh, this is too hot. Um, and I think it was 70 or It wasn't above 80, I don't think. But to us, it felt really warm. So it did feel like a heat wave coming from Seattle in winter, where it's no warmer than like 50 degrees in the winter in Seattle. That'd be warm. Yeah, it felt very hot to us. It still felt humid to us as well, even though it wasn't too horrible. So we had originally thought we'd spend all of our trip in northern Vietnam just so Zach wouldn't, you know, suffer in humid Vietnam. Spontaneously, I decided the last chunk of the trip after the caves, we'd go to Hoi An. I was like, you're just going to have to suffer. That's what we're going to do. Thankfully, they had a period of cool weather. Kerry Newsome : It was cold. I was there in March as well. It was cold. I had to buy a parka. It was freezing cold when I got there. It was early March when I was there. We were prepared. Meghann Grah : We had packed for all kinds of weather because the caves stay a certain temperature year round. So we needed warm layers for that. And then we were expecting warm temperatures. So we were totally prepared. We were really happy that it was cold while we were in Hoi An, but it was unexpected. Kerry Newsome : Yeah. I purposely don't go to Hoi An until I get that really nice temperature period, which is around March, April. this March, April of 25, it was really cold. Meghann Grah: Yeah, I did like plan that trip thinking, oh, we'll probably have a beach day. No, where are we going to the beach when it's this cold? So that did affect our trip. Kerry Newsome : If you were to talk to someone about their planning as a guide, what would you say about the North to the Central and talk to us a little bit about your Hoi An experience because Hoi An is getting a lot of traction these days and is becoming quite busy. That has a kind of a positive and a negative effect. So talk to us about the difference between the North and the Central area. Meghann Grah : Okay, so the first thing we noticed was the prevalence of English In Hanoi and the North, we were using Google Translate pretty often. If we got grab rides, they wouldn't speak English and yeah, so stuff like that. A lot of Google Translate. Kerry Newsome : Rural areas in particular, yeah. Meghann Grah : Yeah, and the farther we got, like down South in Vietnam, the more English was used and the more people knew English. So in Hoi An, we did not use Google Translate at all in Hoi An. And it was very touristy. Because it was cold, we didn't go to the beach. So it was like, there's a lot of shopping. So if you like shopping, go to Hoi An. Kerry Newsome : Tailoring in particular. Meghann Grah: Yeah, and we did get some tailoring done. So that was fun. And then we went to My Son's Sanctuary. Kerry Newsome : Marble Mountain. Meghann Grah : We didn't do Marble Mountain. The day that we would have done that, we went to My Son Sanctuary. And when we got back to town, someone was saying that it was foggy and they didn't see anything. So we were like, aha, we chose right. Excellent. But yeah, we just, it felt like Hoi An was much more touristy than like Phong Nha and Ninh Binh, even though like, Phong Nha and Ninh Binh, they have plenty of tourists there. But it seemed like the local towns catered to them less. In Hoi An, it's like everybody's trying to sell you souvenirs or food or whatever. And in Ninh Binh, you just got the local little grocery store, uh, tucked on the side of someone's house and all of the activities are very touristy and very popular, but it just felt different somehow. Kerry Newsome : It's a little shanty town. I mean, there's not much to Phong Nha at all. To me, it kind of, Phong Nha doesn't have any character of its own. It is there for the caves. It's the entry point to get on the boats and go into the caves and explore nature. To me, it's a nature town and you're going to be doing more things out on some bike rides and going up the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the caves and all of that kind of thing. The town itself is, it doesn't do anything for me, but the region, I love. I really love the region and there's lots of fun, the ducks. Did you do the duck stop? I probably didn't have time. Meghann Grah : We didn't, unfortunately, but we did ride bikes all over the place. Yeah, fabulous. Kerry Newsome : What would you say would be some of the things in your trip that you found the most challenging or the most difficult to overcome so that they can enjoy it more? Meghann Grah : I guess, yeah, just expecting it to be busy. And if you have a long travel day to get there, it took us about 20 hours to get there. So after that, you are going to be tired. Whatever city you land in, it is going to be overwhelming. And then just know that Yes, you're going to feel tired and overwhelmed, and then maybe the next day, that's when it starts to become much more fun. Kerry Newsome : So it's a bit in the planning? Meghann Grah : Yeah, and setting expectations. Just knowing if you have a long day of travel, it's going to be very tiring. Kerry Newsome : Is there any stories or areas that you feel are underrepresented that should be spoken about more? Meghann Grah : So we just talked about Phong Nha, but, and I agree, the town is very simple, but we felt like it was underrepresented just because there was so much history there. And that is where we spent the most time and got to, you know, chat with locals more so than anywhere else. So I definitely feel more connected to that area than elsewhere. It's just such a special area. The history with the American and Vietnam War is very intense for that area. If you look at a map that shows you what areas were bombed in the war, you will not see a spot that doesn't have a mark in that area. whole area was bombed. There's the Ho Chi Minh Trail that goes from Phong Nhat to Laos. We were told about how volunteers made that road during the war. They'd have scouts in what they called bird nests up in the trees. They'd send a signal like, there's a plane coming, which means there's bombs coming. the people working on the road would dive into little caves they had made in the side of the cliff to dodge the bombs. The plane would pass, bombs would hit, and then they'd come back out and continue working on the road to get supplies through that area. Kerry Newsome : It's amazing, isn't it? It just blows your mind. Yeah. I thought the same. Meghann Grah : told us about their fathers. Their father's job is deactivating bombs in the area. Kerry Newsome : Unexploded devices, yeah. Meghann Grah: And it's a career path to do that. There are still children and people finding bombs and landmines and getting hurt or killed from them today. Kerry Newsome: Or maimed. Meghann Grah: The history is very intense, and the people are so kind. Before we left for the caves, our guide is standing next to bombshells that are taller than I am. And, you know, showing us like these are bombs that were found here in Phong Nha. And they're like used as decoration, kind of, you know. But you can just tell that they're so proud of everything they've overcome. And they ended the conversation by saying, the war is over, we're happy now. Kerry Newsome: It's just so impactful. It is, it is. And I'm kind of glad, Meghann, that you got to experience that because I have as well. And it's quite, I don't know, I always feel quite moved by the capacity of the Vietnamese to forgive. They've had many an invasion of their country. They've had many countries try to take them over and yet they come back. And what's lovely about the country now, they've been without wars now for 50 years. So, you know, they've had some time to reinvent themselves, re-engineer themselves. So, some of the youth of Vietnam don't even really recognize some of the history. If you talk to some of them, they don't even know about the American war. They don't, you know, they kind of hear that from their grandfathers or their grandparents. So, you know, it depends what area that you're in. Some areas were more impacted from the other. You'll also get a different sense of it from the North Vietnamese to the South. The Southerners have another, you know, kind of voice on the subject. And of course, you know, a lot of vets come back to Vietnam to visit and kind of see the country and how it is at this, in 2025, in this era that they're living in. And, you know, it's remarkable how they have overcome and they're proud of their history and they're proud of their ability, I think, to overcome that. And I think a lot of that is to do with their religion. Also, most of the country is Buddhist. They just have a huge capacity and a wonderful spirit. And I always feel, I don't know, when I come back you know, to Australia and I see a lot of people whinging about stupid shit. I go, oh God, you know, like if you only knew how lucky, you know, we are to have what we have. Son Doong obviously is the queen of the tours. It is life changing as I've spoken to people. I've spoken to Howard Limbert on this show, who was one of the people that discovered Son Doong. So he was one of the British team of nine that actually stumbled upon it because it's not that old. My husband did the Tulane Cave Tour, which is kind of, it sits a little bit alongside the Son Doong Cave. I might even grab you on another time to talk about Sondung because it's pretty special. Anything you'd like to kind of add you know, like things you wish you knew about or, you know, that kind of thing. Meghann Grah : Yeah. I guess the last thing I'll mention is the best souvenir that we bought was a mixed bag of candy. And we just went to, I guess, I don't know what it's called in Vietnam, but we just kind of referred to it as like Candy Street. There's stalls with candy set out and they just have tubs. Kerry Newsome : Oh yeah, this is in Hanoi. Yes, yes. I have Candy Street and it's just one after another. Meghann Grah: Yeah, so we went to Candy Street and just filled up a bag and I think it They kept trying to get us to buy, I am thinking in pounds, a certain amount. And I think we bought like half of whatever they were suggesting. But just fill up the bag with anything that you think looks interesting because it's all going to be in Vietnamese or Thai or other languages. You have no idea what you're getting for the most part. So we just started filling the bag. After a little while, they started giving us samples, like, try this one. And we'd try it, like, oh, that one's really good. Take a handful of that. So when we got home, we shared that with our families. And we were thinking, this could be hit or miss. Either this is going to be really fun, or it's going to be terrible, and they're not going to like us. But it was really great. it was it felt like we got to share our love of travel of like trying new things and not knowing exactly what you're getting into um here at home it i think we got to share it with two different sets of people we thought like you know half a bag of candy is gonna last us like two weeks something like that no it lasted us like couple of days when we got home because everybody loved it. They were like, oh, I'll try this one. This one, you know, why is this one shaped like an orange? I don't know. Everybody loved it. It was really fun. It was a very interactive way to share our experience. Candy. Kerry Newsome : I have not heard that. That's, that's a new one, Meghann. Highly recommend. Candy in Hanoi. Yeah. Good to know. Any other advice you'd give people? Spend as much time there as you can. Okay, now tell people about your website. Meghann Grah : All right, so our website is TheGrahLife, it's T-H-E-G-R-A-H-L-I-F-E dot com, and you'll find us on social media under that name as well, on Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. And we've written about Son Doong, and Hanoi, and Everywhere that we've been to in Vietnam, we've got blogs on and packing lists and yeah, tons of information on Song Dong. So definitely look into that if you're going to hike. Kerry Newsome : And I really recommend people to visit their site. It's great. It's got some fabulous tips and I think it would be really helpful to anyone planning their trip. Thanks for being on the show. Meghann Grah Of course. Thank you for listening. Check out the Grah Life Vietnam here

S4-05 Nha Trang 10 best things 10 best things about Nha Trang you may not know Episode 5 S4-05 Nha Trang 10 best things 00:00 / 56:39 When looking for beachside locations in Vietnam, you are absolutely spoiled for choice. If you are looking for a beach side city with access to several beautiful islands; plus is known to have 300 days of sunshine, then you need to head to Nha Trang. What was amazing to find out from my guest Colm Hutchinson, an Irish local expat is, that it is the gateway to so much MORE. In the show Colm, who has been running his own digital media company, Halo Media since 2015, speaks to the changes that have taken place over the past 12 years, and how Nha Trang faired during the pandemic. Colm does a fantastic job in our interview as he speaks so fluently to the 10, actually 11 things, he thinks make Nha Trang such a special place. So, settle back for a super interesting show about this beachside paradise as we explore:- 1. 05.04 – The weather 2. 07.02 – The best beaches 3. 15.02 – Island hopping – walking on water 4. 16.01 – The Salt fields 5. 22.37 – Good time to visit after Covid 6. 24.26 – The culture – Explore Cham civilisation and pagodas 7. 26.24 – Biking about on a Vespa 8. 31.03 – Mud baths, good for the skin 9. 32.59 – Food – The seafood mecca 10. 42.35 – Golf – 3 challenging courses 20 mins apart 11. 45.09 – Cam Ranh – styles of accommodation + resorts and A SPECIAL 2 NIGHT STAY OFFER – More detail on the OFFERS page. Photos credit: Igor Imranshoev of Halo Digital Media Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

S5-E8 – Empowering the Traveller: In the fight against Human Trafficking S5-E8 – Empowering the Traveller in the fight against Human Trafficking in Vietnam Kerry Newsome: Xin chào and welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast. Now, while I love telling travel stories and introducing interesting guests on the show, occasionally I get the opportunity to delve a little deeper into Vietnam and maybe bring your awareness to a more human interest story of Vietnam. Today we're going to find out how some Vietnamese actually experience serious hardship and poverty and become more vulnerable to human trafficking. And while we are travelers, we may see things that we don't quite understand, or maybe we see them and think, oh, that doesn't look quite right, and we experience the poverty, we see it, we don't always know what to do about it. Do we give the beggar money or food? Do we report it? Who to? What impact can we really make to make a difference? My guest today is the lovely Kim Miller, and she's going to give us firsthand knowledge of Vietnam's struggle with human trafficking. I think you're going to be blown away when you hear the work that she's doing with a company called Blue Dragon, which is really out there trying to eradicate human trafficking. Plus, Kim herself needs our help to fulfill her dream. I'd like you to welcome Kim to the program as we talk some serious stuff, but some interesting stuff that I think is going to make your trip to Vietnam so much more richer, if that's the word. And I think it's going to give you a bit of a background and context to some of the things you're seeing. So let's welcome Kim to the program. Kim, welcome to What About Vietnam? Kim Miller: Thank you so much, Kerry. I've listened to so many of your episodes and as somebody who's lived and worked in Vietnam, I still find them incredibly interesting in learning about new places that I can visit and travel to and about the people and the culture. So I'm really excited to be talking to you today. Kerry Newsome: Oh, that's good to know. It's always nice to talk to people who listen to my podcast. That always warms my heart. Kim, look, you're an Australian girl. I know that you share your time between Australia and Vietnam. Tell us, you know, how you got interested in Vietnam in the first place. Like, what is it about Vietnam that captured your interest as a traveller? Kim Miller: I actually came to Vietnam to work before I'd ever travelled in Vietnam, which I think is fairly rare, a little bit different to how most people end up in Vietnam. I learned about Blue Dragon Children's Foundation where I work before I'd ever travelled to Vietnam. So I'd heard about it from friends, from people who'd worked and lived in Vietnam, and I'd always been intrigued. I'd always wanted to travel to Southeast Asia. But I hadn't actually travelled very much in my life. And so when I first came to Vietnam to work for Blue Dragon, it was very new to me. I was experiencing it all for the very first time. Kerry Newsome: That would have been quite pioneering, I would have thought. I mean, I know I first visited back in 2007. And, you know, people then thought, gosh, you know, that was brave. That was crazy, you know, going to Vietnam. Because as you and I would know, Vietnam has a kind of a history with us that we consider more in the view of the Vietnam War rather than it being a country. Would you say that's true? Kim Miller: Yeah, and I guess my experience of Vietnam really came from the people I'd known who were working there. In some ways, I'd expected to come to a country that was far less developed than what I found it to be. I came across for the first time in 2012 and moved across full-time in 2014. And so I guess, yeah, my image of what Hanoi in particular might look like was a lot less developed than what I found when I arrived. Kerry Newsome: Okay, so did you get a chance, and during your roles over there, did you get a chance to do some exploring in Vietnam? Kim Miller: I have. I definitely haven't done as much as I'd like to, and there is so much more to see. I've mostly seen towards the north, a little bit in the center, and I have been down to Saigon, down to Ho Chi Minh City for work and had a little bit of a chance to explore down on the Mekong Delta. I've been up to Sa Pa and, of course, Ha Long Bay, been down to Nha Trang and Dalat, and around some of the more countryside places, the rural parts near Hanoi, like Mai Chau is one of my absolute favourite places to go to get away from the city. Kerry Newsome: Yeah, it's a very interesting place too, isn't it? I went there with a friend who had sent me there on a trajectory to find and discover their textiles and some of the materials and things that they weave, some of their crafts and things like that. So, besides it being beautiful countryside, it was extremely interesting from that perspective. Kim Miller: Really interesting. Yeah, it was the first time that I'd seen the weaving happening and their five-coloured sticky rice was definitely a drawcard for me. I've been back a couple of times now in particular to try the sticky rice and the lake down the bottom of my toe as well. Mammoth, isn't it? Yeah, it is. I've done quite a bit of swimming there, much to the surprise, I guess, of the people, the homestay where I was staying. They hadn't seen people swim in that lake before, but I've spent a lot of time in that lake as well. I absolutely love it down there, Macho. Kerry Newsome: It's really come a long way too. Recently, I know that I think a fishing restaurant has been built there. It was being built at the time I was there, but it actually sits on top of a fishing farm. in the lake. Because you know the lake is huge to navigate, so they do a lot of fish farming. And this restaurant, you can't get any fresher fish. It's literally on the lake, on the farm. Kim Miller: Straight from the lake, delicious. That sounds amazing. Kerry Newsome: I know what I'll be trying the next time I'm there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. So, you know, like good segue into talk about food in Vietnam. Do you have any favorites? Like what would you suggest to travelers listening to the program and thinking about food? Kim Miller: Oh, look, I have so many favorites. And I'm not going to pronounce this correctly. I get in trouble for my friends and colleagues every time. Thank you. It's called Pho Chien Phong and it's kind of, it's only found in Hanoi, in one particular street in Hanoi. I kind of call it like the fast food of Vietnam. And it's basically fried squares of rice paper that bubble up like little pillows. And it's in this really interesting gravy with beef and tomato and onion. And it's quite rare in terms of the sort of food that I generally eat in Vietnam, which is so fresh and delicious. It's just like a real comfort food, especially great for in winter. So yeah, that's one of my favorites. And of course, you know, Bun Cha, Sunday morning chicken soup for Gar is, you know, to die for. And I'm very partial to a coconut coffee, a cafe soda as well. Kerry Newsome: Gosh; You're really my best friend now. That is my first go-to when I get to Vietnam. I just adore it. Absolutely. Kim Miller: Yeah, I made it my mission to try a few different places each time I go to try somewhere different to see if I can find a favorite, but I keep going back to one or two standards every time. Kerry Newsome: And if I was to ask you, you know, do you have any like favorite things you love to do? You know, my listeners are always asking for local advice and advice from travelers who've maybe just discovered a bit of a gem that's not on the on the map yet or you know is not sort of drowned out with tourists and that like do you have a a favorite thing you love doing or a place that you love going to that we could share with you know a hundred thousand or so listeners just to keep it between us you know it's just to keep my secret places yeah yeah i think Kim Miller: Ho Dong Do, there's a little lake Ho Dong Do, it's only about 90 minutes out of Hanoi and so it's kind of my favorite place to be able to get on the motorbike, just drive out of the city and I feel myself relaxing the further away I get and you know the further into the rice paddies you get and then you arrive at this beautiful lake, that's yeah, that's kind of my favorite just a weekend escape and I think I think people who kind of live in Hanoi tend to know it's there and head there, but I don't know of any tourists who've been there. I think because it might be a little bit challenging to get to if you didn't have your own transport maybe, but it's definitely one of my favorites. And how do you spell it? So it's H-O for lake, D-O-N, and then I think it's just D-O. Kerry Newsome: Ah, right. Okay. Good to know. Good to know. Because Hanoi is one of those places where, you know, trying to find somewhere just, you know, two or three hours away from Hanoi is a little bit challenging. I mean, you've got two hours now on the highway to Halong Bay. You're still three or four hours to Ninh Binh. I mean, I'm going to check out Yen Bai. I think it's called. It's about three and a bit hours out of Hanoi on my next trip. So, I'm always keen to find cute places or little escapes from Hanoi for people like that so that they know that, you know, that's kind of the time allotment because sometimes you can chew up a lot of time getting around Vietnam because you know, it's got some miles and not always the best roads. So, you know, finding the right transport is often challenging and you know, people are wanting to figure out, well, how many days have I got and how do I spread them about? And, you know, Hanoi is a really interesting city and very different, but, you know, maybe two or three days, four days, you're done and you want to do something, you know, sideline. So that sounds very, very interesting. I'll have to put some links, I think, to that in the show notes. Now Kim, I want to probably talk to you more now about Vietnam and the struggles that you and I have, you've certainly educated me more so recently in Vietnam. in regard to the poverty cycle and certainly where that leaves people vulnerable to human trafficking. So maybe for everyone, just to give us some context, maybe throw us some numbers. Can you give us some rough idea? I mean, the population of Vietnam is coming up to around about 100 million. they're saying now. And I've, you know, just in researching to do this show with you, you know, I'm, I'm hearing that there's over, over a million, uh, that are considered below the poverty line. I I'm, I'm thinking that's fairly short of the real number, but maybe give us some numbers around just, you know, what, how big the problem is, I guess. Kim Miller: I think, It's kind of telling that, so Blue Dragon has rescued just under 1,500 victims of human trafficking, people who've been tricked, lied to, and trafficked. And that, you know, is absolutely the tip of the iceberg. We've rescued people from every single province in Vietnam. And so I think it kind of shows just how widespread that problem is. We're not even just rescuing people from remote or rural areas, we are rescuing people from the cities and trying to protect people from the cities as well. And so I think whenever people ask for numbers about the number of people who are trafficked globally or in Vietnam and Really, the only number we can give you with absolute certainty is the number of people that we have rescued because there are so many people who are yet to be rescued or who we may never learn about or who may never return home safely. And so, yeah, I think those most telling numbers is just the number of people that we've rescued and the fact that it's from every single province around Vietnam. Kerry Newsome: And it's interesting that you mention about every province and city because I was to understand the little bit I do know that there was some concentration up in the north and certainly in the ethnic minority areas and where we find Vietnam's borders very close to China. Is that fair to say? Kim Miller: So that absolutely would have been the case before COVID. That was definitely true. Since COVID though, we've seen a very different scene when it comes to human trafficking. and people being tricked and trafficked from all over Vietnam. And they're being trafficked into different places as well. So at the moment, some of our most common rescues and our most challenging rescues are actually people who are being trafficked into, it was firstly Cambodia, and now also Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and they're being trafficked into forced scam compounds where they're being tricked into thinking perhaps they're going for a job, they're applying for a job where they'll be working in an office. Perhaps they think they're just going on a date with a boy that they've met. Maybe they think they're going for a job in a restaurant or a telephone shop, a phone shop in one of the cities. But they're being tricked and trafficked into these other countries where they're being forced to work as slaves. And so that where they're coming from now isn't just in those northern border regions. Although when we first started doing this work, we definitely did find that there were many locations along northern Vietnam where human trafficking was more prevalent than in other areas. Kerry Newsome: It's such a silent, killer and so hard to detect. I know I got involved with another charity called the Children's Education Foundation, and that's around sponsorship of girls' education. And getting close to these girls that I sponsored over the years and working with an interpreter, I was able to kind of get a feel for just how they connect and, you know, they connect like us. They use, you know, social media and things like that. And just how scarily easy it was for these girls to be impressed with connections and reach outs from people offering them jobs. And I would try to explain to them that they know nothing about those people. Those people have got no credentials. They need to research and be very cautious. But in their kind of their beautiful naivety and ability to believe everybody's kind of good and would do the right thing by them, they can so easily be misguided or caught up in situations that are just not what they appear to be. Has that been your experience too? Kim Miller: Absolutely, yeah. People who are looking for a better life, they're looking for a way to be able to care for their family. You know, we had one young mum who is living in Hazang. She has four children. And she was already living in absolute poverty when her husband had passed away. And so she was left with four young children too who were, you know, a baby and a toddler. And she had been talking to somebody on Zalo, a social communication app in Vietnam that's very popular. And that person had been talking to her about a job that she could go to if she could leave her children in the village with other people to care for them. She could go for this job where she would earn good money She could send money back to her children and she would be able to earn enough money to come back to her family. And she was really lucky. We were running part of our anti-trafficking strategies that we're developing anti-trafficking boards, which is groups of people who become experts in communities to run workshops to help people understand the tricks that the traffickers use. And just like what you were saying, ways that they can keep themselves safe, red flags that they can look out for. And in this workshop that she just happened to go to, she realized that the messages that she'd been getting were basically word for word what the traffickers had been using to trick people into going to Cambodia to work in these scam centers. And so it was just she was looking for a way to feed her children, you know, to be able to help those kids survive. And we have no doubt, had she gone, you know, she would never have seen those children again. But because she went, the really great thing, because she went to that workshop, we now know she exists. And so we were able to support her. Not only is she now safe from human trafficking because she understood the dangers of it and that, you know, that what was being offered to her as being too good to be true actually was too good to be true. But we were able to buy her a very pregnant cow, you know, healthy with veterinary teeth, Very valuable. Yeah, help her learn how to care for the cow. And then to have that income, to be able to have an ongoing income without needing to leave her children and leave her community. We're also helping to pay school fees for her children, as well as helping her with that emergency money to begin with. So it's being able to help people who are looking for a way to have a better life, who might take a risk. because they can't see a way of their life improving without taking that risk. It's really important to be able to help them stay in their community and not to have to leave and not to have to take those risks. Kerry Newsome: Yeah, and it's an interesting analysis to look at the traffickers as well as those trafficked. And I'm a follower of your founder, Michael, And just some of the blogs that he's written and the stories he's told about just how desperate the traffickers are, as well as the trafficked. You know, the hype in movies and things like that about it being, you know, all big business and flamboyant and, you know, like, it's not always the story. And as you say, some of these people that are suggesting that, you know, there's work to be obtained in Myanmar or there's work to be obtained in China. You know, it's better in Cambodia. These people are actually often known to these people that get trafficked. So, you know, it's scary that, you know, you can be that close to these people and the traffickers are thinking that they're going to make some extra dollars in a much easier fashion, without any concept of the slavery or the danger that they are actually putting these people through. I mean, some are, but some are fairly innocent, from what I've heard, that they don't actually know what concept they're selling, and when it turns out to go bad, it must be dreadful. Kim Miller: Absolutely, yeah, and that was one of the things like when we started, you know, we knew at Blue Dragon that we needed, doing the rescues is fine. We have social workers, psychologists, lawyers, we have a team of people that can really care for survivors when they come home and help them to be able to rebuild their lives. But we can't change what's happened to them. And so we needed to find a way to be able to end human trafficking and to be able to keep people safe in the first place. And that was one of the things that we realized is that we knew a lot about the victims of human trafficking, but we needed to know who the traffickers were. And we did. We found that the profile of a human trafficker in Vietnam is very similar to the profile of a victim. living in absolute poverty, low education levels, people from ethnic minority communities are often overrepresented. And again, it's finding ways, it's where these anti-trafficking workshops and the anti-trafficking boards that have been set up, their goal also is to be able to stop people from being vulnerable to poverty, because then we're going to have less people also not only taking a risk that ends up with them being trafficked, but it also stops people from becoming traffickers, from doing something that maybe they might not ordinarily do, but to be able to improve their own lives as well. It's such an important thing. It's such an important thing that we're looking at both sides of it. Kerry Newsome: I mean, education is just so invaluable in this situation, isn't it? For these people to get access to it, to acknowledge that this kind of deception is out there and to be mindful, not to have that open heart, which many of the Vietnamese have, to new things and opening up their homes to people. As travelers in particular, you find yourself at the generosity of many people that have very little and they give so much. And to then discover that they're being exploited in this way, to me, it just kills me. You've told us that you do share your time between here and Vietnam. So tell us what you yourself do in Vietnam and then we'll lead into that great swim that you've got coming up. Kim Miller: Yeah, look, I'm in a really unique role at Blue Dragon. I often say I think I've got the best job in the organisation. My role is that I started in Vietnam at Blue Dragon as the school's coordinator. So effectively, I work with schools and students and teachers and supporters of Blue Dragon all around the world, and I help them understand the issues, the cycle of poverty, the ongoing cycle, human trafficking, modern slavery, child slavery, and helping them understand the ways that people become vulnerable and the things that we can do to help them lift out of that poverty and be less at risk of human trafficking. I also work with our supporters and our business supporters and our friends in Australia. And so my role is kind of that dual role of working with people all around the world of school age and students, but also working with our donors and supporters here in Australia. Kerry Newsome: In getting back to where I started in the program in talking about travelers, and I'm one of them, so when I'm traveling to Vietnam, I do come across situations where I think, oh, I don't know, that just doesn't look right, or I just get, you know, my antennas go up and I just feel like that person is being forced to do something against their will, or I don't know. It's very hard to gauge, as we've just said, that deception-wise, there's some amazing tricks in their trade on how they can represent themselves. But if you are a traveler, we talked about before we recorded this show about an opportunity for how travelers can make a difference? What are some of the things that we can do to help this process or aid this process other than, you know, straight donations? And we get to that and we're certainly going to get to where we can help you. But just as we're out and about, you know, is there anything that we can do or we should take a note of? Kim Miller: Yeah, absolutely. There was one day I was coming back from a school that I'd been speaking at in Hanoi and it was in between the two, there were two main lockdowns in COVID in Vietnam. And it was in between those two lockdowns. Kids had been able to go back to school for a little while. And I was riding back to the Blue Dragon Center. It was about 11 o'clock in the morning, a super hot day. And sitting out from the curb, about a meter and a half from the edge of the road, was a little girl sitting, holding a basket, as you often see people living in poverty do in Hanoi to earn money. And in that basket, she was selling things like toothpicks and chewing gum and tissues. And she positioned herself kind of in the middle of the road so that hundreds and hundreds of motorbikes had to ride around her. And as people walked past or as they rode past, they were often dropping some money, generally only one or two thousand dong, five thousand dong in her basket. And I stopped, she was a little girl who I had seen before, and we were very close to the Blue Dragon Center at the time. I could actually see the Blue Dragon Center from where we were. And I stopped to sort of find out what she was doing. And she very proudly pulled out a wad of money from her pocket. And, you know, in real terms, it might've been $5. It might've been enough money to buy her lunch and to buy her a drink that day. Um, and I sort of, I said, okay, all right, come on, let's, let's go to blue dragon. It was nearly lunchtime. So I said, let's, let's go to blue dragon and we'll have some lunch. And she said she couldn't go because she had had problems with her teeth. And she'd been told that day by her mom that she wasn't allowed to go to blue dragon and she wasn't allowed to go to school because she really needed to go to the hospital to get her teeth fixed. I kind of realized that she wasn't going to go with me at that time, so I went and bought us both a bottle of water and I sat down on the side of the road with her, which meant that people stopped giving her money. And in doing that, she realized, okay, I may as well go with Kim to Blue Dragon because nobody's going to give me money now anyway. And of course, when we got to Blue Dragon, I was able to talk to the social workers who were able to go to her mom, find her mom, take her to the hospital, you know, get her mouth fixed to be able to pay for her education, to make sure that they had somewhere safe to live. And it just really, you know, it really brought home to me in a really visceral way that all of those people who gave her that little bit of money on their way past, It was very generous and kind of them, but what it did was maybe help her survive with a bottle of water and some food for that day, but it didn't help improve her life. It didn't help her go to school to be able to get out of the cycle of poverty or to have somewhere safe to sleep that night. And one of the things that we can do as travelers that I wish more people knew about, and we can do this anywhere in the world, is take a pin, pop a pin, open up your phone, go to Google Maps, put out a pin, and remember where you are. Make a few little notes for yourself about what the child's wearing, where they are, if you can find a street sign that's even better, and then go to Google and find out who is a charity or an organization, a children's charity, that's working with children and homeless children in this area. Simply, if anybody had gone straight to Google on that day and they'd messaged homeless child Hanoi, Blue Dragon would have been the first thing that came up. By sending a message to us just through our social media, which again would have come up very easily, would have been one of the first things that come up. We could have had a social worker out to see her within five or ten minutes of her being there. We have a team of, we call them outreach workers. They're basically social workers who are out on the streets every day and through the night. to look for street kids, to look for vulnerable children, and to be able to help them, not just in that moment, but over the long term. And it's something that I know that we can do anywhere in the world, is just, you know, open up your phone, do a Google search, send a pin to show, you know, people, the social workers or the organization where the child is, and you'll be able to find somebody who'll be able to help them, not just for the moment, but for the long term. Kerry Newsome: And you know, I think that information is invaluable. I mean, I don't know how many times I would have loved to have had that initiative to do something like that. I think for me, getting my head around just the fact that organisations like yours, like Blue Dragon, exists and has the capacity to offer this kind of assistance is just truly amazing and inspiring. And I think for travellers, I think in their hearts, from people that I talk to, I think, you know, they would like to know what they can do if those circumstances you know, coming to their experience of the country. Because basically, you know, no one wants to see that happen, but they're not really sure where to get the support. I mean, even back onto the human trafficking, just I think in earlier years, because I was involved with Vietnam in, you know, kind of the early 2000s, I don't think I thought that Vietnam had strong enough penalties against people that did these kinds of things. But, you know, that's changed dramatically and those penalties have become quite severe now. So, you know, you can get 20 years plus imprisonment for that. So all of that has kind of spurred on, I guess, a greater want and desire for people to become more active and play a more active role. in supporting charities like Blue Dragon in doing what they're doing, because this kind of work is just so important. Let's talk, Kim, now about what your dream is. And I mean, you've already done some great fundraising work for the charity, but you might like to tell everyone about what you've got planned for July. Kim Miller: Yeah, it's a little bit crazy. The thing that I love most about what I'm doing is that anybody can do this in their own form. I'm taking something that I love and that I'm passionate about and I'm using it to do something great, to do something positive in the world. And so I am a swimmer, an ocean swimmer. I've only been able to say that since about December 2020. But yeah, I love ocean swimming and over the last couple of years I've started swimming further and further and I have the opportunity in July this year to attempt to swim across the English Channel from England to France to raise money for Blue Dragons. So I'm raising money for Blue Dragons. anti-trafficking programs. When I talked about those anti-trafficking boards and the sustainable income initiatives, paying for education, we know that to set all of that up in a community costs around $20,000. So I've set a kind of audacious goal of raising $200,000 from my English Channel Swim so that I can help 10 communities have these anti-trafficking programs initiated and keep thousands more people safe from human trafficking? Kerry Newsome: My hat goes off to you. I think it's a fabulous thing that you're doing. And for everyone listening, I'm going to be putting the link in the show notes. So it's like you're one click away, literally, for having the opportunity to be able to support this charity, to support Kim in what she's doing. And, you know, remember her tips about when you are visiting Vietnam and, you know, that pin in the Google map, easy peasy for us to do that kind of thing. We already know of the organization that we can pass that information on to. But certainly if we can get behind Kim to support her in this swim, audacious as that 200,000 is, I'm hoping that my generous listeners will definitely help you in this way and we can do more for Blue Dragon and just to break that poverty cycle and eradicate human trafficking in Vietnam. Kim Miller: I'm just so grateful, you know, to have this opportunity and to be able to talk about Blue Dragon's work. I think whenever I travel somewhere new, I want to know not just about the amazing things I can see as a tourist, but how I can help and what those social issues are underneath the bits that maybe I can't see for myself. And, you know, to have the opportunity for other travelers coming to Vietnam to do that as well. It's such a beautiful country with incredible people. I work with a team of incredible Vietnamese superheroes. And I'm so proud to be able to talk about their work and to let other people coming to Vietnam know what they can do to help keep even more people safe and create that change. So thank you so much for the opportunity. Kerry Newsome: Kim, it's been my pleasure. And as I said, everyone, look out for the link in the show notes, whether you listen to my podcast on your favorite channel, your Spotify, your iTunes, your Google podcast, your Amazons, your whatever. What About Vietnam is there. You can come to the website also at whataboutvietnam.com. You'll also see the summary notes there, which will also have the links. So let's get behind Kim and see what we can do to play our part in eradicating human trafficking in Vietnam. Thanks, Kim.

904b3f1d-7edf-4010-a819-4d0c3138d175What does your Dong buy you in Vietnam? What can you buy in Vietnam Episode 4 S1-04 What can you buy 00:00 / 17:38 Money; A fairly Important ingredient for any holiday! So what does your Dong buy you in Vietnam? Is there a way to manage money so you don't feel like you are getting ripped off? Yes, there is. #Tipping, what's the protocol? Let's get your head around money and exchange rates before you go, so you can budget for your trip and not worry as you go around. Let me give you a 360 deg view about the spending power of Dong in Vietnam. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

S5-E25 - Hoi An in Focus: 10 Things to Love S5-E25 - Hoi An in Focus: 10 Things to Love Episode 25 S5-E25 - Hoi An in Focus: 10 Things to Love 00:00 / 47:10 Hoi An continues to enchant—and in 2025, it feels overflowing, more layered, and more revealing than ever. That’s why I’ve chosen to revisit one of my most loved conversations on the show—this time with a fresh perspective, and a few heartfelt reflections from my recent trip. You’ll hear from the delightful Sharon Sweeney, a long-time visitor to Hoi An who once co-created the popular website and map guide HoiAnNow (now retired). Sharon still returns regularly, drawn—as so many of us are—by the town’s old-world charm and enduring spirit. As Hoi An grows in popularity, it’s evolving in ways that bring both beauty and complexity. With more international travellers comes more diversity, yes—but also more crowds, rising prices, and the ongoing challenge of preserving tradition in a fast-changing world. In this updated intro, I reflect on my ow personal observations, what’s new, what’s shifting, and what still stops me in my tracks and gives me great joy. This episode isn’t only about ticking 10 boxes ( as per the original show back in 2021 - S2-07)—it’s about finding your rhythm in Hoi An, one authentic experience at a time. Stay curious, stay open—and let’s rediscover the heart of Hoi An together. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

S5- E2 – Choosing Hoi An as a Digital Nomad Destination S5- E2 - Choosing Hoi An as a Digital Nomad Destination 00:00 Kerry Newsome Hello Flo, welcome to What About Vietnam. I've been wanting to do a show about the subject of digital nomading for quite some time. I'm delighted to have you on the show and I'm really interested in delving into this subject because obviously since COVID, even pre-COVID, there's been a lot of talk about digital nomading. And now with the remote working situation that was kind of born and fostered since COVID, people being able to travel again and looking for different ways to work away. I'm really keen to talk about what brought you to Vietnam 00:52 Florian Rucker Hi Kerry, Yeah, it's a fascinating subject. I love talking about it. I came to Vietnam and Hoi An as a digital nomad. I was in Chiang Mai before. Chiang Mai has a burning season where really you want to leave the north of Thailand during that time. And Vietnam always had the sense of adventure to me, like a little bit like Thailand, but much more adventurous and kind of like a little bit more, maybe like a little bit more rough around the edges, but very promising. And that's kind of like what lured me to Vietnam. There's a deep sense of freedom here, which also you don't have in that many Asian countries. So it's a very strong sense of live and that live. And yeah, so much about Vietnam. Then Hoi An in particular, it's funny. So it took me a long time to figure out, do I want to be in Da Nang or do I want to be in Hoi An? And I want to be, I was a little bit unsure about it. I was like, what's the right place? Clearly Da Nang is more of a city. It has a slightly larger community. And so I tried that first. And then it turned out that I was actually quite lonely in Da Nang, which is actually a typical city effect, big city effect. In theory, there's more people, but it's easy to get lost a little bit. So then I was like, oh, Hoi An supposedly has this great, like tight knit, smaller, but like closer, a nomad community. So I was like, let's try this out for a few days. I did that, luckily it's just 30 minutes away, but it sometimes feels much further away because Hoi An is really, you know, they're so deeply embedded into nature and like much smaller, much, much cuter kind of. But yeah, so I did that 30 minute trip and I was like, let's try this for three or four days. And then I just stayed. I just went back to Da Nang to pack my bags. And yeah, so Hoi An won my heart over very easily. And for me, again, it's mostly about the community. Now it helps to have the rice fields, to have the ocean, I have the mountains not far away. The old town, actually I leave a little bit for visitors. I go there like once in a blue moon, but that's a little bit more of a tourist thing. It's beautiful, but of course, if you live here, you're gonna be a little bit more focused on the nature. 03:01 Kerry Newsome I couldn't agree with you more. Da Nang is an interesting city and I'm glad you brought it up in comparison to Hoi An. And I want to delve into a little bit more about why Da Nang and why Hoi An. But in particular, Da Nang, I find is very spread out. It's very hard to find a center to Da Nang, in my opinion. And it is, as you say, quite challenging for international tourists or international travelers in Da Nang, unless you know somebody or you go there in particular to do some work or maybe you work in hospitality or something like that. Other than that, I can totally relate to your kind of feeling a little bit estranged and a little bit lonely in that city. I can easily do the same. So I tend to only have a couple of days there because I know people there. But once I've seen them, half an hour down the road is my next community, which is Hoi An. And you're right, it is very community-based, Hoi An, and it's easier to get around. So you haven't got that big city expansiveness. There's definitely centers. You've got the old town and then you've got the beach. And they're both kind of different kind of vibes, I guess, is a way to describe it. But I think you did well and I think it was a smart move to choose Hoi An because I think from a community aspect, that's very, very easy to sell and very easy to become a part of. And they're pretty welcoming in Hoi An, no matter who you are or what you do, they seem to just open their arms to you. So good choices there. But I have a question. Out of all the cities in Vietnam for digital nomading and workation as we're going to talk about, why did Da Nang and secondary to that Hoi An, why not Hanoi, why not Ho Chi Minh, why not, I don't know, some other major city per se? 05:22 Florian Rucker Yeah, yeah, sure, absolutely. So the big cities have their own advantages, of course. So if you're into being in a big city, if you want to have just more options, let's say maybe you do like a specific kind of dance, like advanced salsa or you might want to have like a big drop shipping community, which happens to be one of the professions that nomads like, you might want to go to Saigon or Hanoi. Also, of course, there's going to be, just in general, a little bit more happening. In Hoi An, we'll have a good party maybe two or three times a month. And obviously in the big cities, every weekend, Friday to Sunday. Hoi An to me has, so first of all, it's in general the small town effect of, yeah, you drive everywhere in 10 minutes, you drive to the beach in 10 minutes, you drive to the old town in 10 minutes, often less actually, everybody is nearby. And then people get to know each other in different ways. When you go to a party here, after being here for a while, you'll know the people. It's a very sweet, small community. And I also kind of enjoy the mix of, you have your expats who will send their kids to an international school here. They've been here for years, sometimes decades. You have your tourists who might've arrived yesterday and they might be leaving tomorrow. And you have your digital nomads, kind of my people. I guess I'm slowly turning into an expat here, but in spirit, I consider myself still a nomad. Who might be sticking around for a couple of months, sometimes a couple of weeks. And I really enjoy the dynamism of that kind of that mix. It's like a very fun kind of salad bowl of people hanging out together. And yeah, at the end of the day, it's just a really close knit community. There's a lot of events in the small community and they're harder to find. For me, a lot harder to find in the big city. In the big city, you have to do a lot more work on your own. And I include Da Nang in that. And in that regard, I don't consider Hoi An secondary to Da Nang. If you like the big city, then Da Nang is for you. If you like a community where the events are almost like served to you and almost like curated for you. 07:48 Kerry Newsome And it's definitely a more chilled vibe. I mean, we're gonna talk a little bit more about what you've done with Hub Hoi An, which is awesome. But I just think that if you are the kind of digital nomad that wants that real hyper kind of stay and communication and connectivity with people, yes, you're right. You know, Ho Chi Minh or Hanoi. And there are some very established communities that operate and do this kind of thing very well and have done so for many years. You're right. It's a totally different connection for a digital nomad. So I guess it's up to the individual about, you know, the kind of community they want to work in, to become a part of if that's where they're heading. What does a digital nomad need to have or do or whatever 08:49 Florian Rucker to just make it happen? What makes it possible? I mean, I guess the obvious one would be internet connectivity that's just been on the up and up. And in Southeast Asia, it's actually surprisingly good. I don't know what it's like where you're from. Like the countries I've lived in Europe, for example. Yeah, not that great, right? For you as well. And I've been surprised about how good the coverage is here. 4G, LTE, internet everywhere. You might be on a hike somewhere in the jungle and you get like a video call from your mom at home. This is true. And you'd be like, what, what? Yeah, because you're still connected. That's one of the things that like positively surprises people, but it has a laptop now rather than a desktop. So that's kind of like the very foundation of it. And then step by step, we're seeing a cultural shift towards this being possible, right? Well, this used to be a gradual shift, right? Like every year it's become a little bit more normal. You know, initially it was a little bit more the freelancers and then maybe increasingly companies would also allow employees to do this. It's become also much more of a, you know, we want to keep amazing talent. So we're going to help them have the best life that they can have, right? And so we're going to support this. More and more companies are now paying for their employees, coworking space memberships. We had this gradual increase. And then of course, since COVID, we've seen this massive shift towards work at home. And with that, this massive shift, also an attitude of employers, right? So this is now something that's just, everybody practiced this for two years. And so this now makes it possible for a lot more people to do this. And we're also seeing a lot more people come into the space that are new to this, right? That might be on their first trip. Whereas before we had always a lot of people who've been doing this for years and just a couple of new people. Right now, a lot more like new faces. 10:39 Kerry Newsome Which of course we love and it's also become more diverse. Intrigued, and I think everyone listening would be also intrigued. Is this just for young people or is this, is there a certain type of person? Like you'd have to be fairly used to being mobile. You couldn't be a kind of a sedentary person. So you've got to be able to pack up everything and put it in a backpack or a bag and move on to the next location with, as you say, your laptop, your bits and pieces, I guess, to make it happen. Is there a kind of a certain kind of person that succeeds or does very well in this form of remote work? 11:24 Florian Rucker Honestly, I don't think we're seeing a lot of limits here. It's definitely not limited by age. It's also at the co-working space. Sure, like are there more people who are maybe in there, like late 20s, 30s? Yes, but we're seeing customers of all ages come by and we love that too. We're really all about diversity and that goes along all kinds of axes, right? In terms of what you need to bring, I mean, you need a passport and you need a… Some people literally just work on their phone. If you have a laptop, it'll probably be a little bit more productive, but that's all you need to bring. Now, most people are used to traveling and packing up their backpack or their suitcase. It might be a skill that you get better at. After a while you realize, oh, okay, maybe I also should have a travel scale or like one of those laundry packs that allow you to compress your stuff, but you're just fine without that. The kind of person that succeeds, honestly, I don't think it's that much of a challenge. You should be aware that no wedding doesn't have only advantages, right? It's obviously exciting. It's obviously an amazing way to… It's a very attractive option, but it has challenges and you shouldn't go in all starry eyes and not assuming that. So read up on it. And very specifically, I would mention, if you're traveling by yourself, your friends and your family stay at home, right? So you need to… And that's why we already talked about community. So you should be… Unless you love being alone and by yourself and some people, that's them, you'll want to have a plan for how you meet people. You'll want to make that a priority in your scheduling and it comes more natural and more easily to people. Some people just walk into a bar and they walk out with five friends. Others need to be scheduling ahead for events that might be happening or go to a space that makes those events for them, right? And that's definitely part of my mission at the hub. We have many weekly events and we do a lot. This is honestly almost as important to us as making people productive. It's like helping them be social. So I would that consider the first challenge. The other one is, if your colleague or your boss isn't sitting next to you, you need to be a little bit more on top of your time management and your self-management. Now that's a skill that you can learn. I wouldn't say I'm like a role model for that and I've gotten a lot better at it. So for example, I learned like I can't really work in a hotel room. That's one of those things that just make it very hard for me to actually get into work mode. So I need to go to another place where I can focus and where my subconscious understands. 14:10 Kerry Newsome That's a really good point to bring up because I think there is two different types of people. I mean, I can work from a hotel room and certainly in Vietnam when it's hot during the middle of the day, it's probably my best option to sit in the hotel room to jump on my computer, stay in the air conditioning and then go out when it's cooler. And I kind of wised up to the Vietnamese that they would kind of do things early, early morning or afternoon, because in the middle of the day, it's just too damn hot. But I know also after that, I likewise have to get out and I have to make a point of going somewhere for some kind of community aspect or connectivity, especially because I tend to use up all of my 30 days visa as I can at this point. So this is probably a good segue for us to talk about visas and how in the digital nomading space, how people manage it, because I know I've seen with the hub, even prior to yourself taking it over, people coming in and coming out, coming in and coming out because the visa restrictions became quite prohibitive. And we're still on a tourist visa of 30 days, but there is talks of a 90 day visa coming back, which will be joy, oh joy, I think for certainly your business and for people like me who maybe want to stay five weeks or six weeks. And for long haul people, I think the aspect, if you're coming from Europe or you're coming from the States, it is a long trip. You do want to have a really good experience of Vietnam. And something I really try to do in this podcast is emphasize to people that Vietnam is just so diverse to try and fit it all in, in a very short time, is crazy stuff. And you may not even enjoy it if you have to do that. So giving yourself more time, time becomes a real luxury in this space because Vietnam, it's just so wonderful in the sense that you can just have so many different experiences. And if you can do that while you can fit in work, well, wahoo to that. That is just to me a swimming idea. Let's just talk a little bit about how you or some of the people in your community, how they're getting around the visa situation. 16:56 Florian Rucker what are their aspirations or hopes in this space? So if you don't mind, let me just say something about the traveling and working. That can be a little bit more challenging if you're a nomad, right? So if you're here mostly for sightseeing and just seeing the country in your free time, go for it. You're absolutely right. Vietnam is full of natural wonders and beauty and ethnic diversity even. If you're a nomad, I mean, be aware of the time cost of travel, be aware of even the energy drain of sitting in a bus, sitting in a plane, sitting in a cab and how much resources will you still have available for getting your work done? And then whether you're okay to get work done just maybe in some local cafe, with the very low plastic chairs that the Vietnamese love. I've done that and that's possible, right? And it's actually a fun challenge, but it is a bit of a challenge. So most nomads tend to, especially if they do full-time, they tend to cherish more spending a little bit more time in one place, finding the right spot for getting work done. But then, you know, the advantage of that is you get to know people a little bit more. You might have your favorite like local coffee shop or banh mi shop and you get to know the people a little bit. You get to know, oh, what's going on in their life right now, which is a very cool insight that you might not get in the same way if you're just kind of like rushing through. Right? Okay, so what you actually asked me about the visa situation and how people are dealing with it, right? Yes, we're on a one month visa right now. What my members are doing is border runs, right? And honestly, I love the OGs and the nomad community are used to that. 18:42 Kerry Newsome OGs, I just want to get acronyms right, you know. I'm so out of it with it. Yeah. What is OG actually? 18:54 Florian Rucker It's long term nomads. It's kind of like those guys who have been around the block. You know? I'm probably one of those guys, but in a different way. So, yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of things about Vietnam that I think you know that I don't because I'm working a lot, right? I work a lot and also happen to be in Vietnam. And you're an expert in enjoying Vietnam, I think. I certainly hope so. All of its different ways. The people who've been nomading for years and who know different countries, they know sometimes you're in a place where you have to do board runs. And that means once a month, once a month, I mean, flights from Da Nang are so cheap, right? You fly to Bangkok, you fly to Singapore. I mean, even like to more interesting places like Taiwan, Japan, it's not that expensive. So you do that for a weekend, then you come back and you continue, right? And if you want to stay in one place for many months, it actually becomes quite attractive to spend a weekend, say in Chiang Mai or in Bangkok. So that's the one option of doing a borrder run. The other one is taking a bus. That does mean spending the better part of a day in a bus, right? Five hours to the border to Laos, five hours back, that sort of deal. Those tend to be organized trips, so you don't really have to worry about much. It's just a day that you invest and then that's it. I think both of those are not that bad. Of course, we would prefer to just have a 90 day visa. But even with a 90 day visa, people do board runs, right? It's just a little bit more efficient. You do one board run and you get three months for it. But with a 90 day visa in the past, we had people who would do this repeatedly. 20:36 Kerry Newsome and then stay maybe half a year or something like that. Talk to us a little bit, if you will, Flo, just about financial planning for this kind of, I keep referring it to workation, but do you have to have lots of savings set up and to do it efficiently or to do it in a way? Or can you, in your experience. Can you kind of do it on a shoestring kind of thing? 21:01 Florian Rucker Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, so workation is also a good word for it, right? I feel like there's a fluid transition from workation to nomading. If you wanna try this, you could do a workation for two weeks and try this out, see if that shoe fits you. And then if you decide to stay or do it again. 21:23 Kerry Newsome at some point you become a digital nomad. Do you have to have resources and funds set up to kind of support you through this while you're figuring it all out? Or can you pretty much do it fairly cheaply? 21:38 Florian Rucker Got it. Yeah, so for the financial planning part of nomading, I would say it's almost the other way around. People tend to save money while they're nomading. The most popular nomad destinations are quite affordable. Now, there are exceptions. Portugal used to be affordable, and then so many nomads came there that now it's actually known to be not that cheap anymore. I mean, maybe if you're coming from like, really expensive cities like London or New York, you'll still be saving money in Lisbon. But other than that, it's become not affordable anymore. But Vietnam, Thailand, many other places, Georgia, are all Bulgaria, sorry, are all very affordable countries. And so planning always helps. So for example, if you really want to leverage those cost benefits, you probably want to sublet your flat at home, right? And you probably want to make sure all of your financial obligations back at home are- Managed. Managed or paused or cancelled. And then you really just enjoy having the low cost of life abroad. That's what I would say. And then you can, yes, you can really do it on a shoestring. So for example, Vietnamese in Hoi An will rent a room for maybe like $100. And that includes AC, right? Now that's not Western standards, but- $100 a week or a month? It's fine, right? A month. Now that's what a Vietnamese would usually take. And I'm saying most, like, most of your listeners would prefer a room that, sorry, it's at 250, but maybe more like three, 350. But because you were asking, is it really possible on a shoestring? My answer is yes, yes, it really is. And then it scales up, right? So if you're willing to pay $1,000 a month for accommodation, because maybe you said that from home, you're gonna get a villa, possibly like very close to the beach or by the beach. So it's just a lot more bang for your buck. Yeah. And then if we take this another level, this might be a bit of a tangent, but people who really do long-term digital nomading, they might deregister from home, so they're not in their local tax system anymore. And they might be able to save a lot on taxes. So it's a common thing. People who stay in one place less than six months, in all of the places essentially where they are less than six months, will not trigger tax obligations anywhere. And then a common setup would be to have a US LLC to provide your invoices. And that's essentially a tax-free setup. So you can optimize this to a pretty far extent. Yeah. One thing that, the final thing I would add is, you do want to think about your health insurance. There are, travel insurances are great for travelers, but travel insurances are not the same as a real long-term health insurance. The main difference being that a long-term health insurance cannot kick you out if something serious happens. A travel insurance will be great for, you know, a small accident or whatever. And that's maybe a financial thing that people might not be thinking about immediately, but that maybe they should. 24:56 Kerry Newsome That's really great information. And in particular, I'm glad you talked about the travel insurance versus the health insurance. People tend to consider that a little bit too late in the story. I'm going to talk about Hoi An now and what you're doing with the hub, because I got a chance to come out and have a look. And I was describing it and hope I'm gonna do this justice by your standards anyway. But it was amazing just to see the way you have built it so that the people are working in these glass rooms, fully air conditioned glass rooms, which are kind of almost sitting in a rice paddy field. So they're surrounded by all this nature. And I think on the day I was there, there was a buffalo was kind of musing around the glass. And like no one in there seemed to be perturbed by that. They kind of looked around and then they kept working on their laptops. And then I just thought how crazy great that was and just why it would be just a real change of environment for people. And I think after COVID in particular, we got a bit starved for environmental changes and new places again, and our hearts kind of sunk a little bit in that time. So I do see, they're calling it now revenge travel where people are wanting to get back out there and go hard. And I think with the remote work opportunities opening up, you're really in the right place and the right business. So talk to us a little bit about the hub and tell us what you're doing there? 26:46 Florian Rucker . Right, yeah, thanks for that lovely description of the hub. Yeah, the hub has been around since 2017 actually. And before we were in a small location that was also kind of close to the rice fields, but I always felt like it didn't really make use of that. So people were kind of like sitting in the bag and we already had one of the small glass houses there, all glass and then it looked into the garden, which was also lovely. When I was thinking of growing the hub a little bit bigger, I started looking for properties that are all in on the rice fields. And I got very lucky to find one that's actually right next to the old location almost and has rice fields on two sides. And I was like, let's double down on this glass house thing so people can really enjoy nature. It's something that the locals sometimes don't appreciate as much, I noticed. For them, the rice field is, it's probably like an economic area, right? Like that's where like rice is produced. And then we're like, wow, like this intense green and like the wind moving over the grains, right? Like you see it and then all the nature of the birds that like love this area. Yeah, so I was like, let's go all in on this and go all glass wall. That's essentially the hub. It's all about that view and then the community, right? So we have the silent area, the main glass house, the silent area for focus work and kind of library rules. The smaller one is a cause of loud room. So we're trying to manage those zones that everybody kind of gets their productivity right. And then we do the events. So right now, as we're talking, actually my staff is doing ice bathing with the members. They go crazy over ice bathing. Somebody suggested this once. I was like, okay, I wanna make this happen for you. I know ice bathing is a thing. 28:35 Kerry Newsome And it's popular. Talk to us about ice bathing. 28:38 Florian Rucker This could be interesting. Sure, yeah. So this has become, this has really become a trend and you hear more and more people talking about it now. Essentially it's a bathtub. We have a movable plastic bathtub. It's a bathtub with a bunch of ice. We buy these days four relatively big bags of ice. I think those are maybe 50 liter bags. And people go in there. It drops down to three, four degrees Celsius and people go in for a couple of minutes. And it's an intense experience. It's not necessarily immediately pleasant for everyone. Well, it's funny because it's intense but it's also peaceful at the same time. So you go in and it hurts a little bit. It's a little bit uncomfortable, right? But after about 90 seconds, two minutes, like this relaxation starts to kick in. And like, I don't know, everything kind of like, just like tunes out and then you come out of it and you feel just in bliss. 29:42 Kerry Newsome . And I guess if you're going from a very hot day and then you're jumping in that or not jumping in it, but sitting in it very quickly and getting out when you can't stand it any longer, just those different in temperatures is a good thing for the body to work hard at repairing itself from one extreme to the other. And when you've got 90% humidity in Hoi An sometimes, around about now it would be getting very hot. I would think over there. So good idea with the cool baths making that happen. That was a smart move. And I guess refreshing for the mind as well, for people to then go back into whatever they're working on. They've just had a little bit of a refresh and regroup to go back and work. 30:33 Florian Rucker I think that's a fab idea. Yeah, and that's what we focus on a lot. Most of our activities are kind of like, what also makes sense with getting work done, right? So we might be doing a short meditation, a daily meditation. We might be doing, people go bouldering together. So sometimes we also all go party together, but that's not that common. So it's, people need to get work done. They need to be fit the next day. So we're trying to find a good mix. Yesterday we did board games. 31:03 Kerry Newsome So Flo tell me like, what would be the average spend of time would a person have at the hub? Like would they come for just a couple of hours? Do they come for, like, do they try and work around a normal day? Or do they, like, is it open in the evening? Like, just some gauge on the hours and how you operate from a open perspective. 31:30 Florian Rucker Sure, yeah. So for people who've never been there, we have kind of normal opening hours, Monday to Saturday, nine to 5.30. But once you've come for the first time and maybe paid for either just a day pass or a longer membership, week pass, month pass, you can say 24-7 essentially. So because we have members from, we're really one of the most international co-working spaces in Vietnam, maybe the most international. In terms of kind of duration, that's common for our members. The smallest passes is day pass. We decide to not do hourly. And yeah, some of these people will just like walk in. They might be there mostly as tourists, but they're like, okay, I gotta get some work done and they'll come for a day or two. Pretty common is also a month or maybe three weeks. Three weeks has become very common because people will get a one-month visa and they might wanna spend a couple of days here and there and then their main chunk is at the hub. And then when people do border runs, you know, they might be staying for several months. 32:33 Kerry Newsome . Would you offer some tips for people who are planning on doing this or maybe they're talking to their companies about this option? Is there any advice or tips you'd like to share? Because I'm sure there's gonna be some people who are inspired to come and work in Vietnam and maybe work in your Hub. 32:58 Florian Rucker So I mean, my main advice is just do it. It might seem like this big crazy thing to be working from Vietnam or another exotic country. It's really not. You know, we have all the facilities that you'll need. There's areas where you can have calls. There's good internet. Time zone differences to most places aren't that bad. US time zones are something else. You need to be aware that you can actually work very late, but yeah, just do it. In terms of talking to your employer, it might help if you start out with a short duration. Maybe start out with a one week or two week stint and demonstrate to them that you are productive abroad. Prove to them that you are, that you can do it. And people do that. It's very feasible. I think that's the main message. 33:46 Kerry Newsome And Flo, just to finish up, is it kind of an acceptable practice in Vietnam? Like how does the Vietnam government feel about it? How do the locals feel about it? 33:59 Florian Rucker I think this is a good thing. Yeah, so from the kind of the law perspective is you're just here as a tourist. As long as you don't work for a Vietnamese company, you are here as a tourist. You will just get a tourist visa and that makes it very easy and very simple, right? You're getting a foreign salary and you're spending that in Vietnam. So that's great. You know, that's what people want. I think I'm pretty sure the locals, it's still a little bit new for them. And we're not a huge group in proportion to, for example, the tourists. So a lot of them won't yet totally get it. But those that do appreciate us, which I think is really cool, they see we're actually not tourists. We're not backpackers. We might be a little bit, maybe sometimes a little bit more stick-headed, sometimes a couple of years older. And we tend to also be a little bit more interested in actually what are people like here? And people appreciate that. 35:00 Kerry Newsome Yeah, so the reputation is really quite decent. I was just thinking as you were saying that, that, you know, the domestic tourists in Vietnam, so this is the Vietnamese who have English very much as their second language and are very much attuned to working remotely. I wondered whether or not you would start to attract some of those individuals to the hub, because, you know, if they're working in Saigon and they can still do the same work from Hoi An at the hub and still get their work done, they're in the same time zone, blah, blah, blah, why wouldn't they, you know, tune in and be able to hook up at the hub with all the wifi and all the facilities that you offer? 35:52 Florian Rucker So that may be something that you may grow into. We are seeing that more and more. The number is still rather small. Vietnam is still a slightly more traditional country and it tends to be a little bit harder for employers here to be like, oh, you're not gonna sit in my office. So it's still a bit new, but Vietnam is also a very dynamic country. So there are more and more freelancers and people from Saigon and Hanoi love Hoi An as well. So it's not only foreigners, it's also there's a lot of internal tourism coming from the big cities. And they're more and more realizing, oh, there's a co-working space here, I can also get work done here. So we're starting from a small number, but every year we're getting a couple more Vietnamese. And those, just like our other customers, they tend to be the cool ones, you know, the people you wanna have a conversation with who have interesting stories to tell. Yeah, I'm sorry you didn't ask about this, but I'm amazed about my customers. Just like the last two days, I had conversations with people that like blew my mind and that totally inspired me. And that's one of the things I love about this. 36:59 Kerry Newsome Yeah, I would think it would be amazing. I mean, just to have so many different people in different work life situations and different countries, sharing, you know, their knowledge. I mean, I know even just the time I spent with you and, you know, meeting the people, it was like, oh wow, what a connection to have and what a community to have access to is just fabulous. It was very inspiring. I mean, what countries are you seeing come through? 37:29 Florian Rucker in the biggest numbers? Very, very mixed, very mixed. All of those, all of the above. All of the above and what I love is that we're seeing more and more also from countries that haven't been as represented before. So we've always had a lot of Europeans, we've always had a lot of Americans. Now we're also increasingly seeing a couple of Japanese, Koreans, more and more Indians, which is really cool. And it's also very, very cool to kind of, similar to lead to our other customers, those tend to be the ones that have like slightly cooler jobs, you know, they might be like a senior product manager or something like that. And it is so good to get across all these stereotypes and just kind of be like, oh yeah, we're all nomading here, right? We're all kind of like young or not so young professionals. And yeah, so really from everywhere recently, we've had more and more South Americans, a lot of people from Argentina. Yeah, so interesting, right? Apparently it's partially an economic thing, right? So people from Argentina are looking for jobs abroad because of their currency issues and economic woes. And so when they're like, oh, I'm working for a company abroad now, I'm already remote. I might as well, you know, check out this other country. And we're also seeing more Israelis. And there again, we're kind of seeing a push factor of kind of the local political issues that they have. In a way at the hub, we're also often very much on the cutting edge of like figuring out what's happening in other countries. And so for example, what I learned recently is that Israel, this is not just a political thing, right? Politics sounds so abstract, right? But there's a deep societal crisis in Israel right now. And similarly, you know, like it might sound so abstract to talk about like currency devaluation, but yeah, right. Like people are being pushed out of Argentina and out of their economy because of these issues. But also we learn about tech, we learn about, you know, people always use, everybody uses ChatGPT in our space, right? People use these new things and there's so much like exchange going on that it's all very cutting edge. 39:40 Kerry Newsome And yeah, and very exciting. And I think, you know, for me it's life choice and it's for people who are not satisfied or want something different or want something, you know, as you say, it's not always gonna be better, but it will be different. It'll be life-changing. You will get to meet a lot of people that, you know, wouldn't come your way any other way. So I think it has lots of options for people. So to everyone listening, I hope you found some factual as well as kind of experiential knowledge of what it's like to be a digital nomad in Hoi An. And I'm really thankful for you coming on flow to give us that insight and just great to chat. 40:26 Florian Rucker . My pleasure. Thank you, Kerry.

S5-E25 - Hoi An in Focus: 10 Things to Love S5 - E25 - Hoi An in Focus- 10 Things to Love from a local’s view and a traveller’s return Kerry Newsome : Xin chào and welcome to What About Vietnam. I have no doubt as soon as you start to plan your trip to Vietnam, the city of Hoi An is going to come up and feature very highly. There's lots of reasons for that. It's a big favourite for all new travellers to Vietnam. It offers the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site Old Town and it has beautiful beaches, and simply for the solo traveller, for the couple, for the family, there's so much to do. Today's episode is one close to my heart. We're revisiting one of the most loved conversations from our archives, originally recorded back in 2021 with my delightful guest, Kerry Newsome: In the interview, you're going to hear Sharon mention Hoi An now. This was a helpful resource her and her husband built at the time that has since retired from operation. Sharon, however, remains a frequent visitor and true lover of Hoi An, and her insights into what makes this town so special are as timeless as ever. You've heard that old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And while the episode still holds so much value, Hoi An, like all living, breathing places, has evolved. In my recent visit, I recognized some significant changes, but still a deep sense of wanting to keep hold of what makes Hoi An so unique. It's kind of hard to explain, I guess, but I'll do my best. As you'd expect, Hoi An just keeps growing in popularity. And with that, comes an international mix of travellers and a fresh wave of creativity, especially in the food scene. One of the best surprises for me recently was a dish called Barney Fur at Mam House. It was a kind of an accidental, just stumbled across place. Think of it as a clever twist on two Vietnamese icons. The crispy French style baguette of Banh Mi filled with the rich aromatic flavors of traditional pho. Add in the French chef who owns Mam House, his own fish sauce and pepper. Man, it was delicate, bold and absolutely delicious. A snack that totally stopped me in my tracks. Definitely one to put on your list. I also had the chance to visit one of Hoi An's newest gems, Namia River Retreat. It's a stunning new wellness sanctuary that's really raising the bar here. With its riverside setting and mindful approach to well-being, It's showing that wellness in Hoi An is evolving beyond the usual spas and nail bars you'll see every hundred yards. It's absolutely a much more immersive experience, more connected to nature and the local culture. I'm going to be featuring Namia River Retreat in an upcoming wellness focused episode. So you'll want to stay tuned for that if you're looking for some recharging while you come to Vietnam. As I consider myself a member of the slow travel movement, I'm still charmed by cafes out at the beach like Sounds of Silence and cute hideaways like Phin Coffee in the Old Town. You'll be spoilt for choice, trust me. That said, in the spirit of honesty and helping you plan better, it's also worth noting a few realities. With Hoi An's increasing popularity, especially with day trippers, tour groups, and increasingly a domestic tourist, backpackers, and traveling families, that rising demand has brought a noticeable hike in accommodation prices, particularly in high season. Where my favorite boutique hotels and riverside villas are still available, they are now asking at least 30% to 40% more per night. So, planning ahead and adjusting your budget slightly is a wise move. You're going to have to keep a more realistic viewpoint on accommodation and where you want it located. Even my original tailor is too busy to fit me in at the moment. Either that or I'm just becoming too impatient to wait in queues with stares from other patrons wanting the tailor's attention. Maybe it's just a sign of my old age or time to move on to others who do a good job and need the business. Watch this space. There are lots of mixed emotions when we talk about over-tourism, especially in the ancient town. It can sometimes dampen the magic if you're not prepared for it. My advice, seek out the quieter moments. Early mornings are the best, definitely, and I mean really early. In the evening, the lantern lit streets are something a must do for people who are visiting. But you may find areas by the river a bit choked with crowds. The idea is to just go with the flow and make your way to maybe some quieter places overlooking the river with a bit more of a soulful feel. But they'll be just on the outer skirt. So keep walking. You're going to find them there, I'm sure, as I have. And when it comes to the beach, It's true that erosion has impacted parts of the coastline. While An Bang and Cua Dai and still offer beauty and a really cool vibe, you may notice a thinner shoreline, sandbagging or more decking and built up beachfront spaces as businesses have just adapted. It's still beautiful, it's just different. Like any destination navigating its popularity, climbing prices and changing weather, like March was cold this trip and didn't really warm up till early April. Hoi An is working hard to balance that tourism with tradition. And that sometimes means progress is welcome by some but not all. And some parts as they go through it are a bit ugly and soul-destroying. But guess what? Hoi An's not the only place in the world that's experiencing that, so it's part of the story. What remains, and what I still love most, is that deep breath you take when you first walk through the ancient town. And when you're sitting by the Thu Bon River, watching the lanterns dance on the water, you have to remind yourself, where else in the world could you experience this? So this is your updated Gateway to Hoi An. I've kept the original conversation with Sharon intact because I listened to it again and I was just reminded that her insights, they're just timeless and you're going to get a really good feel for that during the show. But I wanted to set the scene again for a new year, a new vibe, but the same incredible Hoi An. Let's dive in. Sharon Sweeney : Top of the list is Hoi An Old Town. I mean, I've never seen any place like Hoi An Old Town in all my travels. Basically, it's a heritage listed small town that is actually steeped in history. It's like a living museum, if you like. During the 1500s, it was the sort of epicenter for merchants who were going along the Silk Road. And so you had all these, I mean, amazing time, all these merchants from different parts of the world, like Japan, China, Europe, France, just everywhere and the architecture of the Hoi An Old Town is sort of reflecting all that melting pot of people and during the day it's just incredible because they've just maintained it so beautifully. They've got buttercup yellow buildings interspersed with pastel blue sky blue, baby blue sort of paint work as well. And it's just, it's just incredible. It's just so well preserved. And then at night, at night, it's like, it's like Disneyland because Hoi An is known as the lantern, the lantern town, and for good reason. Out of every shop front, there is numerous lanterns. There are lanterns along the street. There are lanterns overpassing the street. And my favourite time in Hoi An Old Town is where it's twilight. And you know that magical colour that twilight becomes? It's like pink and soft purple and orange, and they have these gorgeous sunsets. Anyway, and then the lights, the lanterns start coming on and oh my God, it's like this magical Disneyland experience. And then you've got this Tubon River that's just float, that just goes all the way through it. And on that, you've got these little Sampan boats that are just all adorned with the same lanterns, all colors of every imaginable color really. To see Hoi An at night like that and from the river is just, I mean, really. And just a couple of things, Hoi An is also a bicycle town and so there's no traffic as well that's allowed in the old town. So you can walk through it very nicely, but they have little traditions. And one that is very close to my heart because I've got a lot of wishes in me is, as we know, let's not dwell on that. Forget the wishes. So yeah, you go on, you can take a little trip on these sampan boats and you set this these little wish candles. You make a wish and you put them in a little, they're in a little sort of little cup if you like, little paper cup, and you light your wish candle and you watch it bobbing away in the water and hoping your wish will come true. So I mean you've just, everybody should see Hoi An Old Town just once in their life. Kerry Newsome : I think absolutely and I think a lot of people have referred it to me as the Venice of Vietnam and it kind of is that and then I was talking to someone just the other day and they said you know if you didn't know better you'd think it was a movie set. because everything is so beautifully preserved, as you say, as in the old town buildings, all the shop houses and things like that. So I think you putting number one as a visit to the old town, either during the day and experiencing the markets early in the morning and the shop houses and having coffee somewhere really cute, checking out all the alleys, or as you say, at twilight, coming into the evening, watching the town lit up with the lanterns because there's some areas, as you say, are lit totally by lanterns. In other words, there's no light without the lanterns. And then, of course, there's the sampan boats and the wishes bobbing up and down and floating down the river. So, number one, I'm totally supportive of. I think it's a must-do thing. So for people listening, staying close to the Old Town is sometimes a good idea. So it's an easy walk into town and I certainly would recommend that for first-time visitors to Hoi An because whilst Hoi An has lovely beaches as well. The feature of Hoi An is definitely that 16th century old town. So as close as you can get to it, I think is a good idea. Anyway, Sharon, what's your number two? Sharon Sweeney : Number two is the other thing that I love very much about being in Hoi An is the close proximity of the countryside. There's something about being close to the land that I think we all need. Five minutes on a bicycle will take you into rice fields, rice paddies, or you can go a little bit further and you'll go into villages. It's, I mean, I've seen images of this, but I never really believed that Vietnam would have people wearing the conical hats, you know, the normal hats. I never really believed it, but they do. It's very much part of the headwear in Vietnam. And what I love about the rice paddies and the villages is it's like, again, stepping back into another time. It's like going back a hundred years because, you know, They plough the fields with water buffalo. It's really sort of like old world. And so there's nothing unusual about seeing a water buffalo just on the side of the road, meandering across the road. I mean, it can be actually a main road and you'll have cows passing. And so the countryside element of Hoi An, it just fills my soul. I can't, one of the most wonderful sights that still thrills me to my soul is when the geese or the ducks are going back to roost and you'll see them coming along a main road and there's about 200 of them all just waddling along with the man herding them along and people just go round them, cars go round them. I mean, where else? Kerry Newsome : Yeah. Yeah, it's it's that's the sweetness. I think it's absolutely the sweetness of those simple things. And as you say, just to breathe in that beautiful fresh air, all those beautiful I mean, when you're riding through the paddy fields, it's kind of the only way you can get anywhere reasonably fast. And I think there's some people, may even be you, Sharon, that has jumped on one of those electric bikes, I think, to get around. Oh, you know what? Sharon Sweeney : I don't know what the world is thinking. I'd never really come across an electric bike until I went to Vietnam and they're everywhere. And Why do we bother with cycling when you can sit on it and go zip and off you go? Kerry Newsome : It's their dream. Definitely, definitely a way to get around. So we're going to say bicycle around town is number two? Yeah, for sure. Yep. Okay, where are we up to? Number three. Sharon Sweeney : Well you know Hoi An is equally famous for the heritage old town as it is for its tailors and no trip to Hoi An is complete without a trip to the tailor. You must get there. Where can a man get a suit made of high quality wool, a bespoke suit made just for him for $100? And you can get that in Hoi An. You know, the tailors are on every corner. I actually have them on the website, my favorites, by the way, because what you can get is the top end tailors do charge quite a lot and they're not all that different to many of the other tailors. So you're paying a lot more money. And then sometimes it's a very hit and miss, but whatever the case, it's all great fun. And what I love most, don't you love this, is going into a shop and where there's reams and reams and bolts and bolts of all colored fabrics and types and silks and linens and choosing the fabric and then you go to the tailor and they'll copy something, they'll design something or they'll give you a pattern and it's addictive. It's so addictive and it's very, very cheap. So cheap. Kerry Newsome : Very cheap and very quick. And quick. Like you can get a suit made in two days. You can get a suit made overnight, Kerry, if you go to the right feet. That's my love. Well, I think they are a little bit more in the hit and miss variety. I mean, there's some tailors there that would slap your hand for saying overnight. But yes, those, you know, are maybe a little bit more yet select. I maybe would steer clear of those. We have talked about zippers not working the right way and things like that in the past but I'm addicted. I am definitely addicted to the tailoring as I've told you every time I've literally taken over my assortment of pictures from Pinterest or whatever that I like and I just say I want that one and that one and then also as you say wandering around those fabric markets just picking the exact material fabric, weight, style, etc. that I want, as I want dots or I want stripes or I want whatever, and just have it made exactly to what my body shape is at the time. Well I actually started to forget whether I was a 10 or a 12 or a 14, thank goodness because you know every time I went I just kind of got it made to what I was so that's a little bit tricky as well but fun as you say. Now definitely tailoring and there's 3,000 tailors in town so you might like to check you might like to check Sharon's website, Hoya Now, she's got some good recommendations there. But let's not get stuck on tailoring, let's move on to number four because we've got a list of ten to get through. Sharon Sweeney: Yeah, well look, number four is I take my job very seriously and so whilst we have got tailors on the site, we've got something far more important in terms of the best and that is the spas, massages and spa treatments, you know, come on. Kerry Newsome : Oh yeah, what a hard job you had to take so seriously, Taryn, to check those out. Sharon Sweeney : We had to perfect it and it means going back to the same place, it means actually going to every place in Hoi An just to see what they're like and you know, and I do. So, I know, I know, I know, I'm a champion, but I do it regularly, yes. Well, look, at the prices, you'd be mad not to. I don't think anyone should go and have a one-hour massage when you can have a five-hour massage. I reckon you should just book yourself in for the entire trip, because I would. You've got the high-end, very high-class hotels offering massages. Now they cost a fortune and I've sent writers, reviewers, to the top really expensive hotels and it's very hit and miss and one would surprise you, I won't name it, but it's one of the best hotels in Vietnam and the spa treatment was very hit and miss. So again, no seriously, we do put very much a recommendation of the ones you should go to and Whilst you can get fabulous ones on the street corners, I mean, you can, because massage is an innate thing. It's not often something you can train for a good masseur. The ones I highly recommend are the day spas. And there you've got trained masseurs. They're cheap. The premises are clean. They're really, really tasteful. The decor's tasteful. You've got the full sort of Western sort of spa with the wafting music. The smells actually, oh yes, oh. Kerry Newsome : You're sending me back there in a heartbeat, like seriously. That is one of the things as far as your trip planning is concerned, I would highly recommend to people to include. Don't, I think people always think they've got to be doing you know, doing all the time. And I think sometimes there is some pleasure and enjoyment in a holiday when you're just able to access things like massage and be able to just chill out, but not lie there thinking this is costing me a fortune. Yes. Sharon Sweeney: No, that's right. I totally agree. But there's also there's one thing I was thinking of, too. One of the things that surprised me, actually, if not startled me, was that when you go to a massage on the street corners and sometimes in the mid-range and sometimes in the high range, The Vietnamese have a fascination, or they just don't really care, but they don't turn away or leave the room sometimes when you're undressing. And that took me, I mean, you know, I remember getting quite feisty about it and thinking that they were trying to persecute me because I'd eaten quite a lot and felt fat, you know. And I didn't want anyone witnessing it, but they did. Just be aware of it. They don't mean harm. Kerry Newsome: No, but I think they like to check out that your bits, you know, your bits are white, like their bits might be slightly toasted. Yeah. But yeah, I think that's about the fascination. Yeah. Because I can remember actually the same thing happening to me when I first went. And I actually pointed to my arm and I said, yep, same, same. And she got it, like the girl really resonated with me and went, ah, yes, okay, yeah. That's what we're looking at, so move on. All right, after our spa, where are we off to? Sharon Sweeney: Well, you know, this is, I'm not really a person that likes to do cooking tours, but the cooking tours in Hoi An are a must because it's not really just about the cooking. It's actually about the cultural learning about the culture and the cultural experience of the whole. So, I mean, I highly recommend a cooking tour. They have cooking tours for all types, so if you're a professional chef and you don't want all the bits and pieces of paraphernalia, then you can do professional, you know, cooking tours. You can do a cultural tour where, and it's great for kids, where they can go out and act like farmers. They actually dress you up as a farmer, you know. And you pick the vegetables and carry them in those round baskets. Kerry Newsome : Very, very happy. And you wear those peasant clothes, you know, you get dressed up in that, in the stinking heat, looks fabulous. Sharon Sweeney: And then you've also got other ones where you can get, you know, like everything thrown in. They like to throw everything in in Vietnam. You can get a basket boat ride, so they're the round modular boats. You can get a water buffalo ride. You can, well, you can get lots of things. You can even get a massage, which is great. Just thrown in. One thing though that is really good about them, and this is something that I would put equally number five if I had to choose another one, is they take you to the markets. And the market is the lifeblood of Vietnamese society. It's like we go to the shopping center, they go to the market, and it's a daily activity. It's not just to buy, it's to barter. They'll barter even though they know each other, because it's all part of the thing. And yeah, so I highly recommend it for the markets. Kerry Newsome : Yes, definitely. And I think it is a very immersive experience. And I think what better way to understand a country than to experience it through its food. So definitely there, highly rate that as a number five. Now, what are we missing, Sharon? What are you up to now? Number six, yeah. Sharon Sweeney : And that has to be one of the tools and one of my highest recommendations, it's on our top 10 on the website, is Marble Mountains. And it's set between Da Nang and Hoi An, about 20 minutes from Hoi An. And during the 15th century, second to 15th century, it was used by the Cham, it's during the Cham period, it was used by the people there as a sacred site of worship and it's got, it's really got one of those energies, it's amazing. There's five mountains and each one represents an element. So you've got fire, water, metal, wood and earth. And it's just amazing. There's pagodas there, which are like temples and shrines. You've got caves, massive caves that you can go down into. There's tunnels. Kerry Newsome : Or crawling tunnels in very small areas. Hands down. I've seen some funny pictures where people are getting their bum shoved through. Me, me. Sharon Sweeney: I really got, oh my God, I was scared. They can really, be careful. Yeah. Guides will grab you and they'll just shove you forward. And then the next thing is you're climbing into things that you could easily break your neck on. So just be careful of that, you know. Good footwear. Yeah, well, good, yes. And beware of the heat. It's very hot. It gets very hot there. So just have to go early morning is the best during the summertime. And truly, I mean it because it's very hot. But when you get to the top, the views of Da Nang and all around are just simply, I mean, you're just going to lift your soul. They're breathtaking. And they're so good because they look over what used to be known as China used to congregate and it's such good bird's eye view of the whole city of Da Nang that the Vietnamese used to actually use it as a watchtower as well as a hospital during that period. So that's definitely, it's incredible. But I also love those marble statues at the bottom. Kerry Newsome : You may see at the beginning of the show notes in the podcast channel that you're listening from, some words that say, text me a message. It's a great idea, don't get me wrong. I love hearing from you. And whether that's your thoughts on the episodes, some questions, messages of appreciation, I just love the feedback, it's really great. However, I feel it remiss of me to A, not thank you for them, but to B, not be able to respond directly to you. So, if you have sent me a question and I've got lots and you haven't heard from me, there's a really good reason why I actually don't have the ability in the technology to respond to you. they kind of expect that you would or I would answer the questions in the form of a show. And there's just kind of too many and I just think it's just too personal not to do it that way. So I wanted to alert you to the fact that if you do send me a message through that connection option, I'm not going to be able to respond to you directly. So if you do have a question, and it is time sensitive, or you wanna send me any kind of message, can I suggest the following two ways? One, send me an email to whataboutvietnamatgmail.com. That is the email address that I have the most constant access to, and I will aim to get back to you ASAP. Secondly, if you go to the website for the podcast, which is whataboutvietnam.com, if you scroll right to the bottom, there is a chance for you to leave a voice message. Now, in that voice message, I can respond to you equally with a response invoice. So, if you want a quick response, that's your next best way. But I just wanted to get this into the show, make you aware of this as it really is becoming problematic. And I've just got too many And I can't kind of go naming people and answering each question. That's just a little bit silly. So if you have sent me a text message before and you're waiting on a message back as a response, I'm so sorry. I cannot do that. But if you want to send the question again, I'd be more than happy to answer. Those marble statues are like the size of King Kong. Sharon Sweeney : I think if you're in the market for a couple of 20 foot lions that you want to put in your backyard. Kerry Newsome : Do you know, I can remember when they used to have just a few, just a few showrooms I think on the street, but now they line the street and I go who buys these? It's not as if you can like put it in the back of your taxi or your grab car on the way home. They are heavy, huge white kind of stallions that they, I always know when I'm nearly at Marble Mountain because those lined up of shops and frontages where all those statues are sitting out there show, yes, I already, I know, I go, oh, we're here. The marble is out. Sharon Sweeney : Well, that in itself is a sightseeing tour. It's fantastic. But actually what you can buy, and I still will, is the marble chess set. So you've got like beautifully cut, carved marble chess sets that are about six inches to seven inches tall, each piece on a marble chess board. And look, yeah, you can get that shipped overseas, back to your hometown or wherever. Highly worth it. 300 bucks was the last I saw at the last count, yeah. Kerry Newsome : Okay, so we've done Marble Mountain, number seven we're up to. Well, where are we headed now? Sharon Sweeney : Marble Mountain is something that came onto the Hoi An scene about two or three years ago and I can't, I can't tell you. It's a show and it's outside and it's part of a theme park and it's called Hoi An Memory Show. and I'd heard about it and just thought oh I'm not going to that it sounds very glitzy you know not my sort of thing but I covered it for the website and my god Kerry it's a cast of about 300 It's world-class presentation. People fly through the air, there's music, there's lights, there's dancers, actors. It's all like water. Well, it's a real recreation of Hoi An and so you've got the Tuvon River, you've got the Japanese Bridge. The stage is water. Oh, it's just so cute and the stage is water and it's folktales interspersed with the history of Hoi An and it's sad, it's uplifting, it's just Oh, it blows you away. Those mechanical elephants that come on stage, you know, on the arena. But here you go, a little bit of a, little bit of a tip. We got, when I covered it for Hoi An Now, I got VIP seats, which was great. You know, I thought I'm set. And then I went again and I got the peasant seats, which is right down the front. And there, that's where you should be. You're right on this. amazing thing and it's just hard to explain but it's also part of a theme park that you go at four o'clock and that in itself, all the actors who are going to perform later are actually part of the sales assistants, they do mini shows, they serenade you, there's little historical things, little places you can go to learn about the silk trade and things like that, amazing. Kerry Newsome : Yeah, it's a delight. I took my 16-year-old grandson and I thought, oh, you know, pretty hard to impress a kid of that age, you know, like he's going to think this is a bit, you know, and he just said I was blown away because also it's the contrast. You've just come out of a 16th century old town And then a little bit around the corner, you're stepping into this amazing theme park with this fully professional choreographed stage on water that is definitely up in the 20th century kind of level of production. And the contrast from one to another is just, you can't help but just be blown away by it. I mean, he said it's like watching the stage. Sharon Sweeney : You opening to the Olympics, yes, that's a very good analogy, actually. That's exactly right, it is. Well, I just tell everybody, you must go because most people love, almost everyone loves Hoi An. I mean, the people are lovely. And to see a show like that, you just feel, I don't know, All warm and fuzzy. Kerry Newsome : You do, swept away. You do. All right, now you're getting me very, very handsy for Hoi An now. But let's travel on. What are we up to? Number eight, I think. So what's your number eight? Sharon Sweeney : Well, you know, it shouldn't be number eight, but it's hard to put them in order because there's so many good things in Hoi An. But it's the beaches. I mean, Kerry, those beaches. Sydney and parts of Australia, I mean they're beautiful beaches, they're so incredible, but so too are the beaches in Vietnam and I'm so surprised actually, I don't know what I expected, but you've got yellow expanses of sand, blue water, it's still, although it does get some waves, all you surfers out there, there are some waves, don't worry, but I like it still and it's still And it's warm and it's safe. There's no sharks or crocodiles. And what is something that we don't have? And I haven't seen this in many parts of the world, to be honest. is shade. These beaches in Australia are beautiful, but there's no shade. In Vietnam, all along the beachfront, there are either thatched huts or you have umbrellas and little tables and chairs and, you know, there's room for everybody. They're not crowded. Everybody can use one. And you get your little posse, as we say in Australia, you get your little posse there. You order your cocktail. Oh, or you order whatever you want and you can stay there all day. Kerry Newsome : Yeah, I've literally plot my bot, isn't that another Australian thing? God, that's terrible. But yes, but I have plot my bot down with a Diet Coke under a umbrella and literally just stayed put, put my headphones on, read my book for hours on end. I mean, if you go to Italy or places like that, they charge you about 50 euro just to sit down, just to have the umbrella. So, you know, and you're so right, the beaches are just divine. And what I love is the access to restaurants. They're sitting right on it, aren't they? I'm leading to that. Sharon Sweeney: I'm getting to that, Kerry, because that's coming up. But before I move on, I want to say this, that what you'll find is incredible. One of the things about Vietnam is it's so cheap and never forget that. It's a really nice part of Vietnam. But the other thing is the ladies that come and hawk on those beaches people get very I've seen some people get very aggressive with them try not to because actually these people are really nice people and they're just trying to make a living and I just people should just be aware because the Vietnamese are lovely people they don't mean harm and so yeah Kerry Newsome : just think that they could be your grab. And they're not aggressive. They're not aggressive. They're not aggressive in any way. But I have noticed some tourists take umbrage to them coming around. But as you say, there's very few of them. Some of them are very well known to the restauranters as well. So they kind of let them come in and you know, for a very small amount of money, you can make a very big difference to those people's lives. Oh, you can. Sharon Sweeney : And when you buy something, the humbleness of them, it's lovely. Kerry Newsome : Okay. Now, up to number nine, we're nearly there. Sharon Sweeney: We are. And it's moving on from your restaurants, because this is the other thing. You've told me, and you're quite right, that Hoi An has world-class restaurants, you've got all types of cuisine, beautiful Vietnamese, you've got Greek, Spanish, fantastic Italian restaurants, everything you can imagine. And I can't say that I shouldn't have this on the list, but the thing is that takes it out for me is having a meal in the evening with the balmy weather and overlooking the beach, and you have that beach, a beautiful stillness, and you can hear the waves just washing onto the beach, and you're there in one of the restaurants that line the beach, and I've got a few for different types. I'm just going to give some names, which I don't normally do. I don't like to because there's venues everywhere, but I'm going to do this. There's four types that I would recommend. For me, the all-out favorite has got to be Soul Kitchen, that I would recommend to a tourist, is Soul Kitchen. It's an iconic venue, it was one of its kind, and many have sprung up, but Soul Kitchen still retains its heart. Overlooking An Bang Beach, it's got live music, and these musicians are world-class. You can hear fantastic music, have food overlooking the beach and enjoy some drinks or whatever your fancy might be. and it's sunset, it's to die for. And you've got these wonderful little thatched, well, not little, they're quite big, aren't they? If you've got a party of people, aren't they nice? They're these hutch, like thatched little mini houses, if you like, with no walls, phantom. And the day beds. Kerry Newsome : The day beds, yeah, we like them, don't we? We do. We do, who wouldn't? I mean, you can just take your shoes off. I know it's a naughty thing to do, but just to take your shoes off, be able to snuggle up on one of those day beds and drink it. And once again, as you say, I've never felt any impetus by the staff to say to me like, okay, you can move along now. Like you've been here three or four hours, it's time to go. Never have I been pushed out the door. And I can stay there easily an afternoon. And once the evening comes on, as you say, with the entertainment, you're not charged for that entertainment. There's no entry fee into the venue. And just to linger there in that atmosphere is just divine, just divine. Sharon Sweeney : And then you've got other places as well, if you're into nightlife you've got Cocoon (No Longer open), that's amazing, it starts at nine o'clock with a DJ. It's hip hop, yep. Very hip-hop. It goes till late, whatever that is, very hip-hop, very for the younger real party crowd. Yeah, they shut the doors so they cut the noise down. Yeah, and then you, well they do, yeah they do, and they make some noise. And then you've got Salt Pub which is very classy but it's also a pub atmosphere, combines the two, great for kids and yes great location for kids and then if you're in a really wealthy demographic then you've got Shore Club which is very high class but they all and there's there's others as well there's one by run by an Australian called Max Lambert which is for the basically for the backpacker crowd and I love going there but it's all they all overlook the beach and well, just don't miss them. Go to all of them. Kerry Newsome : Yes. And they all offer, as you say, just something slightly different to each other. But as you walk past, you can pick a seafood restaurant, you know, and pick your seafood straight out of a bucket. You can move on and you can go to the H’mong Sisters and have a meal there. Or you could have a pizza next door. You go on to Soul Kitchen, as you say. Like, either left or right at An Bang Beach, there's just such a range. I totally agree with you. Yeah, yeah. Sharon Sweeney : It's happening at An Bang. Kerry Newsome : It's definitely. Okay, last but not least, number 10. Sharon Sweeney : Well again, you know, I'm looking for the wow factor and I was thinking of all my time in Vietnam, what was one of the things that gave me this, ooh, wow. And that was, there's no doubt, it's the Hai Van Pass. And the Hai Van Pass is extraordinary. It's known by the Vietnamese as Deu Hai Van, which means ocean cloud pass, and that should give you an idea. You start off at sort of ocean level and you go up this mountain right into the clouds and you know it's a thrilling experience. There's a steep, steep drop the more you go. The roads wind and you pass these jungle covered hills, there's fishing villages below. It's just and then this view at the top It's just extraordinary and so that used to be the main way you got from Da Nang to Hue, which I highly recommend everyone visit. It was from Da DaNang to Hue. But now you can go another way, but don't go the Hai Van Pass. And if you can, go by bike, motorbike, but just beware. I recommend you go with a licensed bike driver because Vietnam has the highest death toll in the world or accident toll in the world with bikes. And Kerry, I don't know one expat, me included, my husband included, that hasn't had a bike accident. Some have been fatal, some have been nasty, and mostly they're okay. But don't take a chance if you're a tourist. You're more than likely not insured if you're on a tourist visa. Take a car. That's what I did. Or take a jeep. You can do that too. Kerry Newsome : Yes, we can do a Jeep, we can do a bike. And I think definitely don't put that holiday at risk by riding a bike. As you and I both know, we've known tourists who've got themselves into some sticky situations because of that and you don't want that. You don't want that kind of trouble or that that thing to happen on any level. But certainly, as part of your trip, you just don't want any accidents or anything like that. So to minimise that, definitely. But you want the experience. You want that drive up there. You want that pinnacle view. It is just awesome. Absolutely. Sharon, I think we could go on to 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 easily. We could. I'm so, we could, we could. Hoi An definitely is up there as a big favourite with the tourists, so I know the top 10 is important because, you know, sometimes the traveller doesn't have all the time in the world. So to narrow it down to the top 10 things that they should do as must-dos, I'm so grateful for you to share your top 10 with us. And I'm sure the travellers are going to be able to relate to a lot of them. and hopefully put on their list of to-dos when they go. It was lovely having Sharon on the program. I'm sure that you found her insights into the top 10 must-do things in Hoi An helpful. Hoi An does offer a great many things to do, so when you do start your planning, allow some time to be able to enjoy those things because it's certainly a city in Vietnam that you should spend extra time in because of those things. Please reach out directly to whataboutvietnam@gmail.com for advice or if you wish a full trip plan to customised to you, we can do that too!. Simple go to https://www.whataboutvietnam.com/request-form Complete the form and we will have you on your way to Vietnam in no time. Thank you for listening

S5-21 - Vietnam's TET holiday S5-21 - Vietnam's TET holiday Episode 21 S5-21 - Vietnam's TET holiday 00:00 / 21:12 With Tet just around the corner, this episode is your ultimate guide to preparing for Vietnam’s most vibrant and culturally rich celebration—don’t miss it!

Tet, or Tet Nguyen Dan, is Vietnam’s most cherished holiday, marking the Lunar New Year with vibrant traditions, family gatherings, and a festive spirit. This magical time lasts over nine days, featuring rituals like home cleaning, flower displays, and the gifting of red envelopes. Being prepared is the difference between acceptance and frustration. It's like that old saying “Why didn’t someone tell me about this”? In this episode, I’ll walk you through the must-know details to navigate Tet in Vietnam, from the bustling pre-holiday atmosphere to the travel challenges you might face. Whether it’s cultural highlights or practical tips, this quick guide has you covered to make the most of your trip during this unique celebration. Join me as I share 8 essential tips to help you plan your Tet adventure and leave you with a thought-provoking question: With this newfound insight, is Tet in any year, the right time for your Vietnam journey? 00:02:14 - Introduction to Tet
 00:03:09 - Common Questions About Tet
 00:03:29 - Understanding Tet: Duration and Importance
 00:05:06 - Travel Considerations During Tet
 00:06:21 - Is Tet a Good Time for Tourists?
 00:08:09 - What's Open and What's Not During Tet
 00:09:57 - Significance of the Zodiac Animal for the Year
 00:11:03 - Summary of Common Tet Questions
 00:12:29 – 8 Tips for Travelers During Tet
 00:17:23 - Post-Tet Travel in Vietnam

 I wish to take this opportunity to wish everyone happy holidays and a Merry Christmas. Thank you for being such a wonderful audience. See you back here in January 2025. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

878767d7-cade-4a2f-931a-1b2265549a6bWe share with you some of the history of Hoi An. Hoi An - Taking a step back in time Episode 1 Hoi An - Taking a step back in time 00:00 / 10:57 Xin Chao and hello everyone, welcome to What about Vietnam, - The Traveler Experience series, This is going to be the series where we get to talk to previous travelers to Vietnam. And some of those have actually decided to make Vietnam their home. Let me introduce Paul Simpson today as my guest I met Paul about three years ago. You will soon discover Paul is a very well educated and traveled person and he just fell in love with Vietnam a bit like me, Paul is going to share with you some of the history of Hoi An. A city that dates back to the 16th century in some areas.. So there are some spice tales to tell. Please welcome Paul Simpson to the show. I'm sure you're going to learn a lot more about Hoi An through his experience. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

2680acaa-0464-444a-81fb-2efe1910fc5aVietnam is the ideal place for social enterprise travel Gain a deeper love of Vietnam through social enterprises Episode 14 Gain a deeper love of Vietnam through social enterprises 00:00 / 30:32 Traveling throughout Vietnam with a Social Enterprise headset has the power to greatly deepen your experience of Vietnam. While you as the traveler often gain a more adventurous, rewarding, and insightful experience, you also have the opportunity to leave your mark on Vietnam in a very positive and enriching way. To help us know more about the value of Social Enterprise Travel in Vietnam, I'm fortunate to be talking to Emily Lush, a former magazine journalist, whose passion for storytelling to help Social Enterprises and Not-for-Profits inspires her Blog, Wander Lush. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

S4-17 Vietnam Traveller Insights 2022 What About Vietnam - S4 - E17 The Best Vietnam traveller insights from 2022 Kerry Newsome: [00:00:35] Xin Chau and welcome to What about Vietnam for 2023. Chuc Mung Nam Moi, I hope you're having a wonderful celebration for the Lunar New Year for 23, the Year of the Cat in Vietnam, which is a little bit different to the Year of the Rabbit, which is more traditional for Chinese, but for Vietnam, it's definitely the Year of the Cat. We've got a really big year ahead. I want to say welcome to all my new listeners. I hope you're going to enjoy the show this year. We've got some really great guests on, and I'm hoping you're going to learn lots of things and I hope it's going to help you with your planning and trip planning for your next holiday. I want to give a big shout out and thank you to everybody that got in touch with me over Christmas, sent me messages and emails and who's supported the program and given me just great feedback. Really appreciative. Thank you and I hope to really support you in the future as well, and I hope you'll stick with the show. I'm delighted to be back with the 2023 new series. And I just wanted to, I guess, take this opportunity to share with you a little bit about some of the stories that we covered in 2022 and especially those that I know from feedback that has resonated with you that you have used to build your trips and plan your trips and and just help you give. I know I don't know some some more thought or consideration as you may not have known about those areas or those experiences over the break. Kerry Newsome: [00:02:35] THE YEAR AHEAD I hope everyone had a good time and got a chance to be with family and friends and just chill out a little bit. For me, it was a chance to kind of step back and just have a bit of a breather. And I was really, really thrilled to receive lots of emails and messages and stuff through social media, just giving me some more feedback about the show, the ones people liked, the ones people used and the information they used, and even warmer than anything else was just the encouragement that it gave me to to keep going. I guess that leads me into some exciting news where I, I really want to engage more with you this year. I want to open up opportunities for us to interact. And I'm going to be talking to you a little bit about that later. And I really do want to hear what's important to you, what stories, what subjects, what experiences, what information is of the most importance to you when you're thinking about your trip and how can I help deliver that trip to you? So I just wanted to thank everyone again for those emails and for the feedback and again, a thank you for your support. The other thing that happened was that I got to release my book in December 2022 Book Pack and Stay A Travel Guide to Vietnam. Kerry Newsome: [00:04:23] I can't say enough just how wonderful it's been to get the reviews that I've got, the personal emails to me thanking me for the book, for writing it, for including the information that I had put into the book. So once again, just a big thank you to everybody who has purchased the book. It is available on Amazon for $4.99. [00:04:58] Most people for their first time listening to the show or finding the show are doing so through a podcast channel. And that can be a Spotify, that can be a iTunes. And there's many other channels. I know that you listen from around the world. In fact, the show is now going to 70 countries and we've got I think last count was 34,000 listeners. So the additional information I want to share with you is that whilst there are show notes for the show in your channel and in each episode and it has links, etc., you can also go to the whataboutVietnam.com website? Now I bring this up because some of the information that you shared with me was about; Being able to capture some of the information. I had a fabulous story from one lady who lives in New Zealand, and she had been inspired by the podcast to plan a trip to Vietnam. Originally, she'd planned the trip for about ten days, but had since gone on to listen to more and wanted to extend her trip. So she took on an additional job and that was like a Uber deliveries or food deliveries job. And she said she was cycling around and doing the deliveries, but had to stop every now and then to stop the podcast that she was listening to while riding and then write down some notes as she didn't want to forget them. I truly loved that feedback. So, in response to that, this is kind of where I'm going. Where to go for more in-depth information You can go to the website and you can listen to every single episode there for free. So if you're not on a channel or you don't recognize the podcast channel on your phone, then you can literally go to the website and listen to that for free. In addition to that, on the website is a transcript. (This is an example transcript) So while the transcript is long, so if I'm doing a show for 20 minutes or 30 minutes or 40 minutes, and while there's a few kind of nuances in it not being exactly perfect English, all of the information is there and you can print it off. Some feedback I also had was that people were downloading the print PDF version and then just getting their highlighter pen out and highlighting the key areas of interest. So I wanted to share with you about that on the website. Now, the other thing you can go to on the website is my blogs. And what I'm trying to do and I'm going to get a little bit more vigilant in this is is putting together a small blog centered around one or two of the podcasts that I've just recorded so that if you want a kind of a brief or summarized version and, you know, with some of my takeaways and some of my interpretations, then likewise you can access that on the website through the blog. Kerry Newsome: [00:08:40] There's also the advantage that you can search on the blog, so you'll see that there's various various subject matters that are listed. There's also a search that you can go by areas so you can search for podcasts that are about the northern regions in the central regions and then the southern regions. Or you can just type say you wanted to put visas or visas. So what will come up will be the podcast that have that included and also blogs describing what you need to do to actually apply for a visa. So that's just kind of an extra thing that I thought I would mention. In addition, if you're not quite sure what you want to listen to or even if you want to listen to the whole episode, you can also see some or listen to some of our trailers. So I try to, you know, just grab a small snippet from an episode just a couple of minutes to feature something I think is notable all in the podcast that I've recorded. And then I load them up on the YouTube channel for What about Vietnam? So please go there also and have a look at the playlists, have a look at some of the series, etc. Kerry Newsome: [00:10:07] that you can also listen. And also it's a nice easy way to share if you wish to do so. Coming up, I'm also going to be adding a feedback tool so that when you go to the website that you can you can send me some feedback, you can send me a request, you can suggest a subject, and I'm going to be able to grab that and then, you know, put some homework into trying to find the best way to answer that for you and feature it in podcasts coming up. 2022 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW [00:10:54] So we started off 22 in what I think is a really positive light where we looked at the comedy scene and how it is developing in Saigon. And traditionally you probably wouldn't have thought about Saigon as offering English speaking comedy venues and an artist that can appear there. But it's really becoming a booming area and the tourists and the locals and everyone is just loving it. Niall Mackay is heading up a lot of that and he came on the show and was able to share with us some more information. Go directly to the Comedy show here. We then went on to the language. You cannot go to Vietnam without thinking about the language because. While it's great to be able to use some language when you go to a foreign country, Vietnam is quite challenging in the sense that the language has some tonal effects which make it quite a bit tricky to get that tone right. Kerry Newsome: [00:12:07] But what I tried to deliver in the podcast was just some handy words in the areas of greetings, special dietary requests, and maybe some words to use shopping wise, because we all don't want to think, you know, are they are they giving us their best price? Are they are they just kind of playing a bit of a bartering game or are they just being a little a little bit mischievous? It doesn't matter. It means that you've got a little bit of a dictionary in your vocabulary. And we had a lovely girl on the show that was able to share with us how to use those tones to the best ability. And I shared my ability or inability in some cases, but you've got that as a reference. And as I said, use the transcript and go back and highlight those areas. Go directly to the Greetings language show here Go Directly to the Dietary Requirements words show here Go directly to the shopping words here We also went into one of the most famous caves, the Son Doong caves in Phong Nha, and we got to meet Howard Limbert. Now, how he was one of the nine British explorers that actually discovered Son Doong. He still has a very active role in looking after the caves and ensuring and working with the government to protect them so that even as tourists, when we get to explore these magnificent caves, which now have reached worldwide, notary, that when you go there, you're going to have some insights in what to do in a one day tour, a two day tour, a three day tour and a four day tour. Go directly to the Phong Nha Caves show here Kerry Newsome: [00:14:07] Believe it or not, some of these caves and in particular, Son Doong actually takes four days to go through the whole cave. It does take a little bit of skill and there are bookings, I think right through the year. They only take very small numbers in each group. So you may have to prepare for that well in advance. Once again, check out the transcript and the notes for that. We also got to talk about wellness and we got to do that with Hilton Lipkin and his lovely wellness retreat just outside Hue. I got the chance to visit there this time in September when I was there, and I can't speak highly enough about the value of spending time in nature, and spending it with professionals that are going to really tailor a program for you and what your goals are. The accommodation is just delightful. The professionals that you work with are skilled and they work in a very personable way about what you want to do and what you want to get out of your visit. So we've got a really great feeling for how wellness is evolving in Vietnam. Hilton shares some very deep passions for wellness and really wants to see wellness retreats and wellness holidays grow in Vietnam. So we're going to feature more of those in 23 as we scour the country for more locations. Go directly to the Wellness show here and check out the Offers page. Kerry Newsome: [00:16:02] Another place that I am actually planning to visit again, and this is. Phu Quoc. We got to visit, and hear some insights with Patricia Marques. And Patricia was really great at giving just some insights into how the Fuqua Ireland can treat you as a visitor and some of the locations and some of the things to do on the island. Now, the last time I was in Phu Quoc was 2018. This is so that's pre COVID, and there was a lot of building and construction going on. So I can't say At that time I was experiencing the best of Phu Quoc as it was in that progress and development stage. So in 23, I really hope to get back there and just experience it on the other side as I'm hearing really great things. So check out the Phu Quoc episode with Patricia as I think as a hop across from Saigon. It's only an hour flight and you could find some really great deals on the island for your stay. Go directly to the Phu Quoc show here Now, I also had to share with you as a recap the trip I did with my grandson. So my grandson was 16 at the time, and I got to take him to Vietnam for a week. Now, I'm going to be honest with you. I wasn't quite sure how he'd go. I was taking him away from, you know, 90% access to devices and taking him outdoors. And he'd never been away with his grandmother before. Kerry Newsome: [00:17:54] And here we are going to a Southeast Asian country that he really would have only scantily known about. But he really embraced it. He got to experience cooking tours. We climbed Marble Mountain. We got to experience some food. Food. I never thought he would try. He just thoroughly enjoyed. He couldn't get over the beauty, the landscape, the people. It was really just the best thing. So I really encourage you to hear his take on it. He came on the show and, you know, I asked him to share really openly and honestly, and he did. And I think if you do have a young family that you'd like to bring and you've got teenager amongst them, I think you can feel really confident that they will experience something that they'll never forget. And I think they'll find the Vietnamese very welcoming and they're going to have a wonderful time. There's lots to do for kids in Vietnam. And in 2023, we're going to include a lot more of those experiences with some of my special guests. Go directly to the Teenager show here Continuing on, we got to really dive deep into the art scene in Vietnam, and I was able to begin that with Bridget March and we talked about the storytelling side of art and how artists can express themselves through their vision, their experience, their history, their culture, and tell the story through their art. I think sometimes when we see art in Vietnam, it's a big learning curve to really appreciate the story behind it. Kerry Newsome: [00:19:56] So Bridgett was great in sharing with us some of the some of her favorite galleries, and we even took it another step further and talked about contemporary art with Suzanne Lecht. And my visit with her in Hanoi was just amazing in the sense that I got to see how young artists coming through are seeing Vietnam and how without any limitations, they're able to express themselves and tell their story and how they see Vietnam in a more contemporary light. Go directly to the Art – Story Telling with Bridget March show here Go directly to the Contemporary Art show with Suzanne Lecht here So check those episodes out with Bridget March and Susan Lecht. I think you're really going to get a lot out of them. And a podcast that talks about travel in Vietnam would nowhere near be complete if we didn't cover food. And during the year, I was able to get on the show some really interesting people to give us some of the diversification in food that you can find in Vietnam, and also just how food and the flavors and the influences change from south to central to north. We touched on street food and we did a great story with Corin Carlson and really went deep on the food options available in Hanoi. And she was fabulous in sharing some great bites, great places to go. And then we went a little bit upscale and I had Raj Taneja on and just his input in talking about the development of fine dining in Vietnam and where that is heading and his involvement with La Chaine des Rotisseurs and just, you know, I think that was insightful for me, especially as I probably had focused more of my time in previous visits on street food and cute local cafes. Go directly to the Hanoi Foodie shows here – 1 Go directly to the Hanoi Foodie shows here – 2 Go directly to Fine dining show here Kerry Newsome: [00:22:04] So to step up into fine dining, I think is definitely an episode you need to check out. I hope you enjoy the foodie episodes that we have coming up as well. So stay tuned for 2023, Another episode, which I got to do with a lovely lady who plans weddings. So I know it's early in the year and it's a good idea to put this in my recap and to talk about because, you know, I think in the beginning of the year, we do like to make plans and plans maybe, you know, long way down the track. So, if you are considering a destination for a wedding, I really invite you to have a listen to the wedding podcast that we did. And I think you're going to be quite surprised at just what's available and just the value that is there for people and the variety of experiences that you can offer in your wedding and obviously allure your guests. So maybe check out if you're thinking about planning a wedding to go to that podcast. Go directly to Wedding show here The other area, which I really did need an update on was Nha Trang, and I did that with Colm Hutchinson and Colm works in the media and advertising and marketing industry. Kerry Newsome: [00:23:40] He's now living there as an expat, married with two beautiful children, and he was able to give a really good list of some of the things that you can. Do in Nha Trang. Gosh, I hadn't been there since about 2014, so I knew I was out of date with how the location had developed. So from hotels to experiences, I think we got a list together about ten things. So if you want to consider Nha Trang as a bit of an offshoot for some experiences with family, with snorkeling and with water sports and culture, I really suggest that you have a look at the Nha Trang episode we did with Colm. Go directly to the Nha Trang show here In addition, we kind of jumped to experiences and some of the things that are really coming on in Vietnam. And one of those is the craft beer scene. And I got to talk to Gary Bett in Da Nang, and Gary is the founder and the head brewer of the Five Elements Brewing Company. And Gary was really insightful about craft beer. I mean, I know very little about craft beer as a beverage. But just getting to understand some of the Vietnamese influences and flavors available and just the scene itself and how it's growing and developing was enlightening, to say the least. So once again, if you want to have a look at the craft beer scene and look at some of the big players across all the major cities in Vietnam, I'd invite you to have a listen to that one. Go directly to the Craft Beer show here Kerry Newsome: [00:25:35] We also had some time with a really interesting chap who knows the history of the city of Hue, the Imperial city of Hue, and why its extremely popular for its food, its perfume River, the Citadel and deep, deep history. And he was able to really explain it in a way that gave context to some things and some images that you might see about the city. And I'm sure you're going to really enjoy that one. If you'd like to know more about Hue. Go directly to the Hue show here We also were able to look into some islands and one of the set of islands which comes, you know, up quite a bit now and has certainly done so in the last four or five years. And that's the Con Dao Islands. And I was able to do that with a guy who just did it by impulse. He went there with a group of friends & he was able to share with us just some of the things that took him by surprise. And one of those things was possibly the underdevelopment of the region. And whilst there is plenty of places to stay, you'll find that from his aspect, he really enjoyed its uniqueness in beauty, its quietness, its serenity and just some of its complex history. So that's another one to check out. Go directly to the con Dao Island show here And then we jump to a really interesting subject, the subject of being a solo traveller to Vietnam. And I got to do that with Camellia Dinh and Camellia and I have done some work together and she was able to kind of express the differences between her travelling as a Vietnamese solo traveller versus mine as a solo traveller, which, you know, I do more often than not. Kerry Newsome: [00:27:49] And it was just intriguing to hear how her perceptions are not that different from mine and to learn that she just feels as safe as I do when I travel to Vietnam. I mean, no city is absolutely 100% perfect, but the crime rate in Vietnam is what I would say, considerably lower than many other Asian countries. And I think using common sense, as we say, always in travel, you know, you can feel that you can do most things in Vietnam feeling very safe. One to definitely want to check out. I had some great feedback from some female solo travellers in particular over the Christmas break saying that they were inspired to go after listening that. So that was really terrific to get. Go directly to the solo traveller show here And we finished up the year talking about a beautiful place called Ninh Binh, you know, a place just a couple of hours out of Hanoi. It is often compared to Ha Long Bay but the Halong Bay on land. It's quite mystical. Jack Taylor talked about his visit there. He did some beautiful drone photography and all in all, I think it was worth getting some insights about this place for you to get some comparison, I guess, to Ha Long Bay. Kerry Newsome: [00:29:25] They are both beautiful sights to visit, but even in their classic beauty, they have some distinguishing differences, which, you know, will appeal to one person, possibly more than the other. So it was a big year. And we got to we got to get through the post COVID tensions. And we talked about just how we saw travel evolving and how we saw the country opening up. The visa status is pretty much set at the moment. I mean, I'm talking to you now in January 23, and we do have the visa free countries and the evisa status for 80 countries. So, you know, it is pretty set at the moment, but it may change. I know there's been lots of conjecture about that and it's a bit of a “watch, wait and see”. And I'll certainly be keeping you up to date on that if and when that changes. As I said at the very beginning of today's podcast, I do really want to make the show about YOU this year. So, I really impress upon you to reach out to me. You can do that through the website. You can do that direct at what about whataboutvietnam@gmail.com and you know, suggest a subject, if you have a concern, if you have a response to one of the podcasts that I've done that you know, you'd like extra information. I'm happy to respond. I try and get to everyone I can, you know, personally and give you the best of my knowledge. Kerry Newsome: [00:31:21] If I don't have the knowledge, you can be damn sure I'll be going out to find it. I wish everyone a very happy, prosperous, safe, healthy, 3023 and I do hope the podcast does continue to inspire you to visit the country as it is evolving. It is a beautiful country, and if it's not the food, the people and the landscape that get to you, I'm sure you're going to find an experience that will and will keep in your memory for a very long time. I can't let you go just yet. I just wanted to tell you a little bit about the book that I released in December 22 called Book, Pack & Stay - A Travel Guide to Vietnam This is the link to Amazon. It's a very different style of travel guide book in the sense that it's not a destination guide book. It's more about the things that you need to look for when you are booking your tour, thinking about the kind of trip that you want to design. And you know, when you're sitting down with a travel agent or you're looking to do it yourself online, you've given some thought to the kinds of experiences that you want to have because depending on what time of year and those destinations that you choose, you really do need to kind of manage your expectations a little bit. So, you know, time wise, you've got enough time to enjoy it all and you know, you've got the right weather and the right conditions. Kerry Newsome: [00:33:16] We talk about in the book about what to pack the right kind of apps and bits of research that will help you in enjoying the trip and being well prepared for the trip. I don't know. So many times I've seen people with the wrong shoes or the wrong clothes or just feeling the heat, and some of these things can be managed so much better with a little bit of insight. And then, of course, your stay, what to expect. You know, you're going to trip over wires. You're going to see thousands of motorbikes. And just I hope the guidebook is going to help you understand that, kind of get it in context and some tips and hints on just being able to make your stay is so much more enjoyable. So that's the book Pack and Stay Travel Guide to Vietnam. It's a nice easy price of $4.99. So not a huge expense. You'd have it on your phone and you're always going to be able to interact with that with the links to various apps, videos, podcasts and of course, Amazon is going to allow you to do that very easily. Please send me any feedback or suggestions as I will be updating this version later in the year because Vietnam is just that country. It's evolving fast and I want to make sure I get you the information you need that's relevant at the time. Thank you very. Kerry Newsome: [00:34:50]. Check out the episode notes for more information. What about Vietnam? Don't forget to subscribe, write and review, and stay tuned for more fun adventures in Vietnam. Time stamps 2.35 – The year ahead 4.58 – Where to go for more in-depth information 10.54 – The year in Review – The comedy scene Saigon 12.07 – The language learning series of shows 12.54 – Phong Nha Caves show 14.07 – Wellness 16.02 – Phu Quoc 16.40 – Teenager Show 19.00 – Art in storytelling and Contemporary art of the future 20.15 – Food shows 21.00 – A wedding planner story 23.00 - Nha Trang 25.00 – Craft beer scene 25.35 – Hue 26.10 – Con Dao Islands 27.00 – Solo Travel in Vietnam 29.00 – Ninh Binh

S4-20 Life changer for singer songwiter What About Vietnam – S4- E20 Hoi An – A life changing experience for a singer songwriter Kerry Newsome: [00:00:35] Xin Chau and welcome to What about Vietnam? If this is your first listen to the show, I'm very excited to have you on board for lots of fun travel stories with my guests. If you're a regular listener and you follow the show through your favorite channel and our social pages, thank you for being a supporter and please feel free to reach out anytime if you've got any questions. The website's got a stack of information, but I'm acutely aware that, you know, we're all unique, and sometimes just one answer doesn't fit all situations. Plus, I just love hearing from you, so please reach out if you've got some ideas for the show or there's a particular subject you'd like us to cover. Now, the show today is coming directly from Vietnam, as I've been traveling about, and just checking out some new places, testing stuff for our travel services and for the Girls Getaway coming up in September. I am truly excited. Vietnam is really rocking at the moment and I'm here in March, so it's just a beautiful time of the year. However, back to the show. We've got a wonderful show planned today because it's a little bit thought provoking in the sense we explore Vietnam and the high hopes of a young traveller who, through his love of adventure and music, found himself falling in love with the country and its people. Kerry Newsome: [00:02:08] Now, I know from me you've heard that all before. But what I think you're going to hear from my guest, Luke Webster, is a little bit unique in the sense it involves the profound effect travel can have on a person and where that adventure can unknowingly take you. Luke talks about his travels and how he found himself enjoying the pace, a pace he describes as having your foot off the gas instead of on it all the time. He comes from obviously a city in the UK. He comes from a very busy lifestyle. So he kind of recognized this very early in the piece. He says he warmed easily to the happy, smiling people and welcoming feelings of home and family. He describes also that sensory overload that hit him when he first arrived and the beauty and serendipitous happenings that steered him to develop his craft. So while the world was in COVID, Luke was using his skills as a singer, songwriter and English music teacher to further his stays in Vietnam. After exploring the North Hanoi and Cat Bar, he describes falling in love all over again in Hoi An The vibe of this old town or country town, as he calls it, including the beach area of Ung Bang began to open doors to him, and those doors allowed him to perform regularly and craft his own style and repertoire of music to an ever increasing local following. Kerry Newsome: [00:03:51] I met Luke on my first trip back after COVID. And he kind of immediately struck me as a person who had caught the love bug of Hoi An. Luke has written and recorded an album of his original music in Hawaiian with his band called The Langurs, and he hopes to have that released in April this year. And you can be sure I'm going to have links to that as soon as it comes up and I'll share those with you. Luke speaks to all of us who recognize the value of travel, and especially to places where the culture is foreign to us. While it may seem a stretch at the time, he talks about how traveling and working things out as you go develops you as a person and I couldn't agree more. And just how it broadens your mind to think outside the box. Sometimes we get stuck in our own ways, and that creative muscle in our brain doesn't get flex that often, but certainly in a country with such a diverse range of experiences, I think you're going to find you're going to experience things you've never done before, and that's all going to be good for you. Now, without further ado, let's just welcome Luke to the show. Kerry Newsome: [00:05:13] Oh, oh, just just one quick one….let me jump in here with a little announcement again about our Girls Getaway . This is one definitely for the ladies. It kicks off 7th to 17th of September this year. Kelley McCarthy is the host of the tour. We've done some of that extra testing, I think I mentioned earlier, and we're really excited. Like when we put this together, we kind of thought, we've got something really unique here. It's going to give you three very different, unique experiences in Vietnam. You're going to experience a vibrant city, the city of Saigon. We're going to take you then to the old 16th century town of Hoi An and then we're going to flip you over to a beautiful luxurious island to finish off the tour. It is an extremely bespoke tour, really well thought out. I'm hoping maybe going to tell us about that later. But definitely, you know, make some inquiries, ask us some questions. If there's something, you know, holding you back or you're not quite sure about, please get in touch. Kelly and I are more than happy to answer any questions, as we'd love to have you on board. Anyway, without further ado, let's get back to the show and say hello to Luke Webster. It's great to have you on the show. Luke Webster: [00:06:50] Thank you very much for having me. I'm very excited to do my first ever podcast. Kerry Newsome: [00:06:55] Oh, that. Oh, that makes me feel special. Fantastic. Look, for everyone listening, I'm a little bit of a fan of Luke's, actually. I got to hear him play at a gig in Hoi an in my last visit in September, and I just knew when he was doing some intros to his songs, some that he's written and some of the covers that he played. I just knew that Vietnam had got to him. So it's great to have him on the show, and I think we're going to focus on one particular place in Vietnam that I think has won his heart. Luke, do you want to tell us about that place that's sort of got under your skin a bit? Luke Webster: [00:07:42] Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. So I'll give a very quick kind of backstory of how I ended up in Vietnam. So I was I just finished university and I went off to do Camp America for the summer because my friend was doing it. And from there I met some people and we went and did a ski season in the south of France and I ended up doing this after graduating for a couple of years doing America in the Summer and ski seasons in the winter. And I'd finished my third Camp America, and I knew I wanted to go to Asia, but I didn't know where I wanted to go. And everyone had said like Thailand was like amazing. And Cambodia had rich history. But Vietnam I fell in love with. They always kept coming back to the fact that they had fallen in love with Vietnam. It was amazing. It was the best place on earth. So one day I came back from work and I just booked a one way ticket to Hanoi on New Year's New Year's Eve. So I went out there right at the start of 2020, arrived in Hanoi, traveled from the north to the south, met amazing people, immediately fell in love with the place, the culture, the the pace of life, the slow down of the pace of life. Luke Webster: [00:09:00] But then there was this one place that I went to called Hoi an, which is right in the middle of Vietnam, right below Danang, which is the big major central city. And when I went there, I like I'd already fallen in love with Vietnam, but then I like fell in love again with this particular place. And I, I still can't quite explain why. I almost feel like you need to go there to understand, but I don't know whether it's because it's right next to the beach and it has this beautiful pristine beach or the fact that it's in the rice fields and it's got this very country. I'm from a country town back in England, so immediately when I got there, it felt very homely to me. And yeah, I just I almost didn't continue my travels because I planned to go down to Saigon and see the rest of it, and I almost was just going to throw it away and say, Hoi An is like this. I've already found where I want to be, but I continue to go. Went to Saigon. That was fun and then just flew straight back to Vietnam and um, and then, yeah, just stayed there. Kerry Newsome: [00:10:10] And, you know, the way you speak about Hoi an is very typical of a lot of people, strangely enough. I know for myself, my first visit was back in 2007 and then I didn't go back again really to spend any serious time until 2014. But from then on, I was hooked. I was just, as you say, caught up in the ambiance of the place. And it's very hard, as you say, to describe. It's got a certain vibe about it. It's got a certain energy. Would you agree energy to it? And yeah, it's got kind of two scenes going on. There's definitely the beach scene, so that's out at An Bang. And then when you go into the old town, that's another kind of scene. But the both seem to just meld together so beautifully and come together, uh, and, and operate, even though they operate in kind of different spheres because the beach is kind of a little bit more touristy. Oh, I guess parts of parts of the old town is as well. But I think from a person looking in to Vietnam, Hoi an kind of has to stand out on its own separate from all of the other cities because it's just that unique look. Now I wanted to just maybe touch on some of the first impressions that you had. Now, you know, you've just come out of a Camp America season and a ski season in France to get hit with, you know, Asia and Vietnam and every every smell, every sound and everything that that comes with. What were some of the first impressions that you had like immediately? Luke Webster: [00:12:24] I would say at the start. I was just everywhere I was going. I mean, I arrived in Hanoi, so I got on a bus, went into Hanoi, and it was it was 5:00 in the morning on New Year's Day. So I arrived there right when everyone had been partying all night. And everyone was probably, I don't know, very intoxicated. And I got there and I was just it kind of it kind of hit me all at once. Like I got off and there was just smells and sounds. It was like sensory overload. And I just couldn't I just was looking around and I couldn't stop smiling because I'd been kind of dreaming about doing this Asia trip for a while. And I was just walking around and my eyes couldn't stop looking around at, you know, like all the street vendors and the people on the bikes and people asking me, you know, where are you going? Where where do you want to go? Trying to get me to, you know, buy food and and it was just the word I would use is colorful. Like it was very colorful. Like the the sounds were colorful, the smells were colorful, the sights were colorful. Um, and everywhere I went, it that continued. Like, I went straight from Hanoi after three days to capture in the north, which is, you know, Halong Bay, the big mountains coming out of the of the water. And I went to Cat Ba and it was a different vibe. It was a lot calmer. Um, there were, you know, beaches and everyone was a lot more relaxed than Hanoi. I needed it after three days in Hanoi, but it was exactly the same. People were relaxed and everyone was just chill. Everyone. It was like taking your foot off the gas. Everyone had taken their foot off the gas from wherever they'd come from. Kerry Newsome: [00:14:21] Did you feel welcomed? Did you feel, like, comfortable and welcome and did you feel like you could fit in and get around easy or, you know, did you because you go to some countries and you know, you can feel that estranged feeling. I've never got that in Vietnam. But, you know, I'm just keen to see for you whether you felt like I you know, I feel really welcome here. The people feel friendly and open. Luke Webster: [00:14:51] Yeah. I never felt like, um. I guess when you land in a country, a lot of the times people are trying to hustle you and make money from you because you know you're a tourist. But I never. I never really felt that from the start. Like, everywhere I went, I always felt like I was from the get go, getting, you know, like local prices on food and. And another thing is just people were smiling like the Vietnamese people. Just they love to smile Everywhere I went. They would especially the women, they they look at you and they just give you a big smile. And yeah, I don't know. With Vietnamese women, especially the older women, I feel I always feel like all all of them are are like are like my mum. Like when I go for food or anywhere, they're always like, Come on, eat up growing boy. And you know, they'll give me more or whatever. And it's, yeah, I just sunk into it straight away. It was very open and welcoming. Kerry Newsome: [00:15:46] I would say. Yes. And I think you're right. I one of the things that I enjoy about the Vietnamese and yeah, probably more so with the women is, is their child like attitude. They're kind of light and breezy. They don't trudge around even though they live in, you know, some kind of simple ways. They all are always smiling and light and bright and optimistic and fun loving and childlike. And, you know, I swear to God, I lose ten years when I'm over there just because they bring that out in me. You know, I think, oh, I can do anything in Vietnam because there isn't that ageism as much, I don't think. But yeah, I always feel very welcome. I think the people are very gracious. I think they're very open and welcoming and friendly. They don't seem to have any, uh, ways about them that is going to make things awkward. They kind of go out of their way to bring you in and to, you know, make you feel like part of their family. Or even if you go to a restaurant or automatically you can feel like you're part of that family who owns that restaurant within minutes, you know, you sit down on a little red chair and all of a sudden you've got a kid or a dog or somebody coming up to you and you just don't get that in Western society. You just that's that that's gone. That that kind of that feeling. So, as you say, it is really hard to explain to people what it's like. But we're going to give it a we're going to give it a shot in this show, Luke We're really going to try and dig deep, okay? So you've chosen an as pretty much your your main stay place. Is this to do with you doing some gigs there as well? Like did the did the music scene or the, the opportunity to do gigs there for music? Was that, you know, another allure of Hoi An. Luke Webster: [00:17:55] Yeah, definitely. Like I knew I wanted to try and play music when I came to Vietnam and Hoi An it's a very touristy destination and there's lots of bars that do live music there. Um, and the benefit is you also have Danang, which is the, the main city, which is only 30 minutes north. So you've almost got two bases in order, you know, in which to play music in. So actually, when I got there, I tell you another small story, which is quite important too, you know, like my musical endeavors in Vietnam, when I was in the North in Cat Ba, I was at an open mic and I ran into an Israeli fella, Nethanel his name is Netanel Sabag, and he was hosting this open mic. And I went up and I introduced myself and I said, Can I play some songs with you? And he said, Yeah, sure. You know, go ahead and we ended up playing all night. We had the best time. And we really hit off. And I ended up spending the week with him at this bar hosting these open mics. And we became friends very quickly and we went our separate ways. Luke Webster: [00:19:09] And when I went back to Hoi An after going to Saigon, he was also there by chance, and I met him on the beach and I said, Oh, nice, you know, nice to see you again. And we started hanging out and playing music together and writing music together. And very quickly we kind of were like, Let's make a band. Let's form a band together. And we started as a two piece, and at the start we would go to all the bars in Hoi an In the Old Town. This was before COVID and it would be very, very, very busy. And a lot of the bars would say, you know, you need to have played here for two years. You need, you know, experience. And so a lot of the bars wouldn't take us. And for a while, we just we weren't having any luck. And we ended up going to this bar called Bungalow Beach Bar and meeting this wonderful American couple, Rhonda and William. And we went in and we said, Can we play? And they said, Of course you want to come and play tomorrow. And we were like, Uh. Kerry Newsome: [00:20:16] Sure, why not? Luke Webster: [00:20:18] We were like, you know, Yes, absolutely. So we went in and played and we had a great time. And, you know, people seemed to like us and they said, Do you want to come and play tomorrow night? And we were like, okay. Kerry Newsome: [00:20:31] Yeah. Like there isn't kind of like any contracts coming out or, you know, serious conversations about, you know, payment and timing and how long will you be here? It's just so casual. It's hard to imagine. I know. Luke Webster: [00:20:46] Yeah, Yeah. It was almost like they were going to be like, you know, like play, a song for us now, you know, win us over. And we'd be like, Oh, okay, okay. Um, but yeah, that was and that was the only bar at the start that would kind of have us. And we, we would play there three, four nights a week. And that was when we, me and Nethanel, we started to kind of learn our craft like how to be because before we would, I don't know, we were boys who would play in our room and stuff and we'd never played for an audience. So we definitely crafted ourselves in that particular bar. You know, we would learn to, you know, mic up everything and do the sound and make a set list that was, you know, had highs and lows and interact with the audience. But yeah, as you say, it's it was very it's a very easy place if you find the right place that wants to have you to, you know, get a gig, there's there's not really any contracts. You just kind of rock up, play, they pay and then you kind of go on your way. Kerry Newsome: [00:21:47] And if you come back again, you knock on the door again and you see how you know things are traveling and if things are traveling okay, and you know, there's room for you, then you know, you can come back in. That is just that is that is the standard rule of thumb in Hoi An. So when I saw you when because I knew some other people in Hoi An and they said, oh, there's this really great guy called Luke Webster, he's playing at the Bungalow Bar, I think you should definitely aim for that. I think you were starting at 730 or 8:00 or something and I said, Oh, right, you know, it was a new name. I didn't know of you from previous trips. And you've got to remember, this was my first trip coming back after COVID. So I know you were, for want of a better term, stuck there during COVID. Well, you know, I was stuck in Australia not being able to get back. So, you know, I was keen to just see if Hoi an and An Bang had kind of come back from that from COVID and you know, I'd heard. Lots of stories where a lot of places had gone to the wall. And, you know, what was comforting was to go back and, you know, hear great sounds like you playing in bars, get that good feeling. And I thought, its come back. It's definitely on the road. Everyone is optimistic about foreign tourism coming back so. Yeah all good. I wanted to ask you a question. It's a little bit of a touchy feely question, for want of a better word. But because you write music about touchy feely things, I think you'll be able to relate to it. But would you say that Vietnam has changed you in any way? Yes. Yes. Luke Webster: [00:23:49] Yeah, definitely. I would just having a little think. Kerry Newsome: [00:23:56] I kind of got from your bio was the fact that you believe that travel does change you and that travel is something that everybody should be required to do to help develop themselves as people develop their appreciation of the world and to better understand themselves. So I guess from that I was keen to know just how Vietnam had impacted you from that perspective. Luke Webster: [00:24:30] Yeah, I would say it. It just opened my mind for a start. As soon as I got there, the culture was so different and the feeling was so different from where I was living or where I had been living for, you know, 23 years of my life back in England. Exactly. And, you know, it's almost like another great thing about Hoi an especially is it's this melting pot of cultures. There are so many different people from, you know, like from France, South Africa, Israel, America. So there's so many different cultures mixing that there's you're never lost for things to do. There's people teaching different things about their, you know, their cultures. And so when you travel, I feel like your mind opens up and you become very receptive for taking everything in and learning from people and the conversations you have. And because you're traveling, it's almost like a natural thing to. You want to be open and you become more talkative because it's like being in the playground again on your first day of school. You don't know anyone and you want to talk to people and make friends. And so you'll be in a bar and you'll see someone and they'll look at you and you'll be alone. And you just say, Hi, my name is Luke. And they say hi. And you say, Where are you from? And then the next minute they say, I'm going to Cat Ba tomorrow with some friends. Do you want to come? And you're like, Yeah, I've got no plans. Great. Kerry Newsome: [00:26:13] And that's how I met people also in Hoi an. When you're not gigging. And obviously I know that is your number one fun thing to do. What else do you love doing in Hoi An? Luke Webster: [00:26:33] I've got to say, going to the beach? Yeah, it's. Kerry Newsome: [00:26:35] That's got to be the first one. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. It's really lovely. Beach. Yeah. Luke Webster: [00:26:40] It's a really lovely beach. As long as you don't go now, as long as you don't go during, you know, October. Luke Webster: [00:26:50] Or rainy season. Yeah. Mid mid-December. Yeah. Kerry Newsome: [00:26:52] No, no, no, definitely not. No, definitely. So that's good to mention. Luke Webster: [00:26:57] So yeah, obviously in Hoi An throughout the nine months of the year, it's beautiful, hot sunshine. You get a bit of coolness for the spring in kind of February time. But then, yeah, September through maybe to December, they have the rainy season and it it's like, you know, in Forrest Gump when he says it started raining and it didn't stop raining for four months. It's true. Kerry Newsome: [00:27:21] It is true. And once again, like, like I, I managed to get September in. I always can manage to get a pretty good September in Hoi An, but as soon as it kicks over into October it's gone. Yeah you're right very big droplets of rain and the ocean goes crazy with waves and you know, everything at the beach. The beach just gets smashed. When you spend most of your time there, do you choose to like, do you live in a homestay or do you kind of rent a place? Or how do you how do you like to kind of accommodate yourself when you're in Hoi An and playing gigs and stuff. Luke Webster: [00:28:13] So yeah, I rent a place. It's very again, it's very easy to do. You know, most of the time you don't need a contract. You just, you look, you look on Facebook marketplace or whatever and you look for houses and you find a house and it's got the price. And you go and you say, you know, I want to rent the house. And a lot of the time they'll be like, Great, can I have a deposit? You give them the deposit and you can move in the next day. Kerry Newsome: [00:28:41] And they'll help you. Move in sometimes. Luke Webster: [00:28:43] Yeah, they'll help you move in, they'll bring you food, they'll bring you fruit. A lot of the landlords, they're super kind, super accommodating. You know, they'll just. They'll do things. They'll come and garden for you if you, you know, if you want them to. Um, but yeah, it's and there's so many beautiful spots in hoi an that's the, that's the nice thing about living there. You can live in the town and it feels very kind of townie town like and halfway between the town and the beach you got the beautiful rice fields so you can have a house that literally looks onto the rice fields and you get the, you know, the sunset in the evening and the sunrise. And then if you want to, you can literally live like on the beach. Yeah. So, you know, you you wake up in the morning and you're tired and you come out of bed and you can literally just zombie walk yourself through the sand down to the beach, two minutes down and you just jump into the sea and that just wakes you. That's the best way to wake up. Kerry Newsome: [00:29:43] It is. And you don't have to navigate a serious car park or there isn't like cordoned off areas where. Kerry Newsome: [00:29:51] There's full access and it's all free. So, you know, these are kind of the little things that people don't take into consideration with the beach itself. So tell us, if you were to talk to your friends and family and about Hoi An and about Vietnam, what are the key things that you want them to know or things that you know they should be aware of if they come? Luke Webster: [00:30:20] In terms of like for them, as for them as tourists or things for them to kind of see. Kerry Newsome: [00:30:26] In terms of them being a Westerner and maybe finding a. Some aspects of Asian culture. Vietnamese culture that, you know, would be a challenge for them. Like not all Westerners gravitate to Vietnam and go, Oh, that was all great. Some of them find some of the history challenging, Some of, you know, there's not paved roads everywhere. There's not paved pathways everywhere. There's wires hanging from trees. And, you know, that's the wifi system over there. It just wraps around that, that kind of bush over there. That's, how you get free wifi. And it's kind of like I cannot believe that? So it's just some of those things, the motorbikes, you know. Luke Webster: [00:31:22] Be prepared to be out of your comfort zone in any kind of given situation, whether that be, you know, you're on the toilet and you see cockroaches, you know, scuttling around or uh, yeah, you're in the shower and, you know, you don't get that nice, you know, constant warm shower pressure that you've got in your nice shower in England, you know, like, uh, and then, yes, the first and foremost, don't take, don't take things personally when you're on a bike, like everyone is not out to kill you, but you will feel like that sometimes. Kerry Newsome: [00:32:05] And of course, let's not forget the karaoke. Luke Webster: [00:32:10] Oh, God. Kerry Newsome: [00:32:12] Now you have to talk about the karaoke from someone who is a singer. You certainly have to speak to that. Luke Webster: [00:32:21] Okay. So yeah, that's a massive part of their culture is they sing. They sing like daytime karaoke. It usually happens on a Monday. I think Monday is like their day off. They sit around tables, drink, really. Laru, which is like the cheapest Vietnamese beer. And they'll all sit around the tables, get this massive karaoke machine, like, huge, huge speaker. And they'll have Vietnamese songs playing and they'll sing these Vietnamese songs, but they'll they'll sing it like they're trying to destroy your eardrums. Like they'll sing it into the mic super loudly and it will just be this blaring noise that you kind of hear in the distance. And, you know, sometimes you wake up and you you'll hear it at 8 a.m. and you're like, Oh, no, it's karaoke day. Kerry Newsome: [00:33:09] Have you been to a Vietnamese wedding? Luke Webster: [00:33:11] I have a couple. Kerry Newsome: [00:33:15] Have karaoke? Luke Webster: [00:33:17] Yeah, they. I was actually playing at the wedding, so I, I, you know, I did my bit. Kerry Newsome: [00:33:26] How great to have you there. Luke Webster: [00:33:31] Oh, my God. But it was, you know. I did my bit and then the karaoke came. Kerry Newsome: [00:33:36] On. You can't. You can't have a wedding without karaoke. It's just. Just just not done. Luke Webster: [00:33:39] You know, I put it in a bad light. But that's only because of where I've grown up and where what I'm used to. But when you when you see them doing it, they have a they have a great time. They do. It looks like a lot of and you can and you can go to karaoke bars and you can go with friends and you can you know, you can sing. I don't know your Abba and all your karaoke songs. It's just that they have a different way of doing it. They, you know, they get the boom box and the beers and they sit on the side of the road and. And yeah, it's just very. It's very loud and quite unsettling. Kerry Newsome: [00:34:16] Yeah. And if you tend to be near a venue like so sometimes people, you know, they've booked their hotel and the hotel's fabulous etcetera, but it just happens to be next door to a karaoke bar and before you know it, they're getting that that sound through their eardrums usually goes for a couple of hours at a time. And, you know, I've known people who have just been outraged, like just just cannot handle it and had to move hotels and all sorts of things. So I mention it because, you know, if you spend at least a couple of weeks or ten days in Hoi An, you're going to come across karaoke and if you don't come across karaoke, you're going to come across the Roosters. Have you had the Roosters wake you up? Luke Webster: [00:35:02] Yeah. so Nethanel my band mate he's gone back to Israel for a couple of months. Um, and I'm staying in his house and his house is like right in the middle of the rice fields and everything. And so, yeah, there's a rooster right next door and he does me the kind favor of waking me up at like 5 or 6 a.m. on most days, which is kind of nice because I'm not actually a morning riser, but now I have. I've been kind of forced to be. Kerry Newsome: [00:35:42] And how did you take to the food? Do you love Vietnamese food? Do you have you kind of got some special dishes that you like or. Luke Webster: [00:35:50] Yeah, absolutely. Hands down, it was I went back to England for three months this summer, and it was very saddening to, I say, saddening. It was I'm so accustomed to eating the Vietnamese food, which is, for the most part, very simple. They eat lots of rice, lots of vegetables, lots of broth and soup. And that's a very if you eat with a Vietnamese family, they'll have a big bowl of rice, maybe a chicken stew broth, and then they have Morning Glory, which is like a vegetable with garlic. And then they might have another some fried tofu for any vegetarians. Yeah, I like a good Khao Lao. You know, which is like the the local dish in Hawaiian. It's like a Hawaiian noodles. And then they have like a fir, which is Hanoi noodles, and then they have meichuan, which is another, you know, local. It's just awesome. The local. Yeah, the food is just amazing and it's so fresh and it's so cheap. Kerry Newsome: [00:36:51] So that was the next thing I was going to talk to you about. Like, how would you describe how much it is to, to holiday in Vietnam? Like, how much do you think it's expensive? Do you think it's hard to manage, you know, like between accommodation and getting around and food? Luke Webster: [00:37:12] I'd say it's really it's a very stress free place to go on holiday because you can you can have you can have whatever holiday experience you want. There are loads of resorts on the beach. So if you're a resort person and you want like an all inclusive package, then that is like available to you equally if you want. If you're someone who likes to find like a house with a pool and do your own thing and, you know, cook yourself, then there's loads of stunning, beautiful villas that are, I don't know, maybe a quarter or a fifth of the price that you would pay if you were going and staying in, I don't know, Barbados or so everything. It's it's affordable. It's very easy to get about if you need to if you need to get out on a bike, you go to a local place and you pay 40,000 Vietnamese dong, which is like a dollar and then you just get a bike for the day, you know? No, no paperwork, No, no, nothing. You just off you go. So it's, uh, I'd say it's stress free. Kerry Newsome: [00:38:15] Yeah. And that's a really good thing to say because, you know, part of what I try to do with this podcast is to, you know, do a bit of myth busting and kind of breaking down some perceptions that people have of Vietnam. And, you know, unfortunately for many, many years people only thought of Vietnam as the Vietnam War. And, you know, it's taken a long time to kind of move on from that because, you know, people have just got that stucked perception. But going back to Vietnam now and certainly post-COVID, you know, it's really coming back on. I think I got to spend some time also in Ho Chi Minh City. And, you know, after those serious lockdowns there, I was just amazed how quickly that they had, you know, pivoted and turned things around. It was it was almost like back as it was. And I was there in March 2020, just before the lockdown. I just got back into Australia in time. Being stuck in Vietnam couldn't have been too bad. For. You mean. You wouldn't have wanted. Kerry Newsome: [00:39:38] To go back to the UK in that period? Surely. Luke Webster: [00:39:42] Honestly, it's so funny. Everyone I talk to when I say I was in Vietnam for the COVID years, they kind of say, oh, you know, did you get stuck there? And I say, no, There was never a point that I couldn't get home. I could always there was always a way for me to get a plane ticket apart from a couple of times where we had really strict lockdowns and it was hard to get out. I could always get home, but I just I chose not to because I feel like in those COVID years. Vietnam locked down so early and straight away, and they nipped it in the bud so quickly that we we didn't have a lockdown until 21st June 2021. I don't think something like that. And so we just parted on. Luke Webster: [00:40:29] It was so…Bizarre. Like in the midst of this world crisis, I found my dream job playing music for a living. You know, I ended up recording an album of my original music, which was like a lifelong dream that I had. And we just we just partied through. We just partied through COVID. And we were watching the news of all this stuff happening. And we couldn't we couldn't literally believe what was happening to the world because the world that we were living in was so, so different. Um, and it was just a, that's why it's, that's why I wrote that song. So I think I might have played it for you when you came to the bar eight days a week. But I wrote that song Neverland and I wrote it when I was back in England. And I was thinking about Hoi An and the people, the people that were there during that time and, you know, this crazy thing that we went through. And yeah, I wrote it as kind of like a homage, I guess, to, the time. Yeah, a tribute. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. For the people that were there during the COVID years. Kerry Newsome: [00:41:37] So in finishing up, why don't you tell my listeners a little bit about your band, about your music, where they can find you and I'm sure everyone would love to, to hear your stuff. I know I loved it. So yeah, So let's tell everyone where they can find you. Luke Webster: [00:41:56] Sure. So at the moment we have we have a band that play in Vietnam and we do a lot of we got a four piece band as myself. Nethanel, Nicholas Davis, an insanely good drummer from where I'm from, Bristol, and Richard Burns. He's been living in Vietnam for quite a while, so we're called the Langer's band. That's l a n g u, r. s. People sometimes ask about the spelling. Kerry Newsome: [00:42:26] Is That the same as the monkeys? Like the Langur's? Luke Webster: [00:42:32] Yeah, Were thinking of a name for the band. Luke Webster: [00:42:35] Thought about. Yeah, the monkey band. Yeah, the. We're all a little bit crazy. Luke Webster: [00:42:40] But there's a in Cat Ba where me and Nat met. There's a very rare langur, and there's maybe 60 of them left. And we were thinking about the band and we were like, Oh, this, you know, finding each other is quite a rare thing. And we met in Cat Ba with this langur monkey, so we're going to call ourselves, you know, The langurs with Luke Webster Luke Webster: [00:42:58] The monkeys. So yeah, we're on Instagram and Facebook and then myself, I also play solo and that's when I play my original music. And if you are looking to listen to that music at the moment, it's only available on SoundCloud. So you type in my name, Luke Webster and I think thankfully there's quite a few Luke Webster's in the world as I'm learning. Luke Webster: [00:43:24] But yeah, but yeah, the, the album that I released, it's called The Road Less Traveled. Speaker5: [00:43:32] Yes, I read the book by Scott Peck Luke Webster: [00:43:33] It's essentially an album of the. Yeah, it's about an album of the last seven years of my life and traveling and what happens along the way and the ups and downs and, you know, the heartbreaks and the highs and lows. But my younger brother actually, he's a producer, a very talented producer. So very soon that album is going to be on Spotify and Apple Music and all the other streaming services. Luke Webster: [00:44:00] You. So yeah, you'll be able to listen to it. Kerry Newsome: [00:44:02] Yeah, I had a listen to some of your tracks on the SoundCloud and there's some really nice stuff there. Really nice stuff. I don't know enough about SoundCloud to share it. Can I like share the links of SoundCloud? Like I can put the soundcloud link is here. Luke Webster: [00:44:18] Yeah you can. Yeah. Whenever I whenever I finish a gig and people this is why I'm so excited to get my stuff on YouTube and Spotify because I mentioned SoundCloud and they're like, what? What is SoundCloud? And I, you know, I essentially say it's like Spotify, but you need, you know, it's essentially free for musicians It's almost like a the stepping stone platform you put it up and people are able to listen to it and then once everything is mastered and mixed beautifully, which my younger brother is doing a wonderful job of, it will then go to, you know, Spotify and it will be the final product. Right. Kerry Newsome: [00:44:51] Okay. Well, for everyone, I'll make sure I put the SoundCloud link and your Instagram and all of that stuff so everybody can track you down. And I know they'll be looking for the Langur's band when they come to Hoi. An So that's for sure. Look, I just want to say, Luke, thanks for coming on the show and just sharing with us your thoughts about Vietnam and Hoi an and I'm so glad you've had a good time there and I hope to see you again on my next visit to Vietnam. Luke Webster: [00:45:23] As I say, it was my first podcast and the time flew and I had a lot of fun. Kerry Newsome: [00:45:26] Excellent, Excellent. All right. Well, we'll be back in touch, but be safe. And I'll be seeing you soon. Thank you for listening. Check out the episode notes for more information. What about Vietnam? Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review and stay tuned for more fun adventures in Vietnam. Please rate, review and send us your comments. 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S4-12 Contemporary Art in Vietnam What About Vietnam – S4-12 Contemporary art in Vietnam - A window to the future SPEAKERS: Suzanne Lecht, Kerry Newsome Kerry Newsome: 00:00 Xin Chào, and welcome to What About Vietnam . Today's subject is Contemporary Art, and I guess you might be thinking as a traveler, not sure whether that's of interest to me? How is that going to impact my trip? Or how will that help me make some decisions? The fact of the matter is, that contemporary art or art of any kind really, is a form of storytelling. The reason I am thrilled to have my guest on the show today is because she's one of the greatest advocates of contemporary art in Vietnam. I'm talking about Suzanne Lecht. 00:47 Now, just a little bit more about what to expect from today's show. You're going to hear a lot about the evolution of contemporary art. The storytelling depicts war-torn and poor Vietnam through building bridges of hope and prosperity to a thriving Vietnam. When you're traveling about and you're looking at architecture, you're looking at monuments, or you're looking and visiting various cities, which are absolutely steeped in history. You're trying different foods, you're seeing families live in different situations. Some of them may appear to you like they're kind of lost in time. You're going to get a really good feel for just how that comes to be. You've got some insights through the storytelling in today's show, and just how Suzanne Lecht has come to know Vietnam, since coming to Hanoi, in 1994. 02:05 She actually came to Vietnam in 1994, and prior to that in 1992, in Tokyo, she'd lost her husband. Obviously devastated after that loss, she formed an innate love of art. She had a desire to live and work with artists. Now at this point in time, she's in Tokyo, but she knows nothing about Vietnam. It’s kind of strange when she's willing to ring the packers and ask them to pack up everything and she's going to move to Hanoi. 02:50 She's very intrigued by an article she reads, picturing a group of individuals called the 'Gang of Five' . She then follows them and joins them to help promote their work around the world. She goes on to build a house with them, which is called 'The Salon'. It's a beautiful, intimate, creative reflection of the culture of Vietnam. It's where she holds many of her exhibitions. It's only open by appointment, and she offers: ● Private Parties ● Art Consultations ● Poetry Readings ● Music Events Her real strength is in curating exhibitions, and she shows in Vietnam and other cities worldwide including Hong Kong, Paris, New York, The Hague, London, Miami, San Francisco. 03:59 I hope what you're going to tune into is her love of Vietnam. Intrinsically that is the key thread to this and how she learned about Vietnam through living and working with these artists and seeing their work and their artistic expression. You are going to love the show. There's a lot to it! She's a delightful guest and storyteller. I got to meet her in Vietnam on my trip, and I'm so glad I did. I got some time with her one on one in her beautiful Salon, Vietnam Art Space, which you can arrange by appointment to visit, the links will be in the notes for you to do that. Without further ado, let's welcome Suzanne to the program. 05:07 Suzanne, Welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast! Suzanne Lecht: 05:11 Thank you, Kerry, thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to be here. Kerry Newsome: 05:17 Suzanne, you certainly have a very deep understanding of Contemporary Art in Vietnam. I'd like to explore that with you a little bit, if I may. I'll begin by asking you, how you developed that interest in art that you have, and how that found you to be in Vietnam? Suzanne Lecht: 05:47 I guess that would be kind of like the magical carpet ride, so to speak. Kerry Newsome: 05:55 [laughter] That's okay. That is good to start with. Suzanne Lecht: 05:59 My very first interest in - I mean, my family's been involved in art. My father's sister was a well-known artist from Montana, who actually went to art school in Paris in the 40s. She was a big influence on my life. As I was growing up in a small, tiny town in Kansas, my mother had me take painting classes. I was always just creative, I suppose, and interested in art. Then I studied art in school, and I moved to New York and moved to Tokyo. I was working as an interior designer, not as a practicing artist, because my father made it clear that eventually, after my education, I was going to have to support myself. Of course, he knew the struggles of an artist. So, it was when I was living in Japan with my husband. Shortly after his death, a friend of mine brought me an article about a group of painters in Hanoi. I read the article, and that is what inspired me to go to Vietnam. Kerry Newsome: 07:24 Well, you've brought up a group of individuals, and I'm presuming this group of individuals is named the Gang of Five. I believe there is a deeper story to them, maybe you can expand on that for us, so that we can better understand their plight at the time when you first met. I do believe you actually had to try and track them down to begin with. So maybe talk us through that and give us some context to the times or that era of art in Vietnam. Suzanne Lecht: 08:05 I'm very happy to, because that was a really important part, like the fire to my mission, I would say here. As I mentioned, after my husband died, I was living in Japan and had given up my life in New York and really wanted to stay in Asia. I had no idea where to go, what to do, and went to many places. I went to Hong Kong, Beijing, Chiang Mai, looking for some big passion, you know, to pull me out of my sorrow and to start a new life and nothing was really working. Then a dear friend of mine, Mary Walsh, who was a producer for CBS News at the time, had just been invited in October of 93 to go to Vietnam on Cathay Pacific's, one of their inaugural flights from Hong Kong to Saigon. 09:09 She didn't come to Hanoi, but she returned with her magazine called The Vietnam Investment Review. This was the first English language newspaper in Vietnam at the time. It's the early 90s, Vietnam is just beginning to open up to the outside world, still very poor and completely ravaged by the war. In this magazine, I saw this article that said, it was written by Nora Taylor. She was pursuing her PhD at that time in Asian Art studies, and particularly in Vietnamese Art. She is now one of the foremost specialists in Vietnamese Art in the world, quite well known. She teaches at the Art Institute in Chicago. 10:02 Anyway, she had written this article, she was just a young girl then writing her thesis. She mentioned this group of painters that she had become friends with called the Gang of Five. The title of the article was: Art from the Heart - The Gang of Five holds their third joint art exhibition. Then the article goes on to talk about these five male artists, very hip and handsome, and showed some of their works and spoke about how this group of artists represented. They were the first generation of artists to paint in a time of peace in over 1000 years. The Vietnamese were at war with the Chinese for 1000 years, then the French for nearly 100 years, then the Vietnam American war, another 20 to 25 years. When they got out of art school, it was 1980. 11:09 The war's over. The Russians had ceased their support of Vietnam. They were trying to get back on their feet, it was very poor, so that artists were no longer supervised, and they were no longer required to do propaganda work. All of a sudden, they were free. These artists were all born between 1960 and 1962. They were just young children during the war, and unlike all the children in Hanoi, they were evacuated to the countryside. They lived with oftentimes people they didn't know, just really old people, that just had farms and had simple existences. Their lives were very tenuous, so they only had the day to believe in. 12:07 All of a sudden, they're free, they graduated from school, and they don't want to paint about the war. They're beyond the war. They want to paint about hope, the future and joining with the world. It was such a spirit of like - For me, especially as I looked at the work, I could see influences of Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh. It wasn't art that was so foreign, as other Asian art might be. There was a western context, and yet, it's Asian art. Of course, it had that wonderful fusion of East and West. I saw the work and I thought to myself, "Wow, we Americans, as a culture, know nothing about Vietnam." Vietnam is just this tragic, terrible war, which was such a tragedy for both sides, for all sides. 13:11 So, I thought, "Wow, this is amazing. " This is something that I could go to this country, and I could work with these artists. I could make a bridge between the two countries, America - my country, America and Vietnam, through the spirit of art. Art that had nothing to do with a war, art that was about the power of the spirit, and how art can transcend and transform suffering. With that impetus to that emotion, I just simply picked up the phone and I called the moving company and said, "Pack me up. I am moving to Hanoi." My mover was quite shocked, Japanese, he had moved me a couple of times in Hanoi. And he took a long inhalation and then just said, "Oh, my! Mrs. Lecht. Have you ever been to Vietnam before?" I said, "No." Another deep inhalation, long silence, and he came and packed me up. A month later, I arrived. Kerry Newsome: 14:33 So, Suzanne, you arrived in Hanoi, obviously, with all great intentions that you've just spoken to us about. I think they sound fantastic, and I agree with you. I think art can transcend and tell stories of people's lives in so many ways. You've arrived in Vietnam, and it is Hanoi. Tell us about what that felt like. Suzanne Lecht: 15:00 So, I woke up. My first day in Hanoi and unbeknownst to me, Hanoi is cold. Kerry Newsome: 15:10 Nobody thinks of it as being cold, do they? It's freezing! Suzanne Lecht: 15:14 We thought of it- I thought of it as a jungle and tropical and it's really cold. It was January 8, 1994, lightly raining, really cold. I wake up and if I look out my window, I'm in a small little mini-Hotel. Nobody speaks English, there's nothing in English at that time, no guidebooks or anything. I must say, I looked at that, "What in God's name am I doing here?" [laughter] "What was I thinking?" It was really quite glorious because now when I reflect on what happened. I went to the window and looked down with all those apprehensive feelings. I see a little old man in his pajamas, cotton striped pajamas, which you often used to see in those days. He was a cyclo driver, and he was going really slow. His entire cyclo was covered with a piece of plastic, and because it's lightly raining. 16:25 As I looked more closely in the seat of the cyclo, instead of a passenger, there was like this pristine white architectural model that looks sort of like the Hong Kong Yacht Club. I just thought, "Wow, this is so amazing." It's like watching the past peddle the future. He's going really slow, like a turtle, and it was just like that. It was like watching a turtle emerge from the mud in the spring to have this new life. So, I really thought to myself, "Suzanne, you are here at this extraordinary moment in time, when Vietnam is just crawling out of the debris of war and suffering and trying to connect with the outside world." So, I was so heartened by that. I thought, "I’ve just got to get out of the hotel and see Vietnam." I don't think I got in the same cyclo, of course, because he had a passenger. I got into a cyclo, and I went to see Ho Chi Minh. It was the only thing I knew to do. That was a very solemn, really beautiful experience for me. 17:55 I know it'll sound a little crazy. But my husband was a Russian Jew, his family was from the Ukraine. He had a beard, and he had these beautiful brown eyes. When I looked at Ho Chi Minh, because he was a small, thin little man, with this beard and these beautiful brown eyes. I don't know, there's some kind of mysterious feeling that I had. I just felt, I don't know, I felt- Kerry Newsome: 18:26 Connection. Suzanne Lecht: 18:27 I felt connection. Yeah, I felt a really strong connection to this country that was a little bit intimidating, intriguing, exotic, strange and wonderful. Then I went to the back of the Mausoleum where the Ho Chi Minh Museum is, and I don't remember anybody being there. It was just - it's all writing, his writings and different stories about his life and artifacts. Then on the top floor, there was a wonderful display of video and photographs. I could see Hanoi in the 1930s and 20s, and it was very sophisticated. Kerry Newsome: 19:15 Yes, I have seen similar photos. Suzanne Lecht: 19:17 Such a surprise to me, because as I said, my image had always been in the context of war. I even saw, I think it was something like 1910, there was a World Design Fair in Hanoi. Where countries from all over the world brought their design objects to this building that was built by the French in about 1905. It looks like the Grand Palais, it’s extraordinary. I was just so surprised, intrigued, and then all of a sudden, a young man came up to me and started talking to me. It turns out he was Vietnamese, and he was 25 years old. We sat down and started talking, and he spoke English very well. Of course, I'm delighted to have someone to talk to. Then as he's telling me his story, he left when he was seven, on a boat, a very difficult journey as most all refugees. He was finally allowed to emigrate to New Zealand, where he was in and out of high school, working his way through life, as a car mechanic, and a ballroom dancer. So, I thought, "Wow, that's kind of a great Yin and Yang combination. Suzanne Lecht: 20:46 So, we sat down and started talking about dreams. And he said, "Well, my dream is to come back to Vietnam and discover my childhood and do something to help my country." And I said, "Well, my dream is I want to live and work in an art colony." And he pipes up and says, "Oh, well, I'm living with Phạm Quang Vinh, one of the Gang of Five. ow would you like to come home and have lunch with us?" So, it's some kind of- I mean, on my very first day, I went to have lunch with Phạm Quang Vinh. And of course, I as a Westerner, and my western friends say, "Oh, my goodness, that's such- what serendipity?" Kerry Newsome: 21:32 Oh, coincidence. Suzanne Lecht: 21:36 Asians, as you probably know, they just say, "Oh, that's nonsense, which was your destiny, and you belong here", and like, "What are you doing? Get to work." Kerry Newsome: 21:48 "What's holding you back? You've just been given your path." Suzanne Lecht: 21:51 Exactly. Yeah, so that was my splendid entry point. Kerry Newsome: 21:56 For everyone listening, I have the benefit of doing some reading about you. Obviously, your journey with the Gang of Five and in supporting them. I like the wording you use 'building that bridge', in the sense of between America and between Vietnam, in exposing this kind of art. I think, as you rightfully say, in the 90s, and really even into the early 2000s, Vietnam was coming to the radar of a country, rather than known just for being a war. I can remember my first tour guide actually said, "This is Vietnam, we're a country, not a war." I thought that there's a point in that to take home. I think, in that era for you to accidentally, purposely stumble on one of the Gang of Five. That obviously led you further down the track. For my listeners, can you talk about the journey with the Gang of Five and the art and how you brought that to the rest of the world? I know, there's a building involved, there's lots of things in this. Maybe if you can just draw us a picture of just how you started to work with them and bring their art out to all of us, to the world. Suzanne Lecht: 23:37 Thank you. Well, like I said, meeting Phạm Quang Vinh was this really splendid invention of my future life, I would say. Of course, I knew nothing about art in Vietnam. So then from the very first day that I met him, these artists were so eager to be- there was no internet yet at that time, and everything was controlled. You couldn't get books or music, or it was very difficult to have access. I had to leave the country every month and a half to get a new visa. So, I only came the window to the outside world, and they became my window to this enchanting world of Vietnamese culture. Not just in art but in music, literature, traditions and folk art. Eventually I hired this young overseas Vietnamese, because I needed a translator. Kerry Newsome: 24:52 Yeah, to get around the language. Suzanne Lecht: 24:54 Yes, exactly. I said, "I will pay you to be my translator, so that you can stay here. And I can explore and discover Vietnam." He worked with me and usually some other artists, not always from the Gang of Five. Different artists each day and somebody would come to my hotel to pick me up. We would go everywhere. I mean, sometimes it would be 10 o'clock at night and we'd ride on motorbikes to a pagoda and watch the sunrise and just- Magical! I was so blessed by this magical journey. As I was saying, along with this journey of exploration at that time, it was very difficult to travel in Vietnam. Most people were on bicycles, the very fortunate ones had motorbikes. As a foreigner, if you want to go to the countryside, number one, you have to have permission. Also, there was no way to get there. 26:06 So, one day when I was in Saigon, I saw this white Jeep, and I ended up about- "Well, that's great. It would be great to have a car like that." The owner, oddly, invited us in. He saw me and this young overseas Vietnamese, looking in the garden. He had all these cars. He was like an antique car collector. He had some Citroën, and it was beautiful inside. Then he had this Jeep, and I asked my friend who was a car mechanic. I said, "Oh, wow, look at that Jeep. Wouldn't it be great to have something like that to travel? I think we could go everywhere." At that moment, this man comes out of the house, and he's the owner. He was very gracious. He was probably about 65 at the time. He invited us in, and it turns out, he had been the Foreign Trade Minister to Japan. He spoke some Japanese and he found out that I'd lived in Japan, and I ended up with the Jeep. I bought the Jeep. We drove it to Hanoi, which was an incredible experience. Then we took some artists and we drove through the countryside up through Điện Biên Phủ, Sangla, and we ended up in a village, called Mai Chau and San Quan. It's beautiful! Kerry Newsome: 27:50 A lot of textiles and yes. Suzanne Lecht: 27:53 Beautiful textiles. The fine arts universities require all of their students, every summer, to live in a different province. Then in about 1978, Vinh, he was an article, he elected to go to Mai Chau to live for the summer. He lived with this white Thai family, and he hadn't seen them for about 15 years. So, he said, "Oh, let's stop by and see this family." We did, and it was magical. I mean, it was like a huge event. The whole village came and sang and made wonderful food. It was just a really beautiful experience. That ended up in Vinh buying a house. He told me about a week later, "Oh, Suzanne, I bought my house and I'm going to bring it to Hanoi," And he put it on this piece of land that he owns. "And use it as my studio." And I thought to myself, "Oh, wow, I would love to live in a house like that." I’m thinking about it, thinking about it. I said to Vinh, "You know Vinh, instead of paying rent to somebody I don't know for a house in Hanoi. Why don't I pay rent to you? Let's make this house bigger." We could have a gallery on the first floor, and you could have a studio and... I didn't say this, but the idea was that I could live in that house on stilts! [laughter] So that's what happened. We ended up creating this beautiful house. Kerry Newsome: 29:41 Oh, it's divine. I've seen the pictures. We have to make sure that we include some of the pictures of that house. I'll put that on the website for everyone because it is just exquisite. It's just delightful. I don't know how much involvement you had in the design or the architecture or design of it, but it certainly came up magically from the photos that I saw. This place became your first real gallery where you started. Was that a public gallery or just for private viewings? That's more your specialty, isn't it? Suzanne Lecht: 30:24 Well, it was very private, because at that time, as a foreigner, I wasn't allowed to have that kind of business or anything. It was really simply my home. I would hang art from all the Gang of Five and also other artists that I met. We finished the house, and we designed the house together. We created it a bit like children would, like, "Oh, that would look nice there." It was just a creation of joy, really collaborative joy. People would hear about foreigners or businesspeople that would come to Hanoi, would hear about this American lady who had friends with the artists, and they would contact me. 31:17 So initially, they would come here, and then I would take them to different artists’ studios. Not only did I work with Gang of Five, but I worked with a lot of other artists, as I kind of collected them along my path. Then I had my very first exhibition of five Vietnamese artists. Phạm Quang Vinh was the only one from the Gang of Five. I tried to pick different generations and different styles to really represent Vietnamese art at the time. This was in Hong Kong, and it was supported by Hongkong Land which is a company that was one of the biggest land developers in Asia. They had just started to build the first office tower in Hanoi. The CEO loved art. And I had taken him around to see all this art. And he said, "Suzanne," It was just before the handover, in 1997, Hong Kong back to China. And he said, "Let's do an exhibition of Vietnamese art." 32:24 I chose these five artists, and I called the exhibition "The Changing Face of Hanoi ." It was really wonderful. Four of the artists had never been on a plane, and had never left Vietnam. Of course, coming to Hong Kong, it's a big, sophisticated city. It was so wonderful. I stayed for three weeks to work on the exhibition. I had a lot of support from wonderful friends in Hong Kong, and it was a very successful show. We sold nearly three fourths of the work; we had 57 works. Art and gouache on paper. I think that the audience was like me. They were so surprised that this really sophisticated, beautiful art was coming out of Vietnam. 33:18 I would continue to do exhibitions overseas, because as I said before, I'm not allowed to do things in the country. I mean, you have to have permission. I finally did an exhibition with the Vietnam Fine Arts Association. And a wonderful Vietnamese woman who was the director of that association, who became my sponsor, in 2000, was called in praise of the paper. That was 10 artists from Vietnam who did works on handmade paper, and 10 artists from this center in America called Pyramid Atlantic . Its artists from all over the world who do works on handmade paper. Four of those foreign artists came for the opening, and it was quite wonderful. Those are just a couple of my first exhibitions. I did art fairs in Paris and New York and different things. Then in 2002, I had very little money left, and I thought, if I'm ever going to have a public gallery, I have to do it now. So, I did! I opened my first public gallery in our old Vietnamese traditional tube house in the Old Quarter in 2002. Kerry Newsome: 34:43 Yes, I've seen photos of that too, and that's a stunning room and areas and space. It's just- I mean, I don't know about you, but I do get affected by some of the ways in which Vietnamese can create a feeling within a space, within a building, with very small things. There's just energy, isn't there? That you feel when you walk in. Sometimes it's quite overwhelming, sometimes it can bring emotions to you. Maybe it comes from their religion, being Buddhist, I think they just have a knack of being able to create wonderful and beautiful spaces. 35:34 Can I take you or ask you to take us, better still, into some aspects of just how Vietnam was viewing you doing this? The more I've got into art and learning about it myself, I hear coming up every now and then about the culture police. Maybe you can talk to us just briefly and touch on that, so that we understand how Vietnam wants to be seen by the world. They had some fairly strict attitudes to what they wanted to present. Maybe you could speak to that a little bit. Suzanne Lecht: 36:15 Yeah, that continues to be a condition, I would say, of living and working here. Being American and being of the Vietnam War generation, I think from the very beginning, I've always been aware that I'm a guest in this country. I've tried to always remember that. I can read this as just a funny story. The Culinary Institute of America wanted to come here, I think it was about 2000. They wanted me to take them to some art studios and such. They sent an email, which was the only way to communicate at that time. In the subject matter, it reads, "CIA wants to meet you." [laughter] Culinary Institute of America, right? And I was like, "Oh, no!" Kerry Newsome: 37:21 [laughter] No, that's not gonna work. Suzanne Lecht: 37:24 Not a good acronym to use in Vietnam, with me, especially. Kerry Newsome: 37:28 Exactly. Suzanne Lecht: 37:30 Everything always happens in such subtle ways. This was right before I was going to do that exhibition of works on handmade paper with all these artists from America. I was back in America and my visa, which was always kind of automatic that I would get when I went back for the summer. It just wasn't coming. The approval wasn't coming through and I wasn't getting any answers. Finally, I just got a tourist visa, although by that time, I'd lived here already for about eight years. I had built a house. [laughter] Anyway, I came through immigration, and they said, "Oh, okay, you can come in, but you have to go see immigration, immediately. Nine o'clock tomorrow morning." 38:26 So, my secretary, said, "Oh, everybody's been asking about you. What are you doing here in Vietnam? Who are you?" I went prepared to meet the Immigration Department. By that time, I'd done exhibitions in Paris, and I'd done that big show in Hong Kong. I published some books on artists in Vietnam, and I brought everything with me. They were very lovely and so polite. They sat me down, and they just said, " We don't understand who you are and what are you doing here?" [laughter] I think I have learned that. I really think at that time I was 50 years old and widowed, no children, no family. Of course, you can see where the - Kerry Newsome: 39:25 Curiosity came from. Suzanne Lecht: 39:26 Yeah! Especially after that email, with the CIA wanting to meet me. Kerry Newsome: 39:30 Yes. Who is this strange lady really representing ? Suzanne Lecht: 39:34 Yeah, and it was really wonderful because it gave me this whole story. Just like I'm telling you. And I said, "This is why I came here, because of these artists and this is my life." And I said,"I love this country. And people have been so kind to me. And I would love to stay here and continue my work, but I realized, I'm a guest in your country. So, if you would, please let me stay, I would really appreciate it." They were lovely. After that, there's been ups and downs, of course. But I think all joking aside, as an American, because I have friends here that are Vietnam War generation, or Vietnam veterans. And I think rightly so, we all feel that we have a lot of work to do here, to help if we can, if we have the ability, and resources to build these bridges of reconciliation, and to help heal the wounds of war, there's no better thing you can do with your life. Kerry Newsome: 40:54 My listeners are probably going to be keen to hear from you about the kind of work they can expect to see. Now, here we are in 2022 and we are coming out of COVID. That has had effects on all of us. Vietnam is open and again, travelers are looking to come and explore Vietnam. I know they will be coming to Hanoi, I hope they're coming to Hanoi, because it'd be crazy not to, because it's a beautiful city. Maybe you could speak to us a little bit about the art that they should look at if they're art collectors, or admirers. What should they be looking for in contemporary art in Vietnam? Suzanne Lecht: 41:45 Well, I think I'm really happy to be able to say this. Because of COVID, nobody could travel. The wealthy Vietnamese, well educated and art loving, had always collected their old masters and artists from the Indochina Era. Kerry Newsome: 42:11 Yes. Suzanne Lecht: 42:12 Which is really beautiful, but since they weren't really allowed to travel, I mean, nobody was traveling anywhere. A real interest in contemporary art has been seated and is just blossoming. So now that we're a little freer, it has been like a renaissance, an awakening, I guess, I should say. Now the artists are getting a lot of exposure. Vietnamese artists are now showing at the big art shows all over the world. I mean, not many, but some, that's the beginning, of course! A lot of the younger artists, the generation that know nothing about the war, they're doing multimedia, conceptual work, lots of video, lots of photography, very innovative uses of lacquer art, which is a traditional medium, but they're doing it in really new unheard of ways. We just did an exhibition last month of Contemporary Calligraphy, that's based on 'Nôm', which is the ancient original language of the Vietnamese. 43:33 It's interesting to see the reaction of the Vietnamese to this kind of work. The art lovers love it, because it's taking art beyond the confines of their culture, and it's mixing it with the outside world. Traditional scholars, maybe not so much. They don't like it so much. I think that's just the way an art flourishes, you have to have some kind of pushback, then you have to really verify and be proactive about providing the reasons you're doing work the way you are. I think it's a wonderful time for all kinds of people who are interested in art to come to Vietnam. There are good galleries all over the country, Saigon, Hanoi, Hồ Chí Minh City. There are many artists that have artist cooperatives that show work. There's a lot of performance. There's a lot of Vietnamese music, I think people in the world know this, where they're doing, combining traditional instruments with classical Western instruments, creating new sounds. The drivers of this new movement, these artists are young, they're in their 20s, 30s, 40s. So, it's like a new Vietnam integrated with the world. Kerry Newsome: 45:12 Fascinating. Isn't it? Suzanne Lecht: 45:13 This is so fascinating, it's a wonderful, wonderful time to be here and to come here. Kerry Newsome: 45:20 I totally agree with you. I'm just so impressed with the talent that is springing forth, and as you say, they're not bound by any myths or stories that hold them back. They feel an entitlement to expand and push the boundaries, explore and develop, and it really is- The country is growing exponentially. I think that's one of the reasons why there is a lot of youth in the country, as you say. It is a great time to be involved with Vietnam and to visit and I think there's a lot more to explore. I just want to touch on briefly. I think, for a long time Vietnam was kind of in that era of arts, probably more around the 80s, or the 90s, where there were a lot of copies made. A lot of copy art, a lot of fake art, and it was hard to really know what you were looking at, because they were so good. There are people that say, they could do the Mona Lisa, it would be that good. 46:41 I wanted to just touch on that, so that people can appreciate that they're not going to get this work of art, this real work of art, as from a true artist, they're not going to get it for copy prices. There are some times, I think, misconceptions that everything in Vietnam is cheap, or everything in Vietnam- they're going to be able to get these bargain door prices. I was talking to Bridget March, I had her on the program , and she was singing your praises. She was saying you'll probably be able to tell the real from the not real by the price. Suzanne Lecht: 47:27 Well, yes. I mean, a lot of people come here, and they’ve been told or whatever, "Oh, you've got a bargain for this and that." That time is over. Kerry Newsome: 47:43 There's not everybody that has got that through their head. One of the things I wanted to do on this show is kind of change perceptions or get the perceptions right. Suzanne Lecht: 47:54 Yeah, of course, it's hard to know. You have to do your research and see what the prices are. I think that for really good, innovative original art, you're going to be paying international prices in Vietnam. Gone are the days when you could buy a fantastic oil painting for $500 that today would be worth $10,000. Those days are over. The issue of copying. Every country of the world has that. I mean, this is how artists learn here, by copying masters, and that's very common in Asia. I think there is a variety of really good art here in Vietnam that has nothing to do with the old masters' works. These are creative new works, and quality. If you go to quality galleries and artists’ studios, you will be able to tell. I'm very sensitive to the bargaining issue, because for me, there's some things about artists. Number one, they have such a hard life and it's a gift to be an artist. It is some kind of blessing gift and I think people should respect that. Obviously if they think it's way too expensive, okay, well, find another artist or maybe it is too much. You have to let your commonsense kind of tell you. Now that Vietnam is on more of an international level. They're showing all over the world so they can't have crazy different prices everywhere. The prices will be the same. Kerry Newsome: 49:52 Okay, Suzanne, is there anything you'd like to finish off with in the program today for my listeners? It's been so good to talk to you, and just to get some history and get some background to the work you've been doing in Vietnam. Suzanne Lecht: 50:09 Well, thank you for asking Kerry! I would like to encourage all of you listeners to come to Vietnam. From my experience of traveling all over the world, the Vietnamese are the most open, generous, loving people I have ever met. It is a peaceful country. It's gentle, it's safe, it's peaceful. It's a joy to interact with people. It's a country that's just endlessly fascinating. It's a country from the art standpoint, where finally after Indonesia, Thailand, China, and Philippines. Vietnam is in the attention of major collectors and museums, and we're getting a lot of interest. If you're an art lover and would like to have Vietnamese art, the time is now! Kerry Newsome: 51:07 I think that's a great way to finish up the show. Thanks again, Suzanne, and we'll be talking again soon. Suzanne Lecht: 51:12 Thank you, Kerry Time Stamps - 00:00 Today’s Topic: Contemporary Art in Vietnam. 05:59 How Suzanne’s interest in art found her in Vietnam. 10:19 Article: Art from the Heart - Gang of Five Holds Their Third Joint Art Exhibition. 15:41 “What in God’s name am I doing here in Vietnam?” 21:32 How the Gang of Five became Suzanne’s window to the outside world. 27:52 Suzanne’s first gallery was in a house in Hanoi. 34:43 Vietnam’s culture and art. 40:13 What should the travelers be looking for, in contemporary art in Vietnam? 47:55 How can art lovers tell real art from fake art?

563d5888-0c4a-4aa2-bc33-874a4fa3d98eHow Danang offers up a new kind of experience Chilling out in Vietnam's most liveable city - Danang Episode 16 Chilling out in Vietnam's most liveable city - Danang 00:00 / 20:42 Danang has really come of age! One could say the "Age of living better", as todays guest Jonathan Kiely offers up his insights into the chilled out vibes of Danang. A fun Irish lad who left Ireland in search of adventure and who found himself drawn to the beachside city of Danang where he has decided, he might just settle for a bit, as he rates it as one of the best “Chilled out” cities he has ever visited. Jonathan left his high pressure job in Ireland to go traveling. He landed in Vietnam and despite the Covid Pandemic he opted to stay on and live the life of “Riley” so to speak as an Expat. A year and a half on, Jonathan gives us his version of Vietnam and his experience of Danang and the local community which he has found an affinity with through various health and well being programs. He raves about the people and the environment in which you can explore your own creativity. Plus, you can SURF. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

40fb91b1-df13-4a4f-959b-2016c5181459Pgu Quoc is a highly sought after destination What About Vietnam - S3-24 Phu Quoc - An unbelievably scenic island paradise Kerry Newsome: 00:01 Xin Chào and welcome to “What About Vietnam ". I'm very excited because we're now going to be talking on this show in the present tense of being able to travel to Vietnam. Yes, I'm talking to you as of the 22nd of March. And we are just over a week into the country opening up to general tourism, I put a special document together for you to go to on my website: just hop on the website, go to this link . And it'll give you all the details that you need to know to understand just what the process is to enter the country. Some countries are exempt, and some are non-exempt. And pretty much the country's entry processes have gone back to really as they were prior to COVID, mainly. 00:58 Obviously, there's a few items that need to be ticked in the sense of: · Having a PCR test 72 hours prior to your flight. · Or a rapid antigen test 24 hours. And as long as they're negative, then you can enter the country with no quarantine required, you just need to monitor it for 10 days and download the app. So that's pretty much the basics of it. But I would hop on to get that guide. It's a PDF so you can print it off. And just make sure if you do need to get an E-visa that you go to the Vietnam’s official site for Visa Applications -, which I've listed for you. 01:41 Now, today, I'm excited also, because we're going to be talking about an island, which I'm not sure everybody kind of associates with Vietnam, but it is part of Vietnam. And that's the island of Phu Quoc. It is a very short plane ride from Ho Chi Minh City, in fact, only 45 minutes flight. And it actually is located in the Gulf of Thailand. So, in fact, it's really closer to Cambodia than it is to Vietnam. It's a beautiful island very well known for its beaches, for its beautiful corals and the opportunity to snorkel and etcetera, as far as activities are concerned, and it's also got some beautiful resorts that have come up in the last few years. 02:33 My guest today is Patricia Marques, and Patricia, I managed to catch just a week ago, before she was embarking on a trip to Phu Quoc, it's one of her favorite places to escape. She's got a very demanding job. She's the general manager for Starbucks in Vietnam. And she's been in that role for the last 10 years. So, when she does manage to get away, this is the place that she will jump on a plane and go to as her R&R vacation. 03:07 So, we've got lots to cover in the show she's going to share with you some of the things to watch out for. There's an absolute myriad of things to do or not do, as you choose. She's a seasoned traveler. So, she's got really good comparisons to know, just what to look out for and what's good to focus on. And we just got a lot to share. And I think you're going tolove it. And I'm hoping this is helpful for people both in Vietnam, and for people who are planning their trip, and maybe want to consider coming into Ho Chi Minh and just slipping across to Phu Quoc as a couple of days in R&R for possibly a long-haul flight home. Please welcome Patricia to the program as we talk about Phu Quoc. 04:03 Good morning, Patricia. How are you? Patricia Marques: 04:06 Good morning, Kerry. Doing great. Kerry Newsome: 04:09 That's terrific. Patricia, I think today we're going to get to explore one of your favorite destinations, if I may be so bold to say. It's definitely a beach destination, which I know is something that you're very keen on, and there's lots to explore in Vietnam of that nature. But we're going to focus on Phu Quoc, and I'm delighted to talk to you today because I know that you've just visited there. So, for my listeners, this is going to be super-duper up to date. So, I am talking to you, and it is the 17th of March 2022. The borders have just opened, so it couldn't be a better time to be talking Interview about this island. So firstly, tell us a little bit about why you love Phu Quoc so much, maybe over other beach destinations. So, talk to us a little bit about your love of Phu Quoc. Patricia Marques: 05:18 Sure, you are exactly right. I just came back from Phu Quoc on Sunday. And after a very nice two and a half days of a very short, but well-deserved holiday. We were working very hard like everybody and very excited about the reopening of Vietnam. So yes, I think it's a perfect timing. 1. The reason I love Phu Quoc, probably more than other places, other beaches in Vietnam, is how simple it is, fast, and the number of options I have in this island. So, it is 45 minutes away from Ho Chi Minh City, it is a super-fast flight, you have plenty of choices at what time of the day you want to fly. So that's my biggest, my first reason, probably because I just sneak out of my office, go to the airport, jump into a plane and get there. Super simple. 2. The second reason, as I said, because you have plenty of options. It is a well, good sized island, where the North is very different from the South, and so is the East from the West. So, you have different opportunities. 3. And the third reason is because of the ocean itself. It's a wonderful white sand beach. Kerry Newsome: 07:16 And it's interesting to talk about the position of the island and obviously when you see those sunsets and sunrises, etc., because the island actually lies off the coast of Cambodia, in the Gulf of Thailand. So, I guess getting your head around, just where the island is in relation to Vietnam because it's actually closer to Cambodia than it is to Vietnam. And it's a very small island, from what I understand, it's kind of made up of separate pieces, I think there's something like about 28 pieces of land. And it's roughly about 600 square kilometers. So, for a very small compact island as you say. 45 minutes in an aeroplane to get there. I think the other thing I liked about it was that the airport to your resort or wherever you're going is a very short drive. So, it's not kind of complex, getting out of the plane to the resort that's all very quick. So, I agree with you, I think that handy aspect, that if you're coming into Ho Chi Minh, in and you're looking for somewhere to either begin your travel or end travel in a very relaxing way, it's got a lot to offer. So, on that aspect, it does have a lot to offer. What are some of the to-do's that you would put up there as “must-dos?” Patricia Marques: 08:51 Let me clarify that the hotel where I usually go, I choose that because of convenience. It is 7 kilometers distance from the airport and makes it super easy to land on a Friday afternoon and get back on a Sunday evening. However, there are an enormous array of choices for hotels and resorts. So let me answer your question about different choices. If you go north-east of the island, there are a couple of big resorts known to accommodate families. They have recreational parks and a lot of activities for children, which makes it the best destination for families. If you go north-west of the island, that will probably take you a little bit over an hour on a taxi. You can visit a very large national park. Very interesting, very jungle-like, because, of course, of the weather that the island offers. There are other locations on the west side, meaning if you were in the west side of Phu Quoc, you would be looking at the ocean. And further. It will be Vietnam on the southern tip of your eyes and Cambodia right in front of you, to your point of how close it is to Cambodia. As a matter of fact, there are ferries to Cambodia. So, you can take a ferry and go to Cambodia. Kerry Newsome: 11:01 Is that a long trip too on that ferry? Do you know? Patricia Marques: 11:04 Yes, yes, it is five and a half hours something. Just because of where the port is. So, the port is located in the little bit south-west of the island. So convenient wise, if there was a port on the north-western side of the island, it would probably be a four-hour trip to Cambodia. There are two ports on the west side of the island. That makes it interesting to visit. There is also a factory where they produce fish sauce is very famous. Fish sauce, pepper and pearls come from Phu Quoc, and there are different tours to visit all of those. To visit the fish sauce factory, you have to really be willing to visit because it's a very smelly place. Kerry Newsome: 12:17 I've been, yes. Patricia Marques: 12:19 Yes. And then if you go towards the southern tip of the island, you will encounter small islands in the very bottom south of the island. Very interesting. And for those who visit the islands for diving purposes, this is the best location for that. Kerry Newsome: 12:45 Okay, so that's in the South because I know I've been talking to some people around some of the watersports in Phu Quoc, and yes, definitely diving and snorkeling and I think there's some nice boating trips, where they take you out for lunch for the day and things like that. The water looks absolutely beautiful. Patricia Marques: 13:07 Yes, there are plenty of those four- or five-hour tours that take you on a boat for snorkeling after, that makes it very interesting. Kerry Newsome: 13:21 Also note, you are mentioning the National Park. I understand that is very interesting as it features lots of like hiking trails and things like that. So, I think for the adventure traveler who's looking for some exercise, but then a lie on the beach later in the afternoon. That's definitely the go-to place for that. And I understand that there's also some waterfalls up in park or area, Suối. S U O I-- Patricia Marques: 13:54 Suối Tranh. Kerry Newsome: 13:56 Suối Tranh? Yes, that has a waterfall, I believe. Is that nice? Patricia Marques: 14:02 Yes, I actually have been there taking some friends. It's a nice hike to get to the waterfalls and is located not far away from the airport. So, if you plan your trip, to do some stops, it can make it very convenient to do those and then head to the airport. So, it's very easy to enjoy a weekend in Phu Quoc. Those are very highlights of why I particularly choose to Phu Quoc. When I want to get away from the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh. Kerry Newsome: 14:45 I think the one thing I did note, when I went in, and I went back in like 2018. So, a while back and at that point in time. It was undergoing a lot of construction. So, there were cranes, and heaps of trucks and just a lot going on at that time. So, I wasn't particularly drawn to it at that point, because it just looked kind of a bit messy. And the other thing that struck me was I couldn't get a fix on the township side of it. Can you talk to us a little bit-- Vietnam is very well known for their towns and their markets, and things like that, but I couldn't get it-- I kind of didn't know where it started, or where it finished? Or is there really a township? What's your thoughts on that? Patricia Marques: 15:46 Yes, there is one. It is actually just north of where I stay. I stay in Long Beach. So Long Beach would be straight east from the airport. And it runs probably around 12 to 15 kilometers on the eastern side of the island, that piece of Phu Quoc is called Long Beach. And it ends in the town, in what we call Downtown Phu Quoc, if we might use very freely, that title of downtown. There is a small township where you will see the typical night market. You can head there for fresh seafood. At the very similar style than any night market food, night market of Vietnam or Southeast Asia for that matter, very similar. Kerry Newsome: 17:05 Do most people choose to go to these restaurants in the downtown area, or do they tend to move amongst resorts and try the resorts restaurants? Because one thing I got out of Phu Quoc from recent investigation was that there are some amazing five-star resorts that feature kind of signature restaurants and there's some Chefs moving into these areas as well, that are highly skilled. And so, I wasn't kind of sure, that's why I was glad to talk to you. Because: · Would you go to downtown? · Would you choose a particular restaurant, you might want to mention one if there is one or two there? · Would you eat in your resort? Because it's just convenient. And it's just lovely, and you're overlooking the water? · Or you might go to another resort? Because you've heard of that restaurant all that way. Patricia Marques: 18:06 That's an interesting question. I don't want to steer anybody away from visiting the night market, perhaps once, but there are no restaurants in that area, there are more like stalls, that get together for the market service. Kerry Newsome: 18:25 So, it's street food. Patricia Marques: 18:26 Yes, very much, street food. The seafood is alive. So, you can see like in Thailand, like many places in Southeast Asia, you can choose what you want to eat, and you know it's fresh. However, two things will probably steer me away from doing that often. One is you might be staying in the northern tip of the island or in the south. And then it would be very inconvenient to head there only for a dinner, because you would be in a car or on a motorbike for over an hour perhaps. And it's not worth it. You have so much, with regards to food choices that I wouldn't recommend anybody to go out of their way just to visit. You're absolutely right. Not only the hotels have amazing restaurants and many choices, but most likely outside your resort, you will find street food that is readily available within walking distance from your resort. Kerry Newsome: 19:48 Yes, and that's exactly what I got from my last investigation because, why would you go all that way. And the most ideal transport, I'm told, is a bike. And you might not choose to want to do that, or you're in a group and things like that, it's a bit harder to manage. So then if you're getting a taxi, it's an hour there and not that the taxis are expensive. But I just think for the effort when most everything you will want is at your doorstep of your resort or a walk along the beach not far from, because the resort is in some areas go back-to-back along the beach. So, I just thought that was an important point to note for everyone. Because people when they're trying to think about things, they’ll think of it in a logical sense, and think they'll go to downtown to a restaurant where, in this situation in Phu Quoc, it is not possibly the most ideal, yet, you probably should go and have a sticky beak once, depending on the length of your stay. For me, the most interesting was a couple of day activities I did, which was going to the pepper farms. And I came away with pepper. In fact, I've only just run out, so I really want to go back. But the pepper is amazing. As they have various mixes of it. They put it in chocolate. It's truly amazing. And I believe that as an exporter of pepper, Phu Quoc is quite famous. Patricia Marques: 21:37 Yes. And the plantations are very interesting. Aren't they? Very unique. The way pepper grows, and people don't necessarily know and why would they know? And they probably never been in a pepper plantation. But it's really beautiful. I agree. And that tour is very sought-after. Because of weather they have pepper year around. Kerry Newsome: 22:09 Yes. And I had a guest on my show, jumping from pepper back to fish sauce. She's a foodie, and she runs her own chef programs. And she's just so into Vietnamese cooking. And she was saying that the fish sauce from Phu Quoc is the premium fish sauce apparently. So, she was taking bottles of that away God, you wouldn't want that to break in your luggage? Would you- on your way home? So, in talking about your average stay on the island now, as you said; for a weekend, for two, it's ideal. Do you think that is the best amount of stay, two-three nights? Or should you allow more time? Patricia Marques: 22:58 I think it depends on what kind of traveler you are. If you're a solo or a couple, I think three days, two nights is probably perfect. And you don't have to go out of your way to make it longer. However, if you're with children, then you're probably have to go to the northern tip or the southern, where you have several hotels or resorts that cater to them. And that'll probably be worth staying a couple more days. Kerry Newsome: 23:38 Absolutely. And we can't not talk about Vinpearl Amusement Park. as a “wonderland” it's been referred to as Disneyland almost. So, for children for a family, you can definitely chew up a couple of days just going through that location. Another question I wanted to pose to you is just value for money. Do you think it is good value for money? Do you think the hotel stays; nights are well priced? Its food, alcohol, that kind of thing? Can you talk about that? Patricia Marques: 24:18 Sure. I consider it to be very, very reasonable. Once again, I'm going to go back to state how many choices you have. There's really an abundance of choices. Whether you go you're decide which part of the island you're going to visit. I am sure you can go from a five-star hotel all the way to renting a little studio or a one-bedroom Airbnb and be very close to the beach or close to the national park or the waterfalls. It depends on what is your liking, but I certainly consider it to be very reasonable. Considering the choices, you have, the choices in food, how fresh everything comes. I also wanted to add to one of your questions that, in my last couple of trips, I've noticed that there is an abundance of activity happening in front of the beaches. So, if you were to just come out of your beachfront hotel, and walk north or south on the beach site, you will run into little cute bars and barbecue, little stalls. So, you can literally have different experiences while not venturing far from your hotel. Kerry Newsome: 25:58 And that I think, is ideal. I think that's perfect. And to me that's getting very stylized to Nha Trang, where you really- you're not wearing shoes, you're walking on the sand and you just keep walking and then all of a sudden, pop up! there is some locals that have put something together there that you can eat or whatever. And the food's always delicious and fresh. And yeah, that's sort of kind of where I was leading to where you don't necessarily have to go to downtown. For me, there wasn't a lot there. I've been to night markets. And I didn't really, I bought some pepper, more pepper there. But you know, it didn't really- wasn't a draw card for me. Can we just let everyone know about the weather? Now it's March now. So, you went just last weekend. So, do you have some like. “best times” of the year that you choose to home in and say, "I really want to go those times, because they're the best", and you try and sneak your weekend there. Patricia Marques: 27:06 So, Vietnam in general has- the southern part of Vietnam has the very hot weather, very hot and humid the rainy season. Phu Quoc is similar, and until April, you can be sure that you will have nice long hours of sun without being interrupted by scattered storms or rain. However, in probably April, if the weather continues the way it's supposed to be, April, May, you will start with a rainy season, all the way to October, November. It doesn't mean that you don't have the opportunity to enjoy the beaches. The rain in Vietnam is different than in other countries of Southeast Asia, we don't have continuous rain. It rains every day, maybe a couple of hours. But we don't have days of rain. So, your holiday will not be ruined by one of those, unless there is a specific storm coming. But I wouldn't doubt going to Phu Quoc any month of the year, considering that during some months you will encounter rain. Kerry Newsome: 28:43 And I think that's a reality check for everyone. I think you're right. I think sometimes, you will choose not to go to a place because you think, it's going to ruin your whole stay. But it usually, means you can stand in a restaurant, you see the rain coming down, you finish your coffee and it's all over. So, you can get those kind of flash downpours and then you can go on your merry way. Just another question Patricia, I wanted to add, which I think is relevant to is, you're an attractive woman traveling, possibly solo on this trip, what's the safety aspect for people moving around the island? Do people have to be really on their guard or how did you find it? I'll share with you how it was for me. Patricia Marques: 29:41 I have never encountered a problem. Literally never. Probably, because I'm here for such a long time. Pretty comfortable and I know my way around. So, I know where to venture and where probably not to. However, you mentioned before how much construction was going on when you visited in 2018. Which means, of course, that there is a large number of new developments that have happened recently, and some are done beautifully. Others probably encroaching a little bit too much on the water side- on the seaside. But this promotes, of course, people relocating to the island, there some permanent residents, much more than 10 years ago, definitely. So, it has changed. However, I have not been in a situation where I would say, I felt threatened or I was robbed, or no. Kerry Newsome: 31:09 Yes, and that was my experience as well, I had to go through quite a few hotel inspections to have a look at some various properties and obviously go out and have some certain experiences, so that I could say that I've been there and, could speak to it with some attention to detail. So, you're right, I found the staff very helpful, the guidance, very helpful, the tour was very knowledgeable. So, I can only imagine that has improved, although there has been some talk in hospitality industry circles, that it's been hard to find the manpower back into Phu Quoc, and to ramp things up, because as you would be aware, Phu Quoc was the island that Vietnam designated, it would open up as a sandbox entry to Vietnam for foreigners back last year. And I think that maybe helped it expand and grow and increase the manpower to meet new tourism. But I just wondered, what was your experience with staff and the quality of service, just the care factor, I guess. Patricia Marques: 32:32 Sure. I happen to think that has improved throughout the years, my first visits to Phu Quoc, 11 years ago, I can say that it was very basic, and catered probably to a very basic tourism in general. Things have improved, and you still have those choices. Not all hotels, for example, have TVs, or they actually cater to a more natural and more organic traveler. But nowadays, there is an abundance of good choices. 3, 4, 5-star hotels, you don't have to be the most expensive. And I think that maybe because of that demand and the number of hotels, hotel owners and operators do take very good care of their people. Because there is enormous competition. So, you actually see, and you can talk to them. And they will be very chatty and share with you that-- kids in my hotel have been there for three, four years. And they would not go because they were very well taken care of during the pandemic, for example, when most lost their jobs, I think Phu Quoc was very smart in keeping them. I understand many hotels gave them room in-board. So, they felt safe and protected. So those hotels are now reaping the benefits of loyal employees. Kerry Newsome: 34:36 That's really great to hear Patricia because you're right. I think there was a lot of confidence lost in the industry with hospitality where many people were laid off because, if you can imagine pre the pandemic, I think Vietnam was receiving over 18 million tourists to the country. Where- it's been less than 3 million over the last two years. So just one last thing I wanted to talk about was, the dogs. Can you talk-- I'm not going to say anything else, I'll let you talk about the dogs. Patricia Marques: 35:19 Yeah, there is the famous Phu Quoc breed that is originally from Phu Quoc, andvery sought-after. I love dogs, and I happen to have a couple of friends that own Phu Quoc dogs. It's a beautiful animal. It's supposed to be a big guardian. It is a guard dog, and it can be threatening just to look at them. But they're beautiful. Kerry Newsome: 35:56 I also love dogs, but I found the quantity of them and their unique physique, having the ridged back. So, it's kind of a distended spine almost, that runs down the middle of their back. So, you're right, they can look quite fierce and intimidating, but as you say, with their owners, and with the people, they can act as a little bit of a guard dog, but you'll find them roaming around and they are treated with great respect. So, it was just something I wanted to mention. I can remember saying to my boss on the trip, I said, "Gosh, where are all the dogs coming from? And how unusual are they?" And so that was just kind of a story I thought was worth mentioning. Any things we should really watch out for? Do, OR not do? Patricia Marques: 37:00 Maybe consider that, because it's an island. Most of the ingredients are seaworthy, you will be eating lots of fish and seafood. So, to those that do not consume seafood or fish, I guess my recommendation would be to steer towards the four- and five-star hotels, that they probably have an assortment of other dishes. Definitely, what you will see and find in street food will be seafood base. The fruit is wonderful in general, and Vietnam has plenty of fruits and vegetables, and they are delicious, fresh, they might not look as pretty as other countries, where they probably cater more to the visual. But the fruit and vegetables in Vietnam are absolutely delicious. Kerry Newsome: 38:13 Yeah, and I've never tasted fruit like it is in Vietnam, you can actually taste the flavor. I feel like in my country, the supermarkets and the fruit stalls, etc. Here, you can have a tomato, or you can have another piece of fruit and you're struggling to get flavor out of it, it's just got so many chemicals on it. So, I think people will love the fresh fruit. And I think you're right, I think five-star hotels would offer more variety and probably more Western food options. If you're traveling with a family. And they don't like this, but guess what, they do chips, so as long as they do chips, we are all good. Patricia Marques: 38:59 They do chips and they do pasta everywhere, so, kids are safe. Kerry Newsome: 39:05 Exactly. Okay. Patricia, thank you so much for coming on. I was glad I caught you just at the right time just before your trip and your photos look fantastic. So, I'll make sure that I share those on the website. And hopefully I look forward to maybe catching up with you later in the year at Starbucks. Patricia Marques: 39:28 I hope so Kerry, I look forward to everybody coming back to Vietnam. We certainly miss all that hustle and bustle that the tourists bring, and I hope everybody enjoys beautiful Phu Quoc and wonderful Vietnam. Kerry Newsome: 39:50 Thanks a lot. Patricia Marques: 39:51 Thank you.

S5-5 - The famous Hai Van Pass experience: Insights from a seasoned traveller S5-E5 - The famous Hai Van Pass experience: Insights from a seasoned traveller 00:37 - 02:18 Kerry Newsome Xin chào and welcome to What About Vietnam. Today I'm actually sitting in rainy Hoi An, but I've got the opportunity to have some time and talk to Chris Mooney. Now Chris and I have crossed paths many times and been, you know, just trying to get the moons to align to do this interview because he's going to be talking about quite a famous area called the Hai Van Pass. Just a little bit about Chris. Chris was born in New Zealand. I believe he's still an All Blacks fan. Lived in Australia for 28 years, mainly in Newcastle. For most of his adult life, he says he's been involved in media in one capacity or another. And, you know, since about the age of 20, he's been on air hosting radio shows, doing voiceovers and working for some major brands in that field. So, you know, we've got someone on today who really knows their stuff and certainly having lived here now in Vietnam and in this region, in the An Bang and Hoi An region, having done the Hai Van Pass many times, he's got some great insights into just understanding that area and what it involves in visiting that area. So we're going to get into that in more detail. Chris, welcome to the show and why not for all our listeners just give some background to yourself and how you arrived in Hoi An and your interest in Hai Van. 02:20 - 03:36 Chris Moonie Originally, I'm from New Zealand. Spent 28 years there, then 28 years in Australia. And I first came here in May of 2013 with my middle boy, who was 18 at the time. Loved Vietnam, thought there was something special about Hoi An. A lady that I met here, I also felt there was something special about her as well. And I went back to Australia to Newcastle and then I was back in Hoi An six weeks later and living here about 22 months after that. So I've been here now for eight plus years and living in An Bang, which is a very small, what was a fishing village up until The tourism boomed here. It's only 850 metres long, it's 350 metres wide at its widest point, but if you have a look at the area, the road from the traffic lights on the main road to the beachfront, the main road through the village, and the beachfront restaurants, there's over 130 restaurants, and that doesn't even take into account all of those great restaurants that you find down all the laneways and so on. So I love Unbung, it's quiet, but you have loads of choice and within four or five minutes walking of wherever you are. 03:37 - 04:00 Kerry Newsome And I'm glad you point that out because An Bang kind of sprung up after Cua Dai kind of got washed out and it's currently kind of sandbagged. And literally being as resilient as Vietnamese are, they kind of picked up everything that was at Cua Dai and moved it to An Bang. And that was maybe 10 years ago. 04:00 - 04:43 Chris Moonie Yeah, right about that time when I first got here, but there was very little here at that time to cater for tourists. With Cua Dai itself though, it's recovered just recently. There's some Dutch technology that's been used in building what is termed a sea dike, and then sand has been dredged up onto the beach, so the beach is the best that it's been for a long time. And I think that area will really kick off. With Hoi An, the ancient town area, there are only two main roads that go to a beach. So you've got Cua Dai Road, you're about seven kilometres out of town to get to that beach, whereas with An Bang, you're only about three, three and a half kilometres away. 04:43 - 05:00 Kerry Newsome Correct. Now, Chris, you've got a bit of a background which is going to help this podcast immensely in radio and public speaking, etc. So maybe just give us a snippet of that so everyone can appreciate where you're coming from. 05:00 - 05:23 Chris Moonie Yeah, sure. I started off with Radio New Zealand. I had 10 years there and then relocated to Australia. and had a lot of years there in radio and also doing what is termed house voice work for Channel 9 up in Newcastle. I was told very early on that I had a great face for radio so I'm pretty much a natural I think. 05:25 - 06:00 Kerry Newsome Yeah, I'm sure they're saying that about me in the podcast. So that suits me fine. I'd rather be behind the mic and not seen than rather at the front of it. So we're together on that. Today, Chris, we're going to be talking about the Hai VanPass. And this is something I really wanted to go into with you because your knowledge is so extensive. So maybe we kick off with talking about just how It took the attention of the BBC and the Top Gear crew back in 2008. So, I'll let you kind of lead off from there. 06:01 - 07:22 Chris Moonie Yeah, the BBC Top Gear program back in 2008 had a Vietnam feature and had the boys, they were riding motorbikes from Saigon up to Hanoi. One of them had a painting on their motorbike, one of them had a sailing ship, the other one had a ceramic vase from memory. Going back quite a few years ago, I was actually at Hai Van Pass itself and I saw a couple of guys there and one had a sailing ship and one had a painting, so they were doing the whole top gear thing over Hai Van Pass. But it's something that I did on my second trip to Vietnam in 2013, going up to Hue, and back in those days the road was pretty treacherous. It's been improved dramatically since then, but it still does have its challenges, and particularly if you're not somebody who's done a lot of riding. In the last 10 years, I've done well over 100,000 kilometres on local roads all over the country. And it's certainly very different to what you'd experience in a Western country because the Vietnamese have a different rhythm to the traffic and you don't want to be doing a bossa nova while they're doing a waltz because it gets very, very untidy. 07:23 - 08:25 Kerry Newsome And I'm glad you mentioned that because there is a rhythm and there is an element of organized chaos. And there's also an aspect of respect for one another on the roads. I see a lot of that I don't see in my own country, which is, you know, if there's a guy and he's kind of on a bike and he's got something on the back that is three times the width of him, You know, cars, other bike riders, et cetera, will just kind of veer around him, make sure he's got space and keep going on. So, you know, tourist-wise and tourists on bikes probably make me more nervous than Vietnamese on bikes. But I think it's worth mentioning and look, I could do a whole podcast just on bike riding. But today, I'm nailing you on Hai Van Pass. So, why would you go to Hai Van Pass? 08:25 - 10:12 Chris Moonie Hai Van Pass is just a beautiful ride. I've done it 40, 50 plus times and it's a lovely day trip. as a loop out of Hoi An, it's probably a couple of hundred kilometres or so. And you have the pass itself, then you come down to Lang Co, stop where the railway line comes over the road, go around to the west side of Lang Co Lagoon. That's an area where a lot of oysters are grown. So when you're riding along you'll see a lot of stakes in the water and the oysters are grown on tyres, motorbike tyres, scooter tyres that have been cut in half. So they're put on a line at about four or five hundred apart, and the oysters are grown, they take nine or ten months to grow. If you're travelling along that road, quite often you'll see tyres on the road, and they have been put there so that the vehicles will run over them to break off the residue and clean the tyres. So it's that sort of approach that you'd never be able to do where we come from. But, you know, there's some thinking outside the square that goes on. Also on that side of the Lang Co Lagoon, there's also the Dream Springs, which are fabulous. It's a series of cascades. It's water straight out of the hills. It's very, very fresh. But on a long, hot, dusty ride, there's absolutely nothing better than spending half an hour, 45 minutes there. It's very rustic, just bamboo huts. You have a tarpaulin to get changed behind. Typically Vietnamese with the karaoke going on, it's just great fun. 10:13 - 10:53 Kerry Newsome It sounds super. Is there like a start and finish? Like, you know, where does it go from and where does it finish? Has it got like a segment of the road or a span of road in kilometres, et cetera, that actually applies to the Hai Van Pass, because when I've done it, I've kind of tried to measure, I think this is where we're coming into it, and as you say, you're looking at that beautiful view of Lang co which is absolutely pretty as, but then I'm not quite sure when I've got out of it, or if I'm still in it, as in the pass, as in Hai Van Pass. 10:54 - 12:26 Chris Moonie Well Hai Van Pass itself, you've got the fortifications up the top and that was originally erected there by the Dai Viet or the North Vietnamese and it was a crossing point between North Vietnam and Central Vietnam. The gate up there, the brick gateway, dates back to 1341. currently that area is closed and the Hue government is rebuilding that area as it was back in the day. So I can only see it getting busier up there than what it is now to become its own tourist attraction or a tourist attraction in its own right and I'm very happy to see that because unfortunately the locals haven't taken care of that area and the buildings have gone into a great deal of decay in the 10 or so years since I first went up there. So to see that area being recreated I think is fantastic. The road trip itself from the very bottom of the hill, and you're only about 400 metres high, up to the top of the other pass itself is about 7.5 kilometres. That's where the best view is and then down the northern side there's a lot of bush, a lot of trees, so the views are a lot more restricted and that part is about nine and a half kilometres down to the bottom of the hill as such. 12:27 - 12:41 Kerry Newsome All right, well we touched on some history there. Is there anything more behind the history of that area that is worth just kind of taking into consideration? You mentioned the Viet Cong. 12:41 - 13:11 Chris Moonie Given its height, the French used that area to install bunkers. So there's bunkers to the left and to the right. pillboxes on the right hand side next to the brick archway and there's the one that is furthest north that you can frame a really nice photo of Lanko through the gunslit. So that area there was first used for fortifications in that respect by the French and then the Americans during the American War. 13:14 - 13:22 Kerry Newsome And also, for me, probably begs the question, are you better off to do it north to south or south to north? 13:22 - 13:40 Chris Moonie North to south. So that's from Hue to Da Nang. And the reason for that is that the view is in front of you. If you're riding up the hill, you have to look over your shoulder to see the view. If you're coming the other way down towards Hoi An or Da Nang, it's right in front of you. 13:41 - 14:21 Kerry Newsome And interesting to think about time of year because I talk a lot about this on the show in the sense of it is a lot about timing of the year in Vietnam from north to south the weather differs quite incredibly. Do you have a kind of a preference for when's a good time of the year? And I just want to add to that also, you know, what time of day is a good time to go? So time of year and, you know, early morning or late evening or sunset, you know, I'm kind of steering you that way. 14:21 - 15:38 Chris Moonie As far as time of day is concerned, it really just depends on the day itself. And if you're going to have a hot day, you go earlier. As I said, if you're doing a couple of hundred kilometers, you're looking at an eight-hour day anyway. You want to stop somewhere along the way and have lunch. So if you're leaving at seven or eight out of Hoi An, What I do is I go up the coastal road. In fact, Google Maps will show you the quickest route, which is through Danang. And it may be quicker on the ground, but it's not quickest time-wise. So because of all of the traffic lights and the traffic through Danang, it really does slow you down. You can save yourself half an hour each way by going the coastal road and then turning left, going up the first of the seven bridges over the Hun River and Danung. The big suspension bridge, you come off there, you get to an area which is called Namo, or which the Americans called Red One, and that was where they disembarked back in 1965. Then you just continue on the way, and it gives you a really good scope of how big Da Nang City is. There's only 1.3 million people there, but it's a very, very large city. It sprawls a long, long way. 15:38 - 17:06 Kerry Newsome Yeah, and it's a good point to talk about access. I've done it a couple of ways. I've done it north to south and south to north. It's not going to give me the views, but I've looked at doing the trip just from Hue to Da Nang via the train, because the views from there, I imagine, are just lovely from that region. But you're not getting that height, so obviously you're going to miss out there. We talked about transport and, you know, I get a lot of families that I look after and do trips for. So, ideally, you know, a bike is not convenient for them. Do you need to do it by bike or can you arrange another way to do it? And just my second question onto that is, Are you best to go with a guide? And I'm mentioning that because I think the first couple of times I did it, I was clueless. I just really didn't understand the spectrum of its history and just really what it meant. So, you know, I stood up there, I saw the view and I went, wow. I literally got back in the car and went back and then I've learned about it since. Do you think it would be better to go with a guide, and can we do another way of accessing it other than on a bike? 17:06 - 18:04 Chris Moonie You can. Just going back to the train, I have done it by train coming out of Dong Hoi when I went up to Phong Nha for the caves. And your views are very restricted. There's a lot of bush, and other than that, the windows are all badly scratched, so you can't take a decent photo. And that's because of the bush that you're passing by. In addition to that, you have huge bundles of cables and they're at about eye level. So your view is greatly restricted. So you can go by bus, car, they'll go up through the tunnels normally. Train obviously is a coastal route, but not one of the better train trips that I've been on in Vietnam and I've done a lot of travel on trains here. I love it. The bike just gives you a different sense of freedom. But for a family, I mean, sure, hire a car, hire a 16-seater, they're cheap enough. You can do it that way, no problems at all. Wind the windows down. 18:04 - 18:13 Kerry Newsome And you can stop then, can't you? You can ask the driver to stop at points and take vantage points, etc. But would you get a guide as well? 18:15 - 19:18 Chris Moonie Look, either that or I can tell people where to stop. If anybody wants to contact me, I'm quite happy to share my knowledge with them. All I've done with quite a number of people is just provide drop pins on Google Maps. If you don't have local data, you can download an offline version and that works just fine. But there are specific areas that you do really need to stop to get the best out of your day. And it's the sort of thing that you learn as you go along. A lot of people come here and they come here just once. So I'm quite happy to share my knowledge to enhance people's visits here. A lot of the riding that I've done has been with the original Hoi An Easy Rider, a good mate of mine called Tong Do Van. And he is a Hoi An local, also spent a lot of time down at Dalat with the family after the war. And I've learned a substantial amount from Tom just through going on rides with him and when my friends come over. 19:21 - 20:01 Kerry Newsome Absolutely, that sounds like a great idea. I think for my guests and for my listeners, I think having a chat with me, reach out directly, happy to steer you in the right direction. You've heard from Chris, also you can get access to him directly and I'll put links in the show notes so that you can do that very easily. Let's just talk a little bit, Chris, about, you know, like, what do you need to take on a trip day or a day trip pack for this kind of adventure? And, you know, what do we need to be prepared for? 20:01 - 23:25 Chris Moonie OK, so a standard day trip via Hai Van Pass for me is to go up to the tunnels. load the bikes onto a flatbed truck because you're not allowed to go through the tunnels on the bike. Then you get into a small coach and you follow the flatbed through to Lanco. You take the bikes off and on you go. The reason I do that is twofold. One, it saves you half an hour each way. And in addition to that, as I said before, the best view is coming north to south. And there's no reason to do Hain Van Pass twice. Not in my view anyway, because at eight hours on a bike, I'm sure you've got a back rest, but for some people it can just be too long if you're out for nine, nine and a half hours. So once we're through the tunnels, we've got our bikes, we go up through Lang Co. On the western side, you'll go to Dream Springs, have a swim there for 45 minutes or so. come back out and depending on the time of the year you can also do a beach ride of about five, six kilometres up the top end of the beach and then you come back down and what I do is I check the tide times prior to going so we can work in that beach ride and then we'll come back down we'll have some lunch and then after lunch head off up the other pass And when you get to the top, you can stop Cafe in the Clouds, which is the last of the sites at the market on the right-hand side. has a good view of some of the switchbacks that you use, and then over the northern side you've also got a great view down over Lang co. After that, only probably about 300 metres down, there's a very sharp right-hand turn. stop there and take a view, take a photo of the view there which is incredible. You come down the southern side and about two and a half kilometres from the top you have the Big Boulder which is quite obvious and you can either take photos there or there is what I've called Hanging Rock in Australian. I've seen that. And that just gives you a fabulous view. I have a friend there, a Vietnamese friend, Minh, and her cafe is called Minh Guitar. And during COVID, she got the engineers and she's built the cafe out over the edge of the cliff, but also has built some steps down to what looks like a big whitish tongue made of rock. And it makes for a spectacular photo. It does. After that, there's a couple of viewpoints on the way down that you stop at. And as I say, the views on your left hand side in front of you. And then you're off home. I would normally stop after you come over the suspension bridge. On the right-hand side, there's the fishing fleet that anchors in there. And you've got thousands of these blue and yellow Vietnamese fishing boats moored there. Then you do a U-turn, and then you take a run back along the river, just to give you a different perspective of Da Nang, rather than using the coastal road again. 23:28 - 23:42 Kerry Newsome When I sit here and I listen to you describe it, I'm fascinated because, as I said, I have done it a couple of times and I think I missed about 60% of this. 23:42 - 24:02 Chris Moonie Because you don't have that trained eye. Having local knowledge but also a local guide is a big thing. And I know many people who have come down from Hue and they've either missed Hai Van Pass or I've talked to them about doing Hai Van and I'm listening to them and thinking, you know, you didn't do all the good stuff. 24:02 - 24:08 Kerry Newsome Yes, absolutely. And that's why I wanted to do this show with you because I'm pretty sure I've missed 90%. 24:10 - 24:40 Chris Moonie But what I put it down to is that the Vietnamese look at things in a different way, and simply because what they see is very everyday to them, and to us, it's way outside the parameters that we see in the countries that we come from. So to get the most out of you, you just need to have somebody who has that local knowledge but also comes from overseas and know what is going to have a wow factor to tourists. 24:41 - 25:09 Kerry Newsome All right, like any final tips, Chris, for people like must do things to watch out for, you know, anything that we should leave with my listeners so that, I mean, as I said, I'm going to put links to everything. They're going to be able to access yourself and be able to reach out to you directly. But just, you know, anything last minute you'd like to leave for my audience. 25:09 - 26:42 Chris Moonie As far as the ride itself is concerned, you'd need to pack a light jacket. I wear shoes when I'm riding trips like that. So light jacket because you're 400 meters up. Also take into account Hai Van is Vietnamese for sea mist or sea cloud. But having done it as many times as I have, I've only ever had one occasion where the view has just been whited out. You also need a towel, your swimmers if you're going to Dream Springs, and also a decent sized plastic bag to put everything into when you're finished. Other than that, what to watch out for apart from the scenery? Goats, cows, and petrol tankers. The petrol tankers are not allowed into the tunnel. On the right up the south side, one of the first things you'll see is the big refinery. So you see the tankers moored offshore, and there's a big refinery both sides of the road. So what you'll find is, because the petrol tankers aren't allowed in the tunnels for obvious reasons, There's quite a few of them on the road up and down the pass. And with the big switchbacks, quite often you can be coming round a corner and you'll find that there's a tanker on your side of the road because it is that sharp of a turn. So you need to be wary, you need to be careful, you need to have your wits about you. 26:44 - 27:38 Kerry Newsome And that's working on the basis that you're going to be riding a bike. There is the option to sit on the back of a bike of an experienced rider. And personally, that would be my choice to do it that way. But as you say, you still need to be cognizant of the fact it's an eight hour day. And you know, I've done a fair bit of bike riding in my day and you know, at my stage of life, four to five hours is kind of my limit now. But for, you know, the fit, out there, the adventurous, et cetera, and if you time it with these stops, I think mentioning these stops has been crucial because, you know, if you stop for lunch or you go for a swim or, you know, you can kind of, and you're taking lots of photos, of course, I think that breaks it up and that's kind of what takes up the day. But it's still a, it's a long day, isn't it? 27:39 - 28:48 Chris Moonie It can be. And as you say, the breaks are important. So out of Hoi An, you're looking at about an hour before you get off and you load the bikes onto the shuttle. Then after that, only about a 10 minute or so ride to Dream Springs, have a decent break there. Then maybe a beach run back for lunch and have a break there. Then after that, that's the long slog that we like on the bike, where you're up and down the pass, but you've got several times that you'll stop on the southern side. So you stop at the top, you'll stop a few hundred metres down for that big sharp bend, which gives you a great view. Another two and a half kilometres down, and you're stopping at Minh's cafe near Hanging Rock. Then after that is the longest ride, where you're going down the pass and stopping once you get over the suspension bridge. And then from there, back down along the riverside to Hoi An, another 45 minutes or so. So in real terms, 45 minutes to an hour are the longest hauls before you have a break. 28:49 - 29:23 Kerry Newsome That's right up my speed then. That's perfect for me. Chris, I just want to say thank you again for being on the show. I think this episode has been extremely informative about Hai Van Pass. There's really not a lot out there about this area and let me tell you some of the images that I've seen that Chris has on Hanging Rock. I'm going to ask him if I can use and show you some of those. And obviously put the details. Just want to say thanks Chris for coming on the show. 29:23 - 29:26 Chris Moonie I hope to see you back in town again. No longer next time. 29:26 - 29:35 Kerry Newsome I wish, I wish. I'm in my 90 days so I'm really loving it this time having a little bit of extensive time. But thank you again for coming on the show. 29:37 - 29:38 Chris Moonie Safe travels. Thank you. Fun yeah. Really appreciate the opportunity. Thanks Kerry.

17f693a3-e0d3-48a7-bc50-3b3790001b10Vietnam from a cultural and historical standpoint. What About Vietnam - Series 1 - 6 The culture and Visa Process Mid Covid19 -2020 Xing Chau and Welcome to What About Vietnam. My name is Kerry Newsome and I am your host. In this episode I’d like to give you some final background to the country you will be visiting, from a cultural and historical point of view, and so there are no shocks or surprises, I will endeavour to explain a few things that might hit you first off. Plus I want to cover off one of my most asked questions. Do I need a visa …...The answer is most likely….YES...But..I’d like to give you some detail about the process for that here as well. In saying that ..I am recording this episode in the midst of Covid 19, mid May 2020, so this is what is current as of this date. I may in the future record an update once we are out of the other side of travel bans and it is clearer what the Visa situation will be, moving forward. However, let me cover off what we know to be true about Vietnam from a factual point of view. Vietnam, ….officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, it is the easternmost country on the Southeast Asian Indochinese Peninsula. It has an estimated 96.5 million inhabitants as of 2019. It shares its land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares its maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Its capital city is Hanoi, while its most populated city is Ho Chi Minh City. In the whole country there are 45 million registered motor bikes …….with 7.43 million in HCMC alone. With a population of 8.9 million people, that makes 1+ bikes per person. I mention this because your entry port is going to be either one of 3 major cities - HCMC, Hanoi, or Danang. So that initial introduction to Vietnam is going to be around the sounds, the heat and the volume of motorbikes you will encounter as soon as you leave the airport. For some it can be overwhelming and that’s why I cover it off here. I can remember my sister’s first trip. Once you know what to expect and you have the right mindset, it’s something you can manage. Vietnam is a beautiful country with so much to see. I am amazed that as many times as I go there, there is always something new to discover. Often called the Dragons spine….. A long skinny country with a coastline that stretches over 3,200km. It’s a gifted country, with some of the most beautiful beaches, caves, grotoes, waterfalls and scenery, it’s not surprising it has won so many Travel awards over the past few years. Its definitely woken up the world in recent times with how well it took command of the Covid 19 crisis. With more than 4000 years of history, the soulful culture can be seen in its pagodas, shop houses, art, folk songs, amazing performances, of a world standard, …..but there is so much more in the smiles of the Vietnamese people themselves. Who I guarantee you will fall in love with. Mostly Buddhist, the Vietnamese are conservative by world standards. They are a country that has been hardened by wars, famines, floods and tyranny. However as you will soon realise they are a hopeful country. It is a country that is now coming into its own. So don’t be fooled, the Vietnamese are astute in business and have an eagerness to acquire wealth and status. But take yourself out into the country regions and you will be overwhelmed by the poverty, the living standards and the lack of infrastructure. It’s as if you have stepped back in time. In recognising the poor and humble beginnings of many of its people will give you a deeper understanding and appreciation of how far the Vietnamese have come. For the tourist, you have been flocking to its shores now in the millions. Tourism to date prior to Covid 19 was 6% of the GDP. The why is easy...as Y0U will soon find out once you go there... As a country recognized as “the kitchen of the world”. It’s a diverse culture and lifestyle waiting for you to explore. So…. as we make sure you get on board your flight safely and enjoy your stay without any hassles, lets firstly get that Visa process sorted:- If your country is NOT Visa Exempt, there are 3 options available to you. Btw...You can find out if your country is Visa exempt by checking your country listing on the immigration website. The link is in my notes. As we are now In Covid 19, and the world is coming to grips with a new generation of travel, the Visa process may change and I will update as and when that information is available. So first lets start with the easiest version: EVISA = Single entry - for an Under 30 day stay The quickest, simplest and cheapest way to apply for a Visa to Vietnam. I call it the no mess charlie option. It does not necessitate you having to send your passport to the Vietnam consulate or queue upon arrival in Vietnam for a Visa stamp in your passport. Nominally called VOA - Visa On Arrival. However, The Evisa has its limitations as it is strictly for single entry only and up to 30 days maximum stay. Its as simple as making your application on the website - the address is noted in the Episode notes - Follow the website instructions and its as easy as that. Well almost…..I do want to share a couple of "bugs" in the website that can be good to know about so it doesn’t muck you about. 1. When it asks for a passport photo to be uploaded. I have found the best process is to take a photo of a Passport photo you have as a spare. NOT the one in your current passport. It doesn't like that one. It doesn’t matter if it is not the same as your current passport photo. Once you have photographed it. Crop it to Passport size roughly. Save and upload. 2. When asked to upload a photo of your passport. Once again. Photograph your current passport and then crop to neat size, save and upload. 3. Double triple check …. You have spelt your name correctly, in the order shown and all details. MOST Important. Once you are approved, you will need to go back to the website and using your reference number print out the “Visa letter”. You will not necessarily get an email advising you the application is approved. It is up to you to go back into the website, using your reference number and check if it approved. ….allow up to 3 working days to process. This letter serves as your Visa (there will be no stamp in your passport) and you will have to present it at check in, and at immigration with your passport when you arrive in Vietnam. Do NOT lose this letter. Keep it with your passport at all times. NOTE: This letter is NOT the same as the Introduction letter they talk about when or if they are references the VOA...Visa on arrival. So just remember processing time of about 3 business days COST: As at 2019 $25 USD Check my link in the episode notes. See link below for the Visa application: - ONLY USE THIS LINK https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/ The second Option - Option 2 – is for Multiple entry – Visa on Arrival (VOA) VOA as it is commonly referred to. Watch out for many websites trying to sell this service to you for exorbitant prices. Many are hoax sites, some offer VIP services mostly for those people who want to skip the queues and get special treatment..or they just plane forgot or left it too late to get the Evisa. Simply put, if you follow the instructions in the link on the website you will receive a letter by email with your name on it, which is your "letter of Introduction", along with a form with your name on it. There is an initial fee for this first step. By taking this letter together with your 2 passport photos and completed Visa Application form you will be able to ;- · Check in to your flight. If you do not have your letter of introduction they won’t let you board. Please take care to bring the letter and the pages with your name on it to confirm you have been accepted for this kind of Visa. The forms with your name on it are often separate to the main Introduction letter · Once you arrive at your first point of entry to Vietnam, which from Australia will most likely be Hanoi, or HCMC you will go to the "VOA "Counter located just before you go through Immigration. By handing them your letter + form + photos + passport and fee, they will take it and stamp your Multiple Entry Visa into your passport. Try and get to this VOA counter asap, as you may have to wait a while for them to call you, and if you have a connecting flight, that can make it a bit stressful. It can take up to 30 minutes if the queue is long. Once gaining the Visa stamp, you can progress through immigration and every time you go in and out of the country you will be covered; as per the Visa, you have applied for. You will see it says Multiple entry. See the link in the Episode notes. The fee is $25USD ( This may have changed as at 2019) so it helps if you have the correct currency to pay when you arrive as there are NO ATMs inside the arrival hall before you go through Immigration. However, I think they do now accept other currencies. NOTE- You can use VOA for single entry as well, but why would you bother with all that when Evisa now is much simpler. https://www.vietnamimmigration.com.au/faq/how-it-works?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiI_gu_fF2wIVzhwrCh3ESgrBEAAYAiAAEgKuCPD_BwE The last option and for some the most preferred Visa – Applications can be made direct to Consulate (these include single and multiple entries) For direct applications, you can download the appropriate forms from the Consulate website. By completing the form along with getting 1 Passport Photos you can hand them in along with your passport over the counter or mail them to Consulate's office, in your country. In Australia where I am speaking from it is in Edgecliff, Sydney. Allow minimum 2-3 days for processing plus postage. There are options for quicker turnaround if urgent, but you will pay an extra fee for that service. See the Consulate website below for all the details. For a general single entry - Cost $90 For a Multiple Entry Visa - $140 http://www.vietnamconsulate.org.au/ A few Words of caution There are a lot of Visa Service organizations out there. Some are not regulated. Some charge more for the same service you can do yourself and some are illegal. Please be careful when making your selection as some VIP ones charge more but do not provide a quick and efficient service, if you have forgotten to get a Visa and you are about to check-in and realize this…. One of the legitimate VIP services may be your only option. But expect to pay through the nose. So there you have the Visa process…. I hope you have gained a little bit more insight into some of things to consider when planning your trip to Vietnam, in this ….. Our first series. Keep a look out for updates in coming months. ….stay tuned for more to come in the NEW series ...Whatabout Vietnam…... A Travellers Guide to Experiences ….. - I can’t wait as you are going to meet so many interesting people who will tell you their tales of adventures in this amazing country. Thanks for listening.

S5-E12 - Out and About in Mui Ne – Laying bare to the winds of change S5-E12 - Out and About in Mui Ne – Laying bare to the winds of change Episode 12 S5-E12 - Out and About in Mui Ne – Laying bare to the winds of change 00:00 / 23:53 Here I am, "Out & About in Mui Ne," determined to share with you my findings as experienced through my eyes. It's a down-to-earth exploration of Mui Ne's hidden treasures and unique vibe. This is as authentic as it gets! Drawing inspiration from a previous episode S3- E17 I did with Nikki Cornish, I set out to explore this famous beachside location, known for its luxurious resorts like the Sailing Club Resort and its unique sand dune landscape. An Instagram favourite known to be very popular with travelling Russians, it is just a short three-hour drive away from the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City. Thanks to improved highways, reaching Mui Ne was a breeze. I cover other other transportation options like trains and buses on the show however I opted for a private driver due to the bulk of luggage I had in tow. Lets just say, we let the winds be our guide to an interesting stay.
The must see tourist attractions covered are: • The Sand Dunes • The Fairy Stream • The Lighthouse I hope the detail I provide helps you with your trip planning. My stay gets very personal to me, as we visit a close friend's family farm near Phan Thiet, providing a firsthand glimpse into Vietnam's agricultural heart. Having a local friend show us around made all the difference during our stay. This intimate connection not only enhanced our exploration of local seafood cuisine but also deepened our understanding of Vietnamese culture and the city's main population. Without my friend Linh’s guidance, I can candidly say we would have missed a lot. Her insights added layers of meaning to our experiences, turning an ordinary trip into a rich journey of discovery. 
She really made the trip for me and she took the role as guide for the 3 days we were there. Travel Tip:- Mui Ne is not as Westerner-friendly as other cities, with a strong Russian presence and limited English-speaking locals. I advise doing research or consulting with a Travel agent or Guide to make the most of your visit. Or get in touch with yours truly to plan your Vietnam holiday complete.

 01:00 - Inspiration for Visiting Mui Ne 
02:18 - First Impressions /Getting There
 03:57 - The wind factor/ Accommodation Tips
 05:44 - Tourist Attractions 
 12:34 - How long to stay 
20:31 - Mui Ne's ideal tourist Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

b868f2ec-a4d3-44f8-858f-22a338ceff8eDiscover a world time forgot at Bac Ha markets Explore Bac Ha markets rich in colour and tradition Episode 24 Explore Bac Ha markets rich in colour and tradition 00:00 / 35:57 Century-old traditions create one of the most unique travel experiences of your life. Are you a budding photographer? Have you seen images of brightly coloured traditionally dressed Hmong women with their babies on their back tendering to their families as they sell their wares? What about those photos of women in their Sunday best traditional costumes gathering with others and selling all kinds of things from farming equipment to trinkets to textiles. Have you ‘even’ heard about Bac Ha Markets in Vietnam? Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

S4-05 Nha Trang 10 best things What About Vietnam S4-5 – Nha Trang Kerry Newsome: [00:00:00] Xin chau and Welcome to What About Vietnam? Today, we are taking a deep dive into the seaside city of Nha Trang. I'm doing that with the very talented and masterful Colm Hutchinson, and I say that because he really knows Nha Trang. He's lived there for the last 12 years. He's an Irishman. He met his wife there and he and his two children have settled there and absolutely love it. Now the reason why Colm adds an extra level or depth to this is that he runs a very successful digital media company called Halo Digital Media. In that role, he is putting together video photography, virtual tours for hotels, working with resorts, tourism organisations and various brands. This gives him some really great access and insights into a plethora of places and things to do. When we originally decided to do this together, I said, you know, maybe we could come up with ten really good things about Nha Trang. I actually got 11 and we had a bit of a laugh about that, but he was able to really give some insights into the town where I visited in 2014. But because so much has happened since 2014, I clearly really wasn't up to date with everything that Nha Trang has to offer. Kerry Newsome: [00:01:44] In those 11 things, you're going to hear about mud baths, you're going to hear about all kinds of nice day trips, island hopping cable car stuff for kids and some really great things to do. I think if you're considering going to Nha Trang, this is really the episode for you. It's a very short airplane ride from Ho Chi Minh City, so definitely add it to your list. It has suffered greatly during COVID because it really is a tourism city. So, you know, I really want you to enjoy it and get everything you can out of it. Please check out the transcript at the end of the show on the website. What about Vietnam? Also, I've got a lovely special offer that I've been able to put together at the Movenpick Cameron Resort. So you can check that out as well but let's welcome Colm to the show. Colm Welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast. Great to have you on the show! Colm Hutchinson: [00:02:57] Hi, Kerry. Thanks for having me. It's nice to be on your show instead of listening to it. Kerry Newsome: [00:03:04] Well, that's good to hear! Colm Hutchinson: [00:03:06] Yeah, I've been following it for a while. I’ve listened to some of your interesting guests you've had on. So it's nice to be involved. Thanks for having me on. Kerry Newsome: [00:03:18] Oh, I'll take that. Thanks very much. We're going to be talking about a place which I visited like back in about 2014. We're talking about Nha Trang, where you herald from. You know, you've been there, I understand, 12 years, and you run a digital media company and I feel really good about you being on the show because you've had 12 years in this place. You've obviously seen a lot of changes and you kind of know the environment from what it was like before COVID, and here we are sitting coming out of COVID. For me and everyone listening, I think this is going to give you a really good heads up as to the new New Nha Trang or the new Nha Trang in recovery and what it's going to look like into the future. I asked Colm if he wouldn't mind doing, I know it sounds a bit chintzy in some ways, but the top ten things to do. Let's face it, we look at a place and we think, how long do we need to spend to enjoy that place? What are the really good top things that we should choose to do? You can sometimes waffle along and you actually miss the great places. So, Colm I haven't really asked this question of you. Are we going to start top to bottom like the top best and then to the least or are they just random? Colm Hutchinson: [00:05:04] I think pretty random from my side because I don't really have a list to rate them according to how good or not. I guess not even so much the top ten things to do, but maybe the top ten best things about Nah Trang, from a Westerner who lives here and who sees a lot of tourists coming and going. From someone who's seen the city and the region change a lot over the last 12 years that I've been here. So I guess the best thing that I enjoy or think about most about living here is the weather. So obviously Vietnam has a nice climate in general, but not all destinations are created equally in terms of the seasons. You have some places like in Hanoi, where in the north you will get very cold and you have definitely four seasons and other places, say in Danang where you get a lot of storms and a lot of inclement weather, that's quite unpredictable. Whereas in Trang, I think we're blessed with getting a lot of sunshine and they call it the city of 300 days of sunshine per year. I'm not sure if it's exactly 300, but we do seem to get a lot and we have a very short rainy season which generally only lasts for one or two months. At the end of the year, from November to sometimes into January or October to December, depending on the season. So all year round we have a very nice balmy 30 degree temperature ranging between 28 to 35 degrees. This month, June will be the hottest of the year. So it'll actually be quite hot. We're a seaside city, so we get a nice breeze coming in off the sea and we're protected by the mountains and the bay. We don't really suffer from bad weather too much. It's one of the things I like, and I'm from Ireland myself, so we get a lot of rain back there. It's definitely a nice change of scenery for me to get sunshine all the time. Kerry Newsome: [00:07:02] I like that because I think it gives people a wide berth of time so they can pick pretty much any time of the year. You know, Nha Trang is going to be the best place to visit. So that's good to know. Just off the bat, I think that's a really good number one. All right. What have we got now is number two Colm? Colm Hutchinson: [00:07:24] Well, I think based on that, because we're a sunshine seaside city and the triangle is pretty famous for its beaches. We have the main beach that runs all the way along the city and is just called Naturang Beach, which is a mecca for all of the tourists who stay at any of the city hotels. They can pop down to the beach to sunbathe, to swim in the water. There's quite a lot of restaurants, dining and entertainment venues along the beach and just outside the city. We have a very small beach called Home Charm, which is where a lot of the expats would go because they kind of avoid the touristy areas and they like to sit on that small beach. There's also very good surfing there at certain times of the year, and it wouldn't be as good as the surf in Australia, but good enough for the enthusiasts over here. If you go just outside the city, either north or south, close to the airport, we have a beach called Long Beach, which as the name suggests is very long. Colm Hutchinson: [00:08:27] Long Beach is kind of a quiet hideaway beach full of very traditional wooden, structured restaurants that serve up local seafood. It's a great place to go on the weekends just to chill out with your family and get some nice seafood. It's got a beautiful blue, crystal clear water that's very shallow. So it's a good place to bring the kids. If you go further north outside of the city, there's a beach called Chocolate, which is probably the nicest beach in this whole stretch of the province, and it's around 60 kilometers outside Trang. So it's definitely a day trip destination, but it's just an amazing looking beach. There's a couple of small homestay style resorts where you can stay there for one night and then wake up for the sunrise. There is a magical, absolutely gorgeous experience that I've done once or twice and something I'd highly recommend as a day trip. So yeah, I think the beaches are definitely another key attraction to Tuna Trang. Kerry Newsome: [00:09:32] Can I just ask for people that are considering beaches as part of their holiday experience? Do you get things like jellyfish or sharks or, you know things like that, I know people might be concerned about? Colm Hutchinson: [00:09:52] Certainly no sharks. I've never heard or seen of a shark attack or even sharks spotted in any of the waters. As for jellyfish, I've never encountered them on the main beach. You do sometimes get them on Long Beach and on the islands, but in very small quantities, and they're not particularly venomous or dangerous. Certainly none of the seriously dangerous jellyfish that you would encounter, say, in Australia, like the box jellyfish or the man o’ war. I've seen some small jellyfish, but I've never been stung. So it wouldn't be a big concern, and certainly no sharks or any dangerous fish or animals. Kerry Newsome: [00:10:36] Something else I remember about the water is it's always a pretty good temperature. Sometimes in Australia you can go into the ocean and it is freezing. So it's got to be really hot on the outside to make you want to dive in that water. The water I found on the beaches in Trang when I was there was kind of like a bath. It was really temperate. Colm Hutchinson: [00:11:00] Definitely like a bath. Yeah, it's beautiful outside. Outside of the rainy season, like I said, which is October to December or November to January. The water can be a little bit cold during that season, but the rest of the year, it's like a nice warm bath. Exactly. The main beach tends to be a little waiver. The waves tend to be a little bigger than some of the other outside beaches. They are rarely so big that you can't swim there and there are no big what you call them drags or pulls, you know, riptides. There's not too many dangerous trips as well, so it's pretty safe. Kerry Newsome: [00:11:38] I think that's also good to add in because, you know, people travelling with families I think want to know that their kids can kind of wade out and it's beautiful, nice soft sand. It's just like a giant swimming pool. That's how I felt it was anyway. Colm Hutchinson: [00:11:54] Yeah. Particularly Long Beach or by, as the locals call it and it has a very long stretch where the water is really shallow. So it's great for kids. I guess then from the beaches, a lot of people love to do day trips and island hopping. So there's quite a few islands and islets just off Nha Trang and I guess the most famous being Vin Pearl , which is basically Vin Wonderland. It started as a kind of an amusement park but has since developed into a huge complex, almost like a Vietnamese version of Disneyland or Korea Studios. It's got multiple different types of accommodation from Vin Pearl Hotel to Vin Pearl luxury, lots of villas where people can stay. Then it's got a massive amusement park and Zoo Oceanographic Museum and lots of games and activities for the kids. It's got 3-D dance shows, and the whole thing is kind of modeled on a European village or a Disneyland style village, I guess you would say. It's a place where you can go buy a ticket and take a beautiful cable car ride across the bay and then spend the whole day in Vin Pearl. Or some families will choose to book overnight or book a weekend there. I think a day trip is enough, but you can get a beautiful cable car over and then you're all entertained. It's taken care of for the day. The second island is Monday, which is where most people will go and do diving. Nha Trang isn't like the Caribbean or Mauritius or one of those places to go diving and see the exceptional, beautiful waters and lots of marine life. It is known as a place where a lot of people like to come and learn how to dive. It's kind of like trying diving, getting their first taste of life underwater and maybe doing an open water course. There's definitely a lot of nice coral, a lot of eels and lots of other wildlife, but nothing too spectacular, I'd say. It is very, very popular for people to go take a diving trip when they get here. Kerry Newsome: [00:14:01] Can I just ask about diving? I know you have paddy divers there. I've had Jeremy Stein on the show. Yeah, there's just one thing I wanted to check. Some islands, I know certainly, are the charm islands off Hoi An. There are certain times of the year that the water gets quite cloudy. Does that happen in Nha Trang? Colm Hutchinson: [00:14:28] Yes. The water, I'm not a very experienced diver, but I do know that visibility tends to be lower during the rainy season. Yes. Kerry Newsome: [00:14:36] So that's around October, November, isn't it? Colm Hutchinson: [00:14:38] Exactly. Again, because we have a very short rainy season, the optimum time for clear water diving is much, much longer here in that it's probably around nine or ten months. Whereas in Hawaii, I think the weather wouldn't be as good. So it might be that you'd have less available time to go diving. Kerry Newsome: [00:14:56] Yeah, and they just don't operate. They shut down during those months. They just don't take you out. Colm Hutchinson: [00:15:01] Because Kerry Newsome: [00:15:02] It's just not worth it. Colm Hutchinson: [00:15:02] For sure. So there's that for diving. There's some other islands such as Orchid Island, which is, you know, just an island with lots of nice plants and some animals. There are some little places to chill out on a kind of coconut style beach, do some stand up paddle boarding or canoeing. So a lot of families like to take a day trip out there. You travel maybe 20 minutes outside the city. Then there's a few companies that have these nice boats that they bring you over and canoe style speedboats and they bring you over for the day. You can just chill out there with the family, and it's a nice way to spend a day. I mean, I like to bring my kids sometimes at the weekend, just the day to get out and get off the mainland and out into the city. From the city, if you go outside and I try to go further north, definitely as a day trip, this is towards your beach, which is the very beautiful beach I told you about. On the wa Colm Hutchinson: [00:16:06] A lot of people don't even think about where our salt comes from and our sea salt, but just outside, not trying to have these beautiful salt fields. Where the locals will basically gather and store the salt before it's cleaned and shipped off to the salt suppliers. It's a very nice place for photographers to go to because when the sun comes up and the workers are working, they tend to start very early in the morning around 4 a.m. Just as the sunrise is coming up, you can get incredible photos of the sunrise over the salt fields with the workers in their traditional conical hats. They're covered from head to toe to protect them from the sun. It kind of creates those, I guess, iconic images you see of Vietnam. If you travel past the salt fields, maybe 20, 25 minutes, there's an island called Diep Son which I'll give you the name so you can put it on the screen. It's unique in that it's got two islands and it's got a sandbar that connects both islands. So at low tide, you can actually walk along the sea through the eye. Kerry Newsome: [00:17:09] So it looks like you're walking on water? Colm Hutchinson: [00:17:11] Pretty much, yeah. The water is only around two feet deep at low tide and you can walk from one island to the next. Right in the centre of the ocean, because it's, you know, it's probably a couple of kilometers off the mainland. So people love to go there just because it's unique, and it makes for great Instagram photos. It's a place I'd recommend for a day trip. If you could fit in the salt fields and maybe even your beach at the same time, it could be a nice overnight stay. Kerry Newsome: [00:17:41] And Colm, would you? You've talked about getting to these places. You know, something's like 60 kilometers out or whatever. What is the best form of transport to do that or how should people best arrange to do that, do that with a fixed tour or just get, you know, a grab car or a taxi or what's the best way? Colm Hutchinson: [00:18:02] That's your hotel or resort. So there are a lot of chain hotels and resorts, the big brands like the Intercoms and the Sheraton and no hotels and even the smaller hotels and resorts, they all will have a tour desk. From there you can usually arrange a trip to any of these places, and if you want something more custom, you can order a private car. So there's a lot of private cars with a tour guide that will take you out for the day and they'll all speak good English and the prices will be quite reasonable. They will take you to say, if I want to go to the Salt Fields and to Euclid Beach, you could rent the car for a day for, you know, maybe $60, $70 or maybe $100 with the tour guide. They will take you out, but generally, you can book all of this at the tour desk in your hotel, and they'll arrange it all for you. This includes your tickets and transfers and takes you there at the best time of the day. So I'd probably recommend doing that if you're not too familiar with Vietnam. Kerry Newsome: [00:18:59] I think that's worth mentioning. You know, if you've got a small family or you've got people that have got some issues with mobility or things like that. It's just best to get ahead of the curve by organizing that. As you say, the area is so used to tourists, so English is pretty well spoken. We are sitting here post COVID and whilst there's been lots of news about places shutting, the places that we're talking about, you're speaking from a level that these places are now coming back on. In other words, these tours are starting to open up again. I want to make sure that timing wise, we're just kind of keeping pace with just how Vietnam is opening and recovering. Colm Hutchinson: [00:19:51] It's tricky in the sense that Nha Trang, I guess more so than a lot of other cities in Vietnam, is predominantly a tourist destination. So it has been very badly affected by COVID and in the sense that when Vietnam closed its borders and for over two years, we had no international tourists. Domestic tourism isn't enough to make up for the supply of hotels and tour guides and activities. So we definitely have suffered a lot. In the last, I guess three months since Vietnam opened, I can definitely see some life returning to the city. A lot of the hotels that I work with are starting their marketing programs again and they're starting to welcome guests. We have international flights coming in this month from Korea and Singapore, and I think more flights are going to be added over the summer. I can definitely see a lot of places that had been previously closed down, such as restaurants or shops are all starting to renovate and remodel and I see new restaurants starting to spring up. So while we haven't fully recovered and the tourist area itself, which would have previously been very vibrant and active, it’s still quiet. I guess you would say, not deserted, but quite lonely is all starting to kind of wake up again. It's not going to be an immediate process, but it's definitely coming online relatively quickly. The places that I've spoken about, such as a Vin Pearl resort, would be fully open. You can still do island tours and boat diving tours. You can still go to the salt fields and to your beach and you can go see Gibson Island, as well, because domestic tourism has been quite strong in Vietnam over the last couple of years outside of the lockdown period. Kerry Newsome: [00:21:46] So the good thing about a place like Nha Trang is natural beauty, like beaches and islands and all the rest of it. They don't have an open for visitors sign on them. You know, they exist whether visitors come to them or not, don't they? So, you know, the water's still there, the corals are still there. Fortunately, the beauty is still there. Probably in some places I feel like it's kind of had some nourishment and some replenishment. You know, it kind of comes alive some of the forests and things like that have kind of reopened. So when you go to Nha Trang, sure, there might not be crowds, but maybe that's perfect. Colm Hutchinson: [00:22:33] I would definitely agree. I mean, before COVID one of the, I guess, pet peeves of the locals and of the expats was over tourism and just the huge quantities of tourists visiting. So when you go to the beaches, they're very busy. When you go to restaurants, it's difficult to get a seat. When you go to the cultural sites, it's just throngs of people there all the time. There was a lot of traffic in the city as well from buses and taxis. One of the benefits of COVID is that reset, which has definitely increased the quality of life of the expats and the locals who live here because life is much quieter. It's definitely a good time, if you like, a relaxed holiday and prefer a quiet beach to a busy one. If you want to go see one of the temples or the pagodas in the morning and have a lot of space to move around. If you've got a young family or you're a couple looking for a relaxing week away, then it's definitely nice. I'd actually take advantage of the next 6 to 9 months before full tourism returns to China and to Vietnam. I agree that touring has never been a true active destination where you go for adventure or something truly energetic. It's always been a kind of beach getaway, relaxing, chill out place. It's just a little bit more chilled than before, which is fine for the people who enjoy that. Kerry Newsome: [00:24:01] Yeah. All right. Now, I'm doing a count and check Colm so that, you know, we're keeping into our ten because I'm promising everybody ten things to remember about Nha Trang. So I think I'm up to around five. You might have to check me back. Colm Hutchinson: [00:24:19] I'll take your word for it. Kerry Newsome: [00:24:20] All right. Good. So have we covered the islands, do you think? Colm Hutchinson: [00:24:26] I think I mean, there's a few more islands, but there's nothing particularly more interesting in one than the other. I think I've covered the main ones that I would suggest are nice to visit. All right. What's next? I guess the culture and there's some nice cultural sites that you can go to visit here and people like temples and Buddhists and monasteries and things like that. So I think the first is Po Nagar and Temple. It's the point guard pagoda, which was built around the eighth or ninth century by the Cham Civilisation, who were indigenous to the region around that time. It's a beautiful kind of terracotta and temples built on a hill overlooking the river and upon a guard was an ancient goddess that they and I think the goddess of Mother Earth, I believe she was known as. It's a very interesting site with beautiful steps that lead up to these terracotta style temples and lots of different religious insignias and carvings. These are actually from a variety of religions, not just from Buddhism, but also from Hinduism and other religions that have come through Vietnam over the centuries. So a lot of people like to go there to see the people do their dancing and to check out the temple. Kerry Newsome: [00:25:44] It’s very beautiful. Colm Hutchinson: [00:25:45] It's gorgeous and it's particularly nice at nighttime, just as the sun is going down and the lights start coming up. Kerry Newsome: [00:25:51] It's good that you mention this because and I guess you're mentioning it too, because you're into digital media. Capturing some of your visits on a camera at the right time of the day, it is worth taking into consideration. If you are looking at these tours and you're saying to your tour guide, when's a good time to go when you want to get that nice sunset in the background behind the ruins, etc., you know, if you're a photographer that's worth considering. Colm Hutchinson: [00:26:24] Definitely. I think the same would apply to Long Son Pagoda, which is a Buddhist pagoda and right into the city center. It's famous because it has a giant standing statue of Buddha whose head kind of sticks out above the trees and looks over the city. So you can see him from many different places within the city. It's also got a sleeping Buddha, a very long sleeping Buddha and a big Buddhist temple where they perform, where the monks will perform their prayers and their different daily activities. It's a really nice, chilled out place to go and just take in some nice Buddhist and religious shrines and monuments. A lot of people like to go to that. I'd recommend taking a Vespa tour to go and see those culture sites. There's also a Vespa tour where you can basically get your own tour guide who's a driver for the day, and he'll take you around. He or she will take you around the city on the back of a Vespa so you don't have to drive amongst the slightly chaotic traffic. You can kind of go around in safety and they'll take you around and see all of these sites to have some lunch and try some local food. They'll give you some history about the area, particularly these Buddhist sites. Kerry Newsome: [00:27:39] I highly recommend the best for tours. I've done them myself. You know, whilst I originally was terrified of the traffic, funnily enough, when I'm on the back of a Vespa with a Vietnamese driver, I feel safe. I know they know the traffic and the Vespers are the model of the Vespa. Design doesn't make you feel like you've got a 250 CC motorbike under your bum. You've got it going. It goes. Roughly at about 40 to 50k's per hour at the most have at it's push and it's very comfortable and the drivers really know what they're doing. So for anyone who's thinking about this and going, oh no, I wouldn't do anything on a scooter or whatever. No, I don't suggest you do anything yourself on a scooter, especially if you're a first time visitor. Certainly if you want to do something like this with the Vespa drivers, I know they do have they're quite scrutinized before they're given the licenses to do these kinds of things because they don't want it against their name that somebody fell off or or any entanglements. I'm glad you brought that up. It's just a novel thing to do in safety of and seeing some interesting historical places. Colm Hutchinson: [00:29:07] I think it's also quintessentially Vietnamese. You know, when people think of Vietnam, they think of the traffic and the kind of all these bikes flowing around, almost like a colony of ants. And it's actually kind of a good analogy because when you're in the middle of it does feel like a colony of ants, but yet everybody seems to know where they're going and it all seems to flow the way it's supposed to. Even if it looks like there's no order, there's definitely some order within the chaos, and it's quite organized. Kerry Newsome: [00:29:35] Chaos is how I've described it over the years. They kind of part like the sea and they can move amongst each other and they have their own signs to each other. And, you know, who has ridden away or whatever. I've never been able to quite figure it out, but I don't care. As long as they know what they're doing, I'm happy to go along with it. Colm Hutchinson: [00:29:55] Yeah. One thing I've noticed myself driving here for so many years is your peripheral vision really increases. My peripheral vision is so much better than it used to be. Yeah, there's just a certain intuition that people have when they're driving and they know how to get around. But it's for tourists. For someone who hasn't experienced it before, it is a little bit exhilarating. It's a little bit scary. It's quite fun. It's definitely something I'd recommend, and with the respirator writers, they're all, you know, very careful. So it's something I'd recommend just because it doesn't just give you an insight to the biking culture of Vietnam, but it also gives you a local insight to find out how the locals get around and to find out some interesting things around the city. They'll also be able to point out a lot of other things in the city as you drive past them, just to give you that local insight that you may not get if you're stuck in a car. Kerry Newsome: [00:30:44] Absolutely, and you might never do it again. That doesn't matter. It means you can go home and you can get that photo and you can get it out and you can show people and say, that was me. Colm Hutchinson: [00:30:55] So yeah, it's good for those Instagram moments and make a little video to show your friends. Kerry Newsome: [00:31:03] All right. What are we up to now? Colm Hutchinson: [00:31:05] Trang is also famous for its mud baths. Kerry Newsome: [00:31:07] I was going to ask you about this. Yes. Colm Hutchinson: [00:31:10] In the city, there are three I believe three mud baths just on the outskirts of the city. The mud baths are, as the name would suggest, it's full of mud. But the mud is a special mud that comes from a certain area and it's supposedly filled with many nutrients and different things that are supposed to be quite good. Kerry Newsome: [00:31:30] For minerals. Colm Hutchinson: [00:31:31] Minerals and calcite and various different things within the mud that's good for your skin. It's supposed to promote healing, but it's also just a fun and kind of interesting way to spend a day. So you go in and you buy your ticket, you change into your swimming clothes, and then you sit in this bath and these giant taps come on, and it fills up full of this gooey, slippery mud. It's great fun for all the family, whether it's the couple going for a nice day out or the kids want to go out and experience it. You stay maybe 20, 30 minutes in the mud and then you can go into all of these different hot springs. So they have lots of pools with some of them very hot, some of them very cold with waterfalls. I think one of them even has quite a big water park there as well. Now, the resort has mud baths, hot and cold mineral springs with some restaurants and also a water park. So a great day to go and spend from morning to early afternoon. It's got all the right mix of activity and relaxation. You can even do like spa treatments if you want to have a mud bath spa treatment and get a private area where you can have a private day with your fiance if you're on honeymoon and the kids will love just the water park and splashing about in the mud. So that's definitely something I'd recommend because you don't find it in many other places in Vietnam. Kerry Newsome: [00:32:54] No, definitely not. I'm really keen to find out more about that. I might talk to you about that later. Colm Hutchinson: [00:32:59] There's three of them, so put that on your list. What else do I love about Nha Trang? I guess the food. Of course. We have to talk about the food. Kerry Newsome: [00:33:06] We do indeed. Colm Hutchinson: [00:33:08] I mean, Vietnam is very trendy right now in general for its food and across the world. The Vietnamese food scene is starting to become more popular and trying. I think we're definitely known as a seafood mecca being so close to the sea. We have a big seafood industry. So getting an amazing seafood buffet or seafood dinner here is very, very easy. You know, we go to an affordable place. Oh, so so so affordable. I mean for you know, anywhere from $60 to $100 or even cheaper, if you just go to the very local restaurant. You can go get the most amazing different types and varieties of seafood here. Of course, you have all your standards like lobster, crab and shrimp and then various different fish that are from the region, but so many different types of other shellfish that you have probably never seen before. Very famous here for abalone, which is like those sea urchins which are grown just off the coast and quite inexpensive and quite interesting to taste, very unique taste and texture to them. Also famous as a seafood dish, here is a jellyfish salad, which you probably wouldn't have heard of before, but you did mention jellyfish earlier. Not something that I particularly enjoy, but not because it's jellyfish or because jellyfish would not be traditionally what we would think of as a seafood dish. It's just for me, it's a little bit bland, but I know my wife loves it. What they do is, they take the jellyfish and they boil them in salted water for a long time to remove any of the mucus and any of the stinging tentacles. What you're left with is just basically crunchy jellyfish. Then they mix it into a salad with lots of chili and onion and different fish sauce. Then they whip it up into this jellyfish salad and it's very, very popular with the locals. So put it on your list if you'd like to try. It’s kind of unique. Kerry Newsome: [00:35:02] The texture, is it a bit like calamari like the octopus or? Colm Hutchinson: [00:35:06] It would be crunchier. So it's soft like calamari when you touch it. But when you bite into it, it's got a soft crunch. So it's yeah, a little not like not as soft as calamari, but definitely a unique texture, but not not bad in your mouth at all. I just don't find it to be particularly savory or flavorsome. But when they mix it with herbs and vegetables and some chili, it gets quite spicy. Vietnamese people, Vietnamese cuisine, they love texture, they love difference of texture and all of the dishes. So you've got the softness of your vegetables and your herbs with the spiciness of your chili and then the crunchiness of the jellyfish. They love that! Kerry Newsome: [00:35:45] I think it’s good to mention at this point about the food that you can go from the street food level, which you might be selecting your seafood out of small buckets on the side of the road or in the restaurant. You're sitting in little red chairs and you're eating the real local cuisine and what they can whip up and do with that. You can cook it whichever way you want. You can ask whichever way you want. It's really, really cheap and it's really, really good. If you want to maybe spend a special night or you want to kind of stay for a while and you may be on alcohol or other things. There's definitely medium to high levels of dining experiences with seafood. That you can really enjoy along the beach from what I remember. Obviously at your hotels and restaurants, do you have a favorite fine dining restaurant? Colm Hutchinson: [00:36:50] For seafood buffet? I like to go to the Intercontinental and yeah, usually on a Saturday or Sunday they have a seafood buffet. It'll set you back, I think around $35, maybe $40, but it's all you can eat at a seafood buffet. Barbecued seafood, all the trimmings of a regular buffet and with the bottle of wine and I think a half a lobster as well. So if I want to treat myself, we go out of that compared to your prices back home. Yeah, there's no comparison. So the freshest seafood was caught that day. Kerry Newsome: [00:37:22] All right. You've won me already. Colm Hutchinson: [00:37:24] There's another restaurant I love to go to called the Grill Garden . It's not street food and it's not fine dining like the Intercontinental, but it's one of my favorites because it's a tabletop barbecue restaurant. So you come in and you sit on the table and then they insert this little small charcoal and circular barbecue and then put a grill on top. Then along the side of the restaurant, they have all of the setups where you can just basically gorge yourself on all this beautiful seafood and different types of local meat, and then you cook it at the table. So you go get all your food, you bring it over to the table, and then you pop it on to the grill and cook it to your liking. You can sit there all night long trying from just regular seafood and shellfish to exotic meats. Frogs and different types of beef and pork, even crocodiles, I believe they have as well. Then lots and lots of shellfish. You can just cook it, cook it up on your table with a few beers. It's very, very interesting. Whenever my friends and relatives have come over to visit, it's always been their favourite place to go. Kerry Newsome: [00:38:34] Well, we definitely have to bet it's got a Facebook page or something similar, so we'll have to put the link in for that. Colm Hutchinson: [00:38:40] Sure. Yeah, I'll. I'll find the link and send it to you. Then I guess quickly, just some other native dishes to the region that they're trying to be famous for would be Bianca, which is a seafood noodle soup that locals love to have for breakfast, lunch or dinner. So it's got vermicelli noodles and a beautiful seafood soup and then seafood. On top you also have Bancel, which are crispy savory pancakes cooked up on the street and then filled with and with spring onions, with shrimp, with pork and lots of different topics. Then it's dipped in this beautiful dipping sauce of fish sauce. It's kind of a sweet dipping sauce that's just really, really beautiful. Kerry Newsome: [00:39:26] How they get that pancake so crisp and crunchy, and yet with all those bits inside of it, and then you add the bits of salad and stuff and it's to die for, absolutely die for. Colm Hutchinson: [00:39:38] It's definitely one of my favorite dishes. I think the secrets are getting crispy as they use rice flour. So definitely one of my favorites and something that people should try. You'll get it in any restaurant in any of the hotels as well. There's also Goi Cuon, which is traditional rice paper rolls. Inside of those rolls you put in lots of beautiful herbs and vegetables with fermented pork, but it's not particularly pungent. It's just got a nice flavor and then it's dipped into a kind of peanut style sauce. It's very quintessential Vietnamese food where you kind of build your meal at the table yourself. They bring you all the ingredients and you roll up the rice papers first. You have to put them into water to make them soft. Then you roll all the ingredients into it and dip it into all these different sauces. So it's very much a Vietnamese style eating, sharing with the whole family. Definitely something people should try. Kerry Newsome: [00:40:35] I really encourage everybody to try all these different things, even if you just try it because, usually, in Western countries you are reluctant to because obviously each item on the menu is expensive in its own right. You can actually afford to try several of these and if you don't like it or someone else likes it more than you in your group or in your family, it's not the end of the world because it hasn't cost you an arm and a leg in the first place. So be experimental. You will be amazed at the flavors. I mean, obviously if you've got issues as far as allergies are concerned, make sure that you mention that to them like peanuts or chili or things like that. Or if you need gluten free, you're going to have to steer away from noodles, etc. But the vegetables are so fresh, you can often replace gluten. So there's many, many ways to still explore and discover Vietnamese cuisine, and I really encourage you to do so. Colm Hutchinson: [00:41:35] On that note as well, there's no problem being a vegetarian or vegan. Oh, gosh. I mean, just as part of Buddhist culture, many of them. Kerry Newsome: [00:41:45] Will be vegetarian. Yes. Colm Hutchinson: [00:41:47] Well, vegetarian full time or they'll have certain days of the month when they're vegetarian. So going to any restaurant, you'll have no shortage of vegetarian dishes, particularly tofu, and mixed with so many beautiful vegetables and herbs. There's one restaurant that my wife loves to go to, and it's only vegetarian food, and they do beautiful mushroom hot pots and with lots of beautiful vegetables, some of them. Kerry Newsome: [00:42:10] Even the names on the list as well. Colm because I know I've got a lot of vegetarians as my listeners, so I don't want to miss them out. Colm Hutchinson: [00:42:20] I’ll give you a list of a couple of them and then you can put them on to your list so people know where they are. Kerry Newsome: [00:42:25] Are we up to number nine? We've done food, I think, and to the extent that I can't do any more meals, I'm starving. Colm Hutchinson: [00:42:35] What else is there? I guess for people who do like a bit of activity its also become a kind of golfing region as well. So now there are three international golf courses all within, I guess within 30 minutes of the airport. So within 20 minutes of the city, basically. The first is on Vin Pearl , which we spoke about earlier. They have a fantastic links golf course on the island and supposedly quite challenging. I don't play much myself, but from my golfing friends they tell me it's very, very challenging because it's on the island, so it's subject to the elements. There's Diamond Bay Golf Course , which has been there for quite a number of years. Then in the last few years, there is KN Golf Links Cam Ranh, which is a Greg Norman designed golf course and that's beautiful looking and you can maybe put a photo of it for the listeners. Kerry Newsome: [00:43:28] Definitely. Colm Hutchinson: [00:43:29] A beautiful, windswept links golf course, one of the very few links golf proper links, golf courses in Vietnam I believe and designed by a fellow Australian that the shark Mr. Norman. Kerry Newsome: [00:43:40] Well, Greg Norman used to be the ambassador for Vietnamese golf courses and golfing in Vietnam up until I think maybe a year or so before COVID. I don't know whether he was very active in promoting golf in Vietnam. Colm Hutchinson: [00:43:57] Golf is becoming popular because Vietnam has a very quickly rising middle class. Golf has become a very popular sport and there's some incredible courses around the country. I think that change is good in that you have three beautiful courses, all within 20 minutes of each other and another one coming online as well. The other side of the airport, I think in October, I can't remember the name of it, but if you're a golf enthusiast, you can fly in and have three or four days of amazing golf, all within 20 minutes of you on very, very different golf courses. The rates are very reasonable in comparison to what you'll pay back home. Definitely. And they're not, shall we say, Mickey Mouse courses. They're supposedly very challenging courses. So they'd suit all levels of golfer. I know it's becoming very popular for people to book a kind of four or five day package where they can get a couple of days golfing and the guys can go play golf, the ladies can go for a spa treatment or visit the mud baths or just hit on the hit the beach for a couple of days. It’s fun for all the family. Kerry Newsome: [00:45:07] Yeah, great combination. Colm Hutchinson: [00:45:09] Then close to the airport where the golf courses are has a kind of second area called Cam Ranh. And Cam Ranh is the name of the airport that you fly into, and it's the area just outside of Nha Trang. In that region, over the last five years, a huge amount of resorts have sprung up. Along Long Beach, which we spoke about earlier, which is a beautiful beach. So a lot of people like to go there just for a tropical beach getaway, if you will, and where you can have three, four or five days just on the beach. You've got a lot of different resorts there from your international standard from Marriott and a lot of independent resorts. Some of them are very, very beautiful. You can just have three days doing nothing with the waves lapping up on the beach. All your food and entertainment and activities are taken care of in the resorts. Then a lot of people like to take just a one day trip, then to go into Nha Trang, check out the city, buy some souvenirs and see some of the sights there. Kerry Newsome: [00:46:09] So I kind of look at it as like Nusa Dua is to, you know, Bali and the main areas of Bali. It's kind of a bit like that isn't it. Colm Hutchinson: [00:46:19] Yeah, definitely. It's just a getaway place where you want to do nothing but relax. Whereas if you're a bit more lively or you've maybe got kids and you want to get out and do things and see the cities, then you'd go into that train. Kerry Newsome: [00:46:31] Can you speak a little bit about the variety of accommodation available? Colm Hutchinson: [00:46:37] Yeah. I mean, just even before COVID came, there was an oversupply of accommodation. Too many hotel rooms for the quantity of tourists that were coming in. So I think people are spoilt for choice now. When you have the airports, you have that strip from the airport coming into the city, which probably has 15. Kerry Newsome: [00:46:56] Yeah. Colm Hutchinson: [00:46:57] Yeah, just kind of around probably 15 and more on the way. Beautiful five star resorts and hotels and from some locally owned ones to international ones with all the top facilities and activities in that city. Then you have from Five Star all the way down to four three stars. You have homestays, you have some backpacker hostels, and then on the islands you have lots of beautiful resorts as well. So you've got Vinpro, which we mentioned, and then there is an Inn Van Bay, which is the peninsula just across from Trang, which has the very famous Six Senses Resort , which has been very, very famous for many years as one of the best resorts in Vietnam. So if you're looking for something truly luxurious, I think they almost call it a six star resort. You go somewhere like Six Senses and some of the other islands on the bay have their own amazing resorts as well. So you've got family friendly, you've got a couple orientated resorts, vibrant city resorts, which are right on the beach in the centre of the city like the Intercontinental or the Sheraton or the Novotel and definitely spoilt for choice. And because of COVID, obviously the rates in hotels and resorts these days are remarkable. You know, you can stay at a top five star resort here for $60, $70 a night and some of the other ones even cheaper. So definitely great value for money at the moment. Kerry Newsome: [00:48:21] Can I put you on the spot and ask for any of your favourites? Colm Hutchinson: [00:48:26] My favourites in the city I'd recommend are Intercontinental and the Sheraton and in terms of resorts and hotels and I like Movenpick , which is close to the airport. The Aminana is a fantastic resort Kerry Newsome: [00:48:43] How do I spell that? Colm Hutchinson: [00:48:45] That one and am I in? Kerry Newsome: [00:48:48] There is one called Amiana. Isn't that. I've seen some really beautiful weddings done there. Colm Hutchinson: [00:48:56] There is, yeah. I mean there's a lot of resorts so many that I've lost track. There is Amiana, which has beautiful swimming pools and villas. I recommend it for people who like to swim. There's the ANAM and there's Alma Resort , which is fantastic for kids because it's all centered around kids activities and fun for the family. Mia Resort , which is a very small boutique resort, very popular with couples, honeymooners, people who just want to get to a very small, very service oriented resort. Very, very beautiful. In the city there's Intercom Sheraton , a new hotel called Potique , which is fantastically designed, just a very unique interior and decorations that they've used, starting with. Pol Pot Boutique where you have a very, very nice décor inside. Kerry Newsome: [00:49:56] So these are all four and a half, five stars. What about in that three star range? Colm Hutchinson: [00:50:04] And the three stars. Kerry Newsome: [00:50:06] A budget traveller that wants to just come and do some diving, who wants to sort of get the beach scene, who maybe might want to spend an extended time so they want something a little bit more affordable. Colm Hutchinson: [00:50:19] Ibis Styles , which is an encore property which would be three star prices, but definitely four star quality rooms and service. Yeah. The Havana Hotel is another one that's on the main strip. There's just so many, but I think the key is value for money people are going to get when they come here. So I'd recommend paying a few dollars extra for the for. Kerry Newsome: [00:50:44] Great. Totally, I think that's the lovely gift that Vietnam keeps giving is value for money across the board. Even before COVID, it was still giving good value for money. I think in South East Asia, it's really up there. Is there anything you want to wrap up? I've got 11 reasons to go to Nha Trang so I can turn this from 10 to 11 easily. Colm Hutchinson: [00:51:11] It's a pretty safe city. There's no real tourist traps, I would say that you fall into as long as you know. Kerry Newsome: [00:51:18] Book things where common sense prevails. Colm Hutchinson: [00:51:19] Yeah, exactly. Kerry Newsome: [00:51:21] I'm working on the theory that most people listening have got common sense for sure. Thank you so much for coming on. I'm kind of amazed at how much you know, but I guess in 12 years that's what happens. You kind of accrue all this knowledge and it's stored in your head. I'm glad we were able to extract it from you today and share it with everybody. So thanks so much for coming on. Colm Hutchinson: [00:51:48] You're very welcome. Okay. And I hope your listeners find some interesting nuggets in there for them. If they come to ensure that they have an enjoyable trip. Kerry Newsome: [00:51:58] I'm sure, and I'll make sure for everyone, for the places that Colm has mentioned, I'll make sure I'll put as many links as I can. There is always, always a transcript available from each show. So if you prefer to be a reader and you want to just read through the transcript, that's easily done, you can just print that off anyway. Colm, aah, look forward to seeing you on the track actually. Colm Hutchinson: [00:52:24] Yeah. You're long overdue. A visit. Kerry Newsome: [00:52:26] I am. Thanks, Colm! Colm Hutchinson: [00:52:29] You're very welcome.

d59e28f5-0a3c-4568-9a04-64cd21ec51a6 A sun kissed paradise with amazing experiences. Mui Ne - Beach bliss kitesurfing and sand dunes Episode 17 S3-17 Mui Ne Beach bliss experiences 00:00 / 37:20 Mui Ne - A sun kissed piece of paradise that offers an amazing contrast of experiences. This idyllic location will blow you away literally as the winds bring thousands each year to kitesurf. This, alongside adventure lovers on dune buggies on white and red sand dunes will have you believing for an instant you are in the Sahara desert. But only for a milli second. Its more recent badge is for being one of the worlds top 10 beach locations. I am joined in this episode with Nikki Cornish from the Sailing Club Resort Mui Ne. A gorgeous resort set right on the beach. A sneak peak of the resort and the hero image is featured on the show's website page here. Nikki is a delightful guest and you will love hearing her talk about this place that she has obviously come to love. Her insights and knowledge of the town, climate and experiences there will help you decide if its the place for you. Find out all you need to know to enjoy this beautiful destination only 4 hours from HCMC. Download Transcript PDF Read transcript