ffec553b-eb28-4811-bb2e-1d4e55c50e8bIn all the natural beauty and culture you can find yourself How a holiday can be a life changing healing experience Episode 17 How a holiday can be a life changing healing experience 00:00 / 28:35 What about a holiday that ended up being a life-changing healing experience. “Why not”, you say. Is there a “booking.com for wellness and transformational healing retreats in Vietnam?" No, not yet, but it’s coming. Is it a safe place to visit post-Covid? Find out. My guest today, Michelle Ford, is going to help us better understand just where Vietnam is heading in this space. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

40fb91b1-df13-4a4f-959b-2016c5181459Pgu Quoc is a highly sought after destination Phu Quoc - An unbelievably scenic island paradise Episode 24 S3-24 Phu Quoc A scenic island paradise 00:00 / 41:32 Phu Quoc is the destination focus for the latest episode of the What About Vietnam podcast. An island blessed with white sand beaches, turquoise waters, swaying palm trees and an abundance of sunshine, all make Phu Quoc island a highly sought-after destination for beach lovers, and those looking for a short getaway from the craziness of HCMC. In fact, Phu Quoc which is the focus of our chat today with Patricia Marques is only a short 45 mins flight from HCMC, and is VISA free to visit. NOW. YES now, the borders to Vietnam are open. In this episode we discuss things like: The best time to go; Closeness to Cambodia; Water sports; What food is most common; Is it expensive?: Pepper farms; Fish Sauce; The famous Phu Quoc dogs; Is it worth going to downtown to eat out?; Accommodation choices and how the Island is configured so you can find what you want. Patricia Marques is my guest today, and I was lucky enough to catch her just after a recent trip to Phu Quoc. A trip that coincided with the news that Vietnam is now open to general tourists. So our chat is current as of March 2022. Patricia is the General Manager of Starbucks in Vietnam. Amid the myriad of things we talk about, you will soon discover that Phu Quoc makes an ideal destination for families, couples and solo travellers alike. It literally caters for many types of travellers with amazing waterfalls to visit and trekking in the jungle like National Park. To, diving, snorkelling and a Theme Park for kids, that would rival Disneyland, located in the north of the island. As a place to kick back and relax or take off into the wilderness, the island has it all, and given its location, it’s a seafood lover’s paradise. Download Transcript PDF Read transcript

Vietnam travel podcasts featuring stories and interviews about travel adventure in Vietnam destinations Adventure S2-24 Explore Bac Ha Markets Go to Episode S2-05 Explore Mai Chau Go to Episode S2-21 Vietnamese Trail Marathons Go to Episode S2-15 Sapa North Vietnam Go to Episode S2-09 Phong Nha Caves Go to Episode S3-25 One teenagers holiday views Go to Episode S3-06 Diving in Vietnam Go to Episode S3-22 Phong Nha Caves in depth Go to Episode S3-05 Ha Giang Loop Go to Episode S3-17 Mui Ne Beach bliss experiences Go to Episode S3-02 Mu Cang Chai Go to Episode S3-10 Top 5 Travel Podcasts Go to Episode S4-22 Trekking in Sapa A wide lens view Go to Episode S4-03 Travel Outlook 2022-23 Go to Episode S4-21 Beyond the Phong Nha caves Go to Episode S4-17 Vietnam Traveller Insights 2022 Go to Episode S4-16 Mystical Ninh Binh Go to Episode S5-E25 Hoi An in Focus - ten things to love Go to Episode S5-E17 Motorbike Riding in Vietnam tips and adventures Go to Episode S5-E6 Explore the ‘Land of Lychees’ – Bac Giang Go to Episode S5-E24 Ha Giang Insider tips for an Unforgettable Adventure Go to Episode S5-E15 Yen Bai Luxury in the Heart of Nature Go to Episode S5-E5 Hai Van Pass Experience from a seasoned traveller Go to Episode S5-E23 Caving and Trekking in Phong Nha’s Tu Lan Cave System Go to Episode S5-E14 Phong Nha - The family fun destination Go to Episode S5-E3 Heritage and Discovery in Saigon Mekong Delta & Dalat Go to Episode S5-E22 10 things travellers may not know about Vietnam Go to Episode S5-E13 Out and About in Nha Trang Go to Episode S5-E1- Vietnam Visa Update and Land Travel Tips Go to Episode

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.

8db76043-cfb3-4ce7-93e8-f406afe7029aShopping for Designer, Tailoring and Sustainable in Vietnam Shopping in Vietnam Tailoring Designer and Sustainable Episode 2 Shopping in Vietnam Tailoring Designer and Sustainable 00:00 / 29:48 Our show today is for anyone who has ever thought Vietnam was just about cheap "copy" handbags, sweaty markets, tailoring and knock offs! ...You are in for a shock! Be ready to embrace everything from "wearable happiness to sustainable products that will save the earth and set tails wagging when you get home. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

ec8280d1-e874-4b14-8ce4-6df2779388afJeremy Stein takes us diving in the best locations Diving in Vietnam - everything you need to know Episode 6 S3-06 Diving in Vietnam 00:00 / 33:12 If you are thinking about diving in Vietnam, but not sure of the best locations or what to expect, then this is the podcast episode for you. Jeremy Stein is my guest and a pro PADI diving instructor of some notoriety in Vietnam. Originally from the UK, you could say he pioneered diving in Vietnam by opening the first PADI Dive centre in Vietnam back 25 years ago. In the episode we discuss: best times of year to travel to each location, and we name 5 of the best diving sites in Vietnam, namely - Nha Trang, Whale Island, Con Dao, Phu Quoc, and Hoi An. All stunning locations offering pristine beaches and a very relaxed holiday vibe. We talk about the kinds of fish and coral you can see, which number hundreds of varieties across the locations. Whether you are just diving for fun or never considered diving before, there is something for everyone in Vietnam. Download Transcript PDF Read transcript

S4-19 Vietnam wins the heart of the daring What About Vietnam – S4- E19 Why Vietnam wins the hearts of the daring! SPEAKERS : Kerry Newsome, Alvaro Moreno Kerry Newsome: 00:35 Just before we jump into the show, I have some great news to share. Starting first of March, What About Vietnam is offering up three new travel service products, which I hope you'll take advantage of. Just a very quick mention here: 1. The first one is Trip Planning and Design . So that's creating the perfect itinerary and tour plan just for you as a private program. 2. Secondly, we are offering Travel Companion Services , which is a very unique service into Vietnam, where you will have Kelley McCarthy as your travel companion to support you through your stay, should you require that service. 3. Lastly, I'm very excited about the Girls Getaway for 11 days in September, that's 11 days where we get to take you to a major city, an old town and an island. So I'm expecting lots of fun shopping, pampering food and some rich culture there. Trip Planning and Design 01:37 Firstly, I'd just like to tell you a little bit about the Trip Planning and Design. Because I hear from you, where a lot of people are struggling with so much information on the internet, where it's just so hard to make a decision. There's tour companies out there's Facebook pages, there's Facebook groups, and I just see you all kind of struggling to make decisions and relying on some people and feedback. Everyone's got something different to say, and some of you have reached out to me independently. I hope I've been of service there. But that's what Trip Planning & Design is about. It's a service that I'm hoping to provide you with that's tailored to you, customized to what you and I decide is important for you, and your travel companion or your family or your small group, whatever that may be. 02:32 So, check that out on our website. If you go to WhatAboutVietnam.com, click on the Travel Services tab. You'll see all of the services listed there, including the Trip Planning and Design. There is a small fee. If you decide to proceed with us for the tour that we will actually deliver the tour to you, then we actually deduct that original Trip Planning and Design fee from the overall tour price. So, check it out. As I said on the website, send me a message we've got this new message system on the website so you can actually leave me a voice message if you wish, or just reach out to me directly through email. WhatAboutVietnam@gmail.com . Anyway, without further ado, let's get on with the show. 03:31 Xin Chào and welcome to What About Vietnam . As a follow up from the previous episode talking about luxury travel. We’re in good stead as we've got Alvaro Moreno on the show today. He's General Manager of the Fusion Original Saigon Centre . A little bit about our Alvaro: Originally from Barcelona, he decided to take off from his hotel management job back in 2011, and go exploring in the Southeast Asia region, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, China, and even across to Nepal and India. He believes this trip had a big impact on him, becoming a better leader and mentor to his staff, along with his external studies at Cornell University. He's worked on the preopening phase of three hotels, and one rebrand in Vietnam. He's quite well known for his creative process, which is very hands on. He certainly excels in project management. 04:37 I know from talking to others, he's very highly regarded in the industry. For some people adapting to working in an unfamiliar culture can be difficult, but for Alvaro, he says his travel experiences contributed hugely to his own personal growth and that of his profession. The opportunity to speak with you him came up during my last visit to Vietnam, I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to indulge with him in some retrospection, really, as he speaks to us as both a previous traveler and now General Manager of this very upmarket luxury hotel right in the heart of Saigon Central, that operates with a tagline, I think I've said before that I just truly love: "The Home of the Daring ". At the heart of our conversation are some insights on what travelers should consider when planning a trip to Vietnam, like duration and budget. 05:36 However, he adds to that some inspiration as he describes Vietnam, as a country where a traveler can challenge themselves in relative safety. He goes on to talk about Vietnam in terms of its network of connectivity, digitally so, to the scope and broad range of transport easily accessible to the tourist, and normally at fairly reasonable prices. Right through of course, to hotel accommodation, offering 'good value for money' stays. We drill down a bit further to, to really delve into: "What is making Vietnam so attractive as a tourist destination in the region." Tipping the scales in favor of Vietnam, are things like its expansiveness, and experiences, the competition in the marketplace, in particular with international brands making a bigger footprint and offering up stays that are almost becoming a destination in themselves, but developing the regions that they sit in, as a kind of default really. 06:42 We touched on the culinary experiences available in Vietnam. And I took note of what Alvaro describes is the culture of Vietnam as being one of celebration. It's true. Vietnamese love to celebrate and are always looking for reasons to do so. He also spoke of the skills of new chefs stepping out in Vietnam and taking really big risks in developing new menus and experiences. This can be particularly seen in the big cities like Saigon, Hanoi and Danang. It was great to hear this because it kind of supports what I felt for a long time that we're really only on the cusp of what Vietnam is becoming. I'm sure you're going to love the show. He's a lovely guest. I think we're going to learn lots more about Vietnam and what it holds for us in the future. Let's welcome Alvaro to the show. 07:48 Welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast. It's really lovely to have you on the show. Alvaro Moreno: 07:52 Good afternoon, Kerry. Thanks for inviting me. Pleasure to be here with you. Kerry Newsome: 07:57 It was really lovely to meet you in Saigon and have a chat with you over dinner. I certainly love your hotel. I love the experience of your hotel and I love your tagline, "The Home of the Daring ". I think that's fabulous. Alvaro Moreno: 08:15 That's who we are. We wanted to be very, very long these new proposal of hotel that we just opened. So yeah, I'm glad that you like it. Kerry Newsome: 08:26 Okay, so, my audience, people that are listening to this program are thinking about coming to Vietnam. Of course, there's a lot of hotels in Vietnam, there's a lot of things to do in Vietnam. It's a big country. So, you were once a traveler, back in 2011, when you decided to come to explore Southeast Asia and you arrived in Vietnam. What would you put your hat on for now, versus that guy back in 2011? What would be some of the things that you would advise people? Like if you talk to your friends, and they say, "Oh, I don't know about coming to Vietnam, Alvaro." Tell me what's so great about Vietnam? What are some of the things you say? Alvaro Moreno: 09:18 Well, it's a very good question because my first experience in the country was as a tourist. I was traveling for a month way before deciding that I was gonna move to live here. Over the years, I had already been eight years in the country, a little bit more than that, eight and a half. I see now things from the perspective of our resident, being here part of the community already, rooted, having lots of friends, career established. I see things with a different perspective. But I always come back to the origins of what brought me to travel, and what are the things that I have enjoyed over the years. So, I have decided to stay here living in the country. For the new travelers, I think that what's your question. right? Like, what will be my advice for the travelers? 10:15 I think it will depend on- if the traveler is accustomed to traveling in Asia or not. That will be my first question. Are they familiar with the cultural aspects, specialty in Southeast Asia? Are they familiar with overall- the type of food that they are going to find? Do they know or can they guess how interactions with people are going to be? So, what will be important for the first traveler is to know first: How many days they have? The duration of their trip. I think that's key to understand what can you do, and how much you can maximize your trip to Vietnam? Another important one, and I think this is probably the most is: What's your budget? How much are you expecting to spend, and depending on the duration of your trip is, what are the options that will accommodate your pocket? Once you have defined that I think the most important will be to choose destination within Vietnam. I think that's probably the most difficult part because of course, we all want to see everything as much as we can. Depending on whether we have a month or a week, we will then need to look at what are transportation and accommodation within the country. But it will be necessary to define what are the destinations to discover. Kerry Newsome: 11:52 I take your point on all of those things. When I put together a trip planning podcast, which is series one in this format. One of the things that I stress in that is how much time you have. Because there is a perception that people can traverse the whole country in eight days and say that they've seen Vietnam. Of course, you and I both have a bit of a giggle about that. Because we understand that that's a blink. That's a quick wink of Vietnam, that is nowhere near saying that you've been able to see all of it now. I challenge people to even see whether they've really enjoyed that trip because it's moving so fast that you don't get time to breathe it in. I do advocate that people possibly see Vietnam more than a 'Once only' trip that they see it more to come back, and maybe use the first trip as, what some people would call like 'A reconnaissance trip' to maybe, check out and say, "Oh, I'd like to come back there and spend more time." That kind of thing. But I think how many days you have and how many days you should have. That will depend on the kind of experiences that you want. So, I agree with you totally. Then you to your point on budget. I think budget is a new word that's coming up in Vietnam, because before it was all- it was just everything in Vietnam was cheap. You could do absolutely everything and it was cheap. Where now I think there are some levels that you can still do cheaply. But there is more for the luxury traveler. There's more for the wellness traveler, there's more. So, these other areas, and all of those have a different dollar value attached to them. Then choosing the destination. Now most people come into Vietnam in three main ports, don't they? So, it's Ho Chi Minh, in Hanoi or De Nang's port. They are your main points. Now, because you're sitting in Ho Chi Minh City, how would you rate Ho Chi Minh versus Hanoi versus Da Nang for that first experience? Alvaro Moreno: 14:28 It's very attractive to say that you are moving from the north to south, or the other way around, because the country is very linear. It's a long stretch of almost 2000 kilometers. What happens there is that the trend that I have seen over the years is that people arriving Saigon and then they could finish their journey in Hanoi or the other way around. It could happen also from Da Nang to Saigon or Saigon to Da Nang. I think it all depends on the time that you have, and then how you want to divide your travel experience, because there is obviously a big difference between what you're gonna encounter in the north of the country, in central Vietnam, and then in the south. So, I could say already that you can split your journey in three times, to understand Vietnam, and to enjoy the best of it. But of course, if you are ready to go from one place to another, over your holiday or over your trip, I think you're going to have very different experiences. Kerry Newsome: 15:44 When you're talking to your friends, or people are asking you about, what is it like to have a holiday in Vietnam? Do you have like a short description that you have, that you can just pull out of your back pocket and explain it, because I find it very hard to explain, because I have so many different kinds of experiences. So, if you've got one that just encapsulates it, that would be wonderful. If you could just share that, before we move on. Alvaro Moreno: 16:17 I have had friends and family visit over and over the years, I kind of myself became a tour guide for all my- Kerry Newsome: 16:28 I'm sure that's why I am asking. Alvaro Moreno: 16:30 There is some topics in the country that people are interested in, but something very good that is a Evisa traveler, I don't say these are representing the country of Vietnam is a place where you can challenge yourself. Firstly, is a very welcoming society, very welcoming people, and very approachable, that's something that makes the tourists feel extremely comfortable when they come. Another one is that is a very safe country. Very, very safe. One of the safest indoors, yes, there are always small things you have to be mindful of, what you do and how you do it. But this is a country that is going to allow you to explore without having the fear in the back of your mind. 17:20 It's a country that is very well connected. Kerry Newsome: 17:30 Very well connected. Alvaro Moreno: 17:32 From a digital standpoint, Wi-Fi, networks, 4G works extremely well, pretty much everywhere you are in the country, even when you are in the middle of the mountains, you are going to have connection. Kerry Newsome: 17:45 Correct. Alvaro Moreno: 17:46 This is something that I find, sometimes when I go back to Spain, that's my origin country. I'm surprised that they don't have the same connectivity. They're here in some places. So, then I see that Vietnam made an effort on expanding their networks. So, it works really well. Another thing is, within that connectivity is mobility. How easy it is to move inside the country. How easy it is to take a taxi, to take a bus, to take a train and how easy is to take a plane, and how affordable are they? Kerry Newsome: 18:19 Yes. One of the things that I fell in love with in the very early days of my travel was that connectivity, when the hotel industry was going through that phase where they were deciding whether or not they were going to charge people for Wi-Fi in their room, you might remember those years. Then the customer, I think, drove the change in that too, that know you have to offer that free to the customer. Otherwise, your country or your facility is just not going to be at the same level as everybody else. So, you're right. And you can sit down at a restaurant or a cafe or whatever. And the first thing you're going to get is a menu with a Wi Fi password. So, connectivity, you're right. Then the thing I loved was that I could also sit there, and if I wanted to get a massage, or if I wanted to get my hair done, I could literally go to the Facebook page of the place I saw around the corner, send them a message, and lo and behold within minutes they have messaged me back and say, yes, there is availability at the time I want. And do I want to get a pickup? So that they're going to come and pick me up on the scooter because they're only three kilometers or five kilometers away. No mention of charging for that or anything like that. They'll bring a helmet. They'll pick me and I went, "Oh my God, I'm in heaven." 19:59 Wherein I country and I think similarly in your original country, you've got two weeks ahead, you've got to do it either online or via phone call, nobody's going to pick you up, you've got to find yourself there. So, it's just very, very small, incremental connectivity, that I think people get blown away. Because I travel quite a bit in Vietnam on my own, I find that not so challenging in the sense that I can just connect up with people. If I'm not sure about anything, I've found somebody, who, through some page or some social medium, can get me to where I want to go and Grab , for instance, the app. How fantastic is that? I have a favoritism towards Grab because I think it's their own cars, so they're gonna look after them, or their own bikes, they don't want anything to happen to them. So, they'll be a little bit more careful than the taxi driver. But that's just my theory on that, but yeah, I really liked that that you said, it gives you the chance to travel and explore. 21:12 So, if you're going to explore Vietnam, do you have like some favorite areas that you think a traveler should look at, or investigate or do some research on that there are some wonderful areas to explore. I mean, I've got mine, I talk about mine all the time. So, it's your chance. Alvaro Moreno: 21:40 I can tell you they have in this deal, discover everything that they plan to every year, more places in Vietnam, but this deal is- there is so many things to discover that I will say that it never ends, in the south is Mekong Delta. I think the experience of crossing the Mekong in a boat is something that is a must, especially if someone is going to come to Saigon and for the part of exploring nature and also for the part of understanding the ethnic minorities around there. It is fascinating. Another country inside the country, I will say. Kerry Newsome: 22:26 Yes, absolutely. Alvaro Moreno: 22:36 Hội An, Huế, both destinations have in terms of architectural value, in terms of monumental value also, especially Huế, the Imperial City. It was the old capital of the citadel. I think that the whole history of Hội An, Da Nang, Huế is a must. Then the North's, my favorite one is Hiking in Sapa, in these sites it is great. Kerry Newsome: 23:13 When a traveler is coming to Vietnam, and they want to experience a hotel because you get so involved, I understand, or you'd like to get involved with the creativity. What are some of the things your customers are telling you or your feedback that you're getting about what they like to experience? What are some of the trends and the things that they're looking for in hotel stays now? Alvaro Moreno: 23:46 I would say that for the leisure traveler, one that comes on holidays, what is going to be important for them, I mean, for us? I think what is important is to understand the full portion of their trip. And what do they need from their hotel. Why would they choose a hotel accommodation over another one? Location and convenience are something that plays a very important role. This is because most of the tourists will come to explore. So, they want to make sure that the hotel is a base for them to explore the area. So that's why location, I will say that this is something very important for them. Another one is value for money. Here we come back to what is the budget that they have? A very good thing about Vietnam is that there is a range of accommodation that goes from budget hotel, probably for you can have rooms for $25 and then you can go to luxury within most toward the big destinations of the country. As you mentioned before, there is a growth on some niche markets, which is, for example, the wellness, which is something that many hotels are developing right now, in Vietnam, especially their resorts, there is a lot of new hotel destination coming up, not hotels that they place themselves into destination, but hotels that become a destination on their own. Kerry Newsome: 25:26 A destination in themselves, yes. Alvaro Moreno: 25:29 That is something also growing. So, they help actually do to grow the destination itself. We see that having a very good range of options, what happens with the traveler is that they feel comfortable with what they choose. As being they were coming hometown. We know that we probably have a good match with te consumer that we have, because within the options that they have, they choose to stay with us for whatever reasons that could be. Kerry Newsome: 26:01 Yeah, and the hotel facilities and the hotel growth, as an industry has been something that I've had a fair bit to do with in the last well, since certainly, since 2014. One of the things that I've noticed about Vietnam is that back in 2014, if the hotel didn't have a pool, it didn't matter. If the hotel didn't have a gym, it didn't matter, if it didn't have a spa center, it didn't really matter. Because there was a perception of the new traveler that Vietnam was this developing country, you don't expect those things. But then in a very short amount of time, the hotels had to put in a spa center, had to put in a pool, because the demand was increasing, the traveler was becoming more educated, and the country itself as its own domestic traveler was becoming more sophisticated. So, you know, in working with hotels in the central area, you know, I was helping design gyms in there, what was before their meeting room, their sales meeting room, but it was getting outfitted with mirrors and treadmills and things like that, because they wanted to get up in that category ranking, and they wanted to be able to meet that traveler. They had to change things with their swimming pools and things like that. So, it has definitely seen growth, would you say? Alvaro Moreno: 27:38 Yes, I think that you have touched on a very good point that comes with the fact that the country is a growing economy, thus it is not only growing in the hospitality sector, but also in everything. What we see now is that there is an increase or there has been an increase on domestic travel during COVID Because borders were close, it was an excellent opportunity for the nationals to discover their own country and realize that the hospitality options and the destinations that they have are as good as what they find around the region. 28:23 Something that comes with development, this is also competition for us in the hotel. The more options there are, the better you need to be. And that comes either for the owner of our small homestay in their town, that he knows that he needs to probably not be cheaper, but he probably needs to be better in terms of the experience that he offered to us, in the niche of luxury hotels, more international brands came to the country there has been- the standards have also been raised. But also, one important factor here is that the industry has growth with education. If I may say that these better professionals more than 15 years ago with the growth of the country comes with the personal growth of all of them right so now there is a level of professionalism that is raising up and that's where most of the travelers have a great surprise when they get in touch with their first experience in Vietnam. Most realized that that level of hospitality is standard, regardless of how much you are paying, it's very high. One is because they are very hospitable. Vietnamese are very hospitable. But on the other side comes the professionalism of the industry and something very important also. Kerry Newsome: 30:00 Just by the sheer nature, I think the Vietnamese can excel in hospitality because of that. I mean, we did lose a lot of people from the industry during COVID. But this is where Vietnam was sort of protected, they had like over 60 million people moving around, during 2021 and 22. So, they didn't really cope as badly as some other countries because they got enough of their own people to move around. So, the foreign tourist is going to be the newbie, again, to bring back to Vietnam. It was one of the reasons why I came back, or, was eager to get back as soon as I could. Because I just needed to make sure, touch and feel that everything was okay, because I was getting mixed messages from some people. As you would appreciate, there were some areas that did get swallowed up, and then there were some areas that seem to manage a lot better than others. I think the biggest cities manage a lot better just because they've got sheer volume and sheer size, etc. Whether the smaller areas are taking a little while to get back. 31:17 When I'm talking to my customers about traveling to Vietnam, we talk about love about the food. One thing I'm seeing about Vietnam were years ago, all you could get in Vietnam was Vietnamese food. Like that's all there was for quite a long time. There was only that, but now you're getting pizza, and you're getting Thai. You've got a lot of Korean. It's become very multicultural, don't you think? Alvaro Moreno: 31:52 Especially in the big cities. I will say Saigon, which is the one that I know. But they've everything. You have everything. Kerry Newsome: 32:02 Yes. I went to a pizza place, and I just had the best meal in Hanoi. Oh my gosh, you won't believe me. I have to video this and tell them I'm sitting in Hanoi. Do you have some favorite places in Saigon? It doesn't have to be Vietnamese. But if it is even better. Alvaro Moreno: 32:24 Well, I have some topics. I am a big fan of Vietnamese food. There are of course in some other international restaurants that- or even specific. Like I have my favorite Hispanic restaurant, I have my favorite Japanese restaurant, there are a couple of them that are my favorite Vietnamese ones. I will say that the best of Saigon- My topic of Saigon is 'Street food'. How easy it is to have food at any time of the day and on any street of the city. I think that's my favorite part of living in Saigon from the culinary experience point. Kerry Newsome: 33:07 It's true, it is very true. I find the Vietnamese don't have Western clocks as far as when they should eat or when they shouldn't need. They will eat when they're hungry. That's four o'clock in the afternoon or seven o'clock in the morning, whatever. People don't think that you can have Phở for breakfast but in fact, it's one of the most common breakfast foods, which is Phở, so if you don't get there early enough, it's all gone. 33:46 I see, also there's a growing craft beer scene that's also happening in Saigon. Have you seen that? It kind of exploded there. Alvaro Moreno: 33:56 There is a good amount of very talented entrepreneurs doing great things with craft beer. The consumption of beer in Vietnam is one of the top I think in the world. Kerry Newsome: 34:10 It's the most consumed beverage other than water. Alvaro Moreno: 34:15 I wasn't sure but beer culture is- Kerry Newsome: 34:18 Now I've got statistics to prove that. Alvaro Moreno: 34:20 Okay. [laughter] Beer culture is something very well rooted. Especially because here we love to celebrate. That's something that comes with all those celebrations that are- the need to be on a special occasion. We are talking about day to day. Not only how I have seen a very nice development on craft beer that is also another side on the culinary industry that comes with Vietnamese chefs as future racing stuff. So, the same intrapreneurial spirit, very soon the craft beers are seen on the on the Vietnamese food. Those that are taking the tradition of the Vietnamese food, and they are elevating that. That's something that comes with the development that we mentioned before, in the hospitality industry. It also happens for the foodie scene, especially in Saigon, Saigon is the city that has the biggest progress. But also, I see that the biggest risks are taken in terms of culinary, and also entertainment. 24 hours city, it never closes, there are always things available. But now we can move to this point where we see that the hospitality industry is booming. Also, on the side of the food and beverage option, very interesting, craft beer and new chefs. Kerry Newsome: 36:02 What are your thoughts on the foreign tourism coming back to Vietnam? Where do you think it's going to come back from and who and when? Alvaro Moreno: 36:14 It hasn't been surprisingly fast. I think if I recall, the borders were opening was February, March. And when I say borders opened- entered the country without hotel quarantine, which the latest stage was one week. A couple of months of readjustment and then suddenly, we saw that the tourists were back and it felt almost like nothing happened. Now, if we look into the detail, we see that not everything is back to normal. We are not at that level where we were in in 2019. Korean tourists. Now they are back and slowly they are increasing again, that was one of the main traveler nationalities that we had, pre-covid. I think Japan just announced that they are easy to open, and we expect that the results are going to be recovering from that one. But then there is a good mix of different travelers that are back. For example, hearing in our hotel, what we experience is that we have a little bit of everything right now. So, that's something that gives us a lot of hope that we are over this COVID period, and we can look forward with a very positive mindset. Kerry Newsome: 37:43 Yes, when I was at your hotel, I ran into a lot of other Aussies staying at the hotel, and they only had good things to say which was good to know. Look, I won't take up any more of your time Alvaro. It's been great to chat. Is there anything that you'd like to finish up with, to share with people? My listeners are all over the world. They're keen to know as much as they can. So, they kind of use the podcast as part of their research, or I hope they do anyway. But I think that's the main aim. So, is there anything that you'd like to finish up with or say to people coming to Vietnam? Alvaro Moreno: 38:29 Well Kerry, knowing you already and understanding already a little bit better of why your listeners- I encourage everyone to come to Vietnam. I think this is a magical place. I don't say these because of the love that they have for the country, and all the years that they have been here. I also say this from a traveler- my travel insights story, over my life experience. It is a place that has become a must. I will say for someone coming, especially to the side of the world, I recommend everyone to come. I said before that, it is welcoming, it is safe, it is easy, and the exploring never stops. Kerry Newsome: 39:18 I'm just going to cut you off there and just say that's fabulous. That's just all we need to say. I think that's a wrap. Thanks very much, Alvaro. A Girls Getaway 39:25 When you hear the words: A Girls Getaway to Vietnam, is there just a little part of you that says, "That sounds really interesting. What's involved?" Let me tell you, A What About Vietnam Travel Companion hosted tour. This is something I have had in baking for at least three years. So let me assure you, it's going to be an absolutely wonderful experience for a group of girls. Let me tell you a little bit about it: 1. It starts in Saigon. You're going to get to experience the vibe of that city, shopping wise, cultural wise, food wise. 2. You're going to then move on to Hội An. I've spoken a lot about Hội An and on this program, so you're going to get to experience an old-world town. And just the sheer beauty of that old town and meeting some new people, beautiful beach, once again, great food, but also that beautiful sense of old-world charm. 3. Then lastly, you'll get to experience the island of Phú Quốc, which is another experience, which is totally different and unique. I'm hoping with those three experiences, you're just going to have the holiday of a lifetime. 40:55 So, think about coming as yourself, just on your own and joining in with the group. Or you might want to bring a couple of girls with you. It is a very small group. It's hosted by our Travel Companion services director, Kelley McCarthy. So let me assure you, she has got fun as the top priority for this trip. So, we're really in sync, please go to the website: WhatAboutVietnam.com. Click on the Travel Services tab, and it'll take you to the Girls Getaway page. There's a full itinerary there and you can reach out to Kelley directly to get more information. We'd love to have you on board. It is only a small group. So, it's very private. We put in a lot of work to get the itinerary just right. We just think you're going to have a fabulous time. So, get in touch. We are pretty excited about this trip. So, I'd love to have you on board.

S4-17 Vietnam Traveller Insights 2022 The best Vietnam traveller insights from 2022 Episode 17 S4-17 Vietnam Traveller Insights 2022 00:00 / 35:29 As we welcome in the Year of the Cat in Vietnam, I wanted to kick the year off with a very personal show. Having had a break and feeling super refreshed I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for listening, and to those that reached out to me during the break, I was extremely touched. I want you all to know that despite being a broadcaster of sorts, I am also a good listener. So, your thoughtful words and feedback have been heard. In this show I share with you my focus for 2023. Which is mainly about YOU. I want to respond to your concerns, interests, aspirations and requests as much as I can. If you go to the website you will see I have created a section for you to do that very easily. How would you like a show to feature one of your subject requests? What places and activities would you like to hear about? I have a lot in store already, but as I’ve said many times, Vietnam is developing fast and I am just trying to keep up with it. In this episode I do a brief recap on each of the shows we brought to you in 2022. I highlight the main attributes from each show and bring to light the main points covered and what you can expect to learn from each one. I hope you find that helpful and it sets the pace for your listening ear in 2023. We went far and wide in 2022 and we plan to do the same in 2023. You can hear my insights from last year’s shows by jumping to the time stamps below. 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 – in depth 14.07 – Wellness – where its heading in Vietnam 16.02 – Phu Quoc – Vietnam’s Island of sunsets 16.40 – A Teenager’s perspective 19.00 – Art in storytelling and Contemporary art of the future Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

81fddd7d-8d67-497b-8500-29c80f9e6466Leaving a positive footprint through social enterprise What About Vietnam – S3 - 7 Jimmy Pham on how to leave a positive footprint on Vietnam through Social Enterprise [00:00:36] Kerry Newsome: Xin chào . Welcome to What About Vietnam . Travel has so much to offer us. Along with all the great experiences that we anticipate we're going to have, especially when we're planning a trip to Vietnam, possibly one of the most significant things that we don't think about in the first instance is just what kind of positive footprint we're going to leave behind in the country. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about responsible tourism, impactful tourism, and social enterprise in Vietnam. I can't think of anyone better to open our eyes and our hearts to social enterprise than my guest today, Jimmy Pham. I feel very privileged to be talking with him as I've had the luxury of experiencing KOTO, the social enterprise restaurant and hospitality program Jimmy founded 23 years ago. I first recognized the restaurant and had a visit to it at the time. It was a sandwich shop at the time located just near the Temple of Literature. I've been back several times and enjoyed the food there every time, but Jimmy's going to tell the background story to that sandwich shop. He's going to share with us some of the visitors that he's had the privilege to feed, and just how it's grown and evolved to what it is today, and just how many street kids he's been able to assist in that program. He'll share with us how social enterprise businesses are influencing change and breaking the poverty cycle in Vietnam. He's earned many prestigious awards for his work with youth and communities including being awarded the Order of Australia back in 2013. In addition, he's earned many other prestigious awards including the South Korea's most coveted award for philanthropy - the POSCO TJ Park Prize in 2017. He continues to be ranked in the top 40 most popular motivational speakers by Saxton speakers. He's vice president of Auscham Vietnam. As a great influencer in the country, mentoring businesses and the travel industry to seek ways that offering charity to beggars may not be the best way to go. He'll help us better understand why we should be maybe more curious about ways that can foster a program or future for a person to become educated, so they can get a job and sustain themselves long-term. That's not to say that even looking at visiting different areas where you get to experience minority groups and putting back into those communities isn't also a great way to leave a great footprint. As Jimmy puts it, it's more important we leave footprints in people's hearts and look out for those opportunities that have a win-win scenario. I feel sure we're going to learn a lot more about traveling in Vietnam and how we can be that positive change when we visit. Please welcome Jimmy Pham to the show. [music] Good morning Jimmy. Thank you for joining me on the What About Vietnam podcast. These are certainly unprecedented times we are living in at the moment as a result of the COVID pandemic. I really appreciate your time to come to the show. [00:04:19] Jimmy Pham: No problem. Hi Kerry. Welcome to all the listeners. Thank you for having me and greeting from the capital of Vietnam. [00:04:26] Kerry Newsome: Look, we're sitting here at the beginning of August 21. Vietnam is currently experiencing its biggest fight against the Delta strain of COVID. None of us can ignore the impact of COVID on the health of Vietnamese. I'm hoping, in this episode, we will be inspired by you, Jimmy, and your achievements in breaking the poverty cycle in Vietnam. I'm very much looking forward to this chat with you. [00:04:55] Jimmy Pham: Thank you, Kerry. Thank you for having me by the way. [00:04:58] Kerry Newsome: Now, that leads me into a special announcement news just to hand. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on winning the Waislitz Global Citizen Award. Now, this award, I understand, recognizes the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty. The Waislitz Foundation exists to create a positive social impact locally and globally through innovative projects that empower individuals to meet their full potential and make a measurable difference. Super congrats on the award, Jimmy. [00:05:34] Jimmy Pham: Thank you. You know what, Kerry? Just to add to it, Waislitz is also based in Australia. All the Australians when I spoke to them a couple of days ago, they were super excited since this is the founding of the Global Citizen Award. This is the first time an Aussie got it as well, so-- [00:05:53] Kerry Newsome: Oh, okay. That's fantastic. I didn't realize. [00:05:56] Jimmy Pham: This is for Australia as well. [chuckles] [00:06:00] Kerry Newsome: Yes, nice. That's fabulous. Jimmy, look, for everyone listening who's new to Vietnam and maybe learning a little bit more about the country through my podcast, could you please explain a little bit about KOTO, the social enterprise you started 20 years or so ago, and just how it's evolved over time? [00:06:22] Jimmy Pham: Sure. I'm Australian Vietnamese. I was born during a very, very tough time in Vietnam called the American War, called the American War, 1972. This is just a detailing of the war. For anyone who fought in the South pretty much knew that the North has won, and then it's time to flee. That was around the area where a lot of people were escaping. You see these horrific pictures of the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy, the helicopters and the tank going through the presidential towers, etc. My family fled. I was two years old. We lived in a couple of countries, and then finally, to Australia at the age of eight. We come from a very impoverished family. We lived out of coupons and all that kind of stuff because we have these six siblings all together. I still do believe to this day we're in a lucky country. We were blessed and surrounded by just wonderful people who helped us along the way. Mom always ensures that we have an education and a roof over our heads. I think that's the best thing I can hope for. I'm having that our values instilled in me and also that educational level and living in a lucky country. I came back to Vietnam for the first time working in the tourism industry. Vietnam was considered a third-world country in those days. When you see a white face, they're pretty much Russians. [chuckles] You would be considered to be Russians. Poverty was everywhere. So when you see street kids with ulcers and blisters and carrying coconuts that they got from the Mekong Deltas and walk for about 5, 10, 15, 20 kilometers a day and just to sell $1. It breaks your heart. I went for a walk one day during one of my visits. The walk back [00:08:25] that changed my life. I met four street kids. The following two weeks for me was also an eye-opener, but a life-changing situation. That four street kids I've met, I took them to get some toothbrushes and toothpaste and all that kind of stuff, and then ask them to-- I'm going to get them bún bò phở, which is usually the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup. Then, I ask them to come back the next day, and the next day, and the next day for the two weeks I was in Vietnam. The number grew exponentially, 4 to 20, 30 to 50. At the end of the two weeks, I took out about 60 kids to dinner. A coca-cola, an extra bonus was a real treat for them. There you see a lot of stories that you share in my broken Vietnamese at that time. Whatever it is, the most amazing thing about the Vietnamese people, and probably, the Vietnamese street kids commonly known in Vietnamese buddha, which is called the dash of life, is that they have this radiant smile as though they're telling you that they won't be defeated [chuckles] by their circumstances. I witnessed one particular girl that was a beggar. Her mom was somewhere nearby, always very angry and very upset with life for some reason. Every time she sees me, she put her hand down, "So give me money." That particular night, she ran around in circle where we're sitting, having our dinner. She said, "Mommy, I'll try better tomorrow." Because she didn't make the quota.. Her mom was somewhere nearby with a steel pipe that was beating her. Subsequently, I found out that she never really made it to her adulthood later in life. I had a very important decision to my career. One was I could be that change like I want to see the world or I can go home and like a lot of tourists before me. That was very tragic. I'm going to send money back to Vietnam. I decided I want to be that change. I went back home. I asked my mom for permission. I was 24 years old. It was 1996. I had $200 in my pocket. I read two books on Vietnam. I got a job as a tour leader for a Melbourne-based company for intrepid. I came back to Vietnam. I spent the next three and a half years traveling around the Indochina regions. Everywhere there were street kids, I would feed them, shelter them, give them money, all that kind of stuff. Typically, the old chance was probably giving them a fish, so they could eat every day. [chuckles] That's what I did, young, arrogant [chuckles] and think you know better. Then, subsequently, in 1999, those nine street kids I looked after in Hanoi in the capital pulled me aside and said-- Basically, I got conned.What I was doing wasn't helping at all. It was just a free ride that they thought that they take advantage of. Instead of seeing that reaction of "Oh my God. I'm never going to talk to you guys again" [laughter] So, okay. Let’s find another solution. Let’s work on the next stage, which is basically giving you a fishing rod, so you can go and fish for yourself. There began the concept of Know One Teach One. The idea was very simple, was very much about hospitality, which is a skill that's transferrable. It was about creating a family, which a lot of them don't have, and giving them the skills that they're going to need to gain a sustainable life. The name Know One Teach One came about because we think that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, but education doesn't have to be the traditional sense. It can be learned by doing. The idea was basically you know something, you should pass it on and playing it forward. All that collected, and then, KODA was born in 1999. In the next 23 years, we built a remarkable program that helped not only the street kids at the beginning, but now, ethnic minority girls kids in conflict with the law, kids that's been trafficked, basically the one that the society calls it "Very difficult to teach." We take them in. We put them through a two-year program, that we include the Australian Vocational Education Training Curriculum - the Box Hill Institute in Melbourne. Then, we created these incredible online skills including I'm going camping with outward bounds, do empowerment, do all this reproductive health, which is all the things that they don't learn from school. Then, lastly is we put them through English specifically designed for hospitality. At the end of the two years, Kerry, we got empowered hospitality professionals that have a sustainable livelihood and all that as well. That shows what the program is. [00:13:45] Kerry Newsome: it's an incredible story because I know back in 1999. I think you started with nine kids and a sandwich shop. 20 years on, you've influenced thousands and given them life skills as well as tuition in hospitality, which is, as you say, transferable to start their own businesses, work in major hotels, which I understand these individuals now are very sought after for their skills in some of the big names around town. It's an incredible story. Just a quick one. Hindsight's a wonderful thing. If there was anything you would have done differently back in 1999, say, what would that be? [00:14:36] Jimmy Pham: My goodness. I remember in 1999 because I couldn't cook right, so a lot of people think I'm a chef by trade. [laughter] I'm not. I got this woman's cookbook mom sent over. [chuckles] I was learning how to make frittata- [00:14:53] Kerry Newsome: [laughs] Oh gosh. [00:14:55] Jimmy Pham: -and all these sandwiches for tourists that were catching an overnight train to central Vietnam, but we had a blast. Well, would I do anything different? Probably. I think there were a lot of things I could have done differently. I think in a very Buddhist [unintelligible 00:15:12] kind of country as such as Vietnam, you believe that everything has a reason and the pathway that you need to walk on. For me, it was a learning curve. I think that we became the first recognized social enterprise. This region along the British Council just released last year that's 1,000,000 social enterprise working and different disciplines here in this region. To give you an idea of the kindness of influence you created just from a small sandwich shop. I wouldn't be able to travel around the world and be an inspiring mentor to a lot of social entrepreneurs. If I hadn't walked that path, if I haven't created-- You have all that experience and being conned and thinking I was on that watchlist. All that created these dynamics I have in me today. [00:16:18] Kerry Newsome: If I could interject with just maybe small happening when Bill Clinton decided to visit you, I think you were even more under the microscope, weren't you? [laughter] Who is this Jimmy Pham? What is so special about his place that Bill Clinton wants to come and visit? So-- [00:16:40] Jimmy Pham: That's correct. After we've been open for two months, we moved to a new location. We had such an incredibly difficult time because I had no money. My mom went and borrowed from the bank because no one at that time believed in what I was doing. Then, I made it to the front cover of an ex-pats magazine called Timeout. Then subsequently, it was very historic because it was the first American president to visit the North. Where we were located? We were in a very tourist spot, which is the first university or the Temple of Literature. [00:17:15] Kerry Newsome: Yes, a beautiful place. [00:17:17] Jimmy Pham: Exactly, it was an amazing place where the scholars and all that go to. Anyway, so he came to visit there, and then, he stopped over for lunch. 00:17:27] that surrounded that visit was quite intense. I never thought in my wildest dream that I would be able to meet this guy. Like everyone else, I was in the crowd, looking over to see him and all that kind of stuff. The next thing, I saw this parked black car- [00:17:48] Kerry Newsome: Limousine? [00:17:51] Jimmy Pham: -in front of KOTO. I dashed over and said, "Can I help you?" He said, "Is this KOTO?" I say, "Yes." He's coming for lunch. I said, "Oh my God." [00:18:00] Kerry Newsome: [laughs] [00:18:01] Jimmy Pham: The next two hour was quite intense. Just in case anyone wondering, he had a diet coke, [chuckles] a latte. [00:18:09] Kerry Newsome: He had a what? [00:18:10] Jimmy Pham: A latte, a diet coke. [00:18:12] Kerry Newsome: Oh, a diet coke. Oh, how funny. [00:18:14] Jimmy Pham: Falafel. [chuckles] [00:18:16] Kerry Newsome: Falafel. Okay. [00:18:17] Jimmy Pham: Yes. That was the very first time that we hosted someone as important as Bill Clinton, the most important man. I can see why he was such a charismatic kind of person [crosstalk] Since then, KOTO hosted-- so the first time we were under the microscope. We're thought as "Why the hell would someone such as important as the President of the United States come and visit this little tiny sandwich shop?" There was a big question mark, understandably. It got vetted severely for the next four years. Since then, we have hosted the Queen of Denmark. We had two Australian Prime Ministers already, the New Zealand Prime Minister. We have the Head of the UN and a lot of Australian ministers came to KOTO. All this was a privilege, but because every time someone important comes and they said that they saw the government sit under this KOTO, we go, "Ah. Yes, it's normal." [laughter] [music] [00:19:29] Kerry Newsome: Let’s just move now to how travel has influenced your career and partnerships as I understand you mentioned earlier about when you returned to Vietnam as a young man, it was through the support from intrepid travel, who at the time and still is very supportive of Vietnam tourism and social enterprise. Tell us a little bit about how the travel industry has spurred on your career and played a role in KOTO and just your future direction. [00:20:02] Jimmy Pham: I feel so privileged and so blessed because my starting days as a tour leader working for a company so much believe in not about dominating a country when you enter it, but actually blend in and be part of the scenery. That values were taught to me. Then subsequently, every tourist that comes to Vietnam through my group gets to hear this. Everywhere we go, we're trying to leave footprints in people's hearts rather than another, and try not to make a big scene that we're tourists and all that kind of stuff. That was very much instilled in me. I was very grateful for that learning. KOTO, for the last 20 years, has this work called the dream trip. Every year, we take our kids to visit and see how beautiful the country is and get them to start to, I guess, benefit or experience what it's like to be on the receiving end of tourism because they're going to work in the tourism industry. They might as well know what it feels like to stay in a nice hotel. [00:21:11] Kerry Newsome: To be one. Yes. [00:21:12] Jimmy Pham: To be one. That influenced me. The intrepid days and working as a leader plays a very important part in that. Now, everywhere, sustainability and giving back and all that kind of stuff are applied in everything I do because of tourism. Being a tour leader and know what it's like to go to Ha Long Bay and see rubbish everywhere and food waste and all that kind of stuff. Yes, I think Vietnam has gone a long way, by the way. [00:21:45] Kerry Newsome: Interesting. I know when we first began chatting a week or so ago, I was mentioning to you I got to go to KOTO as being part of a tour group back in, I think, 2007. That was when I really first got to hear about you and what you were doing with KOTO and all the rest of it. I feel very lucky to be talking to you now, but I think where I'd like to go with this is that travel is becoming such a widely discussed topic in the sense that it expands now into sustainability, responsible travel, impactful tourism, and social enterprise. For the average Joe, sometimes that's a bit academic, and it's quite hard to know what that really means. You've sat on the board in Vietnam for over 10 years with the center for social initiatives program, CSIP. Tell us a little bit about how social enterprise resonates with you. [music] [00:23:03] Jimmy Pham: Social enterprise, for anyone who doesn't know, the definition of social impact basically, it's using a business model. [crosstalk] [00:23:10] Kerry Newsome: A business model. [00:23:11] Jimmy Pham: A business model and principle to achieve a social outcome or a social mission as they call it. You can be any business. What you're saying is that it doesn't have to be difficult because a lot of people do have it in them to try to do something positive, but it's always a form of charity where you don't empower people, you actually give your hands out. A lot of tourism have fallen into that trap when they see that poverty. Like it or not, a lot of people-- If you go to a tourist spot area in Hanoi, there's the Hoan Kiem lake, which is a central lake, you see a lot of street kids there in the old days. You have to question "Why they're there? To be there in the first place, how much premium do they have to pay to be even to be there?" They play to the team because if you really want to help Vietnamese locals, you go to where there are no tourists, go, for example. Just go back on the social enterprise. Basically, what we're asking you to do is basically you can apply anything that you do in your business. Whether you're hiring someone who comes from that background or whether you're using a certain amount of your profit to help and empower people and build capacity and all that kind of stuff for you and your organization, for the environment. certain amount, 51% of the ways that could be donated and things like that. All this is all part of creating this better world for whether it's environmental or whether it's community or whether it's using technology or whatever. You can actually apply. Where we are in this region? Unfortunately, people still like this whole concept of it makes them feel a lot better when they actually stand and give out handouts. That's what the tourists tend to do. They do handouts. That is not sustainable. You're creating this begging culture. That is so 1990. It has to move forward. If you want to help someone, then go to an organization that helps those kids or gives them a meal. going through that particular rather than give them money. Go to the hill tribes. Don't give them lolly because they have no access to dental, that kind of stuff, hill tribes minority clothing, but they get dengue fevers and all that kind of stuff. All this needs to be considered part of this sustainable and responsible tourism. I think that's very important to be-- When you think of the new way to help, it's about social impact, it's about creating impact, it's about sustainability. When you help someone, make sure that there's a follow-up to it rather than just give them money and don't know what's going to happen to them. Don't do it because it makes you feel good. Do it because it's an investment. [00:26:08] Kerry Newsome: I think what it opened up for me when I first started to put my social enterprise hat on in travel, which has really only been in probably the last, maybe, four or five years in me thinking that way was to be a bit more curious. There's a lot of, as you say, shops and businesses that are running in Vietnam. You find out if you're curious enough to see that something you're purchasing is going to go back into a certain community. As you say, it's not about I'm handing out something as a charity, I'm getting something in return. I'm buying something, which is a value to me. Then, a portion of that is of value to that community or to that organization. I invite my listeners to be curious when they do go to enjoy shopping. Even shopping has changed so much in Vietnam. I can remember everything used to be copy, copy, copy. I'd come home with 100 DVDs and CDs. I was terrible, Jimmy. I was terrible at that. As the years and years, I've been going back and forth for about 14 years now, I've become more responsible and more sociable in what I'm doing. When I talk to the owners of these shops and then they tell me about, oh, this was made in such and such and the tribe or the community that makes this. This comes from this. It was just a whole new world for me. It was refreshing to know that was happening. [00:27:58] Jimmy Pham: Kerry, do you remember 10 years ago in Australia where every time you think about-- 10, even 15, 20 years ago in Australia, if you buy anything organic, it's always sold like ridiculously expensive. It's not affordable to your average, A social enterprise like that, how are we going to be able to grow if the community doesn't support us? You know what I mean. If you want quality products, you want all this availability, and you want accessibility. All that help us to think, you can actually help us to grow. At the same time, the passing down on the price can be passed on to you. You know what I mean. We can be competitive in the market where a hill-tribe shirt is massively produced by a machine. If you help on women economic empowerment projects that do the same thing by buying a lot of numbers, then you can still be very competitive to the one that's been selling. You know what I mean. That's how the logic behind it of supporting social enterprises, that actually with their goods and products and services as well. [00:29:09] Kerry Newsome: Yes. I think it’s taken a while. You and I have been part of it, I guess, in watching the culture go from cheap, cheap, same, same, that association with Vietnam. I got to see just in a recent trip I did, 2019, with a lady who was buying some beautiful stuff from Vietnam and selling it in the Australian market. The pieces she was buying were from some very enterprising and creative people in Vietnam that were designing garments, jewelry, all sorts of things, which weren't cheap, but wow, it had the value to it. Especially, when you knew some of that money was going to go back into a community where it came from. It was a win-win philosophy, so I was impressed. [00:30:08] Jimmy Pham: The beautiful thing about the Vietnamese people as well you should know this. Because the new generations, we know 70% is under 30, 32, 35 now, so we have a very young population. A lot of us are now very educated, whereas, before, the parents generation is different because it was during the war and had no access to education. The ability to innovate and create is actually quite high now, so it's not about the copy products and things like that. It's more about so incredible ideas and arts and all that kind of stuff. It's here in Vietnam. [music] [00:30:51] Kerry Newsome: Where do you see the biggest changes that are going to happen with travel? I'll preface this by saying probably Vietnam was almost reaching over tourism as in the sense of the really big buses turning up into towns, etc. Ha Long Bay was getting chock-a-block with over-tourism. Do you see that there will be some positives to come out of the COVID story along the lines of being responsible to tourism in the future? How do you see it looking post-COVID? [00:31:31] Jimmy Pham: The tourism and the hospitality, two industries have been heavily affected by the COVID, which is so helpful, [chuckles] the education sector as well. All the schools are closed and the training centers and all that kind of stuff. We're in the midst of that thee industries. I think that everyone needs to eat. I think that the hospitality industry will still need to go back to-- Because like it or not, I think people are craving for this human interaction and social skills and all that kind of stuff that goes with it. I think that should be encouraged, and that should never go away even technology takes over and things like that. I think the way we look at tourism is going to change, being more responsible, more humble rather than going for massive numbers. I think that people are going to reevaluate the way they do tourism and how it's going to be most useful and be competitive by being creative and innovative as well. How they do their hotels and where they stay and the homestay is going to be different and focus a lot on the wonderful landscape and the natural beauty and the environment aspects of tourism, which we don't do before. It's always about shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping and other kinds of-- It's just one part, but it's not everything about tourism. Vietnam has such a diversity in rich culture, incredible food. Oh my God. The food. I think to take that away in tourism, it's just a big tragedy. [00:33:07] Kerry Newsome: Yes. I think you're right. My experience with Vietnamese so far has been that they do have a very entrepreneurial spirit. They can pivot in a heartbeat. If there's something they need to change, they can do that. I've seen it already happening in COVID times, where certain businesses were very dependent on travelers now they're becoming home, takeaway businesses, and being able to produce food like that. You're right, Vietnam's got an amazing landscape to experience. I think as much as my podcast is-- for some people saying, "How come you're doing a travel podcast in the middle of COVID?" I go, "Well, I think it's important to keep Vietnam on people's radar- [00:33:59] Jimmy Pham: Radar. Exactly. [00:34:00] Kerry Newsome: -and information is gold, isn't it?" When a traveler has been to Vietnam, and they come away, and they've done the Ha Giang Loop, or they've been up into Ba Bể Lake, or they've been to Mù Cang Chải or some beautiful regions where they can explore their social enterprise also in these regions. Those stories are rich for people to hear in the future because when they're trip planning. I'm hoping they'll listen to that, or they'll listen to something that we're talking about, Jimmy, and go, "I want to go to Vietnam with that headset. I want to go with a bit more knowledge when the doors do finally open up again." [00:34:46] Kerry Newsome: But please remember also that by going to Ba Bể Lake and to Ha Giang and all that kind-- you're actually helping the livelihood of people. They rely on that tourism as a source of income. It's a lifeline for them. Probably if anything there's a takeaway from this tourism, it is actually that. You know what I mean. It's not just only about supporting the big hotels or whatever tickles your fancy, but when you start going to the beautiful hill-tribe minorities, and we'll start going to all these remote areas that Vietnam has so much of, a bundle of, you're supporting locals, yes, and their likelihood. That's responsible travel. [00:35:29] Kerry Newsome: That's probably a good way to possibly finish up, Jimmy, talking about how does a traveler leaves a positive imprint or footprint on Vietnam. You're talking about us when we do go to Vietnam is opening up our minds and our options as not just, as you say, in the big resorts and things like that, so much more to Vietnam to explore. [00:36:01] Jimmy Pham: I think when you leave Vietnam, if you can make a friend, then you've achieved your goal. If you leave Vietnam, then you're learning something more than before you came. You've achieved your goal. Lastly, if you go to Vietnam, and you're supporting someone because you're there, then you've done your bid as well. It's why educating is about contributing, it's about leaving something behind. I think for Vietnam, we really want you to come back. We want to be like Thailand, where year after year like you, Kerry, instead of just one time and see you later, I'm not going to come back, we want to come back because of the destinations, for everything from luxury to backpacking to all sorts of stuff. [00:36:51] Kerry Newsome: Absolutely. People say to me, "Oh, do you think you're going to run out of things to talk about?" I said, "You've got to be joking." [laughs] I could go on until I keel over and talking about what there is to do in Vietnam because, as you said, I go two, three times a year, and every time I visit, I find something else new. I meet a different person. I remember meeting a lovely girl who ran a cooking class. I had a fabulous time with her a few years ago. I've remained good friends with her. As you say, it's life-changing, I think, a visit to Vietnam. It has that effect on you. I feel very lucky. [00:37:37] Jimmy Pham: For Vietnamese as well, we're very honorable I guess. We're very loyal. I think that's some of the characteristics of the Vietnamese people. That's what makes it a unique travel experience for people coming to Vietnam. [00:37:53] Kerry Newsome: I just want to say thank you very much for coming on the show and talking with you. Congratulations again on winning the award, very well deserved. I just want to wish you all the best, be safe, and we'll talk soon. [00:38:08] Jimmy Pham: Thank you, Kerry. Thank you everyone and please stay safe and good luck to everyone. [00:38:12] Jingle: 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.

S5-E7 - The Rise of Vietnam's Unique Dining Experiences S5-E7 - The Rise of Vietnam's Unique Dining Experiences Episode 7 S5-E7 - The Rise of Vietnam's Unique Dining Experiences 00:00 / 54:10 In our show today we get to explore the evolving food culture in Vietnam, with a focus on the growth of new culinary experiences and the expansion of dining options beyond just street food. Don’t get me wrong, Street Food is still something you must try, but don’t stop there! Our wonderful guest, Jovel Chan a food writer and consultant, shares her insights on the influx of chefs from Vietnam and abroad, the rise of upscale establishments, and the overall refinement and enhancement of the dining scene in cities like Saigon and Hanoi. Many talented chefs have come to Vietnam, particularly in cities like Saigon and Hanoi, to set up their own restaurants and cater to both tourists and locals looking for something different. These chefs bring with them their expertise and creativity, introducing new flavors, techniques, and cuisines to the Vietnamese food scene. Additionally, the rise of five-star hotels and the opening of more malls in Vietnam have further diversified the dining scene. This has led to a wider variety of cuisines being available, catering to different tastes and preferences. It was pure joy to have this time with Jovel as we laughed and agreed on so many topics and shared experiences. I hope you can forgive the slight ‘cross talk’ in places, but I think if I didn’t leave that in, you would miss out on the connection we had, and wanted to share with you. If you are looking for new tables to eat at and experience Vietnamese food variations then listen to the end as Jovel shares her favourites in Hanoi and Saigon. You can find all about Jovel’s Saigon Social, dining guides and so much more on her website here, so make sure you check out her dates and plan your trip accordingly. I know I am going to! Follow Jovel here: Website: https://jovelchan.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jovel.chan/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jovel.chan.7/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joveleugeniachan/ Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

6be74599-4c80-4018-9b47-90e4003ef720Know the best time to as a travel manager and “its important”. What About Vietnam - Series 1 - 2 When is the best time of year to travel to Vietnam? Xing Chau and Welcome to What About Vietnam. My name is Kerry Newsome and I am your host. You are listening to the everything you need to know before you go... series where I take you through the process of planning your trip to Vietnam. My aim is to pass on as much information as I can to ensure you have a great trip. In the first episode we covered off some of the factors influencing your decision to visit Vietnam through a better understanding of the food, the people and the experiences you can expect. I hope you found that interesting. Today we take you one step closer to getting you on your plane to Vietnam. As we discuss the “when” to go? This is probably one of the most common questions I get asked as a travel blogger. The reason being is….. “its important”. Its where you move into that commitment phase. And in the case of Vietnam, the timing of your trip is crucial to ensure you get the experience you want. Its not a “Once size fits all answer, as it depends on the experiences you want to have during your trip, as they can be drastically impacted by the “when you go”. So do give it due consideration, whether you are traveling solo, in a group, or as a couple or family... So I want to take you through 2 factors you need to consider :- 1. Festivals that can impact your trip 2. The weather across the North, Central and southern regions. Lets firstly cover off the fact, that Vietnam celebrates many festivals across the year. In fact,... I used to think they had a festival for everything. Then I learned that as a country they are such a grateful nation of people, full of history which they honour in pilgrimages and special events; all in the advent of thanks and praise. Some of the festivals are amazing, they attract wide audiences, and you would want to be there to witness them. See in my notes a link to at 14 of the most famous ones. But the biggest one of all is TET, and this has a monumental effect on your holiday stay. What is TET Vietnam? Not to be confused with the TET offensive. Tet as it is so often called, because its too difficult to say the Vietnamese name,... is by far the most significant holiday and season in the Vietnam Calender. It is the Vietnamese New Year, based on the Lunar calendar, …. It also marks the coming of Spring. It celebrates the “Feast of the very First Morning.” This will make more sense once you appreciate the importance of Vietnamese traditions. Who and what happens on the first day of the New Year can set the tone for the rest of year so it is a day to be treated with respect. TET – Dates TET takes place from the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar (around late January or early February) So it varies from year to year. See in my episode notes a link to a calender for the next 5 years for TET. When you are checking on your dates, take note that TET is known to Vietnamese as NEW YEARS DAY, and the day prior being New Years Eve. I can’t stress enough the fact that TET is not just a day, it can consume up to 9 days. It becomes an attitude. Everything either happens before TET or after, but not much during. By that, no big decisions will be made during TET. It is mainly about paying respects and just about "being" with the people you love. I am not going to go…. into too much more... detail here, other than to say, it is a beautiful time of the year especially building up to TET. Flowers abound and the whole country goes into a mode of gift giving, house cleaning and preparations for New Year. As I have travelled many times to Vietnam including during TET, I would like to give you this advice: 1. Planning:- Buy your travel tickets for travel during the TET season well in advance ( 3 days before New Year and 3 days after). This is for internal travel mostly, as there is a lot of movement within the country as Vietnamese travel home in droves to visit family and friends. 2. Scheduling - Be early at the airport, bus station or train as this is the busiest travel period for Vietnamese who travel long distances to visit family and friends and carry lots of luggage. 3. Trip bookings confirmations- Make sure you bring all your travel documents confirming all your travel arrangements, tickets, and emergency contact details. Don’t be sloppy with paperwork, it just adds to your time in a queue and holds everyone up. Expect queues. 4. Activity - Don’t expect to do too much activity wise on the actual National Holidays as many tourist attractions will be closed or at a minimum their hours will be reduced, and they may even charge an extra TAX. Be prepared to just chill out! 5. Check with your hotel or Homestay about what services will be operating for meals and what are the closest alternative eateries open. Now lets look at how weather will impact your choice of dates to travel. Firstly, the country is divided into 3 main regions, · North/ Mountain areas · Central · South The North (Hanoi, Halong Bay) is monsoonal with hot and and humid weather from April to September, which is when most people will travel. They do have an extremely cool dry season from October to March. Where it is puffer jacket weather and freezing cold and wet. I have had... back luck... on trips in late March at Halong Bay where it rained heavy and we all sat on the top deck of the junk with blankets provided by the staff watching the rain drop like pellets on the deck of the boat. All the while sipping ginger tea to keep warm. October and November are the best months to visit since you avoid the domestic tourist flow and also experience a more comfortable temperature and humidity compared with other months. The mountain area in Northwest , ( Areas like Sapa, Mau Chau, Be Be Lake, etc) see little fluctuation in weather conditions. It is fairly cool all year round and a great place to escape the heat from cities. However, if you are a trekker you might want to consider the rainy season is from May to September. March /April is cool and ideal for outdoor exploration. At the extreme side of things you can see snow or flurry in December or January in Sapa . Ive seen it in February. February in Be be lake was freezing - but gorgeous all the same as we had caves and grottoes all to ourselves, and the lake was crystal clear. So it depends on the kind of experiences you are wanting to do. The Central Region (Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An) receives dry and hot Southwest wind which makes it strenuous for any brisk walk during the day. Closer to the beach, the level of severity reduces and the dry wind is replaced by cool ocean breeze. Because of the limited land area, central Vietnam is also most susceptible to natural disasters such as hurricanes or flooding. The paradox is, it is also where most of the beautiful beaches lie. Jan- early March certainly are the cooler months. Beaches may be too cold to swim in unless you are a real cold water swimmer. By April through to October the weather gets warmer as the months of the go on, with June, July, Aug being the hottest. For people wanting to do any adventuring, ie Marble Mountain, My Son, etc you will find handling the heat and humidity a challenge. I mention this about this region, as it is one of the most popular long stay areas, Hoi An and Hue are super popular and for many good reasons. ….but I have witnessed travellers in our groups suffer badly as the weather takes a toll on the body when doing any significant walking etc. I have also known people endure the floods, which can come unexpectedly but most probably during the monsoonal months of November/December. Its worth doing some homework on weather as it impacts your preferred style of travel. The South ( Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Mui Ne) is typically hot all year round with two main seasons: rainy and dry. It is also the most predictable region in terms of weather. Summer months from May to August might not be the best time to hit the road since most tourists destinations are packed with tourists and downpours happen quite frequently. For milder weather, where at least you can walk around comfortably, I would suggest February, March, April. In fact March April, across the whole of Vietnam is my favourite and most highly recommended time of the year to do almost anything. In terms of cruising and experiencing the Mekong delta, due to the heat and humidity aspect in the middle of the year, I would suggest looking at Feb March In the summer months (June- Aug) it can be hard going, where mosquitoes are rife, and the experience can be made difficult for children, the less fit and mature travellers. However, if you love the heat, keeping hydrated is key, “slip slop slap” sunscreen, and make sure you wear strong insect repellant. More on that in another Episode. I hope in this session I have been able to outline some of the key factors in considering your dates for travel as they truly can make it or break it. Please check with the Episode notes for the links mentioned and feel free to contact me anytime. I look forward to paving the way for you to have a magical time in Vietnam as I share more trip planning tips over future episodes ... ….stay tuned for more to come in the super 6 series, Whatabout Vietnam - before you book. Thanks for listening. Listing for all the festivals across Vietnam;- https://traveltriangle.com/blog/festivals-in-vietnam/

fdafa5c8-3d69-4212-9948-50f4089dab91Lockdown insights and upcoming travel advice What About Vietnam - Series 3 - 11 Saigon’s Covid recovery and tourism outlook 2022 [00:00:35] Kerry Newsome: Xin chào . Welcome to What About Vietnam . In today's episode, we're going to be talking to Michael Tatarski in Ho Chi Minh City. Michael is editor-in-chief of Saigoneer, the Vietnamese culture and history website, and author of the Vietnam weekly newsletter. Michael has been instrumental in keeping many of us informed about the COVID spread in Vietnam and just the devastation it has caused in Saigon in particular. I feel very privileged to have him on to give us some local insights but also to give us some insights into just how it has affected the population of Saigon. What the COVID lockdown restrictions have actually meant at a street level and what that's been like to not leave your building and things like that. The other reason I'm really glad to have him on to talk about this in an authority way is because I think we're going to be drawing some comparisons in years to come from episodes like this, recording this in real-time. This is October 2021. I think we're going to be looking at Vietnam in new lights and new ways in years to come when we will be able, say, especially for people like myself who can draw history in various visits back and forth over the last 14 years, just to compare changes, new initiatives, things that have eventuated due to the pandemic, good and bad. It's great to have Michael on. I hope you enjoy this episode and can take on the information, knowing that the lockdown restrictions are going to be easing on the first of October. This episode will be going up that week. Let's hope. Let's cross fingers that Vietnam is starting to turn a corner and seeing some light on the other side for travelers. Please welcome Michael to the program. [music] [00:02:59] Kerry Newsome: Michael, it's great to have you on the show. [00:03:01] Michael Tatarski: Sure, no problem. [00:03:02] Kerry Newsome: How are you doing? [00:03:04] Michael Tatarski: Yes, doing all right. We're well over three months, I think, about three and a half months of hard lockdown here in Ho Chi Minh City. We'll get into this more. It looks like some relief is finally on the horizon on Friday. I don't know exactly when this will come out, but Friday, October 1st looks like there's going to be big changes finally. [chuckles] [00:03:23] Kerry Newsome: Maybe if you could be descriptive to my listeners. Just talking about what it's been like. You are living in Saigon, working in Saigon. You're right in the thick of it. Maybe talk to us a little bit about what the last 90 days and Saigon's been like. [00:03:43] Michael Tatarski: Sure. With the COVID, I've been lucky now. I'm lucky. I've had steady work. I'm able to work from home comfortably, don't have to worry about how am I going to pay for my next meal and that kind of stuff. There are certainly those comforts, but it's been tough. There's no other way to put it. The strict lockdown began. I wouldn't say it was July 9th, but early July. These rules that are called Directive 16 means only being able to go out for essential items and things like that, which we had for a period in 2020 in March and April, really early in the pandemic. You were still able to exercise outside and that sort of thing. Granted, the case numbers were in the hundreds [00:04:30] Kerry Newsome: Straight and low. Yes. [00:04:31] Michael Tatarski: Yes. Here in Ho Chi Minh City, there was this outbreak really exploded. We were hitting 8,000, 9,000 cases a day, which for Vietnam is a lot, to put it mildly. That went into effect. They banned all food delivery as well and also all outdoor exercise, which caught a lot of people by surprise. That meant cooking every meal for about three months. They did relax food delivery a couple of weeks ago, which was really, really nice. It's good for businesses to finally get some income again and great for people to not have to cook all the time. [chuckles] Then, not being able to go outside. I know some of the international coverage has been a little maybe overdone a bit. A month ago, they did bring in the military or some elements of it to support the lockdown when the situation became really extreme in the public health sense. The hospital system was on the verge of collapse. Almost 300 deaths a day just in the city. They had to build almost 20 field hospitals to handle all the cases. It was an absolute crisis. I would have to say probably the worst situation to hit the city since the war ended at least in 30 years or something like that. There's no doubt about it. It was extremely serious even with the military coming in. Soldiers at the corner of your street, making sure you didn't leave the house. You could, at least, walk outside your gate. There was nowhere to go. Everything was closed. You really shouldn't have been out on the streets. It wasn't safe. The virus was-- it remains really widespread. Vaccination rates are higher now, thankfully. It's less of a risk if you're vaccinated to be out. Yes, just week after week of just being at home, [chuckles] which [crosstalk] if you like me, and you can work from home, it is frustrating, but you'll get by. For a lot of people, which I know we'll get to, it's absolutely devastating to go that long without work. [00:06:35] Kerry Newsome: Yes, absolutely. [00:06:37] Michael Tatarski: Food supplies were a real issue for a lot of people. Especially, for a long time in lockdown, we couldn't even go grocery shopping. You had to get it delivered. Some of that was through a government system. Some of it was through privately-owned supermarkets that eventually got their own systems figured out. A lot of people are still going hungry. Food supply has been a real problem. [00:07:01] Kerry Newsome: Yes. The government did step in there for a bit and was handing out small sums of money to the poor so that they could get a basic meal because, I guess, for people listening, Saigon is so densely populated. The food industry or the street food industry is huge. We, you and I, were laughing before about having to cook meals. It's a city where you don't cook yourself that often because it's often cheaper to eat out. All of those very small vendors lost their patronage. They packed up their stuff and had nowhere to go. They were trying to leave the city and, I think, take some comfort by heading home to the rural areas where the virus wasn't. Yes, just refuge at home, I think, until it all went away. [00:08:03] Michael Tatarski: Yes, it's important. If people aren't familiar with the cities now that-- They say the population is around 9,000,000 or 10,000,000, but I think it's widely assumed that that's off by several million potentially. There's a huge population of migrant workers. People have moved here. This is the economic engine of the country, this and a couple of neighboring provinces. A huge draw from provinces where there's a less economic activity and less development. A lot of these workers, you mentioned, cooking. It's not that they're not able to cook. They can't. They live in tiny shared homes or tenement buildings that don't have kitchens or very limited kitchens. [00:08:42] Kerry Newsome: Facilities, yes, or gas. Yes [00:08:46] Michael Tatarski: Their job is working at a construction site or something like that. When that all gets shut down, that's all there is for them. [music] I understood the hospital system, obviously, was not able to cope. I've got some other friends in Saigon. They were talking about that hotels were commissioned. Some officers were commissioned to put together makeshift hospital rooms to cater to some of the patients. They were selling oxygen and things like that. That was a priority for people. Did you hear similar? [00:09:36] Michael Tatarski: Yes. From the start of the pandemic, as I'm sure you've discussed here, Vietnam took a really aggressive reaction. [crosstalk] [00:09:44] Kerry Newsome: Yes, I was there in March 2020. [00:09:47] Michael Tatarski: Oh right. For most of us- [00:09:48] Kerry Newsome: Just better. [00:09:49] Michael Tatarski: -that worked really well. For most of the first 18 months of the pandemic, we live life shockingly normally compared to a lot of other countries. One of the reasons, I think, or at least it's believed the government reacted like this is because they knew the health system couldn't handle a huge outbreak. We saw that in Ho Chi Minh City. Yes, they also converted a couple of huge empty apartment complexes into gigantic field hospitals with thousands of rooms. I do want to clarify not all of those rooms were really sick people. Some of them actually were asymptomatic. They eventually changed to letting those people stay at home, which took some pressure off. Yes, it was an all-hands-on-deck. Hanoi sent in a lot of doctors and medical workers. Other provinces did as well. The military sent in some doctors and health reinforcements for lack of a better word. Yes, it was a national effort and also showed that if something like this had happened in numerous provinces, it would have been a really, really terrible situation. It is already, but I don't even want to think about what that would have been like. [00:11:02] Kerry Newsome: Yes. You're right. I think the industry and the manufacturing side of things was something that the government was particularly concerned about because some of those places have workers of tens of thousands. I hear also that for their safety, they put together makeshift tents and things like that to actually keep them on the premises to try and get them vaccinated. Slowly but surely, I think that's a strong government push, or that's what I'm hearing anyway, so that the wheels of the engine of the country can keep turning. [00:11:45] Michael Tatarski: Yes. This was initially in the north because of this outbreak, we've almost forgotten it at this point, it first exploded into a few northern provinces way back in May, especially a couple next to Hanoi with a lot of Samsung factories and other major electronics manufacturers. Yes, they kind of started this. Not kind of, they did start this three on the spot system or also, some people call it, a bubble where factories would set up, yes, living quarters like tents and spare warehouses or whatever so that employees could live, work and also eat on-site without leaving. Then, they also did that down here, especially in Binh Duong and Dong Nai, which are huge industrial hubs. Yes, the idea was to keep manufacturing going. That worked for some places, but it didn't work for a lot. If a case got into a factory, that's like the perfect setting for Delta to spread. Hundreds or thousands of people close together. Also, it's expensive, the house. A lot of them would read half capacity or something. Still, if you need to feed 300 people three meals a day and also house them in addition to maintaining operations. That's a lot of money. [00:13:03] Kerry Newsome: Yes. Absolutely. [00:13:04] Michael Tatarski: I know factories that tried it and gave up. Others just didn't even try to do it because they knew it was going to be too difficult. Some of that is relaxing now because other provinces are also starting to come out of lockdown as well. Yes, it was an interesting system, worked for some, didn't work for others. [chuckles] Again, I think they obviously couldn't just shut everything down because that would have been economically disastrous. [music] [00:13:34] Kerry Newsome: It also took a serious toll on the ex-pat population for a number of reasons around getting access to the vaccine or getting the vaccine or trying to get flights out. I know several Australians that have cost them much more than you would normally pay to actually get out and get back. Then, they were stuck in the lockdown so severely in Saigon that literally they had to get a PCR test to get on the plane. Then, they couldn't get past the police that had cordoned off the area to get them through. Then, they were worried about how they're going to get a Grab car or whatever to the actual airport. It's been quite stressful, I think, on lots of levels for the general population. [00:14:28] Michael Tatarski: Yes. I know a lot of people who left, some permanently, some temporarily. My partner is American. We talked about it a lot. We have dogs. We would have wanted to bring them with us. It's really difficult to bring them into the US. It takes a few months of paperwork. We stayed. Granted, the US has gone downhill again. When it looked like things were getting better there, there was a lot of appeal, especially in the early days of this outbreak when the vaccine was almost not existed. National rates nationally are still extremely low. It's only around 8% of the entire country is fully vaccinated. Here in Ho Chi Minh City, they've funneled supply here because of the outbreak. It's just such an important economic and population center. That's a lot better. I'm fully vaccinated luckily. That fear of not being vaccinated has waned. Certainly, a lot of people left. If you could get out and go somewhere more comfortable, then it definitely made sense. [00:15:32] Kerry Newsome: Sure. Just leading into now the weekend talk from the government of Vietnam about lessening the restrictions coming up to 1st October. [music] [00:15:53] Kerry Newsome: For us, sitting in the travel industry and watching from the grandstands, we see this as a positive sign. We'll get on to talk about Phu Quoc in a bit. How do you see 1st October restrictions lessening? What will it mean for you? [00:16:14] Michael Tatarski: Well, here in Ho Chi Minh City, much to my surprise, it seems like it's going to mean a lot. I've been given how conservative the restrictions have been thus far. I wasn't expecting anything too dramatic. It's not confirmed yet. They're still working on the final policy. It looks like for Ho Chi Minh City, they're going to allow if you're fully or partially vaccinated, or if you've recovered from COVID. Within the last six weeks, I think, you'll basically be able to move around the city as you wish. They're removing checkpoints in between districts and neighborhoods. You can go back to supermarkets, convenience stores. You can get a haircut. It sounds like you'll be able to exercise outside in quite large numbers if everyone is vaccinated. That really surprises me. [00:17:01] Kerry Newsome: Affecting all districts? [00:17:02] Michael Tatarski: Yes. I think there will still be some areas. Red zones are still going to be an issue potentially. As far as I know, this is city-wide. Weddings and funerals can happen again with set capacity. A lot of businesses will still be closed like no in-person dining, no cinemas, no karaoke, no massage, parlors, that kind of thing. [00:17:25] Kerry Newsome: No bars. [00:17:26] Michael Tatarski: Yes, no bars. I think it also says street vendors are still going to be banned. That's a real shame. Again, those people are among the most impacted [crosstalk] [00:17:35] Kerry Newsome: Markets? [00:17:37] Michael Tatarski: I think markets are supposed to reopen as well, but a lot of it is going to be probably just like see what the regulation is. Then, there's been a lot of regulations during this lockdown that have been really unclear initially. Then, they gradually get clarified. I'm very excited to be able to exercise out. I'm a pretty avid cyclist. I've got an indoor trainer luckily, but that's not the same as riding outside. [00:18:06] Kerry Newsome: Absolutely. [00:18:07] Michael Tatarski: Yes. It looks like a lot could change. Of course, the economic damage is still going to be immense. Fully vaccinated rates for the city are still relatively low. A lot of businesses are still-- it's still going to be expensive to go back to work. Food, ingredient prices are high because there's been a lot of shipping issues between provinces. [00:18:26] Kerry Newsome: Yes. I was going to ask about that because food supply-- [00:18:27] Michael Tatarski: Also as we said, a lot of people left. We don't even know how many people left. Presumably, many tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. A lot of those individuals are the labor force of the city. Some of them can't come back yet because there are still travel restrictions or a lot might not want to. Unless they have a guaranteed job, maybe they would. It's going to be pretty interesting to see. Also, what business has survived? Being closed for three, four, five months. Not everyone obviously has the liquidity to just sit there with no business for that amount of time. [00:19:09] Kerry Newsome: Yes, absolutely. I'll be interested to just see what the hotel industry does. All of those empty hotels with hotel staff, did those hotel staffs go back home, as I said, to those rural areas and wait it out? Are they going to have the manpower to put back into it? [00:19:33] Michael Tatarski: Sure. Well, of course, even before this, obviously, as you know, there was no international tourism anyway. Certainly, the hotel is more focused on the international market. Everyone had to pivot by this point to some extent. This was obviously just more pain on top of that. [music] [00:19:54] Michael Tatarski: For travel, honestly, it's going to be tough. I see that as being pretty low down the totem pole of priorities, certainly for here. We'll get to this, the discussions of Phu Quoc doing some sort of opening for internationally. I'm sure there are closed doors discussions. Publicly, there's still no discussion whatsoever presuming any normal inbound, international flights whether for business or even just citizens wanting to return to the country. It's still these, sometimes, government-arranged repatriation flights although those haven't happened in a while or these charter flights where it's everything's booked and approved in advance. It's really expensive. You have to do quarantine. In terms of travel, it still seems like that's going to be a long, long ways off. Domestic travel is going to be an issue as well just because the rest of the country is so unvaccinated, not by choice because [crosstalk] [00:20:53] Kerry Newsome: Yes, that's what I was going to say. [00:20:57] Michael Tatarski: There's definitely a push from domestic travel companies and domestic airlines and domestic hotels because everyone's flat on their back right now financially. They're really pushing to try to get some sort of green pass system set up for domestic travel which would help. That's, again, only 8% of the population right now. It's a pretty limited pool to work with. Yes. Just getting domestic because what happens if you're vaccinated, you can still be carrying the virus? What happens if a group of vaccinated visitors from Ho Chi Minh City go to Lao Cai province or something where it's much less vaccinated. Then, the outbreak starts there. Obviously, that's what officials are thinking about. This reopening is-- it's going to be really interesting to see what happens because presumably, cases here in the city will rise when they reopen just because there's going to be more interaction between people. How do they react to that? It's interesting watching Singapore, which is very heavily vaccinated now. They're going back into some restrictions with their cases increasing. I don't know. We have to see. There's been a lot of talks recently about living with the virus. We don't know what that's going to mean in practice. There will be cases. What happens when that does happen? [music] [00:22:20] Kerry Newsome: If I talk to people in the UK and some parts of Europe that are vagrantly traveling and getting about the world, they're still getting thousands of cases a day. [00:22:33] Michael Tatarski: Sure, sure. [00:22:34] Kerry Newsome: Freedom day for them wasn't freedom from the actual virus. It was just freedom to move around and take the risk. I was talking to one journalist the other day. He was saying that it doesn't even appear in the news in the UK anymore. They don't publish all the numbers, the caseload, or anything. He said, "Everything from my daughter's birthday party where someone rang us up afterward and said, "Oh, look. One kid tested positive after the party." We don't think it's going to be a problem. She's going to get a bit of a sniffle." They're just calling it a bad flu rather than a deadly disease now. I wonder whether or not in Australia is heading in the same direction, whether or not we'll see the same things because you've got major airlines that are sitting around, going broke if we don't get the domestic travel going again in Vietnam. I think Vietnam will need to test it internally to see how it goes before there's any sign of international. It's got to start somewhere. You're going to be coming up to the wet season in the north and the cold in January, February. These next three to six months are going to be really interesting to see. [00:24:11] Michael Tatarski: Yes. It's going to be so regionally varied even within Vietnam because we're still averaging around 5,000 cases a day. The number of severe cases and deaths has dropped. Those are the really key indicators. By pure numbers, we're still having a ton of cases. I think most days, the city accounts for over half of all cases in the country, that detected cases. We don't always know what testing is going on in all the provinces. We're going to be living with quote "the virus" unquote, with that many cases. Hanoi had no cases in the last 24 hours. If they were to get to 5,000 cases, that would be unthinkable compared to where they're at right now. We don't even know what it's going to be like from region to region within the country. [00:24:55] Kerry Newsome: Absolutely. It may mean that the travel regions will stay within-- In other words, you might fly from Hanoi to Đồng Hới or somewhere like that, but you won't go any further south right, or you might fly to Danang and stay in central and north. [music] [00:25:24] Kerry Newsome: I don't know. Is there a big appetite for travel by people in Saigon? Do people want to get back out there and have a holiday? [00:25:37] Michael Tatarski: Yes. People in my social circles certainly do. I'm pretty on the fence about it for the foreseeable future. Not that I'm worried about getting sick particularly, but just knowing that other provinces are far less vaccinated. Yes, certainly. I don't know about the average person. Of course, there's got to be some level of pent-up demand. We had a national holiday at the start of the month that we couldn't do anything for it. We have a limited number of national holidays. Usually, when they happen, people like to do some sort of-- even if it's just going to [unintelligible 00:26:18] from Ho Chi Minh City, just a couple hours away, something to get out of the city. Or if you're in Hanoi, the same thing. People aren't able to do that. There definitely will be some pent-up to me. Also, a lot of people are just going to want to go see their family. [music] [00:26:38] Kerry Newsome: They're painting Phu Quoc island as the sandbox for Vietnam. I've had lots of different interviews with a range of different people. There's really a mixed bag on whether or not it's going to take off. It's already been pushed back from October to November. What I know about the island, it's about 160,000 people. I've only been twice for very short visits. Its medical situation is not expansive. I don't know. Do you think it's going to come off? [00:27:23] Michael Tatarski: At this point, I think it will happen simply because they say it's going to happen. The prime minister himself has given it the green light. I think it has to happen just because the highest levels of government have said, "We need this. This is going to be a thing." This is not my area of expertise. I can't see it being a huge success. I've seen some articles where they say they're expecting tens of thousands of visitors a month. I don't know if that includes domestic because then maybe. I can't see this having a huge amount of appeal for a lot of international visitors having to do pay for a charter flight. I think the system is largely you just stay at the resort that you go to and don't leave. [00:28:10] Kerry Newsome: Yes. That's right. [00:28:12] Michael Tatarski: Of course, for some people, that kind of trip may have appeal, but I think a lot of westerners who come to Vietnam wants to see some of the countries as well or at least-- even if it's a tacky night market tour or something like that, is at least getting you out of the resort and eating some semblance of local food. If you can't do any of that, I don't really know who's going to be jumping out, really wanted to do that. Also, some of this seems to be pitched as a huge benefit for the local economy. If you're just staying at, whatever, [unintelligible 00:28:47] for seven days, that's not-- That'll help the people working for the resort, but the local economy is not really going to get much of a boost from that at all. [00:28:57] Kerry Newsome: Yes. It's a difficult one. I think it's a test case that they want to exercise to just see the manpower handling. I heard some numbers posed that might start at maybe 2,000 to 3,000 coming in. Russia is a country, in particular, that is very keen on the island and fancy island, very popular. It's got great water sports with sailing and diving and things like that. The Vinpearl group is very big there. It's got a mini Venice with cable cars. It's nothing like Vietnam. [00:29:46] Michael Tatarski: No. [00:29:48] Kerry Newsome: It's out there. As you say, I think because the prime minister has put that out there, I think it's probably going to happen in a fashion. How well or how successful it is? It's time to come. I think there is an aim for the country to try and get on top of things for Tet because as you know, at Tet, the country just moves around in big numbers because they're all going home. I can see that there'll be a really big push. That's February. What have we got? October, November, December, January. We've got five months to for Vietnam to-- [00:30:35] Michael Tatarski: Yes. Tet's obviously going to be huge. Tet, this year or earlier this year, there were a couple of small flare-ups happening at the time. A lot of people still traveled, but a lot of people actually canceled their trips. If somebody goes two years without being able to do something for Tet, that's going to be a really big deal. Again, I don't mean, even traveling for fun, that's one time of the year that lots of families get together, multiple generations. It's really, really important. Yes, it's like missing Christmas or something like that in the West. [music] [00:31:16] Michael Tatarski: Yes. Phu Quoc is interesting. You can definitely tell there's something of a regional-- arms race isn't a good phrase but just like tourism competition. Vietnam, Indonesia, everybody is now saying that Thailand has the Phuket Sandbox, which, I don't follow closely, but I believe, has been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of [crosstalk] [00:31:36] Kerry Newsome: It hasn't gone well either. Yes, exactly. [00:31:39] Michael Tatarski: But they all want to try. You see Bali, name a lot as well. I'm sure there are other places that I'm missing. Nobody wants to be last to get something like that off the ground I guess even if it has a pretty minimal impact. Yes. Obviously, the main reason Phu Quoc was pushed back is because, again, vaccine supply and who knows if they'll be able to get there by November. You could definitely see that being pushed again. I do see it happening again just because there's been so much high-level discussion. Now, there's talk of Khanh Hoa province [unintelligible 00:32:12] is also starting to talk about this as well, similar coming in on shutter flights and just staying sequestered at a resort. You mentioned Russia. I guess that does make sense as a market because I think that's a-- probably has a lot of appeals go to the beach for seven days and just sit in one place. [chuckles] Again, that can certainly be appealing, but a lot of people are also going to be put off by, you know what I mean, I can't leave the resort even to have a meal outside or something like that. Why would I spend, whatever, thousands of dollars [crosstalk]-- [00:32:46] Kerry Newsome: And not be able to go to the mainland to see the rest of Vietnam. The rest of Vietnam [unintelligible 00:32:54] . Yes. [00:32:54] Michael Tatarski: Yes. Something will definitely happen. I will be curious to see what they do with domestic tourism at the same time. Yes, Phu Quoc-- two of the most powerful domestic tourism real estate companies have huge properties there as you mentioned. I'm sure they're pushing really hard because they have thousands of rooms that have been sitting empty. [music] [00:33:18] Kerry Newsome: I have a feeling that Hoi An and Danang will also find themselves wanting to trial something because the Old Town is just a ghost town at the moment. [00:33:28] Michael Tatarski: Yes. I like Danang a lot. It's an important, domestic tourism destination, but has really gotten big, I know, with Korean visitors and probably Japanese visitors as well in recent years so that that would make sense for them to want to try something similar as well. If they stick with the resort set up, there's a ton of huge resorts there so that that could work. Again, who's going to want to-- [chuckles] I can see them targeting individual-- [chuckles] I don't know, not to stereotype, but a lot of Koreans go to visit Danang to play golf. If it was like you can stay at their resort and just play golf and that's it. I'm sure a lot of people probably go for that actually. It's the pretty limited economic impact on the broader city that needs to be considered. [00:34:19] Kerry Newsome: Yes. It might be dolly steps in the whole country opening up. It might be these little pockets of experiences that-- [00:34:33] Michael Tatarski: I can't really see just your average tourist being able to get on a plane, a normal flight to Vietnam, and then being able to travel as they please until the second half of 2022, maybe later in that time period. Again, we don't even know when people are going to be able to come back just to live here or to do business here. Yes, it's going to be a while I would think. [music] [00:35:02] Kerry Newsome: You answered my last question, Michael. It was going to be [laughs] when do you think or you feel like Vietnam will be open to-- because I used to spend two or three months a year in Vietnam and in various times during the year. I was there in March. I got out just in time before Australia shut the doors. I haven't been back since 2020. It's very difficult. As you say, it's going to be a serious consideration for highly vaccinated countries to consider coming to a low vaccinated country. Then, Vietnam, will they review their visa requirements? There could be a whole change in just what boxes you've got a tick- [00:35:57] Michael Tatarski: Yes. We don't know what-- [00:35:58] Kerry Newsome: -to get in. [00:36:00] Michael Tatarski: Yes. I think the government has said that they're aiming to fully vaccinate 70% of the population by March or April of next year. [00:36:11] Kerry Newsome: That's a big number. [00:36:12] Michael Tatarski: Yes, which is a long ways off. It's a lot of people. There's not really vaccine. There's some vaccine hesitancy. It's not like you have in the US or somewhere like that. I think if they have the supply, they should be able to hit those numbers, but-- [00:36:26] Kerry Newsome: It'll be getting to some of them in the rural areas will be the tough, tough ones. Yes. [00:36:30] Michael Tatarski: Yes. I don't think they're going to want anyone from elsewhere moving around the country freely before they at least said that. Of course, our understanding of the virus could change. The new variants could still break out for all we know. A lot can certainly happen. Given that timeline, I can't see any free travel happening until easily the second half of the next year. [00:36:59] Kerry Newsome: Well, that wasn't the best note to finish on. [laughter] [00:37:04] Michael Tatarski: Yes, unfortunately. [00:37:05] Kerry Newsome: But it might be the reality that we need to face in Vietnam at the moment. I certainly appreciate where you're sitting in the thick of it. When you're just going to be able to open up, take your dogs out and go for a run, it must be wonderful to be able to do that. I just think of all those restaurants and bars and just that the buzz of that city to be closed, just must be an eyesore. I just can't imagine it. I see the photo, just can't imagine it. [00:37:37] Michael Tatarski: Yes. Well, to be honest, I've only seen photos recently. I haven't left my neighborhood in almost three months. I think on Friday or early next week, I'll probably just do a long drive assuming that that is allowed a long drive around the city just to see what it looks like because there's a lot of places I haven't seen in months, which is quite strange to say out loud. [00:38:01] Kerry Newsome: Yes, sure. Look, Michael. I really appreciate you coming on the program and just great to get your insights into how things have been, where we're at and what the future holds for travelers. We do want to come back. It's a great country. There's so much to see and do. I think [crosstalk]-- Yes. We just want it to be a healthy country where it feels safe to do so. [00:38:29] Michael Tatarski: Yes. We're all hoping for that [chuckles] at this stage. [00:38:33] Kerry Newsome: Okay, Michael. Thanks again. [00:38:34] Michael Tatarski: Thank you. [00:38:36] Outro: Thank you for listening. Check out the episode notes for more information. What About Vietnam.

S4-09 Hanoi A Foodies Paradise P1 What About Vietnam – S4 -9 - A Foodie’s Paradise – Part One SPEAKERS: Kerry Newsome, Corrin Carlson Kerry Newsome: 00:18 Xin Chào and welcome to “ What About Vietnam ”. Sometimes when you travel light with an open mind, and you're not tied down with any commitments that can't be changed, the world can truly open up as your oyster. Let me begin today's program with some background to my guest. It started with a working holiday, I'm told, starting in New Zealand, moved on to Asia, then to Hanoi for a month, then that led to three months and ultimately would you believe to three years. As you will soon find out, this is only the tip of the iceberg for my delightful foodie guest on today's show, Corrin Carlson, who found her heart and passion for food in Hanoi. 01:26 Corrin is a delightful American girl, who is using her acting and education to share her travel journey throughout Asia with her next stop being Europe in September 22, one to definitely watch out for. You may have seen Corrin on her very popular "The Fat Passport" TikTok and Instagram pages. As she shares her "Plates of Hanoi" with her followers. Her personality and knowledge really shine through in her posts. And I think she does the same in this show. You tell me. While Corrin was visiting her friends and family in the US just recently, I was able to hook up with her to record the show. Being such a wealth of information about the food localities in Hanoi, and some really great experiences, I just knew one episode wasn't going to cut it. So,I've expanded it into a two-part series. That way you get the full picture of some of her great finds, and she’s certainly got some super-duper tips for a stay in Hanoi. Without further adieu, let's welcome Corrin to the program. 02:47 Corrin Hello, and great to have you on the show. Corrin Carlson: 02:50 Thank you so much for having me. Kerry Newsome: 02:52 Let's just jump right in. Hey, I'm really keen to talk about Hanoi with you. And I know you're going to take us through the city and talk about it from a tourist as you were, when you first arrived, and then originally to someone living there for three years. So maybe share with us just some of those things about the city as a whole, just to kick things off for everyone. Corrin Carlson: 03:20 Well, Hanoi is without a doubt one of my favorite cities in the world. And like you said, I first came to Hanoi as a tourist. And I loved it so much that I kept extending my stay until so finally I realized I was living there. And then I did live there for three years because it really just draws you in. I used to live in New York. So, I love Big City energy. And for me Hanoi is one of those cities that just totally encapsulates that. There's so much going on, so much history, so much vibrant life happening pretty much around the clock. And it's just an absolutely stunning place to get lost in and also to live in. Kerry Newsome: 03:59 The times that I've visited, I've probably acted more as the tourist because I am a tourist, let's face it, I didn't get to live there, and I don't get to live there. But there's certainly some areas which I felt more drawn to because of their architecture, as you say, that vibe in the area, just the atmosphere and the friendliness, a great one. Can you speak to that yourself? Corrin Carlson: 04:27 Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think Hanoi is a city that's one of a kind in the way, like the best cities in the world are. I know so many people love Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). It's very cosmopolitan. But to me, Saigon is like a cut and copy of a lot of other large cities that you find. But Hanoi because of its history is entirely its own. So, it's a large city. It's a city of about 5 million people, but because it has so much rich history and it is a city of lots of skyscrapers. It's a lot flatter in comparison to other large cities. So, the old architecture from the French, from before the French and from immediately after, really, is the main focus of what the city looks like. And also, you'll find that people sometimes, especially southerners, say that, "Oh, in the north, the Hanoians, they're so stuck up there." Kerry Newsome: 05:26 [laughter] I've heard that, too. Corrin Carlson: 05:28 Yeah, exactly. And especially as a foreigner, who didn't speak Vietnamese, when I first arrived, when you hear the dialect of the north, and you see the mannerisms of people that they have, it seems very brisk, very blunt. So, it doesn't seem right away that people are very happy to see you, or even very happy going about their own lives. But once you just get used to the culture, and you start even to learn a little bit of the language, you realize that people are saying very nice things to you, even if they don't have a smile on their face all the time. It's just kind of the emotional state of the north. So, I think people are kind of turned off by that sometimes as a tourist or as a foreigner. But if you walk in, and you're just kind and polite, you can trust that even if you don't understand people, they're being kind and polite back to you. Kerry Newsome: 06:17 It's a good point to mention, because I think you're right. I think I've noticed that there is a serious note to the people in Hanoi, they are very serious facially. But every time I've dealt with anyone in Hanoi, and I actually do some work in Hanoi with a tourist company, everyone is just so lovely. And I find even the youth of Vietnam, they are even more exuberant to talk to foreigners, because they want to practice their English and they want to do things, they want to get to know a little bit about you and what we know about Vietnam back to them. So, there's a really nice view, but I do say, again, that I do get drawn to the lake areas or around the lakes, but maybe you talk to us about your experiences of the best kind of places for a tourist to head towards. Where would you suggest that they start their journey or their trip in Hanoi? Corrin Carlson: 07:29 Yeah, absolutely. You're so right. The lakes are such a total hub to both the living and the tourism, culture parts of Hanoi. So, in the very center of Hoàn Kiếm, we have Hoàn Kiếm Lake, which is an ancient lake, and there's a lot of story and history behind it, a lot of old temples in it, that surround it. And so, what I would say, if you are coming to Hanoi as a tourist, you only have one, two, maybe even three days, I would say that staying near Hoàn Kiếm Lake in that central district is the best place for you to be. There's so much going on everywhere in the city. But most of the tourist places, most of the temples that you want to go and visit, most of the souvenir shopping is going to be right in that area. So, that's a great place to be. 08:20 If you have a couple more days, say you're there four, five, seven days, I definitely do recommend staying over by Hồ Tây, which is the big, big lake that takes up a large portion of the center of Hanoi. And there's a neighborhood there, where actually a lot of foreigners live called, Hồ Tây, means West Lake. So, this is the western area where a lot of people live. And there's a lot of like great nightlife, great restaurants, a lot more people speaking English in that area too, if you're interested in having conversations with Vietnamese people or with foreigners who live there, and just hearing about their lives. So, both areas have a lot of history, a lot of great food and a lot of great views to them. It just depends on what your timeframe is. Kerry Newsome: 09:06 Yeah, and that's a good point to mention the timeframe because I know when I first went, I literally did the 'hop in, quick surveillance of the city', did the major points and got out, so I really didn't get a good feel for the city. It was just too short. But of course,subsequent visits, I've delved in a little bit deeper and spread my wings a little bit further and got to know people and things like that. And the lake that you mentioned, as in West Lake, that's the lake that you don't hear that much about. And it's a shame because, as you say, it's got a little bit of a different vibe to it than Hoàn Kiếm Lake. Maybe share a little bit more about West Lake if you wouldn't mind, because I think it deserves a bit more attention. Corrin Carlson: 09:59 Yes, certainly. So, there's about three or four different districts, different distinct neighborhoods that surround West Lake because it is such a large lake. And each of those neighborhoods has their own feel. But it's really common for people who live in those neighborhoods to spend a morning, biking around the lake or walking around the lake with friends, it's a couple of kilometers long. So that's a really nice activity. And then when you are doing that, when you're going along the lake, you're going to see lots of shops and restaurants. But more than anything, what you're going to see is so many coffee shops. 10:35 You're talking about the youth of Vietnam before and they have so much energy, they like to be seen, they like to dress up, they like to take photos with their friends. And so going to the coffee shops on the lake is a really popular activity with young Vietnamese people. But with people of all ages, the coffee culture is so huge there. And so if you get a chance to go over to Hồ Tây, and then take a taxi there, which is really affordable and doesn't take much time, no matter where you're coming from, you can cafe bop around different parts of the lake and enjoy the views and also enjoy just getting to be around people who live in those neighborhoods. Kerry Newsome: 11:14 And you're right, they do have an energy, especially the younger people, which I love, because they make every event and even the event of just eating food, something to celebrate. They're always taking photos of the food, the taking photos of the people that they're with, the place they're in. So, they really celebrate it. And at first, I found that, "Oh, gosh, do they have to take a photo of everything?" But it was explained to me that it is part of their fun. It's part of their enjoyment of the occasion. And it's quite lovely in the end, you get swept into it a little bit. In the end, I was taking photos of everything that I could get my hands on. [laughter] Corrin Carlson: 11:57 Yeah, of course. Kerry Newsome: 11:59 So, I'm going to ask you to dig a little bit deeper, because I know something that you found, it was your thing. Because I've seen you so often and followed you on your TikTok and on your Instagram page. So, let's of dig deep into the food, which I think you thought or found was 'Top of the Pops'. Corrin Carlson: 12:28 Yeah, absolutely. I'd be happy to. Should we start with some more casual dining, some street food? Kerry Newsome: 12:33 Yes. Let's start there. Yes. Corrin Carlson: 12:36 Awesome. So, you're right, I started an Instagram page called "Plates of Hanoi", shortly after moving to Hanoi, because I love street food, and I love Vietnamese food. And in the north in Hanoi, there's phenomenal food. But what I was finding was that there wasn't a lot of influencers who spoke English that were writing about it. So, I was going out and trying all these foods, and I thought, "Oh, I think other people who speak English would be interested in learning what these foods are, too." So, I just started documenting it. And then that page really took off. So, in Hanoi, there's a lot of competition, again, between the north and the south and that people think that Saigon food is better, but I have to disagree. The North just has incredible richness and flavor. Because the North actually has four seasons, four very distinct seasons. So instead of things being light and sweet like they are in the south, you'll find a lot heartier dishes and a lot heartier flavors. Even the Phở in the north is much heartierthan you'll find in Saigon in the south. Kerry Newsome: 13:43 Yes, it's true. Corrin Carlson: 13:44 Yeah. And Phở actually comes from the north, that originated from either Hanoi or the very northern rigids of the country. It's kind of disputed. So, northerners are very specific about the way that they make Phở. So, in the south, and often when you're in other countries, for example, in the US, and you try. I had tried for here; it was southern style. So, it came with lots of herbs, and lots of lime and bean sprouts, things that you add into the broth, but in the north, the dish comes out as is and you can put in some garlic, you can put in some chili sauce, but that's it. Because the broth is so much richer and it's so much heartier. It's more to just be celebrated on its own. And even though it gets super-hot in the summer, just like it does in Saigon. People eat Phở every single day. It is an absolute staple. 14:37 Some other dishes that are distinct to Hanoi, the most famous dish in Hanoi is Bún Chả and this is- maybe many people who are listening, who have seen the episode with Anthony Bourdain, and he takes Obama to a Bún Chả spot in Hanoi and they have a great conversation. But the reason why that dish was picked was because it just totally encapsulates the food, the street food scene in Hanoi. So you have little grilled pork patties that are grilled over an open flame, and often made with lemongrass and there will be cut up pork belly as well, it's all going to come in a broth, usually a fish sauce base with sugar in it, it will come with herbs on the side and Bún which is like vermicelli noodles. 15:25 With Vietnamese dishes, it's very common that pieces will come a little bit here, a little bit there. And then you're supposed to take a bite of this, and a bite of this and a bite of this and put it all together in your mouth. So, it's DIY, in terms of flavor, and what you want to add. So Bún Chả is something that you absolutely need to try when you're in Hanoi. You can still go to the restaurant, or Anthony Bourdain and Obama ate, it's now called Bún Chả Obama. And it has the table where they ate, encased in glass and set up as if they were there. Personally, I don't think it's the best Bún Chả in Hanoi, I would prefer someplace in Hoàn Kiếm, like, Bún Chả 34, Bún Chả. But it's a good example. Kerry Newsome: 15:25 And I've been there. It's not actually a fancy place, is it? Corrin Carlson: 16:09 No. Kerry Newsome: 16:09 It's got little red chairs, It's just really, really a street food type place. Because when I first went there, I expected, because Obama had been there. That they would have taken him somewhere a little bit special, but it wasn't. It was just a really average everyday street food place. So, when you go there, don't think you're in the wrong place. You're probably in the right place. Corrin Carlson: 16:38 You're so right. And that season, that Anthony Bourdain was filming, it was all about street food places. So, it was the perfect option for them to take care, though I did hear that, all the other people that are in the restaurant at that time are actually background actors, so. Kerry Newsome: 16:53 Yes, I know that [laughter] Well, you've got to give it your best shot, haven't you? Corrin Carlson: 16:58 Yes, exactly. One other great thing that I will recommend about Hanoi because a lot of the food has meats, or it has some kind of protein in it. So, people are a little bit cautious if they're vegetarian, or perhaps if they're vegan before they traveled to Vietnam. But a really lovely thing that I enjoyed learning about and especially enjoyed eating when I was in Hanoi, were at the vegan buffets. So, it's a part of Vietnamese culture to eat vegan food, one to two times a month, depending on the lunar calendar, if you practice Buddhism. Some of the younger generations follow it, sometimes they don't. But even still Vegan Buffets have come out of this. 17:40 So, you can find some 'hole in the wall' places, and some places that are just absolutely built up and beautiful. And you spend about one to $3 and it's all buffet style vegan food. And I don't know about you, Kerry, but I never used to like vegan food, [laughter] I suck up my nose about it. And I was like, "Tofu? Why would I eat that?" And then I went to Vietnam, and I completely changed my mind about vegan food. They do it so well. And they just have amazing simple ingredients, but awesome flavors. One place that I really like that's in Hoàn Kiếm, it's also in Tây Hồ, they have a couple locations around the city. It's called Veggie Castle. It's in big three-story houses, and all of their locations as grand buffet. And it's just like a cool place to hang out too, you'll find lots of young Vietnamese people there. Kerry Newsome: 18:35 I'm really glad that you starting to mention some places because I want to be able to direct people, because sometimes I think when you arrive in Vietnam, and I hear it from people all the time, it's a little bit overwhelming. It is so buzzy, there's the motorbike thing, there's a lot going on.. So, trying to point people to a particular area or particular place helps, because then they can find, and if you're a vegan or you're a vegetarian, and that's really what you want to do. Well, I'm going to make sure that I put the link and mention this properly in the show notes. So, if you are vegan, you're not lost, you're going to find places very easily in Hanoi, which offer vegetarian or vegan food. And it's the same for people that are gluten intolerant. People say, "Oh, you can't go to Vietnam because yourgluten intolerant." And I go, "Whoa, that's not quite right because there's the beautiful broths." As you say, you don't need to actually add the noodles and you can still get those beautiful flavors with the herbs and the chicken or the beef whatever you choose. Corrin Carlson: 19:54 Exactly. I have to add too, that often the noodles or rice noodles, so Phở noodles, Bún. If you like Bánh like a Bánh it's rice flour, rice noodles. So, if you're super, like Coeliac intolerant, yeah, there might be some gluten somewhere in the process, which is something to watch out for. But if it's just something you choose not to eat, you're going to be totally fine. All you really can't eat is Banh Mi. But that's it. Everything else is rice flour based. Kerry Newsome: 20:23 Yeah. And that's a shame because I'm a big fan of Banh Mi.. [laughter] I mean, totally, that is my go-to, when my girlfriend picks me up from the airport when I arrive, the first place she takes me is to a place to get by Banh Mi., doesn't matter what time I arrive. That's the first go-to. Corrin Carlson: 20:41 Absolutely, you can find it any time of day too. Kerry Newsome: 20:44 You can. Yeah, absolutely. And it's just not the same. Like they sell, these places here in Australia that sell it. And it's just not the same. I hate to say it, but it's just not. Corrin Carlson: 20:54 I agree. It's almost too fancy. The places you go to here in the States, they're like to put together and like, "No, I needed to slap that sandwich around a bit, and then it's going to taste right." Kerry Newsome: 21:03 [laughter] Yes, exactly. All right. So, street food, anything more you want to add for people so that they can really get a good sense of street food in Hanoi? Corrin Carlson: 21:15 Yeah, absolutely, I would love to talk about a few more. Another dish that I would say, is a standout in Hanoi is called: Phở Cuốn. Instead of the Phở noodles that we know that they're skinny and long, it's the same noodle, just not cut up. So, it's going to look like a sheet of noodle, the same thickness. It's laid out flat. And then inside is posed, usually roasted beef, lettuce, and coriander and then it's rolled up. So, it creates this nice little roll. And it's served with dipping sauce. So that dish also originates in Hanoi. There's a great little island, or tiny little neighborhood on Hồ Tây called Trúc Bạch. And this is the birthplace of this dish, Phở Cuốn. So, when you're driving around Hanoi, you'll find often that you'll be on a street, and you'll look at the street, and you'll realize that all of the restaurants on the street, or all of the shops on the street are selling the exact same thing. 22:20 That's just how the Vietnamese view competition. It's like, 'Well, if my competitor has clients that are coming here to buy Phở Cuốn, then if I'm here with Phở Cuốn, some of them will come to me, rather than being spread out.' So, for example, when you go to Trúc Bạch, all you have to do is cross the bridge onto Trúc Bạch islands, and entire street that you drive down is packed with Phở Cuốn restaurants all the way down, probably 10 on each side. And you can really walk into any of them, there'll be slightly different and have a few different things on the menu or cooking that's a little bit different. But more or less, it's the same food, the same ingredients. And so,it's fun to be in those places and look around and be surrounded by the same things. Kerry Newsome: 23:06 And I think if you use the advice, I had from someone recently, I spoke to about food in Hawaii, he said, "A good way to pick a restaurant is to pick it by their menu." So, if they have a very big menu, like an extremely extensive menu, then he said, "You can figure yourself that they're not going to be able to cook all of that fresh or super fresh." So, it's more looking for the restaurants or street vendors, that have got a very small menu, because it's what they focus on. And it's certainly going to be the freshest and made that day. And just something else I thought mentioning, some places- correct me if I'm wrong here Corrin, is that sometimes it's all gone by like 10 o'clock in the morning, that day. Because, if I'm sort of getting up from having a lazy day, and I want to mooch and have something later. I go to some places, and they've sold out. Because the Vietnamese are very early morning people and breakfast and getting up early to meditate or go for a walk or that sort of thing. They then are having their breakfast quite early. So sometimes the Phở is all gone early. So, it's not necessarily a dish that you have in evening or whatever. It's earlierin the day, would you say? Corrin Carlson: 24:40 Yeah, definitely. And it's interesting. I would say that each Phở restaurants, it's unless one of the really well-known popular ones. Usually, it'll serve through one meal. So, like you said, they wake up at 4am, they'll prepare their Phở and then it'll be done by 9am, or there'll be a lunch spot or there'll be a late at night spot, for like people who are getting off work late at night. And that's very common for a lot of different dishes and street food that you'll find in Hanoi as well. Kerry Newsome: 25:13 Yes. When you were mooching around and picking places, how did you pick places that you decided to try and then ultimately record on your Instagram or TikTok page? Corrin Carlson: 25:27 Yeah, I asked a lot of friends, both foreigners and Vietnamese for their recommendations. And I stalked Instagram so hard, and I would save posts from other people that I followed, who were Vietnamese foodies, and places that I wanted to try, or dishes that I wanted to try, and I could try elsewhere. Even just searching through hashtags like #HanoiEats or #FoodieHanoi, #HanoiFoods, those gave me a lot of ideas about what to eat. And honestly, I am a very adventurous person, which was why I decided doing the "Plates of Hanoi" and photographing these things was a good thing for me to do, because I'll eat anything. But I know some people want to learn about it first. 26:14 What I can definitely say to you in Hanoi is, there's a lot of these staple dishes. They're very neighborhood based when it comes to the street food. So, there'll be a great Phở spot on the street. And on the next street, there'll be another great Phở spot, and there'll be a little bit different. But neither of them is bad. What I would say, as a tourist in Vietnam, especially, is, learn some of the names of these dishes, do just a little bit of research about what they look like and what they are. And then as you're walking around the city, and you see a Phở restaurant, or you see a Bún Chả restaurant, you're like, "Hey, I know what that is. It's not the place that I was planning to go based off a recommendation, but it looks good, it looks busy, I'm going to go in." And you're guaranteed to have a great meal, even if it's not the original location that you wanted to visit. Kerry Newsome: 27:07 I agree, and I think if you see a lot of Vietnamese at a restaurant, that's always a good tip. Corrin Carlson: 27:19 One thing that is so much fun, and I think maybe not a lot of tourists do it. There is a street in Hanoi, which is called Chicken Street. And you can look it up on Google Maps. And it won't say Chicken Street, it will point you to the actual Vietnamese name, but it is a street that is just like the Phở Cuốn street where every restaurant on that street selling one thing, this street is all selling Barbecue Chicken and Barbecue ribs, pork ribs, pretty much. Each restaurant will have a slightly different variation, but pretty much all the same things. And it's only a nighttime activity, mostly people will go as couples or they'll go with groups of friends, they order beer, they order, grilled chicken, and grilled ribs and grilled Bánh Miến, it's just like a super fun night out. Each restaurant will have their own hot sauce recipe that they're well known for. That's right Hoàn Kiếm. And it is always a great meal. Just like you said before, go to the ones that have some people but it kind of depends on the night. Sometimes my favorite is pretty quiet, even though, it is a very popular place. But I've never been disappointed on that street. I definitely recommend it to anyone who eats meat. Kerry Newsome: 28:39 I mean, I know we're talking about all the good things about food in Hanoi. Are there any things that you would warn people out about like, maybe stay clear this and that. Because sometimes, in the media, it plays up a lot of negative things like dog and pigeon, and things like that. So maybe we need to talk a little bit about that, just to give people perspective. Corrin Carlson: 29:05 So, right Kerry, I get asked about dog all the time when I'm not in Vietnam by people who are wondering about the cuisine there. And it's something I'm super happy to just put to rest and lay out for people as well because I know it's something that foreigners and tourists worry about. So typically, and traditionally in Vietnamese cuisine, dog meat was actually something that was very expensive, and was only eaten on special occasions or on special group outings with friends. So, it's never a meat that you are going to accidentally end up with in any of your dishes, ever. Kerry Newsome: 29:41 Correct. Corrin Carlson: 29:42 Unless you're maybe out with a big group of Vietnamese people. It's a very special occasion. I've heard, one or two people out of hundreds- It's just not common. But one or two people say to me, I went out, I ate this meat. I thought it was very good. And then the next day I found it was dog, but that was just because they were out maybe with their business partners or something like that. So the only times that you would come across this meat- sometimes you will see places in Hanoi selling dog meat, but it's actually becoming very unpopular now, because the younger generation have really grabbed on to the idea of dogs as pets, which the older generations used dogs more as guard dogs and less so much as pets. So that mentality is changing in the big cities. If you go to a smaller city, you might see a little bit more of it. But again, it's expensive, and it's very well marked. So, it's not something that you're ever going to accidentally consume. Kerry Newsome: 30:38 Yeah, and I'm really glad you've put it that way. Because I think that's the fear and the uneducated- that don't know about it. And it's not commonly spoken about on any social media, but it's important, I think to address that it's just not going to land on your plate accidentally. 30:55 This is where we're going to finish part one of Hanoi, A Foodie's Paradise. Join me for part two of my interview with Corrin Carlson in the next episode, where we talk more about what to look for in Hanoi for food, and taste sensations. And let's check out where those fabulous tips are from Corrin. Stay tuned to What About Vietnam and follow us on our Facebook , Instagram and Pinterest pages. 31:27 Before we let you go, I thought I would introduce you to a new Cooking Class and Market Tour that's now featuring on the WhatAboutVietnam.com website. It's based in Hanoi. So, after we've been chatting about Hanoi and some of the great foodie experiences, I thought this was a great one to remind you about. What's wonderful about this is, the class is with Chef Duyen. I've done the class with her she's absolutely fabulous, great personality, what she doesn't know about cooking our food, the markets will just blow you away. What's exceptional about this tour and the opportunity to learn from her is that she brings her class now into her own home. So,you get to meet her family. You get to just hear about how food is a big part of Vietnamese culture, their family life and social upbringing. You should try all kinds of cooking classes in Vietnam, but I hope you're going to enjoy this one in Hanoi with the Chef Duyen. Please check it out in WhatAboutVietnam.com , on the Offers page . Until next time, I wish you happy travels in Vietnam. Please rate, review and send us your comments. Follow us on facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/whataboutvietnam Follow us on Insta here - https://www.instagram.com/whataboutvietnampodcast/ Follow us on LinkedIN here - https://www.linkedin.com/company/what-about-vietnam/ YOU TUBE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCavCC1--oE5rUhO_SlENmqw Stay tuned for more in Part 2.

S5-E26 Wellness Tourism in Vietnam S5-E26 Wellness Tourism in Vietnam Episode 26 S5-E26 Wellness Tourism in Vietnam 00:00 / 49:33 If you've ever felt put off by wellness retreats that seem more like boot camps — all strict schedules, silent meals, and mandatory sunrise yoga — then this episode is for you. Join me as I broadcast from the tranquil grounds of Namia River Retreat in Hoi An, (link below), where wellness takes on a much more inclusive, luxurious, and deeply personal meaning. In this episode, I sit down with Michelle Ford, GM of Namia and CEO of Lumina Wellbeing, and Dien Pham, Director of Sales and a holistic wellness practitioner in her own right. Together, we unpack what wellness travel really looks like in Vietnam — and why it's gaining serious momentum. We talk: • Why Hoi An is fast becoming a wellness destination (think: hair baths, vitamin C IV drips, traditional herbal therapy, and infused spa treatments that actually relax you) • The evolving post-pandemic demand for retreats that prioritise well-being without the rigidity • What makes Namia’s approach to wellness more about "Inclusive wellness" and less about rules (link at end). • Why travellers are sleeping better here — and not just because of the mattresses • And how Vietnam is carving out its own path in wellness tourism, distinct from its Southeast Asian neighbours Whether you’re curious about wellness travel, craving a proper reset, or just want to explore Vietnam in a way that nourishes your mind and body — this episode has something for you. Tune in now to hear how Vietnam is redefining retreat life — without being hard core. https://namiariverretreat.com/ Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

ffec553b-eb28-4811-bb2e-1d4e55c50e8bIn all the natural beauty and culture you can find yourself What About Vietnam - Series 2 – 17 What about a holiday that ended up being a life changing experience? Xin Chao and welcome to what about Vietnam? I hope you've been enjoying the series I have recorded talking to local health and wellness practitioners in Vietnam. It's an evolving area of travel experience in Vietnam and while in many ways Vietnam uniquely can offer wellness and the opportunity to build a healthier and stronger body and mind just by luring you to its shores. Because of its natural landscapes, fresh food and warm culture….. It still has a way to go to meeting the demands and expectations of the western travelers, especially those that are well-versed in true wellness and therapeutic wellness systems. But it's people like my guest today, I think who will be at the forefront of this kind of development in Vietnam. I'm really delighted to be talking with Michell Ford from luminarylife.com, the business designing life-changing experiences. Talking with Michell, you will get a sense of her devotion to this area in Vietnam, her and her team. Originally from Cape Town, she tells me she came to Vietnam for one year and has stayed for 15. Michell comes with a very in-depth resume on the wellness project development space. Having brought on ambitious wellness concepts and bringing on six hotels with a very high-quality bespoke spas and treatment centers. It is the collective knowledge of how and where this industry is heading in Vietnam. But I'm hoping it will help you better understand how to navigate and how to choose what's right for you, be it the right location, type of treatment and practitioner. When you see a promotion for wellness, health benefits, therapeutic centers, things like that,..... I hope after this episode, you are going to be a little bit more the wiser. Vietnam is destined to be a hot destination in the future for wellness, as we transition through COVID and begin to heal collectively as a community and as individuals. Because I know Vietnam in my heart has so much to offer. I wanted to get Michell's take on how to go about finding the right place for you, what to look for. So please welcome Michelle to the program. Michell Ford: Actually, when I arrived in Vietnam, there was no wellness at all. So, I kind of grew into it with Vietnam and so I think it was an interesting part of my own growth process and a way, at the same time, to see how it's growing in Vietnam. And because it was such an exciting new field for this area, I was really interested in taking that further. That's really how I started to explore it with Vietnam, I would say. Kerry Newsome: And from looking at your experience Michelle, you kind of, if I could use the term, cut your teeth, in hotels and trying to bring that experience into hotels, which haven't traditionally been very good at that. Michell Ford: So, yes working in hotels, very often the hotels are looking at wellness from a different frame, or from a different perspective. When a client's looking for wellness, they're really looking for what problem you're solving. They are not looking for what accommodation and inclusions are in the package. And so hotels are traditionally creating from the experience level to say, this is the experience I'm creating for you. So that is what we saw to be quite a challenge. And in addition, you need so much more expertise in wellness to build a frame like that and to bring the right people together, to be able to solve that problem for the clients. So that's really where we, through experience in the hotel side, I could really see how we needed to bridge the gap because this was not existing in Vietnam as such. Kerry Newsome: And I think if I draw my own experience in earlier years, I think Vietnam sort of thought, ah look we can just put on a gorgeous hotel with all luxury experiences within the hotel, as in, you know, by the pool and all that ambiance that goes with that. Provide massage treatments and kind of that's it!! Michell Ford: Right. Kerry Newsome: And I think, what I've seen, and what's good to talk to you about is the evolution of wellness and retreats, and retreats that are becoming more focused and more specialized. Would you agree? Michell Ford: Definitely. I think traditionally it was easy to add on just that one thing or the other. But I think going forward, Vietnam risked “wellness washing” if we keep doing that. I think it's time to stop that and that's why we really feel we need to spend a lot of time in-depth to develop those programs. In addition, there's a lot more expertise in Vietnam. In the beginning, yoga was pretty new here and that is how it started. But Vietnamese themselves and the experts that are here, the expertise is much broader. You're able to develop stronger wellness programs than what we could in the past too. Kerry Newsome: You've decided to put roots down in Vietnam and obviously extend your skills in this area to hotels and your own center. What happened next? Michell Ford: What happens next? So basically, we have two parts at the moment. We're doing one, which is a wellness consulting and management, where we offered this exact support to hotels. We can help them build their full wellness program and we can help them integrate it into the hotel if we manage it as well. We really develop targeted programs specific for their destination and their skills and make sure that all the parts are aligned in the resort to offer that. And in the other branch that we're following, due to seeing that there will be this growth of wellness retreats in Vietnam, we've built an online retreat platform, kind of booking.com for wellness. Kerry Newsome: Okay. Michell Ford: And what we have done is, we're busy curating, we're supporting the hotels to develop the programs that they sell on there. We provide that advisory and we're categorizing it really in detail so that clients can find what they need. And thirdly we actually are setting up a call center with wellness coaches so that clients really can see, okay, I'm coming to Vietnam, this is what I want to do, how can I find what I want to do? What places would you recommend to me if I want you to do this, or I don't want to do that. So that we can really give them that level of support they need. Kerry Newsome: Well, that's sort of speaks to where I was heading with this. This time with you in this interview, which is really trying to help travellers navigate this space. As you said, Vietnam is not really known for being well-managed, if that's the best word. And just finding a hotel and thinking that that's going to be the be end and all end is not the solution. So, if I'm a traveller and I'm sitting in some part of the world right now, and I'm thinking, I'd love to go to Vietnam to experience a wellness retreat. I've been in lockdown, I need to reboot, to re-energize. How would you advise someone in planning a trip to Vietnam on that basis? Michell Ford: At the moment, the resources are still a bit limited for them. Of course, they would be looking at some retreat platforms on Google, and they would start to explore what specific niche that they want to focus on. If they want to do yoga or they want to do transformational healing it might be two completely separate things. In Vietnam, it's not always consolidated under one umbrella. For example, you could stay in Hoi An, very comfortably, and then you could work with all the practitioners and healers in the area and join the classes. Or there are some niche retreats, but they're also generally not always available. It seems a little bit by calendar basis. So, it's a little bit harder to navigate as you say. Kerry Newsome: Yes and... Michell Ford: Sorry, from our perspective, with our platform that we're developing, we're really helping guests with that by creating a wellness spectrum. We say on the beginning of the spectrum is this “recreational level” where you want to trek, or you want to go cycling. You just want to relax and enjoy your time with a little bit of these wellness activities, the spa, a bit of yoga. Then we look more at an “experiential level”, where the wellness starts to go deeper, where there is a bit of a formalized program around it and so on. Michell Ford: Then there's this “transformational level” where you really want to be on a specific program for a specific outcome. For example, the detox program. And then we have an immersion program where you really want to get, let's say 30 days really deep into meditation, or really deep into yoga where you're really going on that full educational and immersive program. I think if you know where you want to be on that already, it's easier as a starting point. Kerry Newsome: And what do you think Vietnam brings to the table? Tell us what makes a retreat in Vietnam more attractive than anywhere else? Let's say. Michell Ford: I think Vietnam has some natural resources for that. I think the nature and the diversity throughout the country and the options that you could choose. Because nature is obviously a big part of how you immerse yourself and wellness, so beautiful destinations for that. The people are just that genuine and offer a nurturing care that you just don’t get in many places. So just feeling loved and nurtured and cared for in everything. And certainly, obviously the food is almost naturally healthy. You're already naturally eating, let's say a semi plant-based meal plan while you're here as well. So that's kind of the easy entries which laid a solid foundation for a wellness program. Kerry Newsome: Exactly. Now, something that you talk a lot about in your services and certainly your expertise extends into this area. And I'm going to bring up the subject wellness ecosystem. Can you talk to us a little bit about that because I think sometimes people get a little bit miffed by a lot of the language? Michell Ford: Right. Kerry Newsome: And it becomes very academic around simple things. And there are some trendy words that are being bantered around and they might say it on the brochure, but they don't actually deliver it if you know what I mean. Michell Ford: Yeah. Kerry Newsome: Talk to us a little bit about, and explain for everyone listening, just what's in a wellness ecosystem, both for yourself personally, and in the bigger picture. Michell Ford: So, we implement that on all levels of our business. We can say there's a wellness ecosystem globally, but there's also a wellness ecosystem in our business and there's a wellness ecosystem within us. It's in principle that theory that what we do micro is the macro, it is the seed to the macro. From our business perspective, in the wellness ecosystem, we really want a good balance of what the client needs how the practitioners fit into that and who they are and how they're supported in their work and also what the hotel brings. What are the hotel facilities available? What can the staff provide? And we really build the program as an ecosystem around that. Kerry Newsome: Can you tell me Michell, a time you have attended a wellness retreat in Vietnam. And tell us about that experience. Michell Ford: In Vietnam, to be honest, because I've been here for most of it, I tended to go out for my wellness retreats at that time. It's always the opposite of what you have. Yes, so let's see in Vietnam, I haven't specifically done wellness retreats, but really much more wellness. I'm very specific on picking specialists. I really enjoy working with wellness specialists, so I might not have picked a retreat in Vietnam at that time, but I would travel to a location and search out the best wellness specialists in that area and work with them. Kerry Newsome: And that's a good point to raise in the sense that some people think there's only one choice, which is, if I want wellness, I have to kind of go away and lock myself down to a hotel or resort or a center for two or three days. Where, what you're saying is the traveler's got the option to find specialists and we've talked about Hoi An and Danag and kind of the central region, Hue,I know also has some, nice venues for that. But being able to find and recruit or get the services of specialists in particular modalities and whether that's yoga, whether that's reiki, whether that's hypnosis or whatever. Talk to us a little bit about the options with that, because that's not something that people would normally think about Vietnam in that sense. Michell Ford: Right. You know, even if you pick up a private yoga teacher here, you could do your daily beach classes. You can go onto the beach and have morning yoga every day by yourself. Having a private teacher like that, you can really go a little bit more into the depths of why are you doing the sunrise salutation, and what does it mean for you. It can work on your posture during that. So very practical that you learn through the process. But it really depends on what you're looking for because if you're doing that, you almost need to be able to already know a little bit of what you want and what you need. I would say, if you're really more coming into wellness or you really have a serious issue that you want to work on, whether it's medical or mental or whatever it might be, I would say it's really good to go on a structured program where people can guide you and advise you. But if you've already been through some of those and you enjoy it and you kind of know which areas you want to work on, you can do this more freestyle, if I can put it that way. Kerry Newsome: Yes. And I think, as you say with Vietnam growing into this space, I mean, I try to think about Vietnam as having so many places to offer it. But would you think that central Vietnam would be the best region to focus on? I mean, or is it also available in the North and the South as well? Michell Ford: I would say definitely this region is really strong for it. It's got all the tools available, both in Hoi An and Da Nang. There are a lot of really good practitioners in the area. A lot of venues you can join, a variety of classes and different studios, a lot of plant food restaurants or vegan cafes so it is definitely easy here. There is definitely also a part of it more towards like Sapa area, if you want to get more into the treking side. There are some of that too, but maybe a little bit less specialists, but more immersion into nature and that experience. Kerry Newsome: Michell to put aside an amount of time to devote to a retreat or whatever, what would you recommend is a good amount of time to invest in that? Just how much should you allocate? Because people get, I think a bit thinking they're self-indulgent or they're going on a holiday and they're going off into a retreat and they get a bit guilty about that. Michell Ford: Yes. That's something we come across often, there are people that say I'm a little bit guilty to do that. But it's really by you being able to do that you can give the best of yourself to everyone around you. You really have to see it as being of service to everyone around you, as opposed to feeling guilty that this is only for you because it's not only for you. You're impacting everyone around you when you come back. For the time period, there isn't a fixed time because it really depends on what you want. If you're super-stressed and really just want to come down from that, or if you really have serious medical issues and need to cleanse your body, it might take 21 days compared to a three-day relaxation. I think, it really comes down to what you want out of it and then build back how much time you need as opposed to the other way around. Kerry Newsome: And I think these came up in the other parts of the series that I put together with some other practitioners. The first question kind of has to be to yourself, as in what you want to get out of it. Michell Ford: And think in terms of what do you want to change in your life, because sometimes you don't even know what you need to get out of that to change. You can be quite practical to say what you want to change or shift in your life and then how can I do that? Where can I go? How long do I need? Kerry Newsome: I can't talk about this subject without bringing COVID into it because obviously COVID has affected us all. So, talking to that, how has COVID changed your business and your attitude in this space? Talk to us about that. Michell Ford: To be honest, the wellness business is in the right place at the right time. Kerry Newsome: I was going to say. Michell Ford: I think there's not someone that has come out of COVID without more awareness around wellness and what that means to them. And that would maybe be physical because of the immune system and the fear of what's coming there, but it may also be totally a mental around anxiety and stress. And it may be wellness around relationships because we were stuck together in a small apartment, 24/7. It kind of highlighted whatever wellness needs we have right now and brought that to the front to say, okay I really need to work on this. So this is what I want the change in my life to be. I think it's really supported people to find this path for them and which one is the priority as well. Kerry Newsome: And one question that comes up for me with people who follow me and talk to me, is just about how Vietnam faired through COVID and what assurances can they get that Vietnam is safe to travel and to travel in this wellness space? Michell Ford: Vietnamese has been really amazing at handling this, so we had basically zero deaths if I'm not mistaken. We have no transmissions anymore for four months already. They've been so proactive and I think the other part of it is Vietnam is a really community driven society. We see that people do things for the greater good of others. It wasn't just, I don't want to wear my mask, so I won't. It was knowing that if we wear our masks, we support other people as well. If we take care, if we self-isolate, it's really much more a community focused society in general. Vietnam was very strict, if they found a case, they traced four levels of contact and they were very specific to say what those levels were and they published the person's itinerary for the period before they travelled. When they published that you could also see, oh goodness I was in that area, so I need to self-isolate. They were very transparent with that, so it was very easy to see. And they themselves were tracing where it went and would basically follow to quarantine people to disinfect areas that were involved. After the second rise up in Da Nang they basically quarantined everybody and they tested every single person. So proactive to really jump on there and get it going. The big thing that we felt here, we always felt it was under control, it was in good hands. Decisions were being made, if they were tough, that was fine we understood that. And at the same time, we felt safe. We didn't have that same collective fear going on here and because of that we can pretty much live our lives here already which we're so fortunate for. So really, as a destination for traveling, I would say Vietnam should be on the forefront of anyone's radar as the first place to travel because of its safety. Kerry Newsome: And that's kind of a little bit how I feel as well. I mean, I was there in March, and I got out just in time to get back to Australia before they shut the doors kind of thing. And I was in a bit of a state of denial I have to say at the beginning. Michell Ford: I know, I think we all were a little bit, we didn't realize just how big this would become and what global impact, it would have. Kerry Newsome: Exactly. But I think where the future of travel is heading is definitely where countries have managed it well, and I think Vietnam has shown the world just how jumping on it quickly and quite strictly. And, I think the part is, as you said when they were publishing people's itineraries. Coming from a country where privacy is such an issue and things like that, that was kind of all blown out the door, you know? Lists everywhere of where people were, so as you say, they could say, yes, I was in that coffee shop or, I was attending that tour or things like that. So, whilst we might've not agreed in all their approaches. Michell Ford: Right. Kerry Newsome: I think as a community, as you say, everyone did support it and get behind it and it's achieved the success, it has. Michell Ford: Yes, yes. Kerry Newsome: Michelle just lastly, I just want to maybe steer the conversation to the time of year in Vietnam and you've been belted with some terrible typhoons of late. I mean, we're sitting here in November. Would you suggest there's a better time of the year to come? To do something like this in the area of self-healing and wellness. Michell Ford: Let's say specifically in the central region, it's really lovely all the way from April to let's say September. Kerry Newsome: Hot. Michell Ford: Very hot when you start to get to July and August, but you are guaranteed sunshine. Kerry Newsome: Absolutely. Michell Ford: It really depends on what you like, but of course in rainy season, with wellness it's not as important because if you're coming on in something for transformation and you've got your program, it's not really as important as the weather as well. But for sure, much nicer in the spring, summer months. Kerry Newsome: And do you have some recommendations for places that people might consider to come to do a wellness retreat? Michell Ford: We have a few practitioners in Hoi An that are running wellness retreat programs, shorter programs, for example, Victoria Wellness, she's running some. Vietnam Detox is running some and we have two projects coming up next year that will run in this region full programs as well. Kerry Newsome: Okay. And any actual hotels that you've been involved with that you can speak to from personal experience that you worked on, that you would advocate. Michell Ford: In the area at the moment, most of the wellness is still more experiential relaxation-based. I would say at the moment, there's not one that has really moved forward to more of the transformative space. But of course, the one we're working on now, we're hoping to launch in February or March. We would have to share that with everyone soon. Kerry Newsome: Okay. Great. Well, I can put those links in the episode notes for sure. Michell, thanks for being on the program. And I look forward to seeing you in Vietnam hopefully soon. Michell Ford: Yes, please. I think Hoi An needs it as well, everyone's businesses and livelihoods somehow depend on it too. Kerry Newsome: Absolutely. Thanks, Michell. OUTRO: 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.

S5-E4 Exploring Living and Working in Vietnam S5-E4 Exploring Living and Working in Vietnam Episode 4 S5-E4 Exploring Living and Working in Vietnam 00:00 / 51:03 Welcome to another exciting episode of The What About Vietnam Podcast. In today's episode, we're diving deep into the world of expat life in Vietnam, shedding light on the importance of doing your homework before taking the plunge into this vibrant Southeast Asian nation. Vietnam is a country that's been capturing the imaginations of many with its rich culture, stunning landscapes, and a rapidly growing economy. But, before packing your bags, it's crucial to consider the vital aspect of due diligence. Our guest today, Kate Boardman, an experienced expat in Vietnam, shares invaluable insights on the need to verify job opportunities and ensure that you meet the legal requirements for working in the country. The last thing you want is to encounter legal troubles or job scams. However, it's not all cautionary tales in this episode. Vietnam's expat landscape is changing rapidly. The rise of digital nomadism has opened up new avenues for professionals to explore Vietnam while working remotely. With its booming tech industry and dynamic startup scene, Vietnam has become a hotspot for those looking to combine work and travel. Kate takes us through their journey, highlighting the incredible opportunities this evolving expat scene offers. From sipping Vietnamese coffee in Hanoi's quaint cafes to exploring the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City, there's so much to discover in this diverse country. So, if you're considering a move to Vietnam or are simply intrigued by the idea of combining work with wanderlust, this episode is a must-listen. Join us as we uncover the nuances of becoming an expat in Vietnam, emphasizing the need for due diligence while celebrating the exciting possibilities that this dynamic nation has to offer. Tune in now! Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

d59e28f5-0a3c-4568-9a04-64cd21ec51a6 A sun kissed paradise with amazing experiences. What About Vietnam - Series 3 -17 Mui Ne - Beach bliss, kitesurfing and sand dunes Kerry Newsome: 00:01 Xin Chào and welcome to What about Vietnam! 00:04 Ho! Ho! Ho! 00:06 Guess what? We are nearly there once again. I wanted to take this opportunity as we wrap up for 2021, to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I'm truly grateful to everyone that subscribes to the program, writes reviews, that pops in and send me messages that is really supportive of the program as it's a labor of love, I love doing it, and I get to meet some wonderful people as a result. 00:44 I am hoping that I'm going to see you in Vietnam in 2022. Things are looking very positive for that to happen, at least in the second quarter as a tourist with all the freedoms that we were accustomed to prior to the pandemic. 01:03 We're going to wrap up this year with a destination episode. 01:09 Our destination for today is "Mui Ne ". 01:15 If you Google "Mui Ne ", you'll see all these pictures of crazy sand dunes, dune buggies, kite surfing and beautiful beaches. It's just a little place of contrasts but more known for its beautiful beaches and an opportunity to really chill out and relax. 01:38 I'm joined today by the lovely Nikki Cornish. 01:41 Nikki Cornish was the General Manager of Sailing Club in Mui Ne. I caught up with her as she was taking up a new role with the Sailing Club Leisure Group in Halong Bay, but she was great to come on the program to talk about Mui Ne. She originally came there in 2018. She had an extensive background in the hospitality industry and was thrilled to take up that role as General Manager of Mui Ne. So, she's been there since then. she comes with, two sets of eyes, one as a tourist and one as a local and an expat. She shares with us some great insights about the location, which I think you'll all find really handy to know about because it is a destination that's 4 hours out of Ho Chi Minh City, but very popular with long haul travelers who are looking for just a bit of respite before that long journey home. 02:44 I hope you will have a fantastic 2022. Please continue to follow the program as I do really appreciate it and I've got some great guests lined up for next year to talk about some really cool stuff to do, and some great places to talk about. Vietnam is just one of those places that just keeps opening up to so many different things you wouldn't even believe and that makes it exciting and revealing all at the same time. 03:21 So, Nikki, welcome to What about Vietnam! Nikki Cornish: 03:25 Great. Morning, Kerry. Thank you! And thank you very much for having me. Kerry Newsome: 03:28 Tell us a little bit about Mui Ne and what we're seeing there? And is it all true? Nikki Cornish: 03:35 Absolutely! Mui Ne is a beautiful little and beach resort town, on the southeast coast of Vietnam. It's about two hundred kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City and it's idyllic. We can get away for guests that are coming from Ho Chi Minh or from around the southern areas or wherever else they may be coming through from in Vietnam. It is also a beautiful beach destination for international travelers as well. 04:05 The pictures that you see of the beaches on the sand dunes, it's all there and it's just so beautiful beach destination, somewhere you can really just get away from everything. Very simple life, but beautiful surroundings, especially if you like the outdoors or being on the coast, then Mui Ne is a perfect destination. Kerry Newsome: 04:34 What challenged me was when I first saw pictures was, "How does a beach resort sit alongside sand dunes? " It looks like the deserts of Arabia in some of those images. So maybe explain to us a little bit about how one part of that location relates to the other? Nikki Cornish: 05:00 Mui Ne is known as actually one of the sandiest areas in Vietnam or urban area with the prolific amount of sand. Mui Ne is mainly made up of a strip of resorts and restaurants that sort of tourists section. Then you do have the sand dunes, but they are short drive away. So as an example, the white sand dunes are about forty kilometers away from our resort and the red dunes are about twenty kilometers, but you will see them even as you drive down the coastal roads and driving in and around Mui Ne, you can see just off the coast a lot of sand, a lot of the sand dunes. It's almost like a little mini desert set up, but you don't really feel that because you're obviously on the coast and then it's very tropical as well. Kerry Newsome: 05:52 I think you and I spoke about the fact that you can go and visit these sand dunes. So, what would be a typical kind of outing to visit the sand dunes? Nikki Cornish: 06:03 The sand dunes, the red and white sand dunes are one of the most popular tours and attractions to go and see in Mui Ne. There's also the fishing village which is very popular because Mui Ne is based on local fishermen, that's how majority of the locals actually make their livelihood, support, and feed their families. So, you have the fishing village and then there's another small and tourist attraction called the "Fairy Stream". The Fairy Stream is basically a beautiful little stream, ankle deep water that you walk through and as you're walking through it, you go through like a mini canyon and you can see the different red and white sands on the walls of the canyon. You keep walking through and eventually at the end you do get to a little waterfall. 06:55 So, we have them at Sailing Club, we offer a really great tour, it's about four hours, we take you out with one of our trusted tour guides who is obviously fluent in English and in Vietnamese. And you go off to the sand dunes in the morning either for sunrise or sunset, you go and visit the fishing village and obviously the fishing villages is best to go first thing in the morning. So, you can actually watch the fishermen come off the water, see their catch. We take you through to the red dunes after that and then around to the Fairy Stream to end off. So, it's a great morning or afternoon tour where you can actually experience all those attractions within one tall. The sand dunes there, they always recommend doing either a sunrise or sunset tour because of scene, it always makes things a lot more picturesque and a lot more beautiful. And the tour is open to go to any time of the day. 07:53 When you get to the white sand dunes, you have an option to either go up on a four-wheeler or an open-air jeep. So, they drive you up on the dunes, you can see all the views from there. And obviously from there because of all the different sands and the different colors, it makes it really beautiful to see, as I said, it's like the colors of Mui Ne. Then if you want to do some sort of sand sledging down the dunes, you can, once you've had your photo opportunity moments you've taken in the view that then take it down on the four-wheelers, you do a little bit of a Dune Buggy experience. There is a beautiful little dam at the bottom, you stop off there, and then they take you back and then we continue with the tour to the Fairy Stream and to the red dunes from there. Kerry Newsome: 08:48 As you said it is a sand location, how does that affect the weather in the region? Like is it particularly mostly dry or how does it effect? Nikki Cornish: 08:59 We have such an ideal climates in Mui Ne, it's a microclimate and we're very protected from sort of all the weather elements as well. So pretty much throughout the year, you're going to sit on an average temperature of about 27 degrees Celsius, we do experience a summer and a winter season but the only thing that really changes with that is rain and humidity, in saying that Mui Ne is probably one of the driest regions in Vietnam and when I say dry, for those who know Vietnam, when it rains, there's a lot of rain in Vietnam [inaudible 09:40] to be very wet but the rainfall is very moderate. we don't get a huge amount of rainfall where it affects your stay or affects your travel too much. So, the weather's is beautiful, it's consistent and constant throughout the year and just very pleasant. Kerry Newsome: 10:06 So, in other words, where normally we might recommend different months of the year for other regions of Vietnam, just to adjust, I guess for certain people's likes and dislikes as far it is, in the middle of the year, typically it's extremely hot. So, you're saying that really any time of the year would be a good time to go to? Nikki Cornish: 10:30 It would be and depending on what are your preferences. So, our high season typically runs from end of October to end of April and a few reasons for that. 10:42 One is the weather, it becomes our winter season, which again, you're sitting on sort of 27 degrees so it's not cold at all but during those months, there's no rain, the humidity completely drops or almost completely dissipates and then that is also the season that we get very good wind and I bring that in as a factor because Mui Ne is known as one of the top kite surfing destinations in Southeast Asia. So, it makes it a high season as well because of people who want to come for the kite thing, for windsurfing and other sort of water or wind sports. 11:22 If you had to come from low season, which is now going to be May till mid to end October, you will experience rain and there will be days where the rain will sit in for a day. Usually, after the storm, it all clears, you're back to beautiful blue skies, you will feel the humidity and I would say again, for people that are coming from a weather point of view, then most ideal would be the October to April the high season time and obviously if you are kite surfer, that is definitely the best time to come through. 11:58 For people who don't enjoy such big crowds and actually prefer traveling on offseason then July/August is also ideal. We sort of go through some of the rains or some of the heavy rains which come around sort of May/June, we get very heavy rain and then in September very heavy rain. But that July/August period, which fits in with Australian summer holidays, British summer holidays and the Germans also have them, a long summer break over there. So that has also become quite a popular time offseason to travel to Mui Ne. Kerry Newsome: 12:32 Okay, so I don't know which question to ask you first, should I ask you a bit more about the kite surfing, I'm intrigued because I have a few friends who are into that and they've never kind of really thought about Vietnam as a destination for this and I said, "Well, hang about, I'm going to be talking to this lady who is right I believe in a location that it is a very top priority spot there ”. Nikki Cornish: 12:59 Correct! and things you don't ever see pre COVID, in high season if you look out onto the sea, there's just hundreds of kite surfers out and enjoying the wind, it's very big at Mui Ne and it has a lot of different kite schools. We have our own kite school at Sailing Club as well as "Sailing Club Kite School ", so we offer kite surfing lessons that is from complete beginners to professionals. At any level we have our guides and instructors there to be able to teach you we've got all the equipment. We also offer other watersports, surfing lessons, paddleboarding, kayaking, but it's definitely all about the wind. So, a lot of people will travel to Mui Ne for that six-month period and pertaining to the kite surfing in the windy season. And they will either be coming through as foreign kite surfing instructors, or people that are able to [inaudible 14:03]. It's their passion and they'll come for a whole high season, and they come just to kite surf. There's also been a couple of big kite brands, that come up when they developed their new range and they're ready to launch for the next year, they come through and they do all their photography, and they do their launch in Mui Ne. Kerry Newsome: 14:30 Okay, that's interesting! But traditionally, we said that it's the kind of destination to come to for ultimate relaxation. Like we talked a little bit, about the fact that it's not a place with a heap of attractions. It's ideally a place to relax and chill out. Maybe talk to us about who are your most common visitors? Nikki Cornish: 15:03 I think everyone can agree obviously things have changed quite significantly during the pandemic. 15:10 So, we've got two major sectors, 1. Pre COVID 2. During COVID. So speaking on behalf of our resort and Sailing Club Mui Ne, during and pre COVID, we were very lucky that we had such a broad demographic of guests and visitors come through, a lot of Southeast Asian trade, a lot of European from all over the world we had people come through, and a lot for us, and in our resort were holidaymakers who had a bit of a busy tour or busy trip, and they did just want a couple of days or a week to just relax by the beach, sip on some cocktails, and enjoy really good food by the pool, be looked after pampered, that would be our main stream of guests. 16:04 Now, obviously, during COVID, the domestic market is what we've had to rely on, and we've been very fortunate enough that we have got a very strong and loyal following from people in Vietnam, and particularly in Ho Chi Minh City. So, we have a lot of our regular guests that come through regular return guests that come every sort of two, three weeks, they stay with us for sometimes 2-3-4 weeks, and again, varying very much on people that just want to get away from the city and come and relax. And those who want to kite surf. So, it is a little bit of a mix and it's very dependent on what you do, if you enjoy your kite surfing and those activities, it's all there for you. If you're wanting to just get away, switch off, turn off all your media, your phones, and then sit with a book by the pool and just rejuvenate and recharge. Kerry Newsome: 17:10 Yeah, and I really like that idea of finishing off a trip before you go home, in a place like that because sometimes it can be all rush and you're trying to cover a lot of places. People by the time they end up at the airport to depart for their long-haul flight back to Europe or US or Australia. They're absolutely exhausted, it's probably a good idea to finish off in a place like that because it kind of leaves you with that nice, beautiful feeling rather than that, "Gosh! I wish we'd had more time " kind of feeling. Nikki Cornish: 17:52 Absolutely! We had we had a lot of our guests, especially European and British guests that were booked through certain travel agents in the UK or Europe or wherever they were coming through, their tour was pretty much tailored that they would start up in the north and they would work their way down. Vietnam is such a such a diverse country, for anyone that is or has been to Vietnam, there is so much to see, there's so much to do and as you say literally from when you touch down, it's just go! go! go! because you want to see and absorb as much of what this beautiful country can offer you. As I just mentioned, a lot of our clients in the trip of five day or seven day stay, they're just relaxing. And I said, it was absolutely the best way that they could have done Vietnam because although they enjoyed seeing everything in Vietnam, they did say it was quite intense and I think a lot of people experience that when you come in from another country and you're not familiar with Vietnam, it can come across as a bit of intense and bit busy. And I said, for them it was absolutely the most ideal way of how to structure their holiday and should they return to Vietnam, it's definitely how they would do it again. Kerry Newsome: 19:12 In fact, it's going to be the title of an episode I'm doing in a couple of weeks’ time just about trying to fit everything in a 12 or 14, what we call "a top to bottom tour " versus maybe chunking it down into smaller regions because there is just so much to do, you're up at eight and you're on the bus or you've got a car waiting for you when it is go! go! And I think people do underestimate that movement factor, the heat. Taking that into consideration and you just wanting to be able to really enjoy the place rather than just go there, see it, get back on the bus. so, time becomes a luxury, if you can afford it and we were going to do an episode just on that, and I have a really great guest to do that. Nikki Cornish: 20:12 Brilliant! looking forward to tuning in and listening to that one. Kerry Newsome: 20:19 That also came about when we were talking about the amount of time to give to a stay like this, like, we talked about having a few days, but it sounds like you could easily stay there a week, or that just to take in the environment and to relax and I think you mentioned that you do have some guests that actually stay longer than that. Nikki Cornish: 20:45 Absolutely! We obviously have short stay guests come in sort of one to three nights, those are people that are on a little bit of a tight schedule, they're trying to see as much of Vietnam as they can, and they stay a week or two. 20:59 We have guests that will spend sort of a week with us, and we've had guests that will stay sometimes up to a month with us. So, it's such a great thing for us as well because we obviously get to meet people and travelers from all over the world. People who have different likes and dislikes and so it's always quite fascinating to meet people who come from such different backgrounds and want and needs. You do have the people that just could sit there for a month and just relax, and you have other people that do get a little, but they are the more active peoples they do tend to get a little bit antsy at times that, "What else can we do? And we want to go and see this ." So, it is all a matter of preference and I think the easiest way to put it is that for those who want to travel to Mui Ne, they don't come with the expectation that it is going to be a full-on busy holiday or trip for you. There are some beautiful sights and attractions to see but it's not going to be as busy as a lot of other destinations that you will visit in Vietnam. Kerry Newsome: 22:14 Correct me if I'm wrong, I think the major things that I take away from this is, yes, there are some wonderful photo opportunities, for avid travel photographer, that would be a great destination, as you were saying with the sand dunes. Lots of lovely sunsets and sunrises to take etc. So, all those beautiful pictures, that's how they come about. So, I think for the travel photographer, that's very keen. 22:41 I think, in especially post COVID, I think people are going to really think very carefully about this stay, and what they want to get out of it and so if they are looking for slow travel, or they are looking for maybe just one or two destinations in Vietnam, to take in a trip so that they can have that slow travel and really soak it up and enjoy it. I think also for maybe the more mature traveler, or the solo traveler or people just might want to go away for a bit of a sabbatical away from, as you say, the media, the phones, the whole kind of thing. 23:24 Then you've got your kind of your budget traveler, you've got your sporting traveler, so that if they want to do some water sports or they want an environment to learn some of those watersports. So that's got to be appealing, I guess, as well for maybe young adult families, you've got teenagers, they're always wanting things to do but if they could learn something like a water sport that you suggested, kite surfing, surfing, all of that kind of stuff. It sounds like a great environment for them as well. 23:59 So, maybe just talk to us a little bit about the kind of budget that is good to allow for a stay, maybe a three- or four-night stay from where you are to kind of the other end. Nikki Cornish: 24:15 One of the beauties of Mui Ne is it actually caters to anyone on all budgets, you can find accommodation options in Mui Ne, anyway from sort of $20 a night up to $300/$400/$500 a night. What going into the sort of meeting four- and five-star resorts. Same goes for your sort of food and beverage costs. Vietnam in general, if compared to first of all countries and to the rest of the world, it's is generally very affordable. So especially for people coming from Europe and that when they compare the prices to what they pay in Europe, it is extremely cheap compared to what they're paying over there. 25:07 Again, for the food and beverage, whatever your budget whether you want to enjoy there's a lot of local seafood restaurants and those become very popular and not just because of a price factor but just because it is very much something that is prevalent in Mui Ne with it being a fishing village that has grown into this tourist town, there is actually a section on the strip of Mui Ne, that has all, they're called "Bo Ke Restaurants" , and it's all the seafood restaurants. So, you walk along the strip, and it's just seafood restaurant after seafood restaurant, all the fish and the life tanks, and you go through and you pick and choose what you want, obviously very local, so a lot of the Vietnamese flavors than all the local way. Prices are pretty crazy for beautiful fresh seafood as well as an ultimate local dining experience that you wouldn't be able to experience in many other places of the world. So that is definitely something I would recommend when you're on Mui Ne, definitely go and give one of those seafood restaurants a try. 26:26 For those who do prefer sort of more fine dining, there are some beautiful restaurants, in some of the resorts. Our sandals restaurant, which is the restaurant within our resort is very well known, not just in Mui Ne, but actually in Vietnam, we've got a very good reputation for great food, and beautiful location, great wine list. The only thing I would say that maybe there in terms of pricing, it might be a little bit sort of off kilter when you compare pricing within the rest of Vietnam is maybe sort on your alcoholic drinks, your wines, and cocktails, that's just because they are all alcohols and that are obviously imported into the country. So, you would probably expect to pay maybe not the same as what you would in Europe, but it would be a little bit less, but it's definitely not as cheap as sort of the food side. 27:19 In terms of activities and getting around its very affordable. So, you can tailor make your holiday in Mui Ne to whatever budget you have, I would suggest work with what or decide on what your budget is and then you can work back and find the right accommodation option, the right tool option for you. Kerry Newsome: 27:43 Yeah, I agree. And as you say, I think managing the budget from an alcohol perspective, I'm sure not that I'm a big drinker but it is always the most expensive part of a restaurant bill because the seafood is just so cheap and that they will cook it any way you want it and you're eating that in a restaurant, in a very local environment and it's a very local field. So, you're not paying for white tablecloths and things like that. So, if you do ask for a wine or you do ask, I mean beer is usually pretty cheap. It's more in the wines and things like that. Nikki Cornish: 28:31 Absolutely! so all these sort of local seafood places you will only get beer and is cheap, beer is very cheap. And again, with these restaurants it's a very rustic setting. Kerry Newsome: 28:38 There's nothing flash. Nikki Cornish: 28:47 There's nothing flash about it you are just there for seafood and for the beers. if you're there and you're a beer drinker, it will be very affordable but yes, if you do enjoy your good wines and your sort of high-quality spirits for cocktails then you will expect to pay a little bit more at the resorts and the restaurants that do offer that. Kerry Newsome: 29:07 So, Nikki, before we close up any final tips that you'd like to share with us about the region just so that we come fully prepared? Nikki Cornish: 29:20 I would say, something to definitely take note of is that there is no international airport in Mui Ne at the moment. So, the most popular airport to fly into would be Ho Chi Minh City. And the next closest airport would be Cam Ranh which is just out of Nha Trang. From both airports, it's about three and a half hours, three and a half hours from Cam Ranh and about a four-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City. So, I think that is just definitely something to take into account is the travel time and there's no direct route in there, unless you have come through from another city. 30:05 There is talks that possibly at a later stage an airport might be built, and they are talking about extending this raceway, which will make the travel time from Ho Chi Minh City into Mui Ne a little bit quicker. There is also the train option, the train option is a four-hour train ride from Ho Chi Minh City. A lot of people actually recommend it. They said, it's very comfortable, especially if you hire yourself a private sort of forbid compartment or cabin, especially if you're traveling with children. I know people like to do that because the kids can entertained and have a rest. Kerry Newsome: 30:45 And you can move around. Nikki Cornish: 30:47 Absolutely! So definitely factor in the travel time. Kerry Newsome: 30:52 Yeah, and I've had, a lot of people say they prefer the train because they can get up and move around and they can have some snacks and a cold drink and they don't have to stop the car, the car or a private car definitely is the other way, I think. And the train is much cheaper to get there. 31:15 Look, it's been great to have you on the program and for sharing with us. Your knowledge and your insights, etc. just before I finish, how long has Mui Ne, like being this popular, I've been going back and forth for about 14 years, and it really didn't come up on my radar until about the last four or five years maybe. Nikki Cornish: 31:41 Correct! So, I can't give you a date of sort of when that was and so our resort Sailing Club Mui Ne was built in 2002 and we were the third resort on that strip. So, there was not a lot going on there obviously wasn't a better tourism. And in speaking with the principal of Sailing Club Leisure Group, he said when he first got there, there wasn't even tarred roads, it was very much a dirt road slip with a lot of palm trees and basically Sailing Club was the third resort. And I would say it would have been some sort of probably about mid 2000s that I think, I stand to be corrected on this, but I would say from about the mid-2000s, things sort of started picking up and a lot more development and talks now is that there's going to be huge developments in that area they are talking about building a lot of other big hotels, we are starting to see some of the construction and some of the areas sort of in and around the area. So, I do expect that sort of post COVID There's going to be a lot more hotel options, a lot more resorts and that it is going to expand and grow. Kerry Newsome: 33:04 Do you see any significant changes due to COVID? Nikki Cornish: 33:12 In a positive way like moving forward or negative? Kerry Newsome: 33:16 Positive or negative, do you think they're going to actually change anything specific? Nikki Cornish: 33:23 So, definitely. Obviously from negative side we have seen that Mui Ne which once was such a bustling tourist start, any time of day there would be people walking on the streets and people on bicycles and all the shops and stands on the side of the road and just always so much going on lots of people everywhere. And just a great little resort town bustle going on. Obviously with COVID as a lot of people would have seen an experience that things have obviously got a lot quieter unfortunately, some of the shops and the businesses have had to close temporarily, I do believe that once international travel and that starts coming back, those businesses will be revived. 34:15 I think from a positive notes, I think for the companies or business owners that have a vision for hospitality and for building large scale resorts. This has been a fantastic time for them to be able to come in and to be able to achieve that and prepare ready for when international travel recovers and it's also for those who have wanted to do renovations and get things back on track. it has provided a little bit of downtime to be able to do the necessary, TLC jobs, maintenance, and renovations that people have possibly been planning. Kerry Newsome: 34:59 Yes, and I've heard that for quite a few people, it's been a chance to revive, regenerate and some of the forests and that have had a chance to breathe. We were getting to a stage of over tourism in some areas in Vietnam, just pre COVID. So, maybe tourism, when it does come back on, it's going to come back on a little bit more responsibly and thoughtfully for the environment moving forward. So, that is a positive. I do feel for a lot of the small business owners that have suffered out of this but hopefully they can regenerate also with tourism coming back on. 35:37 Anyway, Nikki, thank you very much for being on the show. It's been great to chat, and I've certainly learned a lot more about it. And I hope everyone listening has as well. Nikki Cornish: 35:47 Brilliant! Thank you, Kerry, thank you for your time and it's been lovely getting to know you through this, and I hope that you have a great rest of your day. Kerry Newsome: 35:56 Thanks very much. Take care. Nikki Cornish: 35:58 Thanks.

6ba55c6c-2c3e-40fb-a5c1-e03d00a8882b8 Tips for Vietnam travellers during TET What About Vietnam – S1- E7 8 Tips for Vietnam travellers during TET Speaker – Kerry Newsome Welcome to the What About Vietnam podcast. Happy New Year everyone. I'm delighted to be back bringing you stories and insights to travel to Vietnam. There is a big year ahead. I have a new program style that I'd like to tell you a little bit more about later in this show. But suffice to say that it's an exciting year ahead and today's program We're going to focus on one very special time in Vietnam, and that's the celebration of Tet. Now, when I talk about Tet, I have eight tips for travelers. Now, these eight tips have been born from my own experience. are actually on the ground. And each time I've gone to Vietnam and found myself in various locations, there's been different things I've learned along the way. And I thought, as much as I could, I'd like to share those with you so that you can, I don't know, respect the tradition for what it is, understand a little bit about what it means for Vietnamese, and plan accordingly. that you don't get disappointed or you misunderstand just what's really going on. But let's kind of just brush over or very kind of very broadly talk about what Tet is all about and what it means to Vietnamese. Largely, I think from my experience, it's about giving, it's about gratitude, it's about paying homage to traditions to a beginning, a new start. It's all about preparing for the new year. It's all about the advent of spring and getting together with people, reaching out to family and preparing your home, preparing your family, clearing off old debts, and really gearing up for a new year. Each year the dates fall on different dates according to the lunar calendar. If you're planning ahead just a few years For 2025 it is January 29th and that will be celebrating the year of the snake and in 2026 it's going to be February the 17th and it's going to be the year of the horse. I've actually gathered a little table together of the future years and the future dates because unless you're aware of how to manage the lunar calendar And because the dates fall differently each year and you want to plan your trips accordingly, then I think this table will be helpful to you. I think for me, the experience of Tet has been twofold. I've been in Vietnam before Tet and I've been there during Tet and post Tet. In each of these time periods you kind of witness a different evolution of TET. Some say when you're talking to people before TET and there's some decisions to be made that literally you either make a decision before TET or after: but nothing gets made in big decisions during TET. Because as I said in the beginning TET is really about paying homage to family and spending quality time with the people that are most important in your life and in particularly your family and friends. And that extends also to teachers and people that you respect in the community. You're going to see a great movement of people in that process. And that begins my, or I guess is a good segue into my eight tips for travelers in Vietnam during Tet. So number one is definitely buy your travel tickets if they fall, if the dates fall during the Tet season. Now, Tet is not just a day. Whilst Tet is about celebrating the advent of spring and all of the things I've just spoken about. It literally can span kind of about eight days minimum, maybe even up to two weeks. And it's very hard to define actually the eight to 14 days as they kind of blur a little bit for people, depending on their jobs, their workplace, their family environment, you know, some people who are Vietnamese who live overseas, they're coming back into the country. So, you know, everybody tries to kind of fit it in a window of time, but it does kind of mishmash, but kind of starting about a week before. So for this year, it's the 10th of February. So about a week before you're going to see some of these preparations happening. and people starting to gear up their travel plans. So, number one is buy your travel tickets. So, your train, your bus and your flights because they will be chock-a-block. So, if you're wanting to move around, you're going to be moving around with, you know, the population of Vietnam all wanting to try and get to their families to celebrate this event. No 1 – Tip - So number one, buy your travel tickets in advance and make sure when you're booking, especially with things like flights, et cetera, that you do get your seat numbers and your allocations. Number two, be early at the airport or bus station or train station. I can't stress enough the need to be a bit of ahead of the game and be prepared for long queues. In this celebration, because there's that beautiful aspect of giving, you're going to see the Vietnamese travelling with a lot of luggage as they're travelling with a lot of gifts. I mean, traditionally you're seeing the red envelopes that are very much a part of the giving process and part of Tet here and in China and in most places that celebrate the Tet celebration. However, you'll also see that families are renewing their houses and they're doing a lot of cleaning and throwing out and renewing and reinvigorating because this is to set the platform, the process for their new year. This is to build confidence in a prosperous, healthy and happy house with their family and friends. No 2 - So, be early at the airport, bus station or train station, expect long queues, be prepared for it. If you can, especially with flights, I would definitely recommend that you go online and check in online. where you have the advantage of an online process, take it, because any way you can cut down on time is going to benefit you. No 3 - Number three, make sure you bring all of your travel documentation with you, confirming all your travel arrangements, your tickets, your accommodation, contacts, and all of that. Now, I say that because depending on what days you're traveling around this Tet season, is that because the staff are generally skeleton staff in a lot of the places, there is less resources on the ground to help you as a traveler to guide your trip in the case that you haven't got this. So I just say to all my travelers, Double, double check you've got all your paperwork, all your documentation, whether it's on your phone, whether it's printed, but you've got access to it easily so that you, I don't know, is it just peace of mind? I think it is. And just knowing that you've got that and you don't need to reach out to people because once again, you might be standing in a long queue to get an answer from somebody to help you through if you haven't got all your documents with you. No 4 - Number four. I don't normally stress this when it comes to Vietnam, but in this time and season, especially as Tet and New Year's Day falls, Don't expect too much activity once the day, the New Year's Day falls. There's a lot of lead up. I personally think that the lead up to Tet is the most exciting. There's just such a vibe in the air. There's an atmosphere. There's also so much color. There's traditions and you can read up about them and I've got some links for you in the notes. but you can read up about what some of the colours mean, the yellows, and you know, you'll see these beautiful kumquat trees, peach blossoms, and they will be lining the streets of your cities and your localities that you visit, leading up to Tet, because every household will want to put some symbolism or an offering to their elders, to their ancestors, express their gratitude. So they will be buying in food, they will be out and about, buying new clothes even to dress their children and themselves in to really celebrate this day. So there's a real, I don't know, anticipation. But once it actually arrives, as in New Year's Day is on the 10th of February, New Year's Eve would then be the 9th, you'll get your fireworks and you'll get all that buzz and all of that celebration on the eve, traditionally, as you would in a New Year's celebration. But once Tet falls that day, in particular in those ensuing days, it's quiet. And one thing I did experience, which I probably would have appreciated if someone had told me about, was that I'm not going to expect a lot of places open. So your hotels and all of your tourist attractions, et cetera, may be closed or may only operate in limited hours. They may even charge extra. And you may find that there's just not a lot of activity in the streets because people are in their homes, they're in their abodes where they can bring together the important people that they love and they can celebrate with. Now, because Vietnam is such an evolving country, not everyone is as old-worldly traditional as each other. And the young, you know, whilst they want to hold on to their traditions, they're probably going to make some adaptations about that. So there will be places open and there will be you know, the chance to get a coffee and things like that, but just not at the usual standard. So once again, for me, when I'm talking to travellers, it's about trying to manage your expectations and not expect on those national holidays in particular, they might not be as much open. No – 5 _Number five, I really would like you to make sure that you check in with your hotel or your homestay about what services they are operating, you know, for meals and just, you know, things like laundry or just what eateries are going to be open on those national holidays in particular, and may extend to things like, you know, your spa center, the gyms, anything that is depicted in your booking that is the standard may not be fully operational during the Tet season and in particular on the public holidays. And as I said, be prepared that in each area, in each location and in each facility or hotel or homestay, they will make their own decisions based on their staff and their ability to accommodate you, they will make their own call on what's available. So be prepared to contact your homestay or contact your hotel ahead of your visit, well ahead of your visit, maybe even two or three weeks or a month ahead to ask them what their plan is during Tet as you will be arriving or you may be staying during that time. and ask them to give you some clarification. Because once again, you may want to buy some snacks or some extra foods, et cetera, especially if you've got families, because that may not be as available for you during that time. I'm not saying it's going to be zero, but it's just not going to be at its optimum levels. No 6 _ The other thing I found during my TET experience was that some places use Facebook as a way of managing and handling their events, their hotels and their restaurants. So I recommend you to reach out to Facebook or Instagram, but certainly Facebook is very strong in Vietnam. And I know I was kind of a little bit on my own in this time period, The hotel was very quiet while it was all open, but I thought, oh gosh, you know, it'd be great if I could get a massage or, you know, a pedicure or something to fill in my time as I was going to be meeting up with some Vietnamese families in the ensuing days. So I reached out to a Facebook page of a place that did run massages and all the rest of it. I knew of them well. And I was very grateful that they were operating. They communicated with me back through Facebook Messenger. They even offered, because the taxis weren't as prevalent, once again, this is another sideline kind of effect of Tet, to come and pick me up if I was willing to be a passenger, a pillion passenger on a bike. So one of their lovely girls arrived at the hotel, picked me up, took me there to the place I had a lovely massage, and then they brought me back. So, Facebook can be your communication tool, for want of a better word, to reach out to some of these places. A lot of the younger staff that work for these organizations do have good to reasonable English, so they're going to be able to communicate with you and get you some information. If they don't respond, then you know, of course, that they are not operating. So that is just one other way to help manage your stay during Tet. No 7 _ Number seven is around expectation of restaurants food quality, freshness and the extension of the menus. One thing I did find was a little bit of a warning from people that because of the movement of people that their standard suppliers may not be in full operational capacity. So their ability to get fresh food in and in particular, you know, seafood and things like that. So they sort of cautioned me to be careful about what I selected to see that the restaurants would probably be offering a much condensed menu and it would be built around what they felt they were most confident in offering. I mean, you know, in In managing this, you're going to have to read the play yourselves when you are out and about. You're going to kind of have to get your confidence from seeing how many people are in the restaurants, just how much staff they look like they're having on board. And, you know, use your common sense where you can to decide where to eat. If you're staying in a hotel, the hotel's going to be very proactive in this way to let you know what is going to be available and you're going to be able to make some decisions there. I mean, personally, it's a good time in my experience to take advantage of the hotel or take advantage of the opportunity to chill out, to relax, to go for some nice long walks, you know, a chance to do some yoga, some just generally chill out. and try to get into their vibe of being grateful and appreciative of life and what's brought you to Vietnam in the first place. So just being aware of the freshness of food and restaurants is my number seven tip. Lastly is to make sure you've got enough cash No 8 _ So my number eight tip is understanding that in the element of closures and organizations that close will be banks. Banks that also fill out the teller machines, et cetera, that are, you know, quite prevalent in Vietnam. So making sure that you've got enough cash with you to get around, buy taxis, do whatever, I think is very important. So once again, I'm saying being prepared is the way to go. So I hope you found these tips helpful and I'm going to just finish off by talking about what's possible in Vietnam post Tet. So once Tet is finished, there's a time where people are enjoying the opportunity to catch up with friends and family and even reaching out to teachers and other principal people in their community that they want to pay respects for. I think you'll find that as Tet finishes, you'll see just a rejuvenation of the location that you're in. And, you know, expressing your gratitude to the people that you're meeting and mixing with, sharing with them some of the favorite foods, the chung cake in the north, the Tet cake in the south, you know, making sure that you express the special greetings that come with Chuc Mung Nam Moi is very appreciative of the Vietnamese. They will love that you have taken the time to understand a little bit about what Tet is about and that you recognize the importance for them, that you're respectful of their time to do this, their dedication to this. And I think you're going to really see a little bit about what the depth of Vietnam is in their cultural traditions and how beautiful they are. I'm going to put a few links in the show notes to help guide you with this. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any further questions and I'm more than happy to help you. If you are trip planning in 2025 and in the coming years, please note those dates for TET. And now that you have this information, I'm hoping that you'll decide whether or not, you know, it is for you to travel in this time period that it It suits you to do so or not. And as I said, it's really up to the individual to decide how they want to play it. For me, I tend to travel usually before Tet or after Tet so that I give the people their due in having Tet because it's really not about us as tourists, in my opinion. It's really about the Vietnamese themselves and giving respect to them for that time. So take that on board, use it as you can and how you will in the future for your trip planning. And I hope you're going to have a wonderful time. That's all we have for today. I look forward to bringing you more travel stories and insights into traveling to Vietnam in future programs. Handy links:- https://nationaltoday.com/tet-holiday/ https://www.asiahighlights.com/vietnam/new-year/date https://www.myvietnamvisa.com/vietnamese-new-year-tet-holiday-dates-animals-food-and-traditions.html Future years table of dates: TET New Year 2025 January 29th Year of the Snake TET New Year 2026 February 17th Year of the Horse TET New Year 2027 February 6th Year of the Goat TET New Year 2028 January 26th Year of the Monkey TET New Year 2029 February 13th Year of the Chicken

0996e913-3e85-43d0-94f7-b082c48fd09aInsights into Vietnam travel beyond 2021 Industry experts share insights on 2021 travel Episode 1 S3-01 Travel Industry Experts 00:00 / 31:40 This is the episode for those people who are finding it hard to know what to believe is really happening with travel developments in this region and what source to trust. Our experts are Gary Bowerman and Hannah Pearson. In this episode, you are going to hear a very frank “no holes barred “ conversation where we take a deep dive into how the impact of Covid is driving travel forecasting, travel bubbles, trends becoming evident in the region, consumer confidence or lack thereof, vaccination roll-out, Visa’s and much more. Download Transcript PDF Read transcript

6ba55c6c-2c3e-40fb-a5c1-e03d00a8882b8 Tips for Vietnam travellers during TET 8 Tips for travel during Tet Episode 7 S1-07 8 Tips for travel during Tet 00:00 / 29:27 Today's episode is particularly special as we delve into the vibrant celebration of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year and what that means for Vietnamese and you as a traveller during this time period. Drawing from my personal experiences in Vietnam, I've compiled 8 essential tips for travelers to help you navigate and appreciate Tet's rich traditions while planning your trip effectively. Tet is a time of giving, gratitude, and family, marking the advent of spring and a fresh start. It's important to note that Tet dates vary each year according to the lunar calendar, with upcoming years being January 29th for 2025 (Year of the Snake), and February 17th for 2026 (Year of the Horse). In this show I highlight my most important tips for travellers to ensure they enjoy their stay during this time and manage their expectations. Here are the TOP 8 tips” 1. Buy Travel Tickets Early: Tet sees a massive movement of people, so secure your travel tickets in advance to avoid being stranded. 2. Arrive Early for Departures: Expect long queues at transportation hubs, as many will be carrying gifts for their loved ones. 3. Carry All Travel Documentation: With skeleton staff during Tet, having all your paperwork in order is crucial for a smooth journey. 4. Manage Expectations: The lead-up to Tet is bustling, but actual Tet days can be very quiet with many places closed. 5. Check Hotel Services: Confirm with your accommodation which services will be available during Tet. 6. Use Facebook for Communication: Many businesses in Vietnam use Facebook to communicate with customers, especially during Tet. 7. Be Cautious with Restaurant Choices: Menus may be limited, and food freshness can vary due to supply disruptions. 8. Ensure You Have Enough Cash: Banks and ATMs may not be operational, so having cash on hand is essential. Find out my own personal advice on how best to manage your travel arrangements. If you do plan your trip to be in Vietnam why not embrace the local customs, try traditional foods like chung cake or Tet cake, and learn a few festive greetings to show your respect and appreciation for Vietnamese culture. For those planning a trip in 2025 or beyond, consider these insights to decide whether traveling during Tet aligns with your preferences. Personally, I prefer traveling before or after Tet to allow the Vietnamese to celebrate this significant time without the intrusion of tourism. For more details and assistance with trip planning, check the show notes or reach out to me directly. Wishing you a fantastic travel experience in Vietnam! Remember, Tet is not just a holiday; it's a profound cultural experience that offers a glimpse into the heart of Vietnam. Whether you choose to travel during this time or not, understanding and respecting the local traditions will undoubtedly enrich your journey. See future years, dates and Zodiac for TET in the table in the gallery. Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

S4-13 Citizen 44 podswap Podswap - Mark Arinsberg interviews Kerry Episode 13 S4-13 Citizen 44 podswap 00:00 / 1:03:12 This show is what we call a Podswap, and it's a great one with Mark Arinsberg from Citizen 44. Mark has kindly allowed me to share the interview with you. I am the guest this time, and in this show I talk freely about how the podcast helped me navigate through Covid in Australia, and my recent trip. Hopefully there are some good takeaways that will help guide your future travels. Time stamps to help you navigate some of the main topics you may find interesting. There will be no transcript with this episode. • 
03.37 - Kerry's version of Hoi An as her location for the interview • 04.40 - Kerry talks about her role in Vietnam • 07.17 - Kerry and Mark talk about the affects of Covid 2020-2021 • 11.19 - Why Mark loves Vietnam • 12.52 - What makes Vietnam such a value for money holiday location? • 14.35 - Mark talks food and how incredible the taste and price is! • 16.00 - Kerry advises how best to take advantage of the Visa situation • 21.23 - Mark talks about Vietnam as a growing economy • 24.48 - Kerry's dentistry story Vietnam • 30.48 - How the podcast kept Kerry going through Covid • 34.36 - Mark's contrasting experience of Covid versus his family in the US • 36.26 - Kerry talks about the growing ties between Australia and Vietnam • 41.47 - Kerry's foodie experiences this trip in Saigon • 46.08 - Mark interviews his girlfriend and they discuss how going vegan saved a mans life. You can find more of Marks shows here -
 https://markarinsberg.substack.com/ You can find Mark's books to purchase here - http://www.markarinsberg.com/ Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here

S5-E6 Explore the ‘Land of Lychees’ – Bac Giang S5-E6 Explore the ‘Land of Lychees’ – Bac Giang Episode 6 S5-E6 Explore the ‘Land of Lychees’ – Bac Giang 00:00 / 40:19 Bac Giang, is a picturesque province in northern Vietnam. It’s one place you most likely won’t see hit the social pages and news till around the time of the Lychee Festival. This vibrant event is held in June, and celebrates Bac Giang's reputation as the "Land of Lychees. In today’s episode Bac Giang and the subject of lychees are front and centre, as I get to share the story of a photographer named Jessie Pearlman, a previous guest on the podcast, who embarked on a return trip to Vietnam, driven by his love for the country and his desire to reconnect with friends and explore new experiences. This show delves into the motivations behind his journey; the significance of the lychees to the region and the community, and how best to navigate a visit there. Jesse has a wonderful gift for self-expression and description which will immediately transport you to the experiences he had during his time in the heart of Bac Giang province, Luc Ngan, the township designated as the biggest growing township for lychees. He provides valuable tips on organizing your trip and strongly recommends it as a destination to visit, just a short 2.5-hour drive from Hanoi, especially for photographers and tropical fruit enthusiasts. This is an off the beaten track location and experience, so information is as Jesse describes, hard to find. Therefore, we have the following links to the people who helped him create his trip, which we hope will help you too. Phung Lan, Tour Guide for Luc Ngan Lychee Harvest in Bac Giang Province: https://www.facebook.com/kalydao.phung Lan's Tour Company: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076182891385 By visiting lesser-known regions like Bac Giang, we can contribute to the local economy and make a positive impact on the community. Let's make a conscious effort to explore off-the-beaten-path destinations and give back to the places we visit. Follow Jesse or get in touch via his IG page here https://www.instagram.com/pearlmanj1/?hl=en Download Transcript PDF Read the transcript here