Growing up Vietnamese-AMERICAN and Phong Nha-Ke Bang: The Caves of Wonders

Oh Harrow, dear friends. I am balls deep into this vietventure and have been absolutely hashtag-amazed with every stop we've made. My parents are both Vietnamese (well, they'd tell you they are Americans now :D) and have been spending their first 10 years of retirement exploring their motherland and all of Asia. My father is from the south, my mother from the north- both immigrating to the United States separately after the Vietnam War ended. They met at the University of Washington while they were both studying to become chemical engineers. They waited 20 years before returning to their native land and I feel so grateful to be able to come back with them regularly and learn about my culture.

Before my first trip to Vietnam in 2008, I actually didn't identify with the Vietnamese part of my Vietnamese-American heritage. My parents raised my brother and me to fully embrace America, as they did when they first came here. Each of my parents fully recognized the opportunities available to them in the states and believed in their potential to achieve them. They committed to rebuilding their lives here. Growing up, we spoke English at home and they raised us without typical traditional Vietnamese parenting values. The Vietnamese values that they did instill in us, they were thoughtful in how those values would translate to our American life. They considered themselves to be forward thinking folks :P Sure, they recounted stories of their motherland, but I felt the point of those stories were more to help us to feel grateful to be in America.

I started looking more closely at the Vietnamese part of my heritage after my first trip here. First, my dad is a completely different person in Vietnam. He is super outgoing and ridiculously friendly, striking up conversations with strangers literally everywhere we go. In America, he's a bit more of a homebody, satisfied enough with our nuclear family that he doesn't seek social activity outside of our house. He is also a fierce protector when we're here, making sure that we're always safe and weary of being cheated. He has always been a confident man, but he really kicks it up a whole bunch of notches when he is navigating (or rather, commanding) his motherland. Seeing my dad light up in Vietnam truly sparked my feelings of fondness for this country.

I am happy to be feel connected to my parents' motherland. For me, forging a bond with my Vietnamese heritage wasn't going to happen in America, it needed to happen here, fully immersed in the country's chaos and beauty. I suspect that I still don't typically identify with being Vietnamese the way others might, but I have a sincere appreciation for the place my parent's came from and I know their journey from Vietnam to America largely influenced my upbringing. I wish my Vietnamese was better, but I know enough to haggle :P and I know enough to make meaningful connections with folks that I meet. I am grateful to be here with my parents feel lucky to have the heritage that I have.

And with that, let me tell you a little bit about Phong Nha-Ke Bang, another UNESCO World Heritage site featuring larger than life caverns of stalagmites and stalactites.

My parents have been exploring Vietnam quite intensely for the past few years, but this trip was the FIRST time they had ever been to this national park. I love that Vietnam still offers these surprises, as small of a country as it is. I was so impressed with how well maintained the park is. Vietnam doesn't have a great reputation for taking care of their natural treasures. Beautiful landscapes are littered with trash and there seems to be no regard towards preserving fragile areas for future generations I am so pleased that they seemed to actually put thought into this park. In the Paradise caves, they built a wonderful walkway through these gigantic caverns creating a genuine experience that minimizes the disturbance of these sleeping rock giants.

The ride to the caves was hands down THE MOST BEAUTIFUL motorcycle ride I have ever been on. It is quite popular nowadays to buy a bike and explore the country from north to south or vice versa. If this is something you're considering doing, seriously put this national park on your list of stops. The surroundings felt UNREAL. I rode with my dad, which is always really fun! Kellen rode with Ethan but I couldn't resist a photo op with my favorite TA :D

Thanks for reading! Next up on my tour de Vietnam is a visit to my favorite beach town of all time, Nha Trang. Can't wait for some sun and sand :)

Bay of Descending Dragons

Hello from Ha Long Bay! We drove 8 hours from Sapa to spend 24 hours at this UNESCO World Heritage site. Absolutely worth it. If you've ever researched must-see sites in SE Asia, I bet you've run across articles about Ha Long Bay. It is an archipelago made up of 1,969 islands, both settled and uninhabited. This is my 4th time in Ha Long. To be completely honest, I don't care for the town very much, but the limestone islands really are magnificent and should be included on any Vietnam itinerary for first timers. We spent 1 day exploring the area and were able to complete a TON of sightseeing in our day (as you'll see in this blog post). The previous 3 times I've been here, I stayed on a boat which took us around the islands by day anchored among the limestone giants at night. I know sleeping on a boat sounds cool, but you're subjected to the tour schedule of the boat and most of the accommodations aren't that great. This time, we found a hotel close to the docks and ran our own schedule, which I much preferred!

Our day started off at 8 in the morning with a 4 hour group tour one of the junkers that are most common in the waters. Our junker dropped us off at one of the islands to explore a disco lit cave. It was really cool, but pretty crowded. We have plans to visit the famous Phong Nha-Ke Bang caves so I treated this as a warm up :)

After our tour, my parents took us out to lunch. We visited the beach for a few minutes and then decided to head out on to the water again, but this time, my dad arranged for us to have an entire junker to ourselves! It was AWESOME. First thing we had the captain do was take us to a popular kayaking spot for the most BEAUTIFUL kayaking I have ever done! Obviously photos could never do it justice, but I've included a few for you to get a feel for the area. Also GOOD JOB ME for not dropping my phone into the water.

Finished the evening off with a little bit of boat yoga and a nice tour of the bay :) Can't believe we did ALL of this in one day!! I'm completely wiped out. Looking forward to exploring somewhere new tomorrow! Thanks for reading along as I venture through Vietnam. If you have any questions or are looking to plan your own trip, I'm happy to help answer any questions! Have an amazing weekend, my friends!

With Love from Sapa

Good Morning, from the gorgeous countryside of Sapa! I've decided, Sapa is my favorite. It's the perfect combination of rich culture with many opportunities to interact directly with friendly folks, ridiculously amazing "OMG WHERE AM I" scenery, "TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY" shopping, yummy food, and a relaxed, welcoming vibe. This is my second time here and I'm obsessed (obvi). Sapa is famous for overlooking the terraced rice fields of the Muong Hoa Valley, which are picture perfect. We really only had 1 full day to soak Sapa in so we divided our time between chasing beautiful views and meandering the small town.

Before I continue with the photo sharing, I wanted to give a shoutout to Brooks for letting me take their new LSD Jacket for a test run on this trip. We're entering monsoon season here in Vietnam and this is basically the hottest and most humid time of the year. However, covering so much varying terrain through the course of this trip, I need to be prepared for cooler climates as well, like here in Sapa. This jacket was SO CLUTCH while exploring the mountainside. It started sporadically misting and I was able to whip my little running jacket out quickly. Later in the morning, as we were walking down into the valley, the sun came out in full force and I was easily able to neatly fold my jacket into its pocket and tuck it away in my small camelbak. I received this jacket 2 days before leaving on this trip. It was totally meant to be. Can't wait to take it running in Seattle and to style it with my workout wardrobe when I get home. I love the sheerness!

The second half of the day we spent walking the town and doing some shopping. The handicrafts in Sapa are unique and are truly made by the ethnic tribes in the area. The largest ethnic tribe is the H'mong tribe. Embroidery is hand-stitched and you can find bags, blankets, clothing, etc. that have all been hand sewn by the people here. We stumbled across a wonderful shop that was owned and operated by a sharp H'mong couple. The wife handled all of the business (sourcing the fabrics from her tribe, employing help, etc) and her husband hand sewed and designed EVERYTHING in their shop. I splurged a bit on a gift for Kasey and a backpack for myself. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in Sapa, I encourage you to seek out shops run directly by the H'mong people.

I also picked up a couple awesome North Face jackets, or as my dad likes to call them, FAKE face jackets. Lol. The North Face does almost all, if not all of their manufacturing in Vietnam. So of course, knock off items have found their way into store fronts, but you may be surprised by the high quality of a lot of the items. I picked up a hilariously bright hot pink vest and a beautiful midnight blue coat that I can't wait to wear this winter! Both for $75, pretty good deal!

Anyways, here's a few more of my favorite snaps from yesterday. I hope everyone gets the chance to visit Sapa someday. Please consider putting it on your wanderlust list! Today we head to Ha Long Bay, THE REASON why people visit Vietnam :) Can't wait!

What's in my bag? Vietnam Edition!

Greetings, summer holiday lovers! Coming at you live, from monsoon season in Vietnam! I flew into Hanoi, the northern capitol to meet up with my parents and my friends, Ethan and Kellen aka the most beautiful husband and husband pair, who flew in from Boston. We are roadtripping Vietnam from north to south, with a popover to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat for the next three weeks! It is a proper summer holiday :) Time (and wifi) allowing, I'll be sharing updates from my trip, probably in the form of image heavy "post" cards. I have a couple style posts queued up that I might throw in as well!

This is my 5th time in Vietnam (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013), so I consider myself quite familiar with my mother's land. Maybe I'm a bit overconfident because I saved packing for the day before. Work has been so crazy that I didn't really have a whole lot of time to ponder this trip as it was approaching, sort of just got on the plane, you know what I mean? I think it shows in my packing because LOL why did I bring SO MANY sports bras?! I wanted to share my thought process for packing on this trip, in case any of y'all are gearing up for your first tropical SE Asian adventure! First thing to consider- space. I wanted to limit myself to one backpack. Kasey discovered the Osprey Porter 46-Liter duffle bag for her first big trip to India and I've been using it ever since! Coupled with these AWESOME medium sized packing cubes from eBags, I feel like I've got an easy and convenient packing system. It's so nice being able to organize my clothes with cubes so my duffle doesn't become one giant cotton explosion.

Next, I considered the climate I'd be in and the types of activity I'd be doing. I will be trekking through Vietnam during monsoon season, where temperatures hover in the mid 90's and being constantly covered in moisture from the humidity is a fact of life :) A lot of activity is planned with a mix of city life and country sights. So basically, my main theme is COMFORT. Hence, a shit ton of cotton. Basically, the idea was- comfortable workout clothes to move in and easy going sundresses for some variety. Also, I'll be exclusively sporting sport bras this trip. I've found them to be more comfortable and more practical for this type of travel. I brought almost zero cold weather gear. Monsoon = flash flood raining anytime, anywhere, so my one and only jacket/long sleeve of choice is the Brooks LSD Jacket, which is wind proof, water resistant and folds into its own pocket for super mega space saving! I also have one pair of yoga leggings that I wore on the plane ride over and will wear for the plane ride back. For shoes, I brought one pair of adventure sandals, I recommend a pair with straps, and one pair of tennis shoes because I told myself I'd attempt to go running a couple times while out here :)

It's worth mentioning toiletries- SE Asian skin care products contain chemicals to promote skin whitening. Light skin is coveted in these parts and ladies will do anything to maintain fair skin. This is bad news bears for me because I most definitely do not want dat shit on my skin. I recommend bringing your own face wash and your own body wash. I've found hair care products to be okay to purchase here. You may want to bring your own toothpaste if you're picky about the taste (which I totes am!). I've used sunscreen from here and it's been fine, but tend to bring my own because I prefer specific brands. Most international flights give you 2 free checked bags, so bringing liquids shouldn't be too much of a hassle :)

As far as other non-clothes items, I have my Canon SLR and a Surface Pro 2. I also brought a small hydration pack, similar to this one to carry my absolute essentials on me (passport, cash, phones). I've learned over the years, light and lean is the way to go! Leaves more room for you to haul home goodies! Next, we're on to Sapa, famous for its picturesque rice terraces. Until the next, my friends!