I’ve had duck a few times over the years.
Peking Duck in Beijing, for example.
I recall it being oily, lean, and not all that tasty.
BUT I couldn’t resist this duck in Vietnam. In a stir fry.
It was better tasting than I could recall. Not oily. But very lean.
Indonesia is the least understood of the world’s large nation.
Ejducate yerself.
It’s quite moderate for a Muslim majority country.
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Reason enough to plan your holiday in ‘Nam. 😀
Vietnam is the 2nd largest producer in the world after Brazil. Second only to rice in value of agricultural products exported from Vietnam.
First introduced by the French in 1857, the Vietnamese coffee industry developed through the plantation system, becoming a major economic force in the country.
It’s a boom and bust crop, needless to say. And there are environmental and sociological concerns.
Starbucks opened its first store in Vietnam in 2013. Highlands Coffee is biggest of the chains.
Almost every little street kiosk makes good coffee, however. I’ve not been to Starbucks nor Highlands.
For me, most of the coffee is too strong.
Here my guide is drinking black tar. I’m having the same tar with sweetened condensed milk.
The use of sweetened condensed milk rather than fresh milk was first due to its availability and easier storage in a tropical climate.
Egg coffee is super popular, as well. Egg yolks with sugar and condensed milk rather than fresh milk.
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There are dozens of other alternatives available, hot or on ice. Coconut and Salted are great.
At the Me Linh Coffee Garden we toured the coffee plantation. AND visited the Asian palm civet enclosure.
Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) investigators call this animal cruelty.
The set-up for the animals at Me Linh Coffee Garden looked very good. BUT that’s what they want to show tourists.
I didn’t drink civet coffee.
In Vietnam they call it weasel coffee.
Here are coffee beans.
We drove away from the highland coffee tourist location via one of the abandoned U.S. airports from the American War.
During the rainy season, Nha Trang, Vietnam, has 4 star and 5 star hotel rooms available at very low price.
For CAD $18 I stayed in the Summer Hotel. 4 Stars. Excellent breakfast buffet.
Next day I caught the bus up into the highlands ➙ a hill station called Da Lat.
There I stayed in a private room in the most popular hostel ➙ Dalat Family Hostel.
One Canadian has been living at the hostel for the past year. Less expensive than Edmonton, he told me.
I paid CAD $13.30 for a minimal private room. No TV. No window. No breakfast.
Cost-wise, both are about the same relative to my travel budget.
BUT my 4 star hotel room was boring. Like almost every hotel room at every price range.
The front desk was not very helpful. I went to a popular hostel down the street to get information and book my tour.
By comparison, within 10 minutes of arriving at Dalat Family Hostel I had my day tour booked. My onward night sleeper bus reservation made. AND I had signed up for a fun communal hostel dinner.
I left a review:
Scored 9.0
Advice on tours and bus. My 3 waterfalls tour on bike was excellent. Hostel is an entertaining maze of unique areas including weight room and pool. Great social dinners.
Not boring. 😀
Most travellers recommend spending as little time as possible in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
Good advice.
Terrible traffic. Sprawling urbanity of 14 million people.
On the upside, a modern metro line was opened late 2024.
BUT Saigon is a great place to shop. It a transportation hub. A place to get things done. AND see some interesting attractions, even if they are somewhat far apart.
I started with a GPSMyCity walking tour.
Paid to visit the War Remnants Museum. MUST SEE.
The French controlled Vietnam from 1884 to 1954. Some of their colonial architecture is still impressive.
Central Post Office. It looks like a train station.
Personally, I enjoyed the French influenced coffee and bread even more than the architecture. 😀
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BUT … spend as little time in Saigon, as possible.
After weeks of heat and humidity, I finally headed UP to Da Lat, or Dalat, at 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level. One of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam.
Tourists love any climate that can grow tea or coffee. Hill stations.
I walked the canals and lake both nights I was there. Pretty in the full moon.
Short on time, I signed up for a VIP tour. A BIG day.
Cost was CAD $31.40 for 8 hours of non-stop entertainment. That’s VIP in Vietnam. 😀
Best was my Easy Rider motorcycle driver / guide, Mr Hieu. 60 years old — but hyper and energetic as a teenager.
We had lunch at one of his personal favourite spots, not a typical tourist only restaurant.
Mr Hieu been guiding this tour since 2002. He was handpicked as my driver by the hostel where I stayed.
Here’s something of the standard itinerary:
Mr Hieu added many extra stops unknown to any other driver. Like this inexplicable giant chicken in one village.
He did his best to get me hooked up, as well, knowing ALL the single Vietnamese women en route. 😀
BEST was the Pongour Waterfall. I flew my drone here as Vietnam is yet to get organized enough to post signs disallowing them.
NEW was taking something called an “Alpine Rollercoaster“. Over 2,400 meters, the Datanla coaster is longest in Asia.
There was some extra cost for this. Well worth it.
Safe? I dunno. Signs say you can crash one into another. BUT I appreciated having brakes so I could slow down and not fly off at the turns. 😀
With its year-round cool weather, Da Lat supplies huge quantities of temperate agriculture products.
We visited a mushroom farm. VERY interesting.
We saw every stage of silk production. Fascinating, as well.
Almost every tour in Vietnam includes a giant Buddhist statue. Many are female.
The image of Quan Âm as a maternal figure of mercy and compassion evolved through the blending of Mahayana Buddhism with Vietnamese folk traditions, including the veneration of mother goddesses.
Best tour of many I took in Vietnam.
I was going to skip the beach / tourist city, Nha Trang — but I’m glad I stopped over for 1 night.
It’s very inexpensive. AND tourist friendly.
After visiting the beach for about 20 minutes, I had a DAY.
Local cuisine is most famous for fresh seafood and barbecued pork rolled in rice paper.
I tried a buffet which offered a LOT of meat, fish, and seafood at very low price.
I was convinced to sit down by the small grill in every table.
Cook up what you want. Pork bellies were my favourite.
I added much of what I cooked to my personal Pho. Keeping everything hot.
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Nha Trang in 2025 is overfull with overweight Russian men with wife / mistress. Many signs include Russian and some businesses provide tourist services mainly for the Russians.
Unwelcome in many nations, in 2025 Russians are vacationing in Turkey, Thailand, China, the UAE, and Vietnam.
This city is very popular with Koreans, as well.
BEST time to walk the beach is early morning or in the evening.
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There are a number of “Monkey Islands” in Vietnam. I visited the one out of Nha Trang.
… or was it Donkey Island? 😀
Monkey Island, Nha Trang, has more than 1,200 monkeys.
Few rules, I’m afraid.
Tourists feed them directly, risking scratches and bites.
I took in the “animal circus“, as well. Noting that dog tricks seem perfectly acceptable — but that monkey tricks seem abusive. No logic there, I’m afraid.
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The HIGHLIGHT by far was watching some of these beasts entertaining themselves by jumping into water. High diving!
There was no food reward for this. They were doing it strictly for FUN.
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And I did this stairway strictly for FUN.
Surprisingly, I’d never been in a mud bath after a lifetime of travel.
There were several to choose from out of Nha Trang, Vietnam.
I picked THAP BA MUD BATH and was quite impressed.
There are a number of options to choose from. I went with …
In reality, the mud soak was warm, muddy water. Not mud.
Still interesting.
I got my own private tubs. You can share with others, if you like.
After your routine, hang about the lovely facility. Enjoy the pool.
Clickbait title, for sure. 😀
Millions of tourists each year ignore my advice.
Sun World Ba Na Hills is a hill station and resort located just outside Da Nang.
The BIG attraction is the Golden Bridge opened 2018.
You’ve seen it on Instagram looking like this.
The reality is that the bridge is constantly packed with hordes, many of whom would happily throw you off in order to get the ideal photo location. To them I say …
I DID throw some competitors over the edge to get my own iconic pic.
Best advice is to go to one of the less crowded Golden Bridge imitators in the Philippines, China, or elsewhere. 😀
I got mine already. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
In fact, I found more hands in the resort. Since I was alone, I’m assuming this area was not open to tourists. Oh well.
Criticism of Ba Na Hills, referred to by some as “Fairyland,” centers on it being an inauthentic, overcrowded, and overly commercialized theme park, with visitors finding the environment fake, the food uninspired, and the Golden Bridge experience ruined by throngs of people.
At one point I concluded, this is what TrumpLand would look like, if a theme park. 😀
Of course if Vegas kitsch amuses, you’ll have some laughs.
The super popular tour from Da Nang starts with a visit to a gift shop en route. What else?
Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed learning about pearls and precious woods.
You take a cable car up to the mountain peak. It’s the “longest non-stop single track cable car“, at 5,801 metres. In fact, this attraction has 6 cable cars now. They need more.
Massive, impossible construction is underway. Our tour guide is very disappointed. He predicts it will be a disaster when finished.
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Here’s how it looks now.
The concept is mocking up European-style architecture.
BUT I found the hundreds of pieces included quite random.
There are TWO giant floral dresses that you can try on.
I WAS impressed with the Sun Kraft Beer factory tour.
BUT I had to sit through some below average dance and terrible live music in order to collect my free french fries. 😀
Giant Buddha. Check.
And I was intrigued with whatever this is …
Unsurprisingly, the cable cars stopped running just before close due to potential lightning. Staff and tens of thousands of visitors were stuck.
We did get down eventually. A beautiful full moon night.
BUT I missed my night bus to whereverI’mgoingnext.
If you too want to NOT listen to my advice, here’s their promotion VIDEO.
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Rick McCharles 