Hey friends! We are missing you from here. I can’t believe we’ve been traveling for 3 weeks now! Trying to live it up as much as we can before coming to make more memories close to home.

Okay, lets get to the good stuff

We made it to Vietnam, and holy chaos, this place slaps you awake. It’s not just busy, it’s a full-blown scooter symphony, honking in surround sound, with smells of sizzling meats, exhaust, and mystery street foods hitting you all a once.

Picture this: no sidewalks (well, not usable ones), just endless scooters. It’s like standing next to a waterfall—except instead of water, it’s a never-ending stream of buzzing motorbikes pouring down every street. You try to walk on the sidewalk, but surprise! That’s where the scooters park. So you end up walking in the road, dodging traffic, feeling like a real-life game of Frogger set to “expert mode.” You think there’d be more crashes but these scooterists are pros and riding the roads is intuitive to them.

If it’s not scooter parking, it’s a sea of low to the ground, stools for cafe seating. Men smoking cigarettes, drinking tea, women feeding their babies broth from wide spoons, all arranged in clusters across the bustling city sidewalks.

Crossing the street? That’s an act of faith. There are barely any stop signs or traffic lights, so you just… step out and pray the scooters part like the Red Sea. Danielle grabbed my hand, we locked eyes, and went for it. I think we both held our breath the entire way.

And then there’s the street food. You don’t just see it—you sidestep it. One guy was squatting next to a giant metal bowl, breading raw chicken like it was the most normal thing in the world. To his left: another massive bowl of bubbling oil. To his right: a basket of crispy, golden chicken ready to serve. We had to practically step over him to keep walking.

We are not in Kansas anymore.

Btw, if you want to just see the pictures from this trip, you can click here!

We woke up to the soothing, melodic sound of a hundred horns layered in perfect disharmony. Our apartment sits right on what feels like the busiest intersection in all of Hanoi, which means every morning starts with a front-row seat to chaos.

But we had a mission. Our friend Daphne, whose parents were both born in Vietnam, told us about this place called Pizza 4P’s. Apparently a gourmet, Italian-Japanese-Vietnamese hybrid pizza chain that everyone swears by. Pizza. In Vietnam. Sounded ridiculous… until it wasn’t.

The moment we opened the menu, it was game over. Miso scallop pizza? Tandoori chicken pizza? Burrata wrapped in pastry with truffle honey and prosciutto? We just sat there like, what is happening right now. They had an option to do half-and-half pizzas so we could try more than one. One side sweet and creamy, the other spicy and smoky. And that burrata ball… picture this: you cut into it, steam escapes, truffle hits your nose, and suddenly you forget what country you’re in.

The only problem was we ran out of stomach space. So we did the only logical thing… went to a different location of the same restaurant for dinner. First time in either of our lives that’s ever happened. Zero shame.

Round two was a beef bolognese pizza, a prosciutto margarita, and a kale salad to pretend we were being healthy. Every bite was unreal.

You can tell that the people of Vietnam really take pride in their cuisine. Nothing is random, everything has a methodology behind it. Produce is bought from local vendors, meat is chopped on metal tables on the street for meals that will be prepared that day. You run out of something? You call a friend to bring you some in a bag on a scooter. This culture revolves around cuisine, and each city is proud of the flavors and the favorites from region. Food has been a huge part of our trip and our dining experiences have been so fun. Danielle has had a blast learning about how all regions differ in style and flavor, and Michael has been pleasantly surprised how much he has actually enjoyed new foods.

We ended the night at Lotte Tower, an observation deck that looks out over the entire city. It was just before sunset, and somehow, we basically had the place to ourselves. We felt like VIPs with the floor-to-ceiling windows wrapped 360 degrees around the whole building and only the two of us taking in the sights. We sipped cocktails and enjoyed our private mini party up at what felt like the top of the world.

We wandered way off the tourist map today. No massage signs. No leather shops. Just quiet blocks, front doors propped open, and flip-flops lined up like little traffic cones. We were pulled to the longest mosaic wall in south east Asia. A beautiful cascade of what felt like miles of shapes and color, all representing parts of Vietnams history.

Danielle needed coffee, so Google Maps pointed us to… a gated maze. A guy popped around a corner, yelled “Cafe?” and then point us into an alley. “3 floors up” he said. We squeezed around the corner, found stairs at a 60-degree tilt. Imagine a ladder heading up to an attic, and started climbing. First floor to second: empty room. Second to third: empty room with a lone hanger. At this point we were pretty sure we were breaking into someone’s house.

On the third floor we spotted a table with coffee bags. We shouted “hello” for a solid thirty seconds. Nothing. Then from above came foot stomps getting louder and louder and then… “Coffee?” We said yes. “Come up.” One more ladder climb and boom… the cutest tiny café with cats, a breeze, and a view over green-draped buildings. We couldn’t believe we found this place. And the barista couldn’t believe it either. Where even are we. Also, the Danielle’s Salt Coffee was delicious.

Now that we found each other, not much use for dating apps… but friendship apps? We were told about Timeleft, the app that sets up dinners for travelers. We expected a Vietnamese spot, but the dinner was set a burger joint (probably for us Americans). Turns out good restaurant picks aren’t what the app is known for. The group was great though. People from Taiwan, Vietnam, and South Korea, all trading stories and teaching us new things. Culture swap over fries still counts.

Zero temples. Maximum adventure. Coffee enjoyed. New friends made.

We did the Hanoi classic today. Hạ Long Bay. Two and a half hours on a bus, spirits high, shorts on, flip-flops at the ready. Our friend Christal joined a tour two days before and was in a swimsuit up on her boat deck, so we figured we were getting the same sunshine package. Plot twist. Sixty degrees, rain, and a wind like a tornado. We bought emergency jackets and pants at the harbor stalls immediately after getting off the bus.

The bay itself is jaw-dropping, Like something a creative painter would dream up. Thousands of limestone islands popping out of the water like a giant’s marble collection. Unreal. The crowds were also unreal. Our boat had more than a hundred people. The bay had more than a hundred boats. So our first stop to Ti Top Island was a single-file hike with slow walkers, instagram photoshoots, and line cutters. Pretty view at the top, minimal serenity.

So at the second stop, while everyone poured into the cave, we decided not to go through that again. We stayed on the roof, stretched out on daybeds, floating between the islands and pretended we had chartered a private yacht. Jackets became blankets. Wind turned into white noise. We fell asleep looking up at the weird and wonderful landscape. Ten out of ten nap.

The finale was a speedboat tour that zigzagged between cliffs where the big boat could not go. Our driver took corners like he had just stolen gems from the Louvre. Hard left, hard right, everyone was getting sprayed! The woman next to us begged our guide to make the driver stop as her face moved through all five stages of grief before we even reached the next cliff. Danielle had tears streaming down her cheeks from laughing so hard at this woman’s expressions, we sincerely wish we could show you.

OH AND, the boats on the bay tend to bump into each other. So without knowing we were got a free round of bumper boats in. The captains and the crew are completely unfazed and we ended up enjoying the accidental collisions.

Windy. Crowded. Absolutely worth it. We came for the views, stayed for the nap, and left with a speedboat chase scene burned into our brains.

Hanoi has been wild. Now off to Hoi An to get some custom clothes made!

Click here to see more pictures from the trip!

Click here to watch some short video blogs from the trip! (then scroll to the bottom)

Tata for now,
D+M