Wandering North

Vietnam Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Historic Hanoi

I flew to Hanoi from Luang Prabang, Laos. Really, it would have been cheaper and made more sense for me to fly back to Vancouver via Ho Chi Minh City, as that was where I had flown through on my way to Laos. But I hadn’t been to Hanoi, and this seemed like a good opportunity, so I booked the ticket.

Arrival

I arrived in Hanoi late on a Friday night. I had my e-visa and had paid a little extra to skip the queues so I could get to bed as soon as possible. I took a taxi from the airport to my hostel: Old Quarter View Hanoi Hostel, which was, of course, in the Old Quarter.

There was no question in my mind that I wanted to stay in the Old Quarter. It had all the historic neighbourhoods and markets, as well as lots of restaurants and cafes. What I didn’t appreciate, was how incredibly crowded it gets on the weekends. My taxi wasn’t able to take me right to my hostel and dropped off about four blocks away. I was irritable that he wouldn’t take me the rest of the way, but I understood once I saw the crowds. The entire neighbourhood of the Old Quarter was shoulder to shoulder with drinkers, diners, and drunks. They spilled out of the bars and restaurants on to tables on the street and then filling every footpath. It was loud and crowded, and honestly, annoying. I was tired and I had just gotten off a plane and just wanted to go to bed. I snaked my way through the raucous streets to the hostel.

The hostel was perfectly serviceable. I had booked a dorm room, which was a super bargain. ($15 a night CND.) If I was doing it again, I might have gotten myself a private room, only because a dorm in this neighbourhood means that your bunk mates are all people that are out drinking until the wee hours. When I woke the next morning I saw girls quite literally passed out in their clothes half on the bunks and half off in various states of disarray. I might be getting too old for this stuff, but I can’t resist a bargain.

Of course, I did go for a walk before bed and enjoyed a cigar.

Morning and Coffee

The next morning. I was up and out early and excited to explore the streets.

Hanoi, the Old Quarter anyway, is beautiful. Very inviting streets with a million cafes, and shops selling lanterns. Leafy trees, colourful rickshaws, and historical buildings. It’s delightful. I didn’t have much of a plan, but I decided to visit some temples and neighbourhoods, and stop for as many coffees as possible en route.

And I did just that. Hanoi is a coffee drinker’s dream. Even better than Ho Chi Minh City. There are charming and picturesque cafes serving everything from espressos to every conceivable iteration of Vietnamese coffee. I don’t typically like iced or sweet coffee or coffee with cream in it, but I put aside my predilections and I tried several unusual coffees including coconut and even the dreaded egg. None of them really taste like coffee to me. They all taste a bit like dessert, but the allure of a nice coffee on such a hot day was hard to resist.

Here are three of the best cafes I visited. There are so many more.

*Giao Mua Coffee* *for an espresso & Vietnamese iced coffee*

*Vi Anh Cafe for egg coffee and a small cigar*

*Loading T Cafe for an iced Saigon coffee*

Temples and Markets

I visited the Ngoc Son Temple, which had a moderate entrance fee (~$1.50 CDN), which was worth the price as it was quite beautiful and walking distance from where I was wandering anyway. It was set on a small island, accessible by the Huc Bridge.

I visited the market and eyed the exotic fruits and colourful vegetables. I stopped in at a cigar store and had a cigar with the owner and some of his friends. I sought out a street that had murals of historical Vietnam.

I also visited the amazing “Train Street,” but I have written about that in a separate post.

Getting Around

This was all on foot. It was an excellent city for walking, but it was very hot. So by the end of the day, I offered for a Grab back to my hostel. A Grab is like an Uber but, fantastically, it gives you the option of having a motorcycle pick you up. This is clearly the best option. They provide a helmet, and you get to feel like you’re being taken on a little tour of the city.

Cigars and Summing Up

I think I like Hanoi better than Ho Chi Minh City. And I really like Ho Chi Minh. Hanoi had a bustling energy. It is 8.8 million people. Plus, it has historic charm and interest going back centuries. There are slightly fewer cigar lounges, but still enough to keep me happy. Plus, I had no trouble finding bars and restaurants that would allow the smoking of cigars. This one was my favourite.

I had only a day and a half in Hanoi. I felt happy with what I was able to see in that time. One day of wandering, two nights of smoking and relaxation, and on the second morning before going to the airport in the afternoon, I did a classic motorcycle tour of the city, which I’ll write about separately. Had I more time in the city I would have done at least a day trip to Halong Bay, which is not far away. For this reason, I have a feeling that I will be back in Hanoi someday, but on this trip, Hanoi was my last stop and, although brief, it was satisfying.

(Previous Post: here. Next post: here)

Vietnam Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Finding Train Street in Hanoi

The number one thing that I wanted to do in Hanoi (see my main post about Hanoi here), was visit “Train Street.” If you’re the sort of person who is reading this post, you probably already know what Train Street is, but just in case you don’t, it is a section of train tracks in the Old Quarter of Hanoi where trains pass through multiple times a day just inches from the businesses along the tracks. It has been this way for as there were businesses there, but has become kind of a phenomenon since Instagram where people can see the exciting videos of trains zipping by inches from packed cafes.

I don’t know when I became aware of Train Street but as soon as I did, I had to go. I love trains and I like weird things, so this seemed perfect for me. The difficulty is figuring out how to do it. I had an old Lonely Planet this showed me roughly where the Train Street access was, but it was an old book and since about 2019, the police have really clamped down on tourists visiting Train Street. I’m not aware of anyone actually being killed, but you could see that there’s a possibility if someone would not fall the rules. And there are stories of close calls, usually from tourists trying to take the perfect shot and waiting too long to leave the tracks. The other difficulty in visiting Train Street was figuring out when the trains pass and on which day. This is something that changes, so I scoured the Internet looking for a recent post from someone who had been and I just hoped that their information was accurate.

I walked along the train tracks by “224 Lê Duẩn Street” (this is the small street along the tracks; not the larger Lê Duẩn Street running parallel) until I found an access point up onto them. This was a part of the tracks where there were businesses only on one side of the tracks. I sat down and had a coffee trackside. But there were two problems: one there was a policeman who yelled at me anytime I attempted to take a picture of the train tracks; and two, the tracks only had businesses on one side, so it didn’t give that atmosphere that I was looking for. I decided to abandon my post and walk further down. (The header image on this post if of this side of the tracks.)

I did walk further down, and I found another access point, however when I tried to walk up the hill and across the tracks I was stopped by police officers. One woman grabbed my arm trying to pull me up onto the tracks to take me to her cafe, while the policeman grabbed my other arm and tried to pull me back down. I shook them off and yelled “get the fuck away from me” before walking away.

At this point, I was feeling dejected. Maybe it wasn’t possible to visit Train Street anymore. Or maybe the whole experience was just too unpleasant. I was walking along, and I turned a corner, and I saw what looked like a little repair shop, but I saw a picture of a train and an arrow and some little steps and I decided to follow it. I walked through the repair shop and up the stairs and found myself in a cafe along the train tracks at a perfect spot. It looked just like how I imagined with two-story rows of businesses on either side of the tracks just a foot or two away. And lots of hustle and bustle. This was near where “224 Lê Duẩn Street” meets “P. Khâm Thiên” street. Right about where the yellow star is on this map.

*map detail showing where i eventually and successfully accessed train street*

The proprietor of the cafe was happy for business, and I was happy to have found a good spot for the train. He also had a train schedule posted on the wall and I could see that I was only about 45 minutes away from the next passing. I sat down and ordered several coffees and enjoy this car. Other tourists came and sat at the tables, and we chatted a bit which was fun. Also fun was just watching all the people on the tracks posing for pictures, shopping for souvenirs, and enjoying the atmosphere. It felt very festive. If I had had to sit there for an hour or more waiting for the train, it wouldn’t have been a hardship.

At a certain point, a siren went off and people began herding the tourists off of the tracks. Everyone obeyed. Then we heard it coming. The train snaked around the corner and came close. I mean it really came close. It was less than a foot away from my head as it zoomed by. It was really cool. This was not one of these things that you do and you kind of think “OK well that’s something that I’ve done.” I loved this I thought it was exciting and different and while normally I would be irritated that there were so many tourists there, in this case I didn’t, it just added to the fun.

I actually ended up going back to Train Street (although a different quieter part of it) the next day as part of the motorcycle tour that I went on, but this time where I had to find it myself was much more fun.

So many of my very memorable travel experiences involve trains, whether it’s overnighting on former Soviet trains, or riding on top of the iron ore train in Mauritania, or smoking cigars with locals on an overnight train in Myanmar. There’s just something romantic and exciting about them. And so this was another experience to add to the list.

I’m not going to bother posting the train schedule, because I’m sure that changes. If you want to visit Train Street I think the best thing to do is find the access points on a map, but then try to find the most recent information that you can from social media or blogs about what time the trains go by. Obviously, I can’t speak to what the security situation will be. The police seemed pretty set on keeping tourists out, but the business owners keep finding ways to let them in. But I think it is definitely worth doing for as long as they allow it.

The next day, my final one in Hanoi, i would go on an excellent motorcycle tour.

Laos Vietnam Laos trip 2024

At Peace in Luang Prabang

From the moment I arrived by train I was charmed by Luang Prabang, Laos. It is so pretty and green, with small, attractive buildings and gilded temples. Every road looked like a picture. I loved walking those streets and stopping into French bakeries, little shops selling handmade goods, and visiting temples.

I had been kind of templed-out in Vientiane, but here my curiosity and interest were renewed. The setting was nicer, but the temples were also a bit different. More Buddhas and some of the temples had fabulous and intricate inlaid design on the exterior.

There is not a lot to do in Luang Prabang unless you want to do yoga or cooking classes or some similar activity. I didn’t mind. I was happy to stroll around and take in the atmosphere. In the evening, I had dinner and cigars on the main drag.

It rained pretty much the entire time. Not a heavy rain, but a constant one. I didn’t mind that either. It only made everything seem more green and serene, and it didn’t make me feel guilty for sitting on patios.

Cigar smoking in Luang Prabang was perfectly acceptable. Not indoors, but all the patios were fine, though I was absolutely the only person smoking cigars and I felt a little weird having a cigar with my yogurt/chia seed bowl at the café of a yoga studio. There was this one cool and tiny bar (Artisan Bar), just hidden down a side street. The bar had an elegant art deco/Hollywood glam décor, extremely dim lighting, and excellent cocktails. The bartender told me that sometimes they let people smoke cigars in there, but not on the night I was there. (Too busy, he said.)

Day Trip to Kuang Si Falls

On my second day, I met up with Chains, whom I had met at the train station in Vientiane, and we went on a day trip to Kuang Si Falls that was organized by his hostel. Kuang Si Falls is waterfalls and a park about an hour outside of Luang Prabang. It was beautiful and then there was a gruelling hike up a million stairs up to a series of lookout platforms in the trees. It was worth the climb, looking out over the green valley.

I’m sure the views from the road were also beautiful, but I slept the whole time.

Back in Luang Prabang, I had a quiet night with a cigar and some tasty green dumplings.

On my third and final day, I got up early for monks and a hike.

Alms Giving: A Cautionary Tale

Every morning, around sunrise, the monks walk in a procession along the main roads in their saffron robes, with empty bowls in hand, to receive offerings of food, like sticky rice or oranges. Along the street people line up with their items to offer and put them in the bowls of the monks as they walk past. The whole thing is a very serene and magical scene to witness. It is utterly quiet – or rather, it should be.

Obviously it is something that tourists want to witness and photograph, and that is fine, but there are rules. Well-publicized rules. There are literally signs all over the city advising people to dress modestly, keep a distance from the monks, and be quiet. They also advise you not to follow the monks; just sit at a distance and observe and take (flash-less) photos. That’s not difficult, right? I got to Sakkaline Road at maybe 4:30am and sat on the opposite side of the street from the procession and observed and took photos from a distance. Not so for all visitors. Busloads of tourists arrived and swarmed the scene, sticking their cameras right in the monks’ faces, shouting, and running around. It was gross. But I had a few minutes of peace and quiet before the hoards stormed in. I probably could have had a calmer experience from a side street, but I wasn’t sure what the route was and didn’t want to miss it, so I picked a central spot.

Stairway to Heaven

I then hiked up Phousi Hill. It is a mountain in the town with stairs heading up to the top. The entrance is just across the main road from the National Museum. The views are great, but it is the hike is the best part. It is up about 300 stairs elaborately carved with serpents, and all along the climb are small temples, stupas, and golden Buddhas set into the rocks and trees. It is like ascending into the heavens. (You pay a very small entrance fee of about $2 half-way up.)

I visited the National Museum (fine but not great) and went to the market for breakfast where I had some thin, sweet, milky bean soup and coffee for breakfast. A final stroll through the streets and then it was time to say adieu to Laos.

Laos was great. I would love to see more of it, just as a would the other countries in Southeast Asia. Fortunately, I was about to see a little more of Vietnam, as I was flying from Luang Prabang to Hanoi.

Laos Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Vientiane to Luang Prabang by train

There are two main ways to get from Vientiane to Luang Prabang: train and plane. The express train is about two hours (others are not express and are much longer) and the plane is about half of that. Both are inexpensive. Usually, I am all for saving time, but I love a train ride and going that way also allowed me to skip all of the airport check-in and security hassle. Easy decision.

Taking the train in Laos, at least on this route, is not something you want to book last minute as it sells out. Allegedly you should be able to buy it online through the railway, but that was not functional, so I booked my ticket through the 12GO website. Booking was easy and I received my ticket by email. (You can book though the railway’s app, but you need a local phone number.)

I took a taxi to the train station, which was huge and modern. It didn’t have a lot of amenities, but it had extremely high ceilings and one big open area. I queued up and ended up chatting with an American guy who was traveling for a bit during his tenure in China as an English teacher. Nice guy. I forget his name. I’ll call him ‘Chains.’ (Chains and I would meet up a day or two later to visit a waterfall outside Luang Prabang.)

The train ride was lovely. Very comfortable. The thing that made it great was the scenery. We raced past scenes verdant and pastoral. Rice fields, small villages, and then dramatically steep emerald mountains, pushing up through the clouds. Just stunning. Of course I took some pictures through the windows.

At Luang Prabang, the train station is quite a way out the city and taxis are hovering to pick up the arriving passengers. I met up with Chains (he had been in a different class on the train), and we shared a taxi into town.

I was immediately impressed with Luang Prabang. Quaint and pretty with lots of temples, and picturesque streets leading to the Mekong.

I was staying at the Khemkhong Guesthouse, a little inn in an old house. No breakfast, but charming rooms and a great location. I picked the one room with a balcony facing the river. It was wonderful. Cozy and well-appointed with a balcony perfect for cigar smoking. The fact that this room was $40 CDN a night was amazing. Southeast Asia is a bargain traveler’s dream.

I spent the next two days exploring Luang Prabang, visiting temples, hiking hills, smoking cigars, and spying on monks. More on that in the next post.

Laos Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Weird and Wonderful Buddha Park

Thing I had most looked forward to in visiting Vientiane was Buddha Park, a tourist attraction that is basically exactly what it sounds like, a park full of Buddhas, but it much cooler than it sounds. But first I had to figure out how to get there.

Buddha Park is located about 25 kilometres outside of Vientiane. It is possible to get there by a bus and I consider doing that, but everywhere I went in Vientiane I kept seeing these little signs attached to trees offering a day tour to Buddha Park and a few other sites in a tuk tuk for $10 by a man called Tungchai. It seemed like a good price and exactly what I wanted, but I questioned whether it was a good idea to message a stranger based on a piece of paper nailed to a tree and agree to go anywhere with him. But the more I saw the signs, the more I thought, ‘surely this person can’t be a killer, or they wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble.’ I messaged the fellow on WhatsApp and arranged to be picked up the next day.

*I mean, it’s laminated. That means it’s legit, right?*

It was a great choice. Tungchai arrived the next day on time in his tuk tuk with one other guest. I can’t recall the name of guy who was on the tour with me, but he was a pleasant fellow from Australia with a strong accent who was in Laos on business and had decided to do a bit of sightseeing. I’ll call him Mick. We chatted throughout the day about different places that we had travelled and about where we were from. When I told him I was from Canada he was quite excited because he is a Mormon and had heard about Mormon settlements in British Columbia, Canada where polygamy was allowed or ongoing; he had strong feelings about polygamy and how it should be legal for religious reasons. It was interesting to have that conversation as I’ve not encountered someone who had that belief before in a Mormon context. I took a very open-minded stance and just said that I think that relationships can come in all sorts of configurations and who is anyone to judge, although I had some concerns about the legalities and practical effect. He also told me a story about his son being in prison for homicide. Interesting chat, and he was good company for the half a day that we spent together.

We made a few stops throughout the day. We visited Patuxai (the victory arch commemorating gaining independence from the French), Pha That Luang. the golden temple, and the COPE centre, all of which I had visited the previous day on my walks, but I had no objection to revisiting them. And then it was on to the Buddha Park.

Buddha Park was started in 1958 by a Thai Priest/Sherman named Bunleua Sulilat. His faith was sort of Buddhism influenced by Hinduism as I understand it. He built the park and filled it with statues of Buddhist inspired and deities. Zero set along various paths surrounded by greenery. It was raining when we went, which gave it a magical feel. Even better there were only two other people visiting at the time. The idea of a park full of Buddha statues could sound kind of cheesy, but there’s something about this place that’s just weird and wonderful. The statues are just so odd. You want a giant pumpkin with an angry face that you can walk into and enter a representation of hell? It’s got that. Do you want a guy tugging on the leg of a giant grasshopper? It’s got that. Do you want a statue of various a multi faced Hindu with multiple arms outstretched so that it looks like a carnival ride? It’s got that too. The place is just amazing.

On the way back to the city, we stopped at a couple of other temples. It was a very fun half day trip with good company and interesting stories from our guide, and I never tire of running around in tuk tuks.

And then I was back to visiting Vientiane on my own. I’ve covered the rest of Vientiane in a different post here. The next day I would take the train to Luang Prabang.

Laos Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Impressions of Vientiane, Laos

I flew direct from Ho Chi Minh City to Vientiane. Vientiane is the capital of Laos. I arrived in the morning and took a taxi to my hotel after routine passport stamping at the airport. Sailomyen Cafe & Hostel (aka Sokdee Residence) wasn’t quite as central as I would have liked, but I didn’t find anything that was more central that was in my price range. This hostel was good though I had a private room and it had a nice café with a good free breakfast. It wasn’t a fun, social hostel though. The people that were staying there seem to really keep to themselves no matter. I had what I needed.

Sightseeing

Vientiane doesn’t really have much in the way of exciting things to do. It is sleepy and small and doesn’t feel like a capital city. Usually capital cities are bustling, or they at least have national museums or impressive art galleries. Vientiane has none of these things, but it does have a nice vibe. It’s pleasant for walking. It wasn’t too hot.

Laos is primarily a Buddhist country. Every few steps there was a glittering stupa, temple, or statue. Laos is a Buddhist country, and they seem to have made an effort to cram in as many gilded religious sites as possible into the capital. I have an astonishing number of photos of palaces and Buddhas and their glittering detailed interiors, but after an afternoon of popping into various temples, I kind of felt like I had seen enough.

The city itself also sort of lacks inviting restaurants or shops. I did find a couple of nice cafés that were good for a visit, but that took a bit of looking. There was good food, but I did not feel spoilt for choices.

I visited the night market, which had a nice energy with lots of people stretched out along the waterfront along the Mekong with rows of booths selling…mostly junk, but it was still fun to browse, and then there were food tents and a ferris wheel. It was fun for an evening wander, but it wasn’t extraordinary.

Really, if it weren’t for the Buddha Park and the COPE Visitor Centre, both of which I’ll get to you momentarily, I think Vientiane would be kind of skippable. I feel bad saying that, but it’s true for my perspective. On the plus side, it does feel like a real city; not at all touristy and fully authentic.

That said the two things that I liked, I really liked. I’m going to write about the amazing Buddha Park is a separate post.

COPE

The COPE Visitors Centre is a small museum and fundraising endeavour for the victims of land mines and unexploded bombs in Laos. It is located at the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation. And if I took away only one thing from Laos, I think it is this: the sheer numbers of people that were killed and named from land minds. It’s something that I was aware of already but as with many things, it doesn’t resonate unless you have some in person experience with it.

To put it in perspective, about 270 million sub-munitions from cluster bombs (aka ‘bombies’ – how cute for something so terrible) were dropped over Laos between 1964 and 1973 in between and they estimate that about 80 million of those failed to explode. It is estimated that about 50,000 people have been injured or killed since that time from these unexploded bombs. About 40 people are still injured or killed every year by happening upon them.

The museum is very small and relies on donations. It is free to enter, but they invite you to donate some money, which, of course I did once at the beginning and once at the end. It has films and information about the land mines and Laos, but it also has these arresting visual displays of bombs and rudimentary prosthetics that are made for these people who have lost their limbs or appendages. There were displays of objects that people have made out of munitions that they find in the fields, often with disastrous results.

I’ll say now that Laos is very poor and was devastated during the 1960s and 1970s by war and bombing, but it is also landlocked and communist and faces other challenges. That’s why Vientiane isn’t a Bangkok or a Ho Chi Minh. So the COPE centre raises money to help people with prosthetics and support after they’ve lost limbs due to bombs and land mines. How poor do you have to be to risk your life to try to salvage scrap metal from a live munition. It is upsetting but at least there is some help.

And now for the most awkward of transitions…

Smoking Cigars in Vientiane

Surprisingly, for a city as sleepy and smallest Vientiane, there were two cigar lounges. There was a newish one called “K2” owned by a foreigner whom I chatted with a bit. It was a decent little spot. It had a decent bar and some seating inside and on the patio. He also sold some cigars, but honestly, the quality was very poor and the selection limited. I smoked my own cigar and had a coffee. No one else was there when I visited, but I could imagine it being a nice spot when it’s busy if it’s busy. [2025 Update: According to Google maps it has closed.]

The other cigar room was the Smoke & Oak Cigar Lounge at “The Beer House”. They had a little side entrance with a decent cabinet humidor that was well stocked, and you went upstairs to a couple of small adjoining rooms that were decorated with local art and pictures of cinematic tough guys and leather sofas. They basically left you up there to smoke your cigars in peace, but you could press a little button and request some assistance if needed. It was kind of an odd place, but I was the only one there again and it allowed me to at least get some work done.

There was another one called Club DPlus, which is just an objectively terrible name for anything. This was in a building that was either a mall or a casino very near the COPE visitor centre. I approached its opulent looking entrance but didn’t go inside as there was a sign that stated that it was strictly for members. I don’t know what one has to do to be a member but I’m certain I didn’t qualify.

*a cigar and a lemonade at a local restaurant*

That’s largely how I spent my two and half days in Laos, just walking around aimlessly and exploring and then doing my little day trip to the Buddha Park, which I will write about in the next post. It was a bit underwhelming, but decent for a short time. Fortunately, there was lots to look forward to in Laos, starting with the weird and wonderful Buddha Park.

*That Dam Stupa, a* *16th-century Buddhist stupa*

Vietnam Vietnam Laos trip 2024

Return to Ho Chi Minh City

I wanted to go to Laos. It was the second-to-last country in Southeast Asia that I had not visited (apart from East Timor), and it was sitting as on my map as a hole that needed to be filled; however, to get to Laos from Vancouver I would have to fly through somewhere else in Southeast Asia. I decided to fly through Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a place I had been to before, but was happy to revisit.

I would only have a little bit more than 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh, but that was more than enough to soak up a bit of atmosphere and food since my last trip to Vietnam in 2013.

I flew direct Ho Chi Minh from Vancouver and landed late morning. Things had changed since I was last there; last time I had to send my passport away to the embassy in Ottawa to get a visa. This time, I had to only do an e-visa online, which was quick and painless. It was not painless in terms of the giant queues at the airport for people with their e-visas, but I paid a little bit extra to have somebody walk me to the front of the queue. When they first approached me about this, I thought it was a scam, but it was well worth it as it probably shaved about an hour off my airport time.

I took a taxi from the airport to my hotel. I was staying at Little Saigon Boutique Hotel. It was small and located in the interior of one of those dense city blocks in Ho Chi Minh where if you can penetrate the perimeter buildings to get to the centre of the block, there’s a reasonably pleasant network of alleyways, hidden coffee shops, residences, and small hotels. This place was great. It was walking distance to pretty much everything that I wanted to do, it had free Wi-Fi, comfortable beds, an astonishingly good free breakfast, and I had my own room and a private bathroom. It was about $50 CDN per night. There were cheaper options, but after such a long flight I didn’t want to bother with hostels or staying further out of the city centre. I thought this place was ideal and was a welcome change from the egregiously overpriced hostel dorms in Barcelona and Stockholm that I had experienced on my last trip abroad.

I had an agenda visiting Ho Chi Minh City this time. There were no touristy things that I hadn’t done that I felt like I needed to do, and while I wanted to casually revisit a couple of sites, the main thing was I wanted to check out was Ho Chi Minh’s cigar lounges. Last time I went to Ho Chi Minh I did smoke, however, I was traveling with my mother and I did not visit any cigar lounges. Since then I’ve heard tales of an opulent and impressive La Casa Del Habano in Ho Chi Minh and I wanted to check it out.

I left my small hotel and went for a bit of a walk around the neighbourhood, passing some familiar buildings and squares. The city felt a little bit different than I remembered it. My memories of Ho Chi Minh were of a city that felt very exotic and where the streets were so thick with humming scooters, that one could barely cross the street. It didn’t feel that way this time. I must acknowledge it in the last 12 years since I was there, I’ve been to many more places in the world and perhaps it just didn’t seem as different to me as it did before. However, it’s also possible that the city too has changed. In talking to some locals, they said that there are fewer motorcycles now and more cars and that the city is more affluent. Whatever the change, it felt good, if less exciting.

I stopped by the market for a bowl of vegetarian pho with some murderous chili peppers in it and it cost me a couple of dollars for this exquisite dish. I say murderous chili peppers because while I am someone who can usually eat and indefinite amount of extra hot chili peppers without any reaction, I put several of these raw chili peppers into my soup and when the liquid splashed on my face and hands, I felt like it was on fire.

I was walking around the city and looking for a place to grab a cup of coffee and found on my map a place on an upper floor of a tall building. I decided to go up. As I was walking up the stairs I passed on the second floor a cigar store and lounge called “Siqar Lounge”. I thought I’d done my research and pinned all the cigar stores on my maps but apparently, I had missed this one. It was small and secluded, but very stylishly decorated and had big old windows that opened up and allowed me to look out onto the street where I watched a couple of scantily clad girls engaging in a photo shoot. [2025 Update: this lounge is currently closed according to Google maps.]

I walked around a little more before finally deciding to have something else to eat. I’m not even sure if I was hungry, but it was so hot outside I just wanted to escape for a little bit. I went to a restaurant called Nhau Nhau; i just stumbled across it, but it was excellent. I had some kind of a small curry and a refreshing beverage that was both citrusy and gelatinous.

But I was on a mission, I headed to the La Casa Del Habano that I had heard so much about, but first, just around the corner I found another spot. Bakolan. A dark and romantic little cocktail bar that was virtually empty, and had cigar ashtrays on the table. I went in and had a cigar feeling incredibly sophisticated and relaxed. In doing some reading after the fact, apparently it is a “hostess bar”, but none of the young ladies gave me any attention.

Finally, I went to the La Casa Del Habano. La Casas are an international chain of cigar stores that are effectively all controlled by a cigar consortium in Cuba. Unless you happen to find yourself at an entirely counterfeit La Casa Del Habano, which I have encountered twice, in Colombia and in Iraq, La Casas are reliable for having excellent stock and good product and sophisticated lounges.

A friend of mine, Stripes, with whom I had visited Cuba for a cigar festival about 10 years prior, had recently visited this lounge and recommended it to me as one of the best he had ever visited. It was everything you’d expect a normal La Casa except it had extra touches. The walk-in humidor was two or three stories high, with cigars piled high in storage on the shelves accessible only by a tall library ladder. Once you bought your cigar and moved up to the second floor, which was a well-appointed cocktail lounge, you could look through the glass window and watch the tobacconists scurrying up and down the ladder, fetching boxes of cigars. I bought a Punch Double Corona and a vodka martini and sat there for about an hour or so relaxing. I will say that of all the things that were cheap in Vietnam, the cigars at this store were not it. This little venture cost me about $130.00 CDN for the cigar and the martini. It was worth it, but I wouldn’t make it a regular hangout. (On the upper floors of the La Casa that I did not visit there is a supper club with live music.)

I walked back to my hotel, which was only about a 5-minute walk away, and went to bed. The next day my flight was at 4:00pm and I wanted to leave myself enough time to get through the airport, so I really only had the morning. I went back to the market for some local, exotic fruits and wandered around the city.

I found three more cigar lounges or stores that I didn’t know anything about but due to the early hour both of them were closed. (The Saigon Cigar Club, Habanos Specialist, and the cigar lounge at the Rex Hotel – and these are just the ones near my hotel. There are so many more in Ho Chi Minh.)

I thoroughly enjoyed my walk around the city and thought that I would be happy to return, even if just for the food and cigars. But I was Laos bound on the 4:10pm flight to Vientiane.

Memphis long weekend 2024 USA

Long Layover – 10 Hours in Charlotte, NC

Coming back from my excellent long weekend in Memphis, I was going to have to change planes somewhere on my way back home to Vancouver. I could have gone for shorter layovers in any one of several cities that I have been to before, but I saw an opportunity for a 10 hour layover in is city that was new to me: Charlotte, North Carolina. It seemed like a great opportunity to check out a new place.

I’ve never given Charlotte, North Carolina a moment’s thought. I didn’t know anything about it, so this was a perfect opportunity to see something of it during a layover. I landed at about 10:00 in the morning and took a taxi from the airport into the city centre and asked the driver to drop me off somewhere in the middle.

Charlotte is the biggest city in North Carolina with a population of almost one million people. It’s named after the former queen of England who was married to King George the third (and not after The Cure song “Charlotte Sometimes”). It’s not really famous for much. It has a lot of banking and industry and sports teams.

The centre of Charlotte is a business district, and it was Monday morning so everything was busy. I went to a coffee shop and had a bite to eat before walking the streets of the central area and seeing what there was to see. It wasn’t much but it was nice for a walk. There were a few nice buildings and some public art, some green spaces and fountains.

I went to the Bechtler Museum of Art, which was also in the centre and just across the street from the Mint Museum. The Mint was closed that day but the Bechtler was open. It was a small museum but worth visiting and had some nice pieces.

I took a stroll down luminous lane, a public art project in which a back alley street was covered with and surrounded by colourful murals.

After that, I decided to take the light rail public transportation system out of the city centre and to the Optimist Hall. The train was easy to navigate. There is only one route going in two directions and affairs were very reasonable.

The Optimist Hall is a former industrial textile mill from the 1800s that has been converted into a building full of fancy food halls and some cute shops. It was nice train ride from downtown to the Parkwood Station, from where I walked to the Optimist Hall and had a delicious vegan lunch. (Lots of non-vegan foods there as well.)

Following that, I decided to go back downtown but to a different area, the South End. I got off at the East/West Station and walked around a bit, having a coffee at a cute little doughnut shop and exploring a little.

I felt like I had seen everything that I wanted to see, so I decided to spend my last hour or so at a local cigar lounge. There are a few in Charlotte, but the one that was most convenient to my location was call the Vintage Whiskey and Cigar Bar. It was a really nice space with friendly staff. I went in, bought two cigars, and sat there comfortably smoking until it was time to get an Uber back to the airport.

I can’t say that I would recommend going to Charlotte on a holiday, but having a layover with time to kill there was an enjoyable experience. I’m sure this would be true of just about everywhere; anywhere is interesting for a few hours.

And that was the end of my long weekend in Memphis. In a month I would be off to Laos via Vietnam.

Memphis long weekend 2024 USA

Graceland

I’m an Elvis fan. Not the sort of Elvis fan that has a house decorated in memorabilia or Elvis tshirts, but the sort of Elvis fan that owns all his music and has attended Elvis impersonation festivals more than once, and has seriously considered getting an Elvis tattoo. I love his music, I think he’s cool, and probably the best looking man ever. Going to Graceland was not a question of if I would go, but a question of when. It was the thing I was most excited to do when I went to Memphis.

*me with various Elvis tribute artists & DJ Fontana, Elvis’ drummer for 14 years*

I don’t need to explain who Elvis is or why he’s important or iconic because I think that’s understood. If you’re reading this and you don’t understand that, please go listen to some music.

Graceland is the mansion that Elvis bought in 1957 in Memphis TN for himself his wife his parents and his grandmother. The house was built in 1939 on farmlands, and it was a fairly rural property when Elvis bought it, but since that time it has become more surrounded by neighbourhoods, so it’s properly a part of Memphis now. After Elvis died there in 1977, his grandmother and other members of the family continued to live there. It opened to the public as an attraction in 1982.

Visiting Graceland can be a little bit overwhelming because there are so many options for tickets and experiences. There are the regular tickets, VIP tickets, and other special package tickets. You can even stay at a hotel on the grounds if you want to. I didn’t want to go crazy with all the luxury add-ons, but I did want a good package. I went with the ultimate VIP package. It was a little over $200 US and gave access to pretty much everything. I don’t regret a penny of it.

I took an Uber from my hotel to Graceland. (As a side note this was the first time I had taken Uber. In 2024. I was a late adopter.) Graceland is busy and the tickets are timed. You want to plan and not miss your time slot. I bought the earliest ticket that I could get to give myself lots of time and avoid some of the crowds. It was definitely more crowded when I left them when I arrived.

Arriving at the gates of Graceland I felt very excited. I went inside and picked up my commemorative badge, lanyard, and map and was taken on a little trolley over to the back of the Graceland mansion. We went into a small room that contained memorabilia, and we first watched a short movie about Elvis. Maybe ten minutes or so. By the end of the movie, I was already fighting back tears.

From there we were allowed to walk through Graceland mansion. This wasn’t a guided tour, this was just walking through at your own pace, which was perfect. There are options to take guided tours but that didn’t appeal to me.

The upstairs was off limits, but the main floor and the basement were open to us. The mansion is surprisingly small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in garish opulence. It’s incredible. It is ostentatious and tacky and over the top and amazing. I took a million photos. I just kept looking at these rooms thinking, oh this is the kitchen where Elvis would have made a sandwich, and this is the sofa where he sat and used that ashtray to smoke his tiny cigars, and this is the piano that he played, and on and on and on. It was incredible.

From the mansion you walk outside, and you see the fields where there are still a couple of horses. You go into his private racquetball court building and walk past the graves where he is buried alongside his parents and grandmother and, most recently his daughter.

And then, if you have the right ticket, you can also visit his private planes. There are two of them on the grounds and you get to go inside. They are the height of 1970s private jet opulence and still smell vaguely of stale cigarette smoke.

All of this alone would have been enough, but once you’re finished with the mansion, you go back to the complex where there are seemingly endless excellent high quality exhibits of Elvis’ clothing, his cars, his movie memorabilia, his gold records, bizarre artifacts like badges that he got from police forces across the country, the TV that he shot a bullet into, his jewellery, his karate gear… It’s a lot. And yet it didn’t seem like enough.

When that was over there was lots of time for exploring the many many Elvis themed gift shops. There are also Elvis themed diners and snack shops on the grounds. I bought my mom’s boyfriends a couple of T-shirts and myself a pair of socks because I’m not one for souvenirs, but I wanted something to remember the day.

I’m not going to say that going Graceland was the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but it absolutely lived up to my expectations and exceeded them. I can’t explain why I got emotional multiple times on the visit. I fought back tears and I had a lump in my throat. I was just genuinely moved and amazed by everything that this person accomplished and brought to music and culture in his relatively short life. It really hit home as I was in Graceland that I’m older than Elvis ever got to be.

I feel like even if you’re not an Elvis fan, Graceland is worth visiting because it’s such a unique, American, pop culture attraction.

If I ever go back to Memphis, without hesitation, I will return to Graceland for another homage to the King.

After Graceland, I still had another day or so in Memphis. I’ve written about my trip to Memphis in a different post. After Memphis, I flew home and had a brief visit to Charlotte, NC.

Memphis long weekend 2024 USA

8 things I loved about Memphis (and 2 I didn’t)

Down in Memphis

I had a long weekend at the end of June. It came about a month after my trip to Europe that took me to Andorra and Lithuania, amongst other places. I wasn’t supposed to go away, but I had the yearning to travel. I didn’t think that I could wait until my next planned trip at the end of July, so I looked for a cheap trip for the long weekend. An inexpensive flight to Memphis, Tennessee was the winner and with about a week’s planning, I was Memphis bound.

I had not been to Tennessee before, but I wanted to go. I wanted to see Graceland and I was generally curious.

The flight to Memphis was cheap, but the hotels were not so. Hotels in the centre were all pricey (especially when paying with my meagre Canadian dollars) but I would only be there for three nights, so I booked the best of the lower-priced options (and dismissing from contention and of the budget motels the reviews of which were full of stories of late night parking lot gun play). A funky little Moxy Marriot that had pinball machines, was walkable to everything, and had a trolley stop out front.

I took the Friday off work and left Thursday night, which meant that I arrived in Memphis Friday morning and I left early Monday morning. Three terrific days. I haven’t stopped talking about how much I loved Memphis. Here’s why…

Music

If my Memphis famous for anything, it’s for music. It has a pretty convincing claim to being the “birthplace of rock’n’roll and the home of the blues.” Even aside from the fact that Elvis is from Tupelo, Mississippi, not far away ,and built Graceland in Memphis, it seems that pretty much every early rock performer got their start in Memphis. The town is filled with monuments and memorials and markers for these early rock pioneers.

As someone who grew up loving 1950s rock music I was very excited about this. Of course I went to Graceland (more about that later), but I was very excited to visit Sun Records (aka Sun Studio), the original record label and recording studio where artists including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison recorded. You can visit the actual recording studio which is connected to a building next to it that has a good collection of memorabilia and information. It’s not possible to visit Sun Records without a tour, and you need to book ahead, but the tour is excellent. Even if you don’t know a lot about early rock music, it gives you a lot of context, and it ends in the place where all these amazing records were made. I’m not going to lie; I got a little emotional standing in the place where Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis and the like recorded their early records.

You could also do a similar tour of Stax Records which recorded more of the soul artists from Memphis, including personal favourite Otis Redding. I didn’t have enough time to get to Stax, which is just one of the reasons why I wish that I had had four days in Memphis instead of three.

But the music is not just in the history books and museums in Memphis, it is alive and well in the city today. Beale Street, which calls itself the Home of the Blues, is a pedestrianized street lined with live music venues and bars. You need to show ID to enter the street, as police control either end, but once you’re in, you can get a drink and wander around from venue to venue, and each venue has terrific music. Mostly blues with some R&B and funk. It’s just terrific. Most of the places didn’t even have a cover so you could just wander in and order a drink and watch for a bit. Best of all for me, many of the places allowed smoking. Some of them only allowed smoking of cigarettes not cigars, but that’s OK, I still managed to smoke a cigar indoors in a couple of places on the patio or a couple of others, but the idea that I could smoke a cigar while watching excellent live Blues music was incredible.

And it wasn’t just on Beale Street; there was live music throughout the city, with buskers and music at lots of other scattered venues.

On Sundays, you can take in a service at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church and, if you are lucky, the founder of the church, none other than soul legend Al Green will be there preaching and singing.

If that isn’t enough proof of Memphis’ musical importance, there are over 1000 recorded songs with lyrics about Memphis.

Cigars

Memphis was a tremendous cigar city. There aren’t an abundance of cigar stores and lounges, but there are good cigar stores and lounges. What makes it a great cigar city is the combination of people in the lounges and the loose smoking laws. I already mentioned how I was able to smoke indoors at one place while watching live music (incredible), but I spent a lot of time smoking at lounges. On my first day I went to the Tinderbox on South Main Street, which had a great selection of cigars. I bought a bunch and chatted with the guys working there before taking a seat in the lounge. It was one of those lounges that wasn’t super fancy but was comfortable and had a collection of guys who were all regulars. Sometimes in those situations you can feel like the outsider, but in this place, everybody was chatting with me and were so friendly. One of them even asked me what I was doing later. I said I didn’t have any definitive plans, and he said, well why don’t you come back in the evening because when the store closes they bring their chairs and sit out in front of the Tinderbox smoking and drinking. I did go back later that night and I hung out with them; some of the guys had met earlier in the day and some new guys. They had folding chairs and rocking chairs, a portable speaker playing music, and bottles and bottles of whiskey and bourbon. They were so welcoming. I felt like I instantly had a group of buddies to smoke with.

Cigar prices were very good in Memphis. Much cheaper than in many other states. Of course there are no Cubans, but there is an excellent selection of non-Cubans.

I also went to another lounge called the Havana Mix, which was a fancier lounge, but at the time that I went it was a little bit quiet so I didn’t chat with anyone, but it was still a comfortable place to smoke cigar and have a drink.

And just generally in the city you could smoke on most patios and in some of the restaurants and bars. It just felt very free.

Trolleys

By far one of the most charming public transit systems I have encountered is the network of trolleys in Memphis. They don’t have the broadest range, but they do go to some useful places. What makes them charming however is the fact that they are 100-year-old refurbished trolleys. Right down to carved wooden interiors and antique light fixtures, they are unbelievably charming. Even if you’re not taking them to go from point A to point B, a ride on one is a must. There’s even one route that takes you on a scenic journey through downtown Memphis and along the Mississippi river. Best of all, a ride is only $1.00, or you pay $2.00 for unlimited rides for the entire day.

Even better, on the last Friday of the month during the summer they have what’s called Trolley Night. On Trolley Night, all the trolleys are free and all along the routes there is sort of a street party. The businesses all stay open late and provide live music and cocktails and special arts events. It’s terrific. I was just lucky that I happened to be arriving on the last weekend of the month, so when I read about Trolley Night, I made sure to arrive on Friday morning as opposed to Saturday morning so I could enjoy the evening. I rode the trolleys, stopped off at various galleries and shops, and hung out smoking cigars in front of the Tinderbox.

Civil Rights Museum

I wouldn’t tell people what to do when they go to a city, but I think that if you’re going to Memphis you must visit the National Civil Rights Museum. Yes, I know about the civil rights movement, but I don’t know about everything. And this museum does such a good job of not only giving you the overview of what happened but giving you very specific stories about people that you may have not heard of. And seeing all of the photos, and spending time with it, was very moving. There were several times where I put sunglasses on in the museum just to hide the fact that I was starting to cry.

The museum is attached onto The Lorraine Motel, which is where Martin Luther King was assassinated on 4 April 1968. The motel looks as it did in the day, but there is a small monument in front of the balcony where he was killed. In the museum, your journey takes you to the exhibit about the Memphis sanitation workers protests, which brought Martin Luther King to Memphis in April 1968. You then walk to his motel room where the wall has been replaced with a window, and you can look in and see it as it was. It is a very moving experience.

Lucky Ducks

The “South’s Grand Hotel,” The Peabody, was built in 1869, and it’s an impressive building. It is probably lovely to stay in, but it was well out of my price range. But the reason that you need to know about the Peabody is because of the ducks. In the 1930s, the manager of the hotel and a friend had been hunting and they were drunk and they thought it would be funny to put their live duck decoys in the fountain in the middle of the lobby. This started a tradition that carries on to today.

From the 1940s to 1991 bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal worker, provided ducks to the fountain every day until he retired in 1991. Since then, there is still a Duck Master who is in charge of ensuring that there are ducks in the lobby from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day. That’s a bit quirky and fun right? It gets even better.

In 2008, the hotel spent $200,000 US to build a “duck palace” on the roof of the hotel. I didn’t view the duck palace myself, but I understand that it includes a replica of the hotel and a swimming pool. Each day at 11:00 AM, the Duck Master, who wears an elaborate outfit with tails, a top hat, and a black cane with a silver duck head on it, walks the ducks from the roof into the elevator and on a red carpet to the fountain in the middle of the lobby and does so to Sousa march. At 5:00 PM, the Duck Master escorts the ducks back to the rooftop.

If you plan accordingly, you can be there to witness the duck procession. And I think you can make some special arrangements to view the ducks on the roof. I arrived at the hotel just after the ducks were brought to the lobby, but I saw the Duck Master in the lobby talking to some families. I stayed and had a cocktail and watched the ducks splashing about. This is one of the most charming and whimsical things I’ve ever heard of. And it’s in Memphis.

*the luckiest ducks in the their fountain*

Cooper-Young

I’m sure Memphis has a lot of cool areas outside of downtown, but I didn’t have time to visit a lot of them. But I did visit Cooper-Young. It was a short bus or taxi ride. I went first to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, which was in a park just outside of Cooper-Young. It was good museum with excellent permanent exhibits and, when I was there, it had a really cool fashion exhibit.

From there I walked down the street into Cooper-Young. The neighbourhood is just kind of a funky, hipster-y, historic neighbourhood with lots of cool independent bars and restaurants, book and gift shops, and beautiful houses. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours looking around. It made me curious what other neighbourhoods of Memphis there were that I didn’t have time to get to.

People

Without a doubt, the people that I met in Memphis were some of the friendliest people that I’ve met anywhere. From the cigar people who felt like instant friends, to the trolley drivers who chatted with me, to people I met in bars and restaurants, everyone was so friendly. This isn’t a place where people are minding their own business; people are engaging in conversation, they’re curious and talkative, and they are polite. I’m not always someone who wants to talk to other people, and truth be told, when I’m at home in Vancouver, I have my headphones on constantly, but the people in Memphis were just so charming and genuine that I was won over and couldn’t help but engage in conversation.

Atmosphere

Memphis is interesting. It’s not polished and perfect. It’s not a Charleston, for example. It feels like a city that’s been through some rough times. Parts of the downtown feel a little rough around the edges. While I never felt unsafe, I understand that it’s not a good place to be out late at night. (The latest I was out was about 11:30 PM and I didn’t have any problems but I can’t necessarily recommend it.) It’s not super beautiful, although it does have some nice old buildings and great street art, and away from places like Beale street, this streets don’t feel necessarily lively and welcoming. And parts of Memphis, like when I walked to Sun Records, felt quite economically depressed. But it is very interesting and I feel like it’s a city that is on the rise, economically. I feel like in 20 years, Memphis could be one of those places that everyone is going, like Nashville. But right now, it feels like a place that is kind of an insider destination. I’m not saying Memphis is a secret; clearly, millions of people go there, drawn by the music and Elvis and history, but it still feels a little like you’re getting in early on something that’s going to be great again. I like that about it.

The two things I didn’t like about Memphis

Not everything is perfect and I wouldn’t want it to be. There were two things that I did not like about Memphis.

The Heat. I was there in the middle of summer, and it was fucking hot. I’m used to heat. I traveled to some of the hottest countries in the world and I used to live in Miami, so I usually deal with that thing that sort of thing okay, but something about the heat in Memphis at the time that I went was insufferable. Even the locals couldn’t stop talking about how hot it was. It was over 100° and really humid. Walking around, I had to buy a handkerchief just so I had something to mop the sweat off my face. Even at midnight, there was no relief. This might have contributed to the streets feeling kind of empty during the day as nobody wanted to be sitting outside. It didn’t stop me from walking everywhere, but it did mean that I was constantly overheated and uncomfortable.

The Food. If you like BBQ, you’re all set. But I don’t eat meat or fish or fried things, so Memphis was kind of a disaster for eating. There was one restaurant I found in Cooper young that was a vegan restaurant, and I had some vegan collard greens and cornbread, which was delicious, and there was a Caribbean restaurant downtown that had a vegetarian curry that was very good. But other than that, there were not a lot of options. I went to this one classic diner, The Arcade, for breakfast and there was really nothing on the menu that I would eat apart from a very lacklustre veggie burger. (I also don’t eat pancakes or waffles or eggs. I know, annoying…) I kind of expected this, so I’m not really complaining, but I have said so many glowing things about Memphis I just wanted knowledge the couple of things that weren’t the best.

Summing up

I loved Memphis. I want to go back. I want to smoke more cigars and see more music. I want to revisit Graceland. I want to do the things that I didn’t have time to do and just generally hang out. This is high praise from me because I don’t usually want to go back to places, but Memphis was a good vibe and close enough to Vancouver that I think it’s worth a revisit.

This post is really long, so I have put Graceland in a separate post. Read on here…