The fruit is best known for the soft, flexible spikes—called spinterns—that grow on the outside of its thick skin. These spinterns helped give the rambutan its name, which comes from the Malay word for “hair.”
Other languages use similar descriptions for its unique look.
Vietnam: Called chôm chôm, meaning "messy hair".
Once you break inside their beautiful-yet-rough exterior, rambutans offer a floral, sweet flavor similar to a grape. Scientists, however, are looking to these colorful fruits for more sustainable uses beyond the plate.
Moving from Tokyo to Hanoi is a transition from calculated order to organic energy. While Tokyo is often described as a "forest of people" where millions move in silent, synchronized harmony, Hanoi is a sensory explosion where chaos is the primary rhythm.
Tokyo's "Calm" Crowds: Even in the busiest hubs like Shibuya, Tokyo maintains a surprising lack of noise. Public spaces are governed by clear rules and logical systems, making the city feel predictable and structured.
Hanoi's "Crazy" Energy: Hanoi is characterized by a "mayhem of motorcycles" and a constant cacophony of horns and bartering. Life spills directly onto the sidewalks, where people eat, work, and socialize amidst the traffic.
We spent some days on our own before joining a tour of 19-20 people. There were 40 in total but we were divided into 2 buses of 40 for the entire time.
The tour, in general, was good, although I think we would have managed better on our own. We find tours to be slow, always waiting for people, tour guides tend to drag excursions out. And then there's those shopping expeditions disguised as factory tours, that we would never have any interest in doing. This time it was pearls in one place, then silk and bamboo.
There were more group lunches than we like, thank goodness there were no group dinners! The lunches tend to drag out, although the food was always very quick to come out. Some places did a good job, there were a couple of mediocre meals.
HOTELS - with our ranking in bold
Hanoi at Thang Long Opera 4* hotel in a deluxe room 2 great bar/restaurant
Halong Bay on a traditional 4* wooden junk in a deluxe cabin
Hue at the Cherish 4* hotel in a deluxe room wish we had another night3
Hoi An at the Thanh Binh Riverside 4* hotel in a deluxe room 1
Can Tho at the TTC Premium 4* hotel in a deluxe room wish we had another night3
Ho Chi Minh City at the Paragon Saigon 4* hotel in a deluxe room 3 terrible restaurant
The Vietnamese hotels were great, but again, we are paying double the price and we could probably have stayed in higher end establishments for the same price. Locations were generally good in Vietnam, we could easily walk most places.
Breakfasts were included in all hotels, unlike Japan. Always buffets with great selections, Asian as well as Western.
We loved everything about Vietnam, except, for me, crossing the street! Most of the time you end up walking on the street, sidewalks seem to be for moped parking and driving!
We didn't feel any issues with language, unlike Japan.
Food was delicious.
MONEY
It was no issue, we occasionally found an ATM that was out of cash, but in general, we had no problems. When buying something, I noticed that the price is rounded down as they don't use coins.as they don't have coins.
Our currency calculation - 500,000 dong = $26 CAD. So in my simple mind - divide by 2 and drop the last 4 zeros!!
We arrived late and the tour arranged our airport transfer.
Once we were assigned a different room, we enjoyed this hotel. It had a great bar/restaurant in addition to the breakfast room that was on the second floor. We loved the bar for a quick beer or quick bite to eat.
Hanoi offered a fun, chaotic blend of ancient culture and modern energy.
Indulging in affordable street food like phở while sitting on tiny chairs/stools.
One highlight was a visit to Train St. where we loved experiencing a train pass inches from our noses as we sat in a cafe!!
Phung Hung Street murals were a great find that we had on our list.
We did the hop on hop off bus and visited the Imperial Palace.
We loved hanging around Hoàn Kiếm Lake: A peaceful escape for watching locals practice tai chi at dawn, visiting the Ngoc Son Temple, or taking a weekend stroll, as the roads become pedestrian-only.
Checking out the famous Instagrammable Note Cafe! We had Coconut Iced Latte, but we had much better ones another day. Salt coffee was pretty good too, along with the tiramisu.
We had no idea that a Belgian tourist took our photo, sitting in the window, until she came over and offered to send it to me!
TOUR ACTIVITIES
Bus No. 1 GROUP
We had a food tour, it was included. It wasn't bad, but it could have been better.
Group consisted of more single people (5) than usual and more men than usual.
2 gay guys, out and proud.
Women - 9 Men - 11
Canadians 15 (Women - 8 Men - 7 ) Americans 5 (Women - 1 Men - 5)
9 went on to Cambodia
2 went on to Thailand (us)
9 went home after Vietnam
CANADIAN
Single woman (K) Toronto a little hyper but nice. Went on to Cambodia
Single guy (P) - 85 yo from Calgary known as the Wanderer as he went missing twice. Went on to Cambodia
Single middle-aged guy from Calgary (J) Went on to Cambodia
Couple of retired female teachers from Burlington - the Chatty Cathies D and C, Went home after HCMC
Ottawa late 60s bilingual couple (P and R) she was the self-appointed social director. Went home after HCMC.
London ON couple (S and H) became bosom buddies with above couple. Went on to Cambodia
Vancouver blowhard 60s annoying Maholo Man went on to Cambodia
Vancouver mid 40s single woman MIA (K) damaged passport. She finally joined the group in Hue. Went on to Cambodia
Couple Toronto R (orig HK) and L went on to Cambodia
Us went on to Thailand
AMERICANS
Single gay California (J) went on to Cambodia
Single Texas (L) went home after HCMC
3 - Iranian couple and brother gay California went home after HCMC
One group lunch in Hanoi.
We did one full day sightseeing tour as a group in Hanoi visiting historic spots like temples, the famous Hanoi Hilton and the Temple of Literature.
We learned a LOT about Ho Chi Minh!
That same day we did a rickshaw tour, highlighted by navigating busy streets, exploring the streets of the Old Quarter. and attended a water puppets show.
HALONG BAY
Then we were off to Halong Bay for an overnight stay on a junkboat.
The group was split up, 7 of us plus Tien, the guide were on a separate boat, a little further, from the other 12. Turns out we had the better group!
Most people on our boat were Indian and didn't partake in the evening activities, other than dinner.
Tourism in Vietnam has boomed in recent years, which means Ha Long Bay is a lot more crowded and polluted than in the past.
I had looked forward to this and was slightly disappointed. It was so crowded with overnight boats and day trippers.
Just to be clear -They tender you to a boat then motor to a spot and anchor there. Go back to the arrival destination the next day to drop passengers off, pick up new ones and go back to the exact same anchor point. This is not a cruise, it is a hotel that floats.
Being tendered out to the boat.
It was unfortunate that we had cloudy weather the whole time we were here. We didn't get on board until lunch time and it was served immediately. The lunch and dinner were excellent on that first day.
The next morning was a different story. You could get a tea of coffee early, if you paid for it. A "brunch" was served which was mediocre. In order to make our flight to Hue, the tour company had to book a speedboat to get us back to shore as our flight was moved up.
We had 15 minutes to spare after check in to boarding!
“Hue is, in many ways, a city of ghosts, of memories and spirits.” – Anthony Bourdain
A new tour guide but the same group.
We checked in and headed out for a beer and then dinner. We went located very closely to Võ Thị Sáu full of pubs, bars and restaurants.
I wish we had had another day or two here as it rained heavily on our only full day. And it rained all day long!
This was to be a group full day of touring. We did the market and then the Imperial Citadel, had lunch, and then most of the group opted out of the afternoon activity and headed back to get dried out. It was still raining so hard, that we ate dinner in the hotel.
The morning tour started with a tuk tuk that took us to the market, then we did a walking tour to a Chinese temple, Japanese Bridge, lunch (not memorable), a museum, and a local house, ending with another tuk tuk back to the hotel. We then spent the rest of the day and evening on our own.
GROUP PHOTO - JAPANESE BRIDGE
We're on our own for the afternoon, and the next day!!
After a short bus ride, this was the rest of our morning.
We arrived late afternoon to the hotel and went out for a bite, then back to our hotel for a brandy in our hotel robes on our balcony overlooking the river.
The next day we packed up early for the water market, bamboo shopping and the drive back to Ho Chi Minh to the same hotel.
Checked in and a final group photo as people were heading to various places, we were flying Bangkok Thailand the next day. We ate at the tapas place.
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