5 days of $2 Bahn Mi | Vietnam Diaries

5 min readJun 7, 2023

I decided to take a few days off work and travel to Vietnam. It was a hit & run since one leg was 10-hours and I was there for a mere 5 days but turns out, it was quite enough to conjure up the romance with Ashna. I’ve always loved traveling solo since I was 15 or so. It became my way of retracing my steps from the world to come home, to myself. The beauty of traveling by yourself is that you don’t have to be anywhere if you don’t want to be. Want to stare at your feet in the hotel all day long? Yes, you can. Want to travel with old couples on a cruise? Yes, you can. Want to eat on behalf of 5 people? Yes, you can.

Vietnam is so rich in culture and history. I started in Ho Chi Minh city and ended in Hanoi. On the first day, my default mode was to hurriedly book tours so I didn’t miss out on seeing all the things you were supposed to see but then I stopped and asked myself what it is I really wanted to do and you know what? I just wanted to spend the whole day eating and so I did.

Here are some moments from my trip -

Local Bahn Mi: I went around to a few coffee places and eventually sat in a local Bahn Mi shop for some food. I asked the lady for Bahn Mi vegetarian and she hands me a bread. Just bread. I smile and ask her for BAHN MI VEGETARIAN (still doesn’t strike me to use Google Translate) so she smiles again and brings me Bahn Mi with meat I don’t recognize. I eat and she smiles like she cracked the code.
Painting with Egg Shells: On our way to Cu Chi Tunnels, we stopped at a place which was repurposed to employ decapitated people from the war. They were all skilled in making these beautiful paintings native to Vietnam which were embellished with egg shells. I thought I was empathetic until I saw the price tag on the painting which was a whooping $100 so I gave them my prayers instead.
Vietnamese Coffee: Here I was thinking Melbourne coffee rules until I tasted Vietnamese coffee. I had coffee until I was sick in the stomach then pooped so I could have more. PS — Hanoi had some slick cafes (message for recommendations).
Powerbank: It was pleasing to see how shamelessly I spent on things I didn’t need but for things I did need, like a Powerbank, it took me an entire day to decide whether I “really needed it”. For $25, I kept circling around the shop hinting at the shopkeeper to drop the price to make it worthwhile.
Old Aunties in Non La (conical caps): Old Aunties run Vietnam. The diversity of fashion I witnessed among the older age group in women was beyond my expectations. Some in night suits in the morning hunting for vegetables, some chatting and having Pho at 7am on the side streets, some laughing out loud with friends at jokes I didn’t understand (could have very much been laughing at me), some all decked up ready to run the economy with their shops — I just fell in love with all of them collectively.
War Humour: When I went to Cu Chi Tunnels, one of the things that was most endearing was my tour guide’s sense of humor on the Vietnam War. It was one of the most darkest times in our history and it is so refreshing when humans can find a way to amuse themselves & others respectfully. The guy proudly shows us the booby traps that were built for American soldiers, saying “American go back home, no baby beCUZ lost banana in Vietnam”……
Instagram: I loved how much I used Instagram while in Vietnam because I realized that it gave me the feeling of being connected to home, away from home. Watching my friends go on with their lives just made me feel connected to them even if I was miles away.
Fantastic Fungi: I watched this documentary again on Netflix because I have so much respect for our fungal ecosystem. One of the things that stuck with me was “Music causes every one to be synchronized”. Paul Stammet (famous mycologist) said this while describing his employees are the best source of music while working together in the mushroom labs.
Drinking wine on an airplane: If you’ve ever wondered why you feel more light-headed when you drink alcohol on a plane versus the ground like I did…. it’s apparently because of the air pressure which is lower causing your body to absorb less oxygen therefore the lightheadedness. I was just curious.
Halong Bay: I met this 70-year old gentleman on my cruise to Halong Bay and he was telling me about his 17 year old marriage that ended. When I asked why, he told me that they were different people and didn’t seem to share the same interests post the 10-year mark. It got me thinking about what is it that makes relationships last for real. When you’re with someone, they evolve and so do you. When you look back to even a year or so, you can easily see that you’re not the same person any more so maybe the secret is to fall in love with each other over and over again. How magical is that? It’s like two different people falling in love with each other EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Halong Bay #2: Another distinguished gentleman I met made me laugh so hard. He would have me click lots of pictures of him just to let me know that it wasn’t about him but the scenery and the background so I could go farther away to click photos then as we sat in the bus, I saw him look at his photos for 30+ mins and I laughed my ass off.
Rooftop Bar: I took myself on a date to this Rooftop Bar and sat there noticing the world around me while gulping down on my Margarita.