loved my time in Hanoi, but it came to an end when I decided to relocate to Nashville, Tennessee to try my hand at music. I started a band called The Great Palumbo, and this project is still where I spend all my time, money, and emotional energy. I don’t know where this thing is going, but it’s on its way! And I’m very blessed to have some super talented musicians along for the ride with me.
Today, we released some new music that was inspired by the time I spent living in Hanoi. And since this is the topic that put this blog on the map, I’m sharing it here as well.
I was both relieved and disappointed that our 25-kilometer trek up Mount Fansipan had been canceled. In fact, thanks to the torrential rain that morning, every hike had been canceled save for one. It was called the “Non-National Park Trek”. Everything about this promised to be less than ideal, but it was the only option I had left, so I went for it.
Located in the Hoàng Liên Son Mountains in the Northwestern limits of Lào Cai Province, Sa Pa is one of the most famous places in Vietnam. Travelers will fly into Hanoi to go to Ha Long Bay, and then Sa Pa. Sa Pa itself is just a little mountain town, but it is famous because of what it serves as a jumping off point for. Surrounding this little piece of civilization are some of the most beautiful mountains and rice paddies that you’ll ever see.
Ba Vì Mountain is just a couple hours drive West of Hanoi. It’s supposed to be beautiful, so my roommate and I decided to make a motorbike trip of it. I’m going to tell you now – our first attempt was a miserable failure. It was not until our second attempt that we summited that S.O.B.
Most teachers in Vietnam operate on self-acquired visas. Vietnam, still coming to terms with the fact that people actually travel here now, is pretty anal about visas and is constantly changing it’s rules. The bad news for me is that it has recently discontinued visa extensions. This means that in order to continue working in Vietnam, every 3 to 6 months I have to leave solely for the purpose of coming back with a new visa. So the good news for you, reader, is that I get to talk to you about how to get a visa for Vietnam.
Hội An was a very important trading post of the old world. It was the opinion of most Chinese and Japanese merchants that Hội An was the best trading post in Southeast Asia, if not Asia at large. However, thanks to a treaty signed with the colonizing French, Đà Nẵng eventually became the port of choice in lieu of Hội An. Also, due to a build up of silt at the mouth of the river, Hội An became all but inaccessible to the large ships that used to frequent its docks. The effect of this was isolation. The ancient town of Hội An was all but forgotten about during Vietnam’s tumultuous next 200 years.
Travel plans! On this trip, we'll be visiting Da Nang, Hoi An (in Vietnam), Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh (in Cambodia). Included in these destinations will be Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields in Cambodia, as well as a legendary lantern lighting festival in the backwaters of central Vietnam.
With the 40-year anniversary of the end of the war between Vietnam and America in a few days, the timing of this was fortuitous. Our story begins with a dinner, as many of my stories do. One of my former students, Linh (pronounced “ling’), had invited me to have dinner with her and her family. Soon they would be leaving for Newfoundland, Canada. They would be living in a small college town on the Eastern coast while her husband, Dzung (pronounced “zoong”), earned his Ph.D. At the end of this dinner they invited us to come to Bac Ninh Province (just North of Hanoi) to have a large dinner with their extended family.
Before going into this museum I was vaguely aware of most of it's contents but I had never been forced to really consider any of it or face what America has actually done in this country. I'm not very political so I can have the tendency to be lazy in this department.
On Christmas night, two friends and I walked into a bar in District 1 to have a beer and play a game of pool. This was maybe not the most traditional activity for Christmas night, but at least we had each other. I was the last to arrive at the pool table on the third floor of this bar because I had been distracted somewhere en route. When I walked up the stairs I was handed a pool stick and introduced to my teammate: a random guy in the bar. His name was Leonardo.
