We stayed with a friend who lives in Hanoi who put together our amazing itinerary.

Oct 14: Arrive in Hanoi 8:10 pm 

Oct 15: DAY 1

• Breakfast near the Sofitel Metropole Hotel – Old classic hotel that is beautiful. 
• Quan Thanh Temple: Taoist temple 11th Century. It is one of the “four towns of Hanoi” built in different corners to protect the city from evil spirits
• Visit the location where John McCain crashed
• Tour to Hoa Lo Prison AKA Hanoi HIlton, where US Prisoners of war were incarcerated (including John McCain who crashed in 1967 and was imprisoned for 5+ years) 
• Other monuments/temples to see or walk by: 
• Temple of Literature, Van Mieu Quoc Tu Giam – Beautiful Confucius temple 
• Ngoc Son Temple (Temple of the Jade Mountain) on Hoan Kiem Lake – Old Quarter
• Tran Quoc Pagoda on southeastern shore of Ho Tay Lake (Hanoi’s west lake)
• Ho Chi MInh Mausoleum – resting place of President Ho Chi MInh. 
• Lunch at Viet Restaurant on the roof of JM Marvel Hotel & Spa: 16 hang Da Street in Old Quarters: Delicious Bun Cha, Pho, Grilled Pork: Cost with no alcohol $67 for 4 people ($16.75 pp)
• Walked around Old Quarter and shopped. Went to the Train Tracks where bars and restaurants with tables right by the track are set up extremely close to the track. Two trains come by approximately at 11 am and 3 pm (but the one we saw came at 3:15p. People get seated early to eat and drink while the train come dangerously close to your table…very touristy, but fun. 
• Visited Apricot Gallery. One of the older galleries that carries authentic paintings by the “Gang of 5” five of the most important figures who in the late 80’s brought about changes and re-introduced ideas of abstraction in the art scene of North Vietnam: Hồng Việt Dũng, Hà Trí Hiếu, Đặng Xuân Hoà, Trần Lương and Phạm Quang Vinh. Also has some beautiful pieces by contemporary artists
• Must Try “Egg Coffee”offered in many cafe’s  – it tastes just like tiramisu!  First created in Hanoi in 1946, egg coffee is the brainchild of Nguyen Van Giang. In response to the pressures of a milk shortage caused by the French War (also known as the First Indochina War), Giang whisked in egg as a much-needed substitute while bartending at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel. Cafe’s named after him are around Hanoi but most places serve it.  “Cafe Giang”. We went to “Drop in Cafe” which had a “non dairy egg cream” version. I prefer the regular version.
• Drinks and or eat at the historic and beautiful Metrople Hotel  ( built in 1901).  Little pricy compared to the rest of Hanoi, but service is impeccable . 
• Dinner at Tam Vi, Michelin 1 star restaurant located in a cool alley with people sitting out on small tables eating, hip coffee shop at the end of the alley, and on the right a 2 story brown wooden building. Ask to eat upstairs if possible. We went twice so we could try more dishes: Favorites were braised pork belly with eggs (melted in your mouth), Sanil and Green Banana Greens, roast chicken. $20.87 for 3 people: $7 pp. Bring your own wine and pay corkage. Think corkage is around $20. Almost the same price as the meal!

DAY 2: 

• Breakfast 
• Shopping. Extremely good fakes of every designer vs the ones you see in the markets. There are several along the street: Anna Wang – 3 floors of shoes, clothing, purses- Hermes/Prada/Chanel etc. Other stores along the street: Si Lane, HoangTranh Tran. 
• Markets filled with knockoffs. Wallets ranging from $12 to decent purses around  $50.
• Nicer stores: Vietnamese designers: Lestoir (evening dresses) and LeLam – where I bought a beautiful hand embroidered white crepe skirt for $200. Interesting, unique clothing.
• Lunch at Bahn Co  Bun / Mr Bay MIen Tay: We ate the famous Banh Xeo – omelets deep fried quickly and then cut up to eat with vegetables and you wrap rice paper around it and dip in the fish sauce.  Super delicious. About $4. There is also a famous place called Bun Cha Obama Cafe (Bun cha Houng Lien) – because he dined there with Anthony Bourdain. More touristy.
• Stopped for pre-dinner cocktails at Angelina (part of the Metropole hotel).  Inside is really nice. 
• Dinner at a small 10-seat sushi restaurant called  IKEDA near the Japanese embassy area. Young Japanese chef that moved to Hanoi so he could start his own restaurant. 

DAY 3

• Cooking Class (10 PP limit): Rose Kitchen. Hazel was our energetic teacher and took us to the markets to buy some of the food. Then we went to a beautiful little place with a courtyard to cook our food. Menu: Nom Hoa Chuoi (Banana flower Salad), Nem Ran (Egg Rolls), Bun Cha (Vermielli noodle and BBQ pork w/ dipping sauce), Pho Ga (Rice noodle soup w/ chicken) Egg Coffee  $45 pp/3+ hours. Our class was a fun mix of people from Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Australia and USA. Really fun group. 
• After the class, we went walking around the city with a few people from the class 
• Ate at Tam Vi AGAIN! Yum
• Then popped into a spa to get a 60 min foot massage for $25. It ended up being about a 15-20 minute foot massage and then they did a whole body massage for the rest of the time. We were so relaxed, we could barely walk home. 

DAY 4 

• Excursion with a great group of women who are friends with our host. We took the new above ground train just built in Hanoi in Aug 2024. Took the train and then a local bus to a small village La Xa where the former director of the Ethnology museum in Vietnam built a family museum and gave us a private tour of the Nguyen Van Huyen Museum. Fascinating family history, as his father was the Vietnam minister of Education, Nguyen Van Huyen. The family tree and accomplished family history is detailed in the museum alongside a time line of historical events. Fascinating. It is opened on weekends. 
• In the same village, we were given a private tour of the Photo Museum. This town is where Studio Photography started and was taught. Then it branched out and was popularized throughout Vietnam. 
• Visited the Cuc Gallery – run by a young Vietnamese woman with incredible taste in art. She represents established Vietnamese artists like Ngyuen Trung and other emerging and contemporary artists. She has a beautiful loft on the top floor of a skyscraper overlooking the city.
• Given a private tour of the home and gallery of Susan Lecht. She is American who moved from Japan to Hanoi 30 years ago. She has built a beautiful home/gallery with the help of a friend and famous artist Phạm Quang Vinh. They moved a home from a village and used it as the top of floor of a 3 story structure that Vinh helped design. It houses lots of Vietnamese and international artists young and old. Amazing stories. 
• Relaxing last night dinner at the Metropole Hotel then went to the same spa for a 90 minute massage $47

DAY 5: 6 am flight to Tokyo. 

Vietnam:

Day 1;

Arrived Hanoi and checking into the Metropol Hotel which is so deluxe and beautiful. We stayed in the old section of the hotel. It’s a great location – walking distance to the old part of the city. The concierge is very helpful as well and we booked a trip to the rive and caves from the hotel.

Day 2:

Explored the old city, the lake area next to it and tried to go to the masoeleum but it was closed. We also went to the museum that shows how people live / have lived around the country. In the evening went to the water puppet theater show which was ok. Bought some fake artwork in the old town that the customized to our liking and delivered to our hotel when it dried – I love it! There is also lots of ‘real’ artwork that is original that is beautiful. I also had some clothing made.

Day 3:

Did a day trip where we had a driver take us for a drive (hour and a half??) through beautiful fields and countryside. There we met a canoe type boat where someone rowed us up a river for about an hour through beautiful countryside to an area where we then hiked up to caves and temples. After lunch we repeated it backwards – for a beautiful day.

Day 4:

Went to the Hanoi Hilton prison where the americans were held during the vietnam world. Very powerful. My husband joined us this day from the US so we showed him around to our favorite places, hung at the pool, had cheap massages and relaxed a bit.

Day 5/6:

Traveled to Halong Bay for our boat trip on the Halong Ginger that had been booked ahead of time from the US. It was our trip splurge and other than my husband not feeling well for most of the trip (unrelated to the boat!) it was beautiful and the staff was terrific. We spent two nights on the boat (some people spent only one) and kayaked, swam, visited floating villages, walked through caves and enjoyed the incredible scenery for which Halong Bay is famous.

Day 7: Back to Hanoi, and flew to Bali.

Bali

Day 1-4: Traveled from the airport to Ubud and spent 4 nights at the Bali Spirit Hotel. While there we wandered through the Monkey Forest, explored temples, swam in the hotel pool, had massages, visited the bird and reptile farm and soaked up the beauty of Bali. I had been to Ubud 25 years before and it had changed A LOT. A Ralph Lauren in town….??!!! That was a major letdown – hard to go back sometimes. At the hotel we asked around and ended up finding someone who had a minibus that could fit our group of two families. They drove us the rest of our time on Bali until we left for Gili which saved us – don’t know how we would have gotten around otherwise as we hadn’t planned ahead well for transportation!

Days 5-6.

2nd Stop: En route to our next stop we went zip lining – super fun! Then on to Pumuteran for snorkeling–stayed at the Menjangan Jungle & Beach Resort–(we stayed in a place called the Monsoon Forest Resort which was part of the Menjangan Resort)–2 nights. From the resort we took a boat ride out to a small island which has perhaps the best snorkling I’ve ever done (including Great Barrier Reef, Boracay and other places). Just 20 yards off the beach was a steep drop off with fish teeming everywhere. It was especially great for the kids since it was so close to shore and not itimidating. Incredible day.

Days 6-9:

We had car drop us at Padanbai where we had booked tickets ahead of time for the fast ferry to Gili. There are 3 Gili Islands- we were staying at Gili Air. Info on transport our hotel sent us is below, but double check to see if still accurate:When you arrive in Bali you can contact the PERAMA in Legian Street in Kuta. They have departures from Kuta and Ubud directely to Gili Air. They have bus from Kuta or Ubud until Padangbai where they have boat until Gili. The trip is a little bit long but they are serious and the price is 240 000 roupias for 1 person (about 26 USD).You have also speed boat from Padangbai with Gili Cat Company (Jl. Danau Tamblingan No 51, SANUR. Tel: +62 (0) 361 271 680. E-mail:info@gilicat.com. www.gilicat.com). You start from Padangbai until Gili Trawangan where we pick up you until Gili Air. Gili Trawangan / Gili Air free of charge. The trip Bali/Gili T. is 1h15 and the price is 660 000Rp for 1 adult and for children (3 / 11 years old 450 000Rp).Once we switched boats and took second one from Gili Travangan (the party island) to Gili Air (the quiet island) the hotel picked up us in a horsecart as there are no vehicles on the little island. We fell in love with this island, and even named our puppy, who was born while we were here, Gili. You walk everywhere, hang out reading in hammocks, take boat rides to snorkle, swim at the beach, each cheap delicious meals with your feet in the sand at backpacker ‘restaurants’. It was ideal. We should have stayed here longer (as the ferry isn’t cheap…and we loved it here) and not gone to the next/last stop.Sejuk Cottages–3 nights sejuk cottages [mailto:sejukcottages@hotmail.com]Our phone numbers are: 0370 63 64 61 HP: 081339 535 387

Days 9-11. 4th Stop: Grand Hyatt Bali on touristy beach of Nusa Dua–3 nights. Touristy hotel with pools, slides, big beach etc etc. Very nice, but could have been in Hawaii or anywhere else. Would stay in Gili longer instead.

Day 1:Arrive DC, rent car via Budget, drive to hotel (find our that I’d booked the beautiful Georgetown Inn for the wrong night, did a quick look on the HotelsTonight app and found an alternative!)

Day 2:Student tour of GeorgetownDrive to UVA – 2 hrs. 20 minsStudent tour of UVADrive to Richmond – 1 hourStudent tour of RichmondDinner in CareytownSleep in Richmond at Best Western

Day 3:Drive to Williamsberg – 1 hourTour of William and MaryWander around WilliamsbergDrive to Durham NC – 3 hoursSpend night in Durham at friends’ home

Day 4:Drive to Elon – 45 minsTour ElonDrive to Wake Forest – 1 hourTour Wake ForestDrive to Durham – 1 hour 20 minsSpend night in Durham at friends’ home

Day 5:Tour DukeDrive to UNC – 20 minsStudent tour of UNCDrive to airport – 30 minsFly to Chicago, Uber to hotel in EvanstonNight in Chicago at Hilton Garden Inn, right next to campus. Deep dish dinner!

Day 6:Tour NorthwesternFly home