Two-person motorbike trip
Today I traveled to Tam Dao with Nga! In the morning I packed my backpack and checked out. I left my huge backpack at a luggage storage facility in Hanoi and decided to go with only a small Columbia daypack this time.
Since we were going together on a motorbike, we headed out and Nga was already waiting outside! I rode the bike toward Tam Dao. It should take about two to three hours from Hanoi, so we figured we'd arrive soon.
We passed highways, bumpy roads, and all sorts of things and arrived at a lake! The view here was really beautiful. The water was clear and the place felt very natural.
We parked the bike and took photos. It had been a while since I'd seen such bikes on Vietnamese roads.
It got cooler with every increase in elevation.
We just kept riding the bike toward Tam Dao. Since the elevation is over 2,000 m, we followed mountain roads and it felt really long.
It got a little cooler and colder as the elevation rose. We arrived in Tam Dao safely!
The panoramic view from there was unbelievably beautiful.
There were a lot of European-style buildings, and I even wondered if this was really Vietnam. It felt like being in Germany. But this is Vietnam.
Hotel trouble and the lodge
We went to the hotel I had booked. We were able to check in, but it wasn't the room I wanted. They said that room couldn't be used and we had to stay here. I wasn't satisfied, so I asked for a refund.
They told me they couldn't refund according to their policy. I had paid for the room I reserved but couldn't use it. Yet they wanted me to pay? What the heck? When I showed them a translation asking if they were sane, they finally understood and gave me a refund.
I booked another place on the spot. It was a lodge that looked like a standalone house, and the view from there was absolutely amazing. I was glad we ended up there. After all, this trip was important because I was with Nga.
Three-hour cafe time
After checking in, we were hungry so we headed to a nearby cafe. But the food available was heavy, and neither of us really felt like eating a big meal.
So we each ordered drinks, sat in a spot with an amazing view, and just stared at the scenery. We spent about three hours there together, talking about all sorts of things.
Before we knew it, the sun was setting and it was about to get dark.
Pho that smelled like sewage
When it was time for dinner we decided to eat something. Nga still preferred home-style food, so rather than eating Tam Dao specialties she wanted pho. There was a street stall, so we decided to try pho there.
The taste was awful. Nga even stopped eating halfway through. It tasted as if they used tap water that smelled like sewage. This was truly a terrible pho stall. But there were people there, so I wondered if everyone was okay.
Bursting out laughing at "Ngo Viron"
We decided to go somewhere with proper food, so I took Nga to a hotpot place I had been curious about. It was kind of upscale, but it was an interesting experience. We ordered a Vietnamese hotpot and ate it together.
The staff were very friendly and spoke to Nga in Vietnamese. Nga taught me that to say "delicious" in Vietnamese you say "Ngo Viron," so when the server asked us, "How was the food?" I tried saying that and we both burst out laughing.
Apparently it's super slang used by young people. That turned into a good memory too.
Romantic Tam Dao night
We strolled around Tam Dao at night. We visited a church and enjoyed the beautiful scenery from a viewpoint. Tam Dao at night was truly romantic.
At one point Nga wanted dessert, so we went to a nearby shop. We ordered bubble tea, but it was too sweet and Nga complained — and they actually remade it! It felt very Vietnamese and I kind of loved that.
We walked in front of a big hotel and rode the motorbike to a beautiful viewpoint to take photos.
It got late, so we returned to the lodge and the day was over. It was a really fun trip to Tam Dao.
