The Journey to Nerd Tower and Corgis in the Garden

I took a taxi to Don Mueang Airport to pick up my friend Dominik who had just arrived from Siem Reap.

Dominik was going to stay with my wife and me for a few days after our Vietnam adventure together before flying back home to the US.

After lots of sightseeing, temple-hopping, and visiting ancient sights in Vietnam and Cambodia, Dominik and I were pretty tired, and he was in the mood to do some less-touristy stuff in Bangkok. Instead of hitting all the top itinerary destinations in town, we decided to get off the beaten trail a little bit. We started by going on my museum walk through the quiet back streets of Talad Noi neighborhood where we stumbled upon Slow Bar, a small local chocolatier.

They had a really great little operation going set up behind the famous abandoned Fiat in Talad Noi, and we stepped inside to sample some of the chocolate. They had lots of traditional chocolate flavors as well as some stranger ones.

I decided to order a set of Thai-inspired chocolate bonbons. I got two mango sticky rice (which were amazing), two massaman curry (which were odd), and one tom kha gai (which was downright weird). It was fun trying them, and I'd definitely like to go back for more.

Dominik was tired of temples and palaces, but he did have a few things that he really wanted to do in Bangkok, and we were able to roll one of them into the walk as a really conveniently located endpoint.

Dominik is into collecting Pokémon cards, and he discovered that a mall called Mega Plaza had entire floors dedicated to the buying, selling, and trading of cards. I had never been to Mega Plaza. I had never even heard of it, but it was located just outside of Chinatown, and we were able to get there easily from Talat Noi.

The place was incredible! It was like an entire mall dedicated to nerdy hobbies! There were shops selling RC cars, retro gaming consoles, action figures, and tons of collectables...

... and several entire floors dedicated to trading cards, especially Pokémon. I used to collect the cards when I was younger, and I wish I had kept my collection in good condition because some of the cards I had are worth a ton nowadays if still mint.

Anyway, it was super fun to browse, and I bought one card that I thought looked cool and a couple of packs. The Thai print of the Pokémon cards was only released recently, and you can buy a pack for 49 baht (around $1.50). Nowadays, people in the US are into collecting cards as an investment, and even at stores, a pack can go for $5 or $10. Dominik was super excited to be able to buy some cheap cards, even if they were printed in Thai.

Walking back to the MRT, we passed the Berlin Pharmaceutical Museum and, deciding to be spontaneous, stepped inside not knowing at all what to expect. It turned out to be a small but fascinating museum dedicated to the history of Western medicine in Thailand and the Berlin Dispensary, which was founded by Dr. Chai Chainuvati in 1932. Dr. Chai had studied modern medicine in China and returned to Bangkok to open one of the early Western-style clinics in the Charoen Krung-Chinatown area, where he was known for treating patients even when they couldn't afford to pay.

The name "Berlin" was chosen to sound Western and to give the pharmacy legitimacy. It still operates under the same name today and is still one of Thailand's largest pharmaceutical companies (even though it still has nothing to do with Germany!).

The museum is housed in the old European-style building where the Berlin Dispensary once operated, and much of it has been recreated to look as it would have decades ago. There was an old examination room filled with medical equipment, as well as a pharmacy where we could see the tools once used to weigh, measure, mix, and dispense medicines by hand. There were also old medicine bottles, labels, medical books, photographs, and other memorabilia from the history of the clinic and pharmacy.

It wasn't the type of place we had expected to go, but the small museum was definitely worth visiting, especially for Dominik, who is a doctor and is interested in the history of medicine. We also got a small jar of herbal balm for free along with our ticket.

The next day was Dominik's final day in Southeast Asia before heading home, and there was one place that he had specifically asked to visit while in town: Corgis in the Garden, a pet cafe dedicated entirely to the favorite dog breed of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

We purchased a ticket (which included a coffee drink and a slice of cake) and sat down at our assigned table to wait.

The corgi cafe operates on a strict timetable, with a few 90-minute sessions throughout the day. During each session, however many of the cafe's cohort of corgis happen to be in a good mood run into the cafe to meet, take photos, and play with the guests. The fun thing is that all of the corgis are related to one another, and a handy family tree posted on the wall helped us figure out who was who.

The exuberant little family wattled in precisely at 9am, running and jumping up to greet everybody!

It was truly one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life.

The Presidential Hotel

We returned to Hanoi in the mid-afternoon after our Ha Long Bay cruise.

Dominik had booked a special hotel for the end of our two-week adventure: the JW Marriott Hanoi.

It was the most expensive hotel of our journey, and we had been looking forward to it throughout the entire trip, partially because it was the final and nicest hotel on our itinerary, and partially because it was what we called the "Obama Hotel", where then-President Barack Obama stayed during his famous 2016 visit to Vietnam.

The hotel is located relatively close to the airport, which is why I imagine the Secret Service selected it for the president's visit.

It turns out that President Obama wasn't the only VIP to have stayed at the Marriott.

A "wall of fame" in the lobby showcased framed and mounted signatures and messages from Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, and two South Korean presidents. Apparently, this wasn't just the "Obama Hotel", but rather the "Presidential Hotel" where world leaders tend to stay when they visit Vietnam.

The hotel had beautiful grounds that even included a small lake. After checking in, we set out to explore the grounds. The hotel had a greenhouse where they grew local herbs, vegetables, and other produce for use in the on-site restaurants. There was even a small coop where they kept chickens to collect fresh eggs.

As we wandered around the grounds, it was hard to believe we were still in the middle of Hanoi. It felt really tranquil and quiet, although I knew that we were really still in the heart of the country's capital.

That night, Dominik and I braved our ways across a really crazy city street and finally made it to a local shop serving bun cha, one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes.

The next morning, we drove to the nearby Museum of Vietnamese Military History, a relatively new museum that has only opened in the past few years since I last visited. The museum has a huge compound and is home to the largest collection of war memorabilia in the country.

We queued up behind a group of green-uniformed cadets who were, presumably, on a field trip to the museum.

The exhibitions began with Vietnamese prehistory, from the Bronze Age all the way up to the "relatively modern" Chinese invasion of Vietnamese lands around a thousand years ago.

As you can imagine, though, the majority of the museum was dedicated to the much more recent First and Second Indochina Wars. The first was Vietnam's war for independence against the French from 1946 to 1955, while the second was what we in the US would call the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 until 1975. (Of course, the Vietnamese wouldn't call it the "Vietnam War.")

The collection of wartime artifacts was incredible! 

Outside, enormous tanks, aircraft, artillery pieces, helicopters, and other military equipment filled the grounds, including American equipment captured during the war as well as a huge collection of Soviet-built weapons supplied to North Vietnam. Among the most significant artifacts were T-54B Tank No. 843, which famously entered the grounds of the Independence Palace in Saigon on April 30, 1975, and MiG-21 No. 5121, the fighter flown by Phạm Tuân when he shot down an American B-52 during the 1972 bombing campaign. There was also the wreckage of a B-52, along with countless smaller artifacts, photographs, weapons, uniforms, and personal belongings from the soldiers who fought in these wars.

Our journey in Vietnam had finally come to an end, and we had done what even the Top Gear team hadn't: we had driven all the way from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi (albeit with a private driver).

The next morning, Dominik headed off to Cambodia to explore the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, while I headed home to my wife. We would meet up again just a few days later in Bangkok for the last few days of our adventure together.

Ha Long Bay: The Finish Line

Of course, our Vietnam Adventure didn't end in Hanoi.

After all, Dominik and I were tracing the path of the Top Gear Vietnam Special, and their ultimate destination wasn't Vietnam's capital, but rather a smaller city on the northeastern coast: Ha Long City.

Dominik and I were up early for breakfast at the Hanoi Hilton, and after eating, we met the new driver that we had booked for the two-hour ride to the coast.

We arrived a bit early and sat down to wait with a complimentary coffee in the cruise company's comfortable waiting room.

It wasn't long before the rest of the guests had arrived, and we soon found ourselves loaded onto a speedboat which was to take us to our cruise ship.

I've been to Ha Long Bay a handful of times before. On my very first visit to Vietnam way back in 2014, I spent a day trip cruising the bay, and Pinky and I did the same in 2018.

I've even done an overnight cruise a few years back when my mom and I visited Hanoi together, but that time our original booking got cancelled and we were rebooked on a cheaper package that, while fun, I can only describe as a "booze cruise". She and I were by far the oldest people on the boat, and we were kept up all night long by loud and very bad karaoke (although we still had a nice time).

This time, however, Dominik was able to book a really nice suite for us on what was a much more family-friendly cruise. There were tons of families and older people, and the group was much calmer and more low-key.

And the cabin was incredible! We were located at the bow with a huge room, incredible views, a private balcony at the front of the boat, and a really nice bathroom. The room was so nice that I almost didn't even want to leave!

After our busy, super fun, but exhausting two-week adventure in Vietnam, Dominik and I were getting tired, and it was nice to have a few days at the end to just chill and enjoy the incredible Ha Long Bay.

 

After checking in on the boat and being shown our rooms, we sailed out into the bay itself. As we were shuttled over to the cruise ship, our captain passed around a flyer detailing the schedule for the next two days. The cruise was packed with tons of activities for anyone who wanted to join them, and Dominik and I decided to do our best to take part in as many as possible. The first activity was kayaking and bamboo boat rides. We were feeling lazy and opted for the latter.

Ha Long Bay, which translates to "The Bay of the Descending Dragon", is a large, tranquil bay made up of more than a thousand limestone karsts and islets and is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and I'm impressed every time I visit.

The bamboo boats are little rafts ferried by strong-armed rowers who will take you all across the bay, through natural tunnels in the limestone, and into a secret, secluded cove hidden away from the rest of Ha Long. Yes, it's touristy, and it's not like a million other people don't also do the exact same route each month, but it still feels special and "secret" even though it's not.

After the bamboo boat ride, we ended up on a floating dock to wait for the speedboat to carry us back to our boat. The dock was made from plastic cans supporting a network of wooden planks and platforms and was the home to a small convenience store as well as a "floating bar", where the boat captains and tour guides congregated to meet over a beer while waiting for their tourists to return from their bamboo boat rides.

We didn't end up at the exact floating bar where Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond ended their Vietnamese adventure, but we figured this was close enough (and probably far more authentic).

We had done it... we had finally reached the "finish line" and completed our recreation of the Top Gear Vietnam Special!

Back on the boat, it was time for a cooking class.

While many of the guests opted instead to go swimming in the bay, Dominik and I (as well as a number of older guests and a few families with young kids) decided to join the cooking class.

They taught us how to make bánh xèo, a traditional Vietnamese crispy turmeric pancake served with minced pork and shrimp. After the initial demonstration, most of the guests were too shy to volunteer to be the first to try to make one themselves, but I stepped up. Here's my attempt. I think I did pretty well!

Soon, the sun was setting over northern Vietnam, and after freshening up, it was time to head back to the upper deck for dinner.

As the multi-course meal was served, we were treated to a wonderful performance of traditional Vietnamese songs, accompanied by the đàn tỳ bà, a distinctive Vietnamese pear-shaped lute.

After dinner, we headed back to our cabin to await the captain's announcement that it was time for squid fishing!

I had been squidding before, so I stayed up on our private deck and watched as Dominik and the rest of the more adventurous guests tried their hands at catching the elusive creatures, supposedly lured by the bright lights. Ultimately, however, they caught nothing.

We retired to our cabin for a very good night's sleep.

The next morning, it was time to head back to the mainland. After breakfast, we grabbed our luggage and loaded it onto the shuttle boat that was to take us back to Ha Long City.

Though it had only been one night, it had been a really nice, refreshing, and restorative trip, and when we arrived back in Hanoi a handful of hours later, we were both feeling reinvigorated for our last day in Vietnam.

Tay Ho, the Citadel, and a Wafer-Thin Sparrow

After intentionally visiting B-52 Lake and unintentionally visiting the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, Dominik and I finally made our way on foot to Tay Ho, or West Lake.

West Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Hanoi and a major landmark in the city. The neighborhoods near the lake are known for their upscale cafes, leafy streets, international residents, and a more relaxed, cosmopolitan atmosphere than the Old Quarter. It's also where I spent my first international business trip.

On the morning of October 26, 1967, US Navy pilot, future senator, and future presidential candidate John McCain's A-4 Skyhawk was struck by a surface-to-air missile over West Lake. He was subsequently captured and transported to Hỏa Lò Prison, the notorious complex the Americans nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton". McCain would spend more than five years as a prisoner of war before finally being released in 1973.

Today, a monument on a bridge near the far eastern shore of the lake marks the spot where McCain was shot down and captured. Originally erected by the Vietnamese to commemorate the downing and capture of an American pilot, it has since become a symbol of the two countries' shared history and surprisingly strong reconciliation. In fact, Senator McCain, on his historic visit to Vietnam in April 2000, toured the old prison and visited the monument at the site of his crash stating that he bore "no grudge, no anger, no rancor" towards the Vietnamese people.

By now the sun was high in the sky and the weather was getting hot. Dominik and I stopped in for a cold iced tea at a local cafe before making our way onwards towards the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.

The most interesting part of the thousand-year-old Citadel compound, to me at least, is the Cold War-era bunker built by North Vietnam in the 1960s which is found buried beneath one of the Citadel's great walls.

After the Nguyễn dynasty moved the imperial capital to Hue in 1802, the old citadel in Hanoi was converted into a military installation under French colonial rule.

In 1967, as American bombing of Hanoi intensified, the North Vietnamese Ministry of Defense constructed Building D67 and its heavily fortified underground bunker within the citadel. D67 became one of the most important command centers of the North Vietnamese war effort.

Lunch was something of an adventure.

In the Top Gear Vietnam Special, one of the most memorable meals (save for the snake feast that even Dominik and I couldn't bring ourselves to try) was when Jeremy Clarkson tried to force his co-hosts to join him in eating a platter of "wafer-thin sparrows." Dominik was dead set on trying sparrow, and I was able to find a restaurant serving this Hanoi specialty.

In late afternoon, our taxi pulled up in front of Chim Quay Van Quan, a very small local shophouse restaurant that didn't even have an English menu. Nevertheless, we were able to order 10 small sparrows, 4 large sparrows, and a plate of buns on the side.

Sparrow was, as you can imagine, extremely lean, with hardly any meat on the bone, though what little there was was surprisingly tasty. The bird was deliciously marinaded and barbecued to a crisp and served with pickled plums and a spicy and sour dipping sauce.

I was really hesitant, but I even surprise myself to admit how much I liked it.

B52 Lake and Uncle Ho

In December 1972, Operation Linebacker II, also known as the "Christmas Bombings", saw the United States launch a massive aerial bombing campaign against North Vietnam, with Hanoi and Haiphong among the primary targets.

To America's shock and dismay, North Vietnam was able to shoot down a total of fifteen B-52 Stratofortress bombers during Operation Linebacker II. Perhaps the most famous was a B-52 that was shot down over Hanoi and crashed into Hữu Tiệp Lake.

Following the war, the remains of the aircraft were left in the lake, where they remain today as a memorial to the Vietnamese victory over the American bombing campaign.

On our first early morning in Hanoi, Dominik and I set off on foot through a warren of narrow residential alleyways, too small for cars to pass through, dodging motorbikes and foot traffic along the way. Eventually, the narrow lanes opened up into a square surrounding the small lake.

It was surreal seeing the plane, which underwent restorations in 2022 on the 50th anniversary of the bombing, still poking out of the water. It's a real reminder that military might and technological superiority didn't win the Vietnam War.

We decided to walk on towards West Lake, where Dominik wanted to see the John McCain memorial. On the way, however, I tried to lead us on a shortcut past the Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, national hero and founder of modern Vietnam, but somehow, we accidentally ended up shepherded into a queue in front of the monument.

Before we even knew what was happening, we found ourselves proceeding into the mausoleum itself, a dimly lit, quiet, solemn, and heavily air-conditioned place where the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh himself lies in a glass sarcophagus, illuminated by an ethereal light and surrounded by a number of statue-still white-uniformed ceremonial guards.

We silently filed past the body of the man who had led North Vietnam through decades of war and become perhaps the most important figure in modern Vietnamese history. Photography is strictly forbidden inside, and visitors are expected to remain silent and keep moving.

This unexpected detour felt very much like a somber pilgrimage, but minutes later we were back out in the sweltering humidity of the Hanoi morning.

We had come to the One Pillar Pagoda, a small wooden Buddhist temple that atop a single stone pillar rising from a square pond meant to look like a lotus blossom emerging from the water.

The original pagoda was commissioned by Emperor Lý Thái Tông in 1049, after, according to legend, the emperor dreamed that the Buddhist bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, associated with compassion, appeared to him sitting on a lotus flower and offered him a son.

The walls surrounding the temple complex were full of posters depicting Buddhist virtues. Most were the normal sorts of things you would expect: be kind to animals, don't litter, help your grandparents, etc., but some of the more unique ones were very clearly influenced by Vietnam's Cold War era history, a time period that still looms large over the consciousness of the nation.

Revealing the country's secrets and causing serious harm leads to rebirth as a mute and a life full of suffering.

Utter loyalty to one's homeland and the Buddha's teachings leads to virtue comparable to divinity.

Serving the people and nation in a past life brings rebirth as a powerful and high-ranking official.

At this point, we decided that we might as well head inside the Ho Chi Minh Museum to learn more about the man who we had just seen lying in state. It's a free museum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh (affectionately called Uncle Ho) and his life and political philosophy.

Interestingly, although he would eventually become known for establishing one of the most successful Communist states, Ho Chi Minh's relationship with Communism was complicated. He was, first and foremost, a Vietnamese nationalist determined to free his country from French colonial rule. He admired American Democracy, and when he declared Vietnamese independence in 1945, he deliberately borrowed from the Declaration of Independence. He also repeatedly appealed to the United States for assistance in securing Vietnamese independence, particularly in the years immediately following World War II.

The United States, however, was unwilling to go against their French allies, so instead, Ho turned increasingly toward the Soviet Union.

After learning more about Uncle Ho's life and visiting the small wooden stilt house that would be his home for his final years, Dominik and I finally got back on track and headed on towards West Lake. It had been a fascinating and unexpected detour.