A travel vlog by Nate and Kara Buchanan documenting a morning in Hanoi: attempting to see Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum (arriving just after closing), taking an international Uber, getting haircuts, and trying local sticky rice street food (xôi xéo). The tone is informal and humorous, mixing cultural observations, practical travel moments, and food tasting with approximate prices noted.
Kara, what are we doing this morning?
We're going to see a dead guy.
Like not even in a tomb, just dead laid out.
I'm so excited.
I hope that wasn't disrespectful. We are going to see the body of Ho Chi Minh. I'm no like history expert, but I do know that there was this thing called the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. And now there's a city in the south of Vietnam that's been changed from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. So it's kind of a big deal here in Vietnam. All right. We are attempting to call our first international Uber. Take us to Ho Chi Minh. According to my phone, this Uber should only cost us about a dollar. Alright. Kara's going outside to flag down the driver. I'm staying inside. This is the only place that we have WI fi. I think it's here. I think that's him.
You're so brave. It's either our Uber driver or some random guy that's going to let us ride with him.
What's your name?
My name Minh. Yeah, normally we just walk because I enjoy walking in other cities.
But it closes in like 21 minutes and it was a 45 minute walk. They have like a 5050 shot of making it in the U.
I'm gonna say our chances of making it on time have dropped to like 20%. I see the mausoleum and we have six minutes. Thank you very much.
Thank you, man.
We don't have one of those.
I'm a little unhappy about this. We made it at 10:57 and they told us it was closed at 11. Tried to argue my case. That didn't go well. Wanna come back tomorrow? Yeah.
Maybe we'll come back tomorrow, maybe not. There's probably something else to do around here, but our Internet doesn't work.
We don't know. We just walking back I guess. So we'll be back for you tomorrow. Ho Chi Minh. We literally tried to get in that entrance like 20 minutes ago. Then we came over here to the front and that guy let us in.
Still closed, but we got to come in.
Take that.
There's a train track and people just live right here. Like a train literally goes right through this neighborhood, like two feet from the wall. How are we doing, Nate?
About time for another haircut. Place says hair design, it's less than 5 dol. This is literally the only picture of me we have with a proper haircut. That's pretty nice.
So we'll see how it goes.
It's like a torture Chamber.
This is the only picture that I have short, and then it gets a little bit longer.
You know?
Well, I'd say it worked out. That one took, like, five times as long as the one in Cambodia. And I had to coach her through it a lot more. But I think we got the desired result. It's so much nicer not having to deal with long hair. And my hair gets super curly when it gets long. Should we link a picture?
All right, here's Afro Nate.
Back in the day, this was old high school. Afro names. This is so much better.
I like the Afro.
I've done a little investigating. See how it's blotchy right here? I forgot. At the very beginning, she took one of the electric razor things and, like, started to shave the sides. And then I think she realized it was way too short. The ladies were cracking up when we left, and I think they were laughing at my leopard spots in my hair. It'll grow out.
All right. We're picking up something from the walking tour last night that we didn't get to for lunch.
We think I'm just gonna show them this and see what they give us. What is that?
I don't know.
Yeah, we'll see how it goes.
We just had the picture. We didn't know what it was, and it turns out it's like sticky rice with fat and onion.
Yum.
Usually stuff that you add fat to tastes really good.
Did you see how much it cost?
$0.75.
Okay, so if I don't like it, I can get some pho.
Yeah. Or we can go get sandwich perf. Oh, that is a giant ball of fat.
Is that really what it is?
Well, it kind of. It looks, like, delicious.
You see corn in yours?
Yeah, that one looks corny. Yeah, that's just rice.
Oh, you got little bally things.
I didn't get any rice.
No, you got bally things. That's not corn. I don't know what that is.
What is this called?
We don't know how to fat in a bowl. Starts with an X. Anything that starts with an X I don't know how to pronounce.
It's not bad. I can't tell what the Yellowstone tastes like.
Fat.
It's really soft.
What's your taste?
Dried onions make it taste like an onion. It seems like one of those things that, like, you have to eat a bowl, and then you're good for, like, the entire day, and you don't need to eat anything else. And it originated, like, when the country was poor. Maybe, like, eat a bowl of this and go work in the field all day. That stays with you. I feel like that's, like, the hardiness of it. And then I feel like eventually it's like society becomes more well off. These things turn into delicacies, when really it was just like, this super cheap thing that people ate for sustenance during the day. That's my theory.
Good theory.
You're a mad woman.
Did they like your crossing the road strategy?
Yeah, they thought it was pretty funny. They were proud of my attempt, though. People were literally laughing at me, like, driving by 100 miles an hour.
This is the worst haircut I've ever had. Look how many hairs she missed.
Like a porcupine. And look at the side.
Ready? We're on board. While we cross, we're gonna.
We're going to get more puff.
They've turned the sidewalk into a road this morning. That's one way to avoid the traffic.
Look at this.
They just keep coming.
That's the road. Sidewalk, road, sidewalk.
Come on, come on. I think those are ponies.
Oh, that's cool.
Focus on my head.
You can do it.
