nce upon a time, there was a handsome prince. He was so handsome. Breathtakingly charming, in fact. But he hadn’t yet found someone to be his queen. Prince Bridger left his kingdom to find the most amazing woman in all the lands, and his adventures led him across several continents until he ended up in the harsh steppes of Mongolia.

He found Puujee. Her beauty radiated outward, and it seemed as if her smile and laugh were the only sources of warmth in all of Mongolia. The sight of her made his knees weak, and his heart skipped a beat or two. They fell in love. Prince Bridger implored her to leave with him, to return to his kingdom.

But there was a curse on her. Her beauty had made a very evil witch jealous, and this witch had banished Puujee to frigid Mongolia. The Evil Witch of Visa Requirements was intent on making life hard for Puujee, and her magic was not one that even the dashing Prince Bridger could beat.

Together, they fled Mongolia to lands where the magic of the Visa Witch was weakest. They were very happy together. They went to China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia together. But the Visa Witch had caught up with them, and she whisked Puujee off again during the night. There was an emptiness in Bridger’s heart that no other could fill, so he vowed to find her again.

He traveled through many other lands until he found where the Visa Witch had locked away his dear Puujee. Vietnam.

Prince Bridger climbed the tower and his love broke the seal of her confinement. They were very happy to see each other again.

The two explore downtown Hanoi. There wasn’t much to see, but it was all worth it as long as Bridger could hold Puujee’s hand.

The two decided to celebrate their reunion by going to Halong bay.

They also went out into the bay on a boat and explored a cave.

It cost 7 USD to go there, 7 to go back, and they still had to pay about 25 bucks (440k) per person to go on the boat. They also didn’t get to go kayaking or have a provided lunch. Had they paid 30 and just did a day trip from Hanoi, it would have been cheaper and they would have gotten more out of it. They were puzzled that going there ended up costing more for less. It must have been the work of the Witch Visa!

They came back to Hanoi and then later caught a night bus to Hue.

In Hue, they checked out the Tomb of Tự Đức and walked around the Imperial Citadel.

They were going to see a couple of pagodas, among other sights, but then it started raining. They rushed home on their scooter they rented, but they still ended up getting soaked. The Witch Visa’s evil magic was getting stronger.

The next morning, they went to Hoi An. They walked around a bit and saw downtown. They didn’t find too much to do, but there were a lot of pretty lanterns on the river. Annoyingly, there were also a lot of people constantly trying to sell rides on the boats.

When I told my friend that beers were only $0.40 USD each, he said he would shower with beer. Well…

Their journey brought them to Qui Nhon.

They rented a scooter. They wanted to see Ky Co beach, but the evil witch had cast another spell, this time forcing people to pay 100k each to enter. Even though that was only about 5 USD, they decided to go elsewhere.

The beach by the hotel in downtown was nice enough. They also went to a giant Buddha statue.

They struggled to find vegetarian food, but there was a sandwich shop near their hotel, and they ate almost exclusively from there for the few days they stayed in the city. It was so tasty, and the sandwich lady learned to recognize them very soon and would even start preparing sandwiches for them as they were approaching her.

In the evening, they took a night bus to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon.

They went to the War Remnants Museum, which had lots of info and pics about the Vietnam War (The Vietnamese officially call it the “Resistance War Against America”), related peace protests, and aftereffects of atrocities like landmines and Agent Orange. It was not a fun experience, but very interesting and intense.

In the evening, they went to Bui Vien Street, which was quite the party. The authorities close the road to cars, and chairs and tables spill out onto the street. People walk by with amplifiers and you can use them for karaoke. Street food vendors travel up and down, trying to sell their wares. And you can go into the bars and clubs and see the dancing girls.

The next day, they went on a boat tour on the Mekong River delta. They found it to be pleasant, but they were mostly shuttled around from one sales pitch to another. From the bamboo-clothes shop to the honey tea to the coconut candy, always trying to be sold something.

At the coconut candy shop, they ate some fruits, and some girls sang for everyone. They were totally emotionless and seemed like they hated their job. At first the duo found it funny, but it quickly just got sad to watch.

 

They had lunch near a very bad zoo that looked like the animals had very little space in their tiny cages.

In general, they found the Mekong River Delta tour to be okay, but they wouldn’t really recommend it to others. They actually wanted to see the floating markets, but they just didn’t have enough time for that.

After a couple of weeks on the run, the Evil Witch of Visa Requirements reared her ugly head again. This time she had bided her time and made a really strong spell. Prince Bridger was set to travel through a few other countries that all required visas for the beautiful lady from Mongolia. She was whisked away from Vietnam, and Bridger was destined to roam the world again, in search of his lovely Puujee in another country where the witch’s magic was much weaker.

Bridger enjoyed Vietnam. It was nice being reunited with the beautiful Puujee. Aside from that, it was fairly easy to get around in Vietnam, and it was a pretty cheap country to visit with lots of nice locations to visit. One day he would like to come back and drive a motorcycle on the Ho Chi Minh Highway.