Vietnam, January 2026

With the rise of the “warm embrace of collectivism” in the United States, Vietnam is a great place to visit if you’d like to see communism in action. Red posters line the highways with slogans like “Build our Party to be truly ethical and civilized!” Ho Chi Minh statues feature prominently in parks, and hammer and sickle flags wave in many shop fronts. The Ministry of Public Safety buildings are especially large and imposing. Just don’t get on the wrong side of the authorities, though, as a family friend once did. Ten months in a Vietnamese prison isn’t that pleasant.

On December 26th, Leah, Ava, Charlie, and I cleaned up all of our Christmas decorations and then flew out to eat for twelve days in Hanoi, Bai Tu Long Bay, Can Tho, and Saigon. We never had a bad meal: bánh mì, bun cha, chả cá, nem nướng, copious amounts of seafood, and even really decent Mexican on our last night. Everything is fresh in Vietnam, and you notice it in the food.

Other trip highlights include:

• Hanoi:
  • Shopping lots of brand name apparel at surprising discounts (Ava)
  • Walking around Hoan Kiem Lake, which apparently becomes quite the scene as Tet approaches (Leah, Daniel)
• Bai Tu Long Bay:
  • Seeing the majestic nature of the limestone rock formations from the sun deck of the Dragon Legend 2 (Leah, Daniel)
  • Everything about the Indochina Junk cruise (Charlie)
  • BBQ lunch on the beach, and then getting to swim in the ocean (Ava)
• Can Tho:
  • Eating dinner at Nem Nướng Thanh Vân — so good, we went twice (Leah)
  • Running with the hotel staff run club at Victoria Can Tho (Daniel, Leah)
  • Touring Mười Cương Cacao Farm with the owner, Mr. Bean, as our guide (Daniel)
  • Pool time (Ava, Charlie)
• Saigon:
  • Touring the Ben Thanh market and taking a Vietnamese cooking class (Ava, Charlie, Leah, Daniel)
  • Not the War Remnants Museum (Charlie)
  • Waiting out the downpour on our last full day, and then getting soaked when we gave up and ran for it (Daniel)

I think Leah and I pride ourselves on being somewhat “off the beaten path” travelers. In the case of Vietnam, I was perfectly fine to stay on the tourist track. The tourist-specific areas we stayed in and the organized activities we did were delightful ways to experience the country. Additionally, so many people visit the country that it feels like it would be inappropriate to journey off trail.

But, there is one way visiting Vietnam was extremely uncomfortable: the shame of being an American. The violence we perpetrated on the country is very difficult to see, and even more unfathomable is how kind and generous its people still are. I was especially touched by how eager Mr. Bean was to tell me of the places he visited in the US while training for his two year stint as a South Vietnamese army helicopter pilot.

Lastly, if you do think socialism or communism are great political systems to aspire to, I’d encourage you to organize a protest in Vietnam and let me know how it goes. There’s a reason there’s very little crime in the country.

I took a lot of photos with my iPhone, but I like the few I took with my Nikon Zf the best.