TOKYO

After an amazing 2 weeks in Tokyo, we are happy to be back in Vietnam. The sashimi was delicious and of course very fresh, and we enjoyed a lot of grilled meat, desserts, fresh fish, and sake. Also saw a lot of cool art and had the opportunity to check out a solid variety of neighborhoods. A very memorable dessert was salt ice cream (it was bright blue) and very different, but tasty. We woke up at 4am to have some incredible sushi at the new market. Made some new friends in what ended up being our favorite neighborhood (more residential). Enjoyed the onsen at a hotel we stayed at. All in all a lovely trip and we look forward to exploring more of Japan in the future.

Our place here is a quick walk to the beach, so we have already started enjoying the sun. This time of year is the very end of the rainy season, so the temperature is about 80-85 midday. A little overcast some mornings, but perfect weather. Not very humid. 

As always, it’s nice to eat pho, have Vietnamese coffee (ca phe), and try other new Vietnamese food. This morning we tried mi quang, thick rice noodles with a turmeric broth and turmeric stewed chicken + lettuce and herbs. Looking forward to finding more banh cuon, banh xeo, and trying other regional dishes. We are here for about three months, so plenty of time to try as much as we can. For now, it’s been nice to cleanse a bit from the heavy eating we’ve been in engaged in since about September.

Things here in Da Nang are quite organized regarding the emerging virus. We have really good masks and plenty of filters for them. People wear masks a lot here anyway to protect them from air pollution and the sun, but more so now that people are just looking to be extra cautious about spreading or coming into contact with airborne pathogens. We wore the masks vigilantly in public in Tokyo. In order to eliminate the emergence of it here in this area, it seems (from local news sources) that anyone who has traveled and has a fever is getting put into isolation and released only when they test negative. 

We are staying busy with work and reading in addition to a lot of beach walks and getting back into working out after a lengthy hiatus. Hoping all is well in the northeast and beyond..! Will be in touch in a few weeks with more photos of the beach and Vietnamese food. In the meantime, eat some traditional Valentine's Day candy on my behalf.