14 stories
The last leg of our October road trip: back to New York in the rain, a hotel on Times Square, Diem's first look at the one place everybody outside America knows, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's, a seafood tower, and eight miles of Manhattan architecture in about fifteen hours.
Day two in New England: a reservation drama over breakfast at the Williams Inn, coffee in Williamstown, the Bennington Battle Monument and covered bridges in Vermont, the hairpin toll road to the top of Mount Equinox, and a Vermont so pretty it looked like nobody there had ever had a bad day.
Day one of a New England road trip in October: an early flight into JFK, a Jeep that wasn't there, four hours to drive about twenty miles to the Met Cloisters, a rainy run up the Taconic State Parkway, a detour through Hudson, and bar snacks, cider and the Georgia Auburn game at Bluebird & Co in Hancock, Massachusetts.
Back in Saigon for the last days of the trip: a Vietjet hop from Da Nang, dinner at Brick & Barrel in the rain, a morning walk along the Vàm Thuật, bún bò and a long wander through the alleys, an Italian sub from Big Boss Bistro, bún chả cá in Chợ Phạm Văn Hai, a new nephew, and roast duck and pork for dinner.
Our last day in Da Nang: the family off to An Lão at 4:30 am, coffee and noodles high on the Hải Vân Pass, the old fort at the summit, a Thai lunch in An Thượng, an $89 apartment with an infinity pool, one last family feast and the elders' memories of March 1965, chè and kem bơ with Fozzie, and a sunrise on the beach before the flight to Saigon.
Two days in Da Nang: a $20 visit to the pharmacist, our old An Thượng neighborhood then and now, a riverside seafood dinner at Moon Beer, a night walk on the Nguyễn Văn Trỗi and Trần Thị Lý bridges, an izakaya lunch at Umi, and a late afternoon on Mỹ Khê.
A fireworks night we could not get near, a last fitting for two summer suits in Hội An, Mì Quảng and cao lầu at Chợ Hội An, a herd of cattle on the highway, sunset over the Cổ Cò, a street-corner seafood feast at Năm Rảnh Quán, and the Dragon Bridge breathing fire and water.
A Saturday on the Sơn Trà peninsula: the Lady Buddha and Linh Ứng Pagoda, a secluded beach café and the fishing boats below the mountain, an obscene amount of seafood with Diem's brother by the Trần Thị Lý Bridge, plaster statues by the river, and a late feast on the floor with the family from An Lão.
A day in Hội An: cao lầu, bánh đập, hến and chè bắp by the water on Cẩm Nam, a basket boat traffic jam in the Cẩm Thanh water coconut forest, Bourdain's bánh mì at Phượng, the Japanese Covered Bridge at dusk, a fitting at the tailor, and an old woman selling wishes on the river.
A Thursday in Da Nang: an early walk past an old temple and the K20 resistance base, bánh xèo and bò kho at Bếp Ngon Việt, packed summer beaches, live seafood and giant mantis shrimp at Làng Cá, a Hoegaarden on China Beach under the Lady Buddha, and the Sơn Trà night market.
The 5 am van out of An Lão, sizzle plates of eggs and beef at Quán 69, Highway 1 and the bird's nest houses, the old neighborhood in Da Nang, a reunion with Fozzie, and a late lunch at Bếp của Ngoại.
A birthday weekend for Diem in the Lowcountry: the azaleas of Magnolia Plantation, she-crab soup at Hyman's, a seafood tower at The Ordinary, three centuries of history, and a 400-year-old oak.
