Food • Travel • Lifestyle
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Aroma Delta
Stories on food, travel, culture, and everyday life across Vietnam.
Travel stories, cultural context, and place-driven reporting from neighborhoods, river towns, coastlines, and cities across Vietnam. "Page 11 of the journal."
"Travel and culture reporting shaped by neighborhoods, routes, and local memory."
Surrounded by rolling hills, this brackish lagoon produces the fattest, sweetest blood cockles (So Huyet) in the country. Watch the sunset while eating them grilled with scallion oil.
A breezy alpine escape. Walk across the terrifying glass bridge, wander through infinite green tea estates, and eat the sizzling local 'Be Chao' (fried veal).
Known as the 'Dry Island' in Quy Nhon, it boasts no trees but incredible coral reefs. When the tide drops, walk along a magical rocky sand path cutting straight through the ocean.
Listen to traditional 'Don Ca Tai Tu' folk music while eating tropical fruit on Thoi Son island. Don't leave without slurping a bowl of chewy, garlicky Hu Tieu My Tho.
Climb the steps to the massive flag overlooking the Chinese border. Explore the nearby Lo Lo Chai village to admire their mud-built houses and drink warm corn wine.
Saigon's green lung. Take a speedboat through the dense mangrove biosphere, guard your belongings from aggressive macaques, and eat grilled mudskipper fish.
Wander the poetic, pine-covered park of Tu Duc's tomb, then contrast it with the dark, gothic, and intensely mosaiced mountainside tomb of Khai Dinh.
The adventure capital. Float in the pitch-black mud of Dark Cave, zip-line over the turquoise Chay river, and feast on spit-roasted jungle boar.
Just north of Saigon. Watch artisans craft massive clay pots in Lai Thieu and eat the unique local 'Banh Beo' topped with shredded pork skin and mung bean.
Avoid the mega-resorts. Head to the north to find pristine beaches covered in red starfish, stir your own bowl of Bun Quay noodles, and go squid fishing at midnight.
Cross the 17th parallel. Go underground into the Vinh Moc village tunnels where families lived during bombings, then recover with chewy, shrimp-filled Banh Bot Loc.