Iceland & Vietnam
Posted by jenniferhughes on Sep 24, 2007 · Member since Aug 2006 · 1828 posts
December vacation planning time. :)
Iceland Vietnam
Does and one have experience traveling and/or eating veg or vegan in these countries??
If we go to Vietnam we planned to stay at an island resort deal (kind of lame I know) where vegetarian meals are avalible on request and I doubt cheese is a heavy ingredient.
Iceland would just be more of a hanging out in Reykjavik thing.
I know Iceland is heavy on fish and has animal... er... organs... especially in the wintertime.
Any info???
Sorry JH, don't have any first hand knowledge of visiting either place. However, my personal choice would be Iceland because I'd love to find and visit the foreign exchange student who helped me pass algebra. She was the nicest person you could ever meet and I don't know what I would've done without her since my algebra teacher made me cry every day. The trials of being a hs freshman.
I haven't been to Vietnam but two of my veg friends were there and they said veg food was plentiful, cheap, and delicious. They also said the beaches were amazing and that there was a lot of interesting stuff to see.
Ok, here's the wierd thing. I was helping a friend run a yard sale this weekend, when an "elderly gentleman" who lived down the street stopped by, smelled of rum, bought a box fan, and spent 20 minutes telling me to go to Iceland if I ever got the chance! So just so you know, if you choose Iceland, it seems they, "know how to make love like you wouldn't believe!" :D :D
Ahem...I don't think Jenniferhughes needs any help on the makin' love issue, as she has just done it perfectly with great results (again)!
...ahem.
But I second the Iceland thing, especially in December! I think it would be neat for 4 to 5 hours sunshine only, and dips in hot springs. And can you see the northern lights there?
On second thought....maybe with your son that won't be so fun, the limited daylight hours.
Vietnam then? It'll be warmer at least, right?
I have no experience with them but off the top of my head I would say Vietnam is.
But I second the Iceland thing, especially in December! I think it would be neat for 4 to 5 hours sunshine only, and dips in hot springs. And can you see the northern lights there?
On second thought....maybe with your son that won't be so fun, the limited daylight hours.
Vietnam then? It'll be warmer at least, right?
Haha. That was my exact line of thinking, too! ;D Personally, I have never really been interested in going to Vietnam (but I have no reason for this), and Iceland has always been somewhere I plan on traveling! So... Based on my selfish reasoning, I'd say go for Iceland. But then again, maybe Iceland would be more fun in the summer?? ??? And I would think that Vietnam would be more veg-friendly...? But it also seems that a lot of their dishes center around fish, just like Iceland. I'd go for whichever trip you think will be the best all-around experience, and assume that you'll have to request specialty veg dishes at least most of the time... :)
I just found this:
Iceland
Maybe the world's fish capital. Iceland is very seafood orientated, I mean they even hunt whales for goodness sake. Most every item at rural restaurants in this nation revolve around fish. However the people here are very friendly, & most all chefs will whip you up something special. And that's what keeps Iceland from falling into the difficult category.
~ http://www.travelersdigest.com/vegetarian_dining_guide.htm
Let us know what you decide! :D I love going on trips!
I only have experience with vietnamese restaurants that reliable sources have told me are very authentic. And there, while it's easy to get stuff without chunks of meat, EVERYTHING has fish sauce or broth in it. And most things have chunks of meat too. No tofu at all.
i wish i had a yearly trip to plan. i just have school. blast.
Make a poll? :)
I know nothing about either place except the lady that does my nails is from Vietnam and her dad goes there every year for a few months. And it's hot.
Make a poll? :)
Just to clarify, I'm not asking about which is better (Though I love hearing the opinions!!), eventually we'll end up in both places, I'm mostly just wondering about veg*n eating experiences in each country.
Oh. My bad. I have no experience with either, I'm bowing out now.
Hope you find someone(s) with a wealth of knowledge. :)
I went to Iceland this past May. You've probably already seen these, but in case not:
http://www.happycow.net/europe/iceland/reykjavik/index.html
http://tourist.reykjavik.is/yellowpages.asp?cat_id=103
A Naestu Grosum was very good. It was set up Boston Market style, so you can see all the food and choose what you want, and the service was very friendly. We were there on a saturday so most of the food was Indian. It's on the second floor of a bright red building with big windows looking down over a nice busy street and below you can see another organic cafe (not souly vegetarian), which i can only recommend for tea and some interesting reading.
Gardurinn is only a couple blocks away (on the same street if i remember correctly) and we stopped in there but it was crazy busy! We never got around to going back, but i'm guessing it's very good given the popularity. I think they had raw dishes.
Graenn kostur was pretty good but hard to find- it's kind of in an alleyway. They only have a couple of dishes to choose from and a soup for lunch, but my impression was they had more to offer for dinner.
Many non veg restaurants there are exactly that- barely a single vegetable to be found on the menu! Some of them don't even have salads, and if they do they look at you for a very very long time like you are crazy if you ask for it without cheese, but what else is new. A more upscale, highly recommened to us restaurant (with kind of cheesy decor) called Silfur was happy to make me a special dish after they understood what i didn't eat.
Most people are very friendly there. I read this somewhere and found it to be very true: "Think of a very high price, and then double it" Everything is so expensive! Have a great time though!
jealous, jealous, jealous.