More of the same for today.
I woke up a little before Jade and ran down to secure two lounge seats on the beach - setting a towel and a book on each it all you need to call dibs. Then I stopped at the hotel computers to blog for an hour and check email, and picked up our breakfast coupons at the front desk. I went up to the room knowing Jade would just be rolling out of bed, and no surprises - she was just rolling out of bed. I put a little hustle in her, and we headed to breakfast. If only we could conjure an appetite for Vietnamese food in the mornings - the fish dumplings and noodle dishes looked pretty good (had we been eating lunch or dinner).
Suits on and down to the beach. Really nothing to describe other than reading for most of the day (this can only happen if I absolutely have nothing to do). We laid on loungers - beneath thatched coconut palm umbrellas - listening to the rolling waves and the Russian's talking while we read. We only had to say no thank you once to the kid renting his jet ski for the day. After a few hours, I was a bit hot and antsy (story of my life) - so I relocated us to the pool side. We applied copious amounts of sun screen and got milkshakes - 1 coconut - 1 chocolate. We needed something to do while we followed the 15 minute dry time of the sun screen.
We read some more - and we floated in the pool. We ended up spending most of the time in the kiddie pool as it was shallower and thus warmer. I was nervous for the newest arrival to our resort - a 12 year old boy - gleaming with energy and no attention span. He was jumping in all over the pool - diving - cannon balls - belly flops intended as dives. I jokingly said - where is his mother - someone needs to tell him to be careful, it makes me nervous when he dives in like that. And then I started to really be nervous for him. Someone should tell him - no diving.
After a full day in the sun, we cleaned up and went out for dinner - nothing much to write about - it was ok. I think I got a bottle of old beer - it tasted a little skunky and warm.
And then - once again - a little tv and bed.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Day Seventeen
Our first full day of relaxing by the pool.
The day started off with a decent buffet spread for breakfast. And then I headed down early to snatch a few loungers next to the pool (we noticed that they go fast).
A quick back story - Thomas our neighbor (who spent a lot of time working in SE Asia) told me about his time in Nha Trang. He talked about there being a lot of Russians. He said it in a whispered tone - almost like he was ashamed to say such thing. I took it just matter of fact and continued on with the conversation. He brought up the Russians once again - and said something to the effect of - yeah, the Russians... I don't know if you have much experience with them... But they're interesting. I talked to Jade later that day asking her if she knew about the Russians. She wasn't sure either.
So here we are at our MuiNe resort, and the guests are 95% Russian - of which we could care less, just interesting to be in a place that is so homogeneously not Vietnamese. Within minutes of sitting by the pool, and seemingly surrounded by the Russians, we found ourselves preoccupied with listening to their language. At the end of a sentence, one of them said something that sounded like Red Bull. Only he rolled the first R, and bull was pronounced Bwool (with an emphasis on the oo sound - deep in his mouth). Jade and I start laughing right away. And this would be something we repeated for the remainder of our stay here - Rred Bwool!
The Russian men are all huge, but don't necessarily look it. They're like 6'-3"ish weighing 250ish and they're not really defined and muscular, just big. The women range from huge and tank-like like the men, down to stick thin.
I've heard Russian before, but not in this magnitude - so that's why I think it's so funny sounding. It's a pretty ugly sounding language. It sounds more like a string of swear words to me more than anything.
They don't seem completely rude, but maybe a little. They seem very direct, and seem like they'd steel a pool side lounger from you, and not really care (they didn't actually do this, but there were times I thought they might). Some of the women's swim suits were very skimpy, and the men all wore speedos - no matter the size of their hardened guts (I know I know - shrewd American). Jade wore a cute 1 piece suit and I think they were all puzzled by the styling, perhaps they'd never seen one - especially the woman who wore what looked more like thong underwear and bra than suit.
Jade and I enjoyed our time, muttering Red Bull in a severe Russian accent, and relaxing in the sun, and floating in the pool. We ate dinner out at an Italian place down the way which was decent. We stoled down the road after poking our heads in little shops and stands of trinkets etc. Then we headed back for the night. My cold lingered on - and seemed to flair up in the evenings telling me it was time to catch a little Nat Geo and get some sleep.
The day started off with a decent buffet spread for breakfast. And then I headed down early to snatch a few loungers next to the pool (we noticed that they go fast).
A quick back story - Thomas our neighbor (who spent a lot of time working in SE Asia) told me about his time in Nha Trang. He talked about there being a lot of Russians. He said it in a whispered tone - almost like he was ashamed to say such thing. I took it just matter of fact and continued on with the conversation. He brought up the Russians once again - and said something to the effect of - yeah, the Russians... I don't know if you have much experience with them... But they're interesting. I talked to Jade later that day asking her if she knew about the Russians. She wasn't sure either.
So here we are at our MuiNe resort, and the guests are 95% Russian - of which we could care less, just interesting to be in a place that is so homogeneously not Vietnamese. Within minutes of sitting by the pool, and seemingly surrounded by the Russians, we found ourselves preoccupied with listening to their language. At the end of a sentence, one of them said something that sounded like Red Bull. Only he rolled the first R, and bull was pronounced Bwool (with an emphasis on the oo sound - deep in his mouth). Jade and I start laughing right away. And this would be something we repeated for the remainder of our stay here - Rred Bwool!
The Russian men are all huge, but don't necessarily look it. They're like 6'-3"ish weighing 250ish and they're not really defined and muscular, just big. The women range from huge and tank-like like the men, down to stick thin.
I've heard Russian before, but not in this magnitude - so that's why I think it's so funny sounding. It's a pretty ugly sounding language. It sounds more like a string of swear words to me more than anything.
They don't seem completely rude, but maybe a little. They seem very direct, and seem like they'd steel a pool side lounger from you, and not really care (they didn't actually do this, but there were times I thought they might). Some of the women's swim suits were very skimpy, and the men all wore speedos - no matter the size of their hardened guts (I know I know - shrewd American). Jade wore a cute 1 piece suit and I think they were all puzzled by the styling, perhaps they'd never seen one - especially the woman who wore what looked more like thong underwear and bra than suit.
Jade and I enjoyed our time, muttering Red Bull in a severe Russian accent, and relaxing in the sun, and floating in the pool. We ate dinner out at an Italian place down the way which was decent. We stoled down the road after poking our heads in little shops and stands of trinkets etc. Then we headed back for the night. My cold lingered on - and seemed to flair up in the evenings telling me it was time to catch a little Nat Geo and get some sleep.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Day Sixteen
We set out for MuiNe this morning. We set a redundant alarm on our travel clock knowing full well that we'd be up earlier than our alarm compliments the roosters below. And sure enough - 5am. Boom we're up. Roosters going wild - this time less annoyed because we knew it was coming - and somewhat amazed. How do they know to do that at precisely 5am?! We headed to our severely mediocre breakfast, and then down to check out. In a hurry - we rushed thru the check out and headed down the block to catch our bus to MuiNe. Expectant of a big awkward and strangely comfortable bus (like we'd taken before), we were concerned when our bus pulled up into queue. Perhaps a little larger than a conversion van, 20 some odd seats we crammed into this thing. We ended up being a little early and got to pick our seats, which were close to the front (for Jaydee - so she doesn't get car sick). After the van thing was full we sat waiting. All seats were occupied, and the four seats in the back held all of our luggage piling to the ceiling. Jade and I wondered why the wait. Now 20 minutes later as we impatiently waited, another 5 people walked up. They were to ride with us, but I didn't see how. They piled luggage in any available cranny and then folded out our awkward arm-rests. Whoa, those are seats? Very small, very uncomfortable seats at that, covered tightly with textured fake leather sure to produce a sweaty butt in the 4 hour trip down the mountain. The late arrivers from the Czech Republic were stuck with the worst seats on the bus... By far. Jade leaned over - that's why I was so worried to get here early - I quickly agreed.
We got moving and it was smooth sailing for a good 20-30 minutes. After that, we could feel the road beneath us in steady decay. It wouldn't be long before we slowed to a 10 mile per hour creep dodging van size pot holes, and curious piles of large stones piled 6 feet high and taking up half of the corroded street. We were headed down the mountain, gradually, switching back and forth. This in combination with the dodging of pot holes started making me a little nauseous! Jade, strangely, took it like a champ. We made a pit stop about an hour in, and not again until we arrived in MuiNe. The ride was not my favorite 4 hours in Vietnam.
We arrived in a central location in MuiNe. MuiNe is one long beach, that is adjacent another long beach on each side. Dubbed to be less touristy than Nha Trang, we thought we'd try our luck here. We cabbed it down the several mile long beach to our resort - the Canary. A large resorty place with a huge pool - swim up bar, and beach front property. After our time in Phu Quoc, we knew we liked to sit and read on the beach, but much rather swim in a chlorine-y fresh pool sans jellyfish and icky toes. Due to space limitations we were upgraded to the next level rooms - deluxe, or supreme, or whatever their tacky rating scale is. Two (smallish) queen beds on the second level overlooking the palm tree courtyard leading to the pool - leading to the pleasant windy beach, and finished off by the somewhat choppy sea. Our room was very nice and we were anxious to climb into our swimsuits and sit pool side soaking up the sun (this time with plenty of sun screen).
We did just that - and it was quite nice.
I would later find out that I had become sick with something. First it felt like a cold - then a fever - headache - coughing... I always give Jade crap for being dramatic when she doesn't feel well - and here I lay, entirely convinced that I had malaria, or at the very least dengue fever. The two beds in our room which seemed at first to be absurdly lavish turned out to be entirely necessary as I sat sweating and shivering, moaning and coughing - dieing for all I knew. I had that weird sensation when you move your eyes and your whole body feels a tickle or a buzz. I was a mess, and Jaydee took good care of me. She went down to the computers and read up on my malaria diagnosis, and returned with a game plan. If it persisted we would head to a doctors for a test. Until then, she was to break my fever. She rotated cold clothes on my stomach and back and had me take a cold shower. After a while, my fever did break and I fell asleep early leaving Jade to channel surf between Nat Geo, Discovery Channel, HBO (circa 5 years ago), and 20 odd terribly cheesy Vietnamese soaps. I woke up a lot and so did Jade.
We made it thru the night - and in the morning I would feel about 50% better.
Day Fifteen
5am, what the heck just happened... Why am I up?! I slowly slip back into a sleep. Exactly 5 minutes later, I'm up again, this time I catch the end of a very loud rooster wake-up-call. Jade and I both look at each other in shock. You have to be kidding me I grumble, and roll over hoping that the bird alarm only goes off twice. Nope! Someone down there is pressing snooze, and the snooze timer is getting shorter and shorter. After about 10 rooster noises within 5 minutes, another rooster goes off opposite the other. There would simply be no way to sleep thru that racket. Looks like we'll be up bright and early. We peered out of our only hotel window to discover that the damn roosters were basically right below us. That's the last time I book a hotel I told Jade. When I booked the hotel, I considered two variables - price - and proximity to the central market. This one was the cheapest and closest to the market - what else could you ask for... Apparently you could ask for a room with no rooster directly below it. Jade on the other hand, considered my two variables, but several more like - guidebook recommendations - online reviews etc.
We got up and got ready to the incessant rooster calls, and we headed out for a day of exploring.
First we went up for breakfast in the rooftop restaurant. Our coffee was terrible, our eggs were terrible, our bread and jam, was decent.
We walked down to a lake surrounded by the mountains. The air was refreshing, and I wasn't sweating - a strange feeling after sweating literally every day for the past 2 weeks. We stopped at a cute restaurant on the lake. We picked a table on a little boardwalk right on the lake and had much better coffee and some decent Vietnamese food for a better go at breakfast. We ended up sitting there for quite a while having a great discussion about life, and several interesting details. I don't quite remember what we discussed, but it was surly profound at that moment. After said discussion, we made our way up to the Crazy House.
The Crazy House is a house designed by a local architect that has been opened to general admission. A cross between Gaudi and the Berestain Bear's tree house this bizarre house was... Bizarre. Convinced that this house not only refrained from meeting any safety standards, it also deliberately broke more than a few dozen - we walked gingerly around - literally warning each other - watch your head - don't trip here - don't go up on there, I'm not sure it'll hold a full human's weight. It was interesting - but lost its charm quickly, just another tourist trap. Jade and I talked in archibabble, unlike any of the other visitor - you know, if she stuck to her Gaudi references, I think she would have been much more successful overall, and - Oh come look here, this is a nice detail, I like how the tile transitions here. God we're nerds.
We walked back down to the central market area just as it started pouring rain. We ducked under a cute little gazebo like shelter of which reduced the rain from hitting us a little - as there were holes in the clay tile roof. The rain let up just enough for us to venture out a little ways from the gazebo and then started coming down again. Jade led us to a short cut - thru the town dump. We didn't realize it to be the town dump until we were walking thru it, and let me tell you, it was disgusting! But a shortcut it was.
We headed to our room with bad juju for the rest of the rain lasting a few hours. We watched TV - Nat Geo - of which I call out randomly now. Nat Geo! I exclaim every time we turn on a tv, Nat Geo! Turn it to Nat Geo! Nat Geo is a shortening of National Geographic I think in efforts to be hip and cool. I think it's really nerdy, so I use it facetiously, and not sparingly. Jade doesn't think it's as funny as I do, but I'm ok with that.
We headed to the V Cafe for dinner. Reviewed in our book as decent western food, we welcomed a break in the Vietnamese cuisine. Pizza and fish and chips was our order and it went down good. Not the best we've ever had - but it was just the break we craved.
That was basically the extent of our day. We've been reminiscing about our time in Ho Chi Minh City, and it seems forever ago that we were there! Man-o-man we've been gone a long time!
We got up and got ready to the incessant rooster calls, and we headed out for a day of exploring.
First we went up for breakfast in the rooftop restaurant. Our coffee was terrible, our eggs were terrible, our bread and jam, was decent.
We walked down to a lake surrounded by the mountains. The air was refreshing, and I wasn't sweating - a strange feeling after sweating literally every day for the past 2 weeks. We stopped at a cute restaurant on the lake. We picked a table on a little boardwalk right on the lake and had much better coffee and some decent Vietnamese food for a better go at breakfast. We ended up sitting there for quite a while having a great discussion about life, and several interesting details. I don't quite remember what we discussed, but it was surly profound at that moment. After said discussion, we made our way up to the Crazy House.
The Crazy House is a house designed by a local architect that has been opened to general admission. A cross between Gaudi and the Berestain Bear's tree house this bizarre house was... Bizarre. Convinced that this house not only refrained from meeting any safety standards, it also deliberately broke more than a few dozen - we walked gingerly around - literally warning each other - watch your head - don't trip here - don't go up on there, I'm not sure it'll hold a full human's weight. It was interesting - but lost its charm quickly, just another tourist trap. Jade and I talked in archibabble, unlike any of the other visitor - you know, if she stuck to her Gaudi references, I think she would have been much more successful overall, and - Oh come look here, this is a nice detail, I like how the tile transitions here. God we're nerds.
We walked back down to the central market area just as it started pouring rain. We ducked under a cute little gazebo like shelter of which reduced the rain from hitting us a little - as there were holes in the clay tile roof. The rain let up just enough for us to venture out a little ways from the gazebo and then started coming down again. Jade led us to a short cut - thru the town dump. We didn't realize it to be the town dump until we were walking thru it, and let me tell you, it was disgusting! But a shortcut it was.
We headed to our room with bad juju for the rest of the rain lasting a few hours. We watched TV - Nat Geo - of which I call out randomly now. Nat Geo! I exclaim every time we turn on a tv, Nat Geo! Turn it to Nat Geo! Nat Geo is a shortening of National Geographic I think in efforts to be hip and cool. I think it's really nerdy, so I use it facetiously, and not sparingly. Jade doesn't think it's as funny as I do, but I'm ok with that.
We headed to the V Cafe for dinner. Reviewed in our book as decent western food, we welcomed a break in the Vietnamese cuisine. Pizza and fish and chips was our order and it went down good. Not the best we've ever had - but it was just the break we craved.
That was basically the extent of our day. We've been reminiscing about our time in Ho Chi Minh City, and it seems forever ago that we were there! Man-o-man we've been gone a long time!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Day Fourteen
Hoi An proved to be a bit hotter than we thought. It was in the eighties and quite humid. We headed to DeLat for an escape from the heat.
Stepping off of the prop plane that we have gotten used to, we were instantly cooled by the 70s temps and the less humid breeze. A two night get away from the heat was just what we needed. I booked the hotel room online at our Hoi An hotel, which proved to be interesting. At 25 a night including breakfast, and right off the central market, I thought - how could we go wrong. I'll tell you how... Bad juju.
We hopped out of the plane and into a taxi within minutes. 20 bucks later upon our arival to our hotel (a little further from the air port than we expected), we walked up to our clean fairly large hotel. A five level building set back from the street crested with a rooftop restaurant. We walked up to the front desk and checked in, with a little confusion as the woman behind the desk knew very little english. The main level was filled with tables and chairs, that I would later find out were not for any apparent use - as breakfast was served at the rooftop restaurant. The lights were half on, giving kind of an eerie vibe. Or as Jade said, bad juju. We went to our room on the second floor. It was clean and fairly modern, but again the hallways were half lit, and the cleaner seemed to be camping out in the laundry room, just waiting for someone to leave so she could clean something. We cleaned up, and headed out to the central market - I was hoping to score some street food.
We walked down a windy street to the central market about 6 blocks down - a nice walk of which I did not sweat due to the lovely temps of the mountains. Jade spotted a doner kebab stand - our first doner in Vietnam. We made our way across the street and quickly bought two of them. Cheap and delicious - a Vietnamese twist on the doner kebab - basically a Vietnamese sandwich with lamb meat. Invigorated by our first snack we arrived at the central market, and began purchasing street food. We got 2 BBQ chicken skewers that were delish, and then a rice paper roll up thing seasoned with cheese and herbs and green onions - pretty good. Then some more skewers - pork wrapped in grape leaves with hot sauce. Our frequent snacks were sprinkled about as we browsed the market - looking at fresh veggies - fish - meat - candy - hardware - dishes - basically anything you might want to buy - along with anything you might not want to buy. I felt pretty confident, as we had experience now. We knew how to say no to the insistent stand owners insisting we buy some of their sub par coffee or tea. We got 2 sweets, one was much like peanut brittle, but on rice paper with ginger and spices, and the other had coconut and some ginger, with some sort of sweet substance holding it all together. They were great, asside from the occational ultra-gingery bite which was not far off from taking a pull from a bottle of whiskey. We ended the street food night with some soup that the locals seemed to be swooning over. The woman selling it, had a huge kettle with floating stewing tomatoes. Some sort of noodle soup no doubt, and I was eager to try. I ordered one up, and took a seat next to the locals on the small children's plastic stools - half worried it would not hold my weight. Jade didn't order one, and would have a bite of mine if it was good. I received my noodle soup with tomatoes and varrious meat along with a side of veggies to put in the soup. I prepped the soup for a minute, and then took my first anticipated bite. Hmm... I tried another. Jade looked at my puzzled face and laughed, she said she was glad we only ordered one. This crap was awful! Strangly fishy with a weird dark gelatinous cube - perhaps liver - it tasted like a mirky bowl of Mississippi River. I looked around to see if the locals were truly enjoying this crap - and they were... I gagged down a few more bites to make sure I wasn't missing anything - perhaps something at the bottom of the bowl would give it a better flavor. Nope - terrible. We got up, and I felt bad leaving an almost completely full bowl of this woman's soup behind, but I couldn't eat it. As we walked back, I thought for sure I'd get disintary from this unclean soup.
We got to the front desk of our hotel and asked about the steam bath and Jacuzzi that was on the sign on the front of our building. The woman was a bit confused, and almost seemed like she was playing dumb. Jade went out and pointed at the sign - Steam Bath? Jacuzzi? It also said massages and spa. The woman replied in broken english and it sounded like she was saying that she didn't think it was a good idea... We were puzzled and walked down to the 'Massage Room'. It was below our building. We walked up to the counter, and a guy walked out of the 'massage room' and thru the crack of the door we could see a handful of half dressed Vietnamese woman, perhaps ready to give massages? Jade and I started laughing understanding why the front desk woman was telling us that it wasn't a good idea. We both agreed that we didn't want to participate in the underground Vietnamese sex industry and headed back to our room. We watched a little tv and then worked hard to fall asleep - as our mattress was about as hard as the tile flooring. I double checked the matress thinking that it was just the box spring - but it wasn't. Just the hardest bed ever above a scandelous massage parlour in a hotel with bad juju.
Stepping off of the prop plane that we have gotten used to, we were instantly cooled by the 70s temps and the less humid breeze. A two night get away from the heat was just what we needed. I booked the hotel room online at our Hoi An hotel, which proved to be interesting. At 25 a night including breakfast, and right off the central market, I thought - how could we go wrong. I'll tell you how... Bad juju.
We hopped out of the plane and into a taxi within minutes. 20 bucks later upon our arival to our hotel (a little further from the air port than we expected), we walked up to our clean fairly large hotel. A five level building set back from the street crested with a rooftop restaurant. We walked up to the front desk and checked in, with a little confusion as the woman behind the desk knew very little english. The main level was filled with tables and chairs, that I would later find out were not for any apparent use - as breakfast was served at the rooftop restaurant. The lights were half on, giving kind of an eerie vibe. Or as Jade said, bad juju. We went to our room on the second floor. It was clean and fairly modern, but again the hallways were half lit, and the cleaner seemed to be camping out in the laundry room, just waiting for someone to leave so she could clean something. We cleaned up, and headed out to the central market - I was hoping to score some street food.
We walked down a windy street to the central market about 6 blocks down - a nice walk of which I did not sweat due to the lovely temps of the mountains. Jade spotted a doner kebab stand - our first doner in Vietnam. We made our way across the street and quickly bought two of them. Cheap and delicious - a Vietnamese twist on the doner kebab - basically a Vietnamese sandwich with lamb meat. Invigorated by our first snack we arrived at the central market, and began purchasing street food. We got 2 BBQ chicken skewers that were delish, and then a rice paper roll up thing seasoned with cheese and herbs and green onions - pretty good. Then some more skewers - pork wrapped in grape leaves with hot sauce. Our frequent snacks were sprinkled about as we browsed the market - looking at fresh veggies - fish - meat - candy - hardware - dishes - basically anything you might want to buy - along with anything you might not want to buy. I felt pretty confident, as we had experience now. We knew how to say no to the insistent stand owners insisting we buy some of their sub par coffee or tea. We got 2 sweets, one was much like peanut brittle, but on rice paper with ginger and spices, and the other had coconut and some ginger, with some sort of sweet substance holding it all together. They were great, asside from the occational ultra-gingery bite which was not far off from taking a pull from a bottle of whiskey. We ended the street food night with some soup that the locals seemed to be swooning over. The woman selling it, had a huge kettle with floating stewing tomatoes. Some sort of noodle soup no doubt, and I was eager to try. I ordered one up, and took a seat next to the locals on the small children's plastic stools - half worried it would not hold my weight. Jade didn't order one, and would have a bite of mine if it was good. I received my noodle soup with tomatoes and varrious meat along with a side of veggies to put in the soup. I prepped the soup for a minute, and then took my first anticipated bite. Hmm... I tried another. Jade looked at my puzzled face and laughed, she said she was glad we only ordered one. This crap was awful! Strangly fishy with a weird dark gelatinous cube - perhaps liver - it tasted like a mirky bowl of Mississippi River. I looked around to see if the locals were truly enjoying this crap - and they were... I gagged down a few more bites to make sure I wasn't missing anything - perhaps something at the bottom of the bowl would give it a better flavor. Nope - terrible. We got up, and I felt bad leaving an almost completely full bowl of this woman's soup behind, but I couldn't eat it. As we walked back, I thought for sure I'd get disintary from this unclean soup.
We got to the front desk of our hotel and asked about the steam bath and Jacuzzi that was on the sign on the front of our building. The woman was a bit confused, and almost seemed like she was playing dumb. Jade went out and pointed at the sign - Steam Bath? Jacuzzi? It also said massages and spa. The woman replied in broken english and it sounded like she was saying that she didn't think it was a good idea... We were puzzled and walked down to the 'Massage Room'. It was below our building. We walked up to the counter, and a guy walked out of the 'massage room' and thru the crack of the door we could see a handful of half dressed Vietnamese woman, perhaps ready to give massages? Jade and I started laughing understanding why the front desk woman was telling us that it wasn't a good idea. We both agreed that we didn't want to participate in the underground Vietnamese sex industry and headed back to our room. We watched a little tv and then worked hard to fall asleep - as our mattress was about as hard as the tile flooring. I double checked the matress thinking that it was just the box spring - but it wasn't. Just the hardest bed ever above a scandelous massage parlour in a hotel with bad juju.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Day Thirteen
Today we went to our cooking class. We started class by walking to the local market to pick out fruits - vegetables - herbs. Our woman instructor taught us what each of the fruits, veggies, herbs were (there were several that we didn't know) and which ones to pick. For instance if you're picking mangoes, for a salad you want it light green and yellowish - but mostly green. And for dessert, you want it yellow. Also, alway pick the ugly mango - brown speckles everywhere. This means it grew in the sun, and the inside of it will be good for eating - not stringy. Also, it will make the Vietnamese women upset if you smell the mango and then don't buy it. So never buy it for the smell always by sight. We learned lots of different things like this for picking out the other items as well. Even that part of the class was invaluable! Now I know that those aren't artichokes... They're sugar apples...
We headed back to the restaurant (Morning Glory) for our cooking part of the class. We walked into a room with 2 rows of tables. Each table had 2 burners, prepping utensils, and some pre-prepped foods and spices. There was a main table up front with a mirror above so we could see what our instructor was doing. We watched her make the food, and then we made ours, and then we ate ours. Everything was Really Good! We made a cabbage soup with shrimp paste dumplings, shrimp and pork fresh spring rolls, traditional Hoi An fried pancakes, and BBQ chicken skewers with mango salad. They gave us all the recipes and a few additional ones to try and a cutting thing that they use to slice their fruits and veggies (looks like a garden spade with a thin slit down the middle of it), not to mention we ate a lot of great food for lunch. Over all this was one of the highlights of our trip! It was really fun to learn about all their foods, ask questions about their culture and of course learn how to make some of their meals at home (of which we fully plan on doing).
After class we stopped in at the neighboring restaurant (of which is owned by Morning Glory). Our instructor mentioned that they make a specialty lemon grass ice cream that is delicious, and we had to try it. We stopped over and each got a scoop and a cone. I will say that this was one of the best ice creams I have ever had! In my life! Incredible! This was another highlight of our trip. We stopped back after dinner and got another cone!
Before dinner we stopped back at the local market for some additional cooking utensils that we would need to make the food we learned. A cute little grater-stringer thing - 2 cute little pans for the pancakes - 2 clay lids - and 2 sets of long chop sticks for cooking with. First we scouted around for the pans. We asked the women of the market where we could buy the pans. Not fully understanding they took us stand to stand pointing at cookies, pastries and candy. Jade said no, we need pans to cook the pancakes. The women determined for us to buy from them or their sister's or their friend's stand brought us to another woman, who in tern brought us to another woman, who finally understood what we were looking for. Oh, you want pan to cooking the pancake she said. She sent her friend off into the market, and said you wait, I get you pan to cooking the pancake. The woman scurried back quickly with a dozen or so pans. She asked how many we needed, we ordered 2. The cute and cheap little pans were what we used in class and we thought they'd be fun to bring home and use - and the cute little ladies assured us that they were good high quality pans! We asked for clay lids, and the same happened, the one lady said something to the other lady, and she dashed off into the market and fetched us clay lids. All the shops seemed to work together, bound and determined to make a sale and make us happy. They were like personal shoppers. We purchased all of the items and the women all wrapped up our pots and lids etc in news paper, and put them into a bag for us. I thought about bargaining with them over the price (ended up being 15 bucks or so), but I thought, nah, this can be their tip, and just paid. We were happy with the pans and with the experience of having them help us.
For dinner we went exploring to the other side of the river (less touristy) and found a cute little 3 story restaurant on the river called The Lighthouse. We sat over looking the river on the second floor. Open air, as every building in Vietnam seems to be, we felt the cool breeze off of the river which was lovely. Turns out it is beetle season, as we ducked a huge beetle buzzing thru the air bouncing off of the lights, walls, bookcase etc. We're not talking little box elder bug here, we're talking 3 inch long 1 inch wide monster beetle! We saw about 10 or 15 of them before our waitress asked if we were scared of them. Jade's face answered the question - and the waitress took a moment to goal tend the beetles back outside. Another young couple came for dinner and sat outside on the balcony (we were sitting just inside). They ordered drinks - a beer for him, and a fruity one for her. They sat talking wait for their food when we heard her scream and flop around in her chair. A giant beetle had dunked into her little fruity drink. The bug took up most of the room in her drink and it buzzed its wings for the escape. Covered in pineapple and alcohol, it couldn't get out, but successfully flapped drink all over the screaming woman. Jade and I watched laughing at the dinner time entertainment. They got the bug out, and the woman was bummed that she wouldn't be able to drink her drink, and the man said it's ok, I'm sure it'll taste just fine. After a few minutes, the woman continued drinking what was left of her cocktail. We ate a papaya salad and fish cooked in a clay pot with steamed rice. Our meal was excellent.
We strolled back for a movie in our room, and then to bed.
We headed back to the restaurant (Morning Glory) for our cooking part of the class. We walked into a room with 2 rows of tables. Each table had 2 burners, prepping utensils, and some pre-prepped foods and spices. There was a main table up front with a mirror above so we could see what our instructor was doing. We watched her make the food, and then we made ours, and then we ate ours. Everything was Really Good! We made a cabbage soup with shrimp paste dumplings, shrimp and pork fresh spring rolls, traditional Hoi An fried pancakes, and BBQ chicken skewers with mango salad. They gave us all the recipes and a few additional ones to try and a cutting thing that they use to slice their fruits and veggies (looks like a garden spade with a thin slit down the middle of it), not to mention we ate a lot of great food for lunch. Over all this was one of the highlights of our trip! It was really fun to learn about all their foods, ask questions about their culture and of course learn how to make some of their meals at home (of which we fully plan on doing).
After class we stopped in at the neighboring restaurant (of which is owned by Morning Glory). Our instructor mentioned that they make a specialty lemon grass ice cream that is delicious, and we had to try it. We stopped over and each got a scoop and a cone. I will say that this was one of the best ice creams I have ever had! In my life! Incredible! This was another highlight of our trip. We stopped back after dinner and got another cone!
Before dinner we stopped back at the local market for some additional cooking utensils that we would need to make the food we learned. A cute little grater-stringer thing - 2 cute little pans for the pancakes - 2 clay lids - and 2 sets of long chop sticks for cooking with. First we scouted around for the pans. We asked the women of the market where we could buy the pans. Not fully understanding they took us stand to stand pointing at cookies, pastries and candy. Jade said no, we need pans to cook the pancakes. The women determined for us to buy from them or their sister's or their friend's stand brought us to another woman, who in tern brought us to another woman, who finally understood what we were looking for. Oh, you want pan to cooking the pancake she said. She sent her friend off into the market, and said you wait, I get you pan to cooking the pancake. The woman scurried back quickly with a dozen or so pans. She asked how many we needed, we ordered 2. The cute and cheap little pans were what we used in class and we thought they'd be fun to bring home and use - and the cute little ladies assured us that they were good high quality pans! We asked for clay lids, and the same happened, the one lady said something to the other lady, and she dashed off into the market and fetched us clay lids. All the shops seemed to work together, bound and determined to make a sale and make us happy. They were like personal shoppers. We purchased all of the items and the women all wrapped up our pots and lids etc in news paper, and put them into a bag for us. I thought about bargaining with them over the price (ended up being 15 bucks or so), but I thought, nah, this can be their tip, and just paid. We were happy with the pans and with the experience of having them help us.
For dinner we went exploring to the other side of the river (less touristy) and found a cute little 3 story restaurant on the river called The Lighthouse. We sat over looking the river on the second floor. Open air, as every building in Vietnam seems to be, we felt the cool breeze off of the river which was lovely. Turns out it is beetle season, as we ducked a huge beetle buzzing thru the air bouncing off of the lights, walls, bookcase etc. We're not talking little box elder bug here, we're talking 3 inch long 1 inch wide monster beetle! We saw about 10 or 15 of them before our waitress asked if we were scared of them. Jade's face answered the question - and the waitress took a moment to goal tend the beetles back outside. Another young couple came for dinner and sat outside on the balcony (we were sitting just inside). They ordered drinks - a beer for him, and a fruity one for her. They sat talking wait for their food when we heard her scream and flop around in her chair. A giant beetle had dunked into her little fruity drink. The bug took up most of the room in her drink and it buzzed its wings for the escape. Covered in pineapple and alcohol, it couldn't get out, but successfully flapped drink all over the screaming woman. Jade and I watched laughing at the dinner time entertainment. They got the bug out, and the woman was bummed that she wouldn't be able to drink her drink, and the man said it's ok, I'm sure it'll taste just fine. After a few minutes, the woman continued drinking what was left of her cocktail. We ate a papaya salad and fish cooked in a clay pot with steamed rice. Our meal was excellent.
We strolled back for a movie in our room, and then to bed.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Day Twelve
Another full day of meandering thru the Old Town, shopping - picking up our finished garments and glasses, and of course snacking along the way. We went to our first fittings for our clothes (a couple new shorts and capris for Jade). Everything fit me very well, they just needed to put buttons for the finishing touches. Jade needed a few adjustments done, nothing major, on hers. After that we walked up to pick up my new glasses. They fit great and the prescription is perfect. They're a little different in style, kind of a throw back to the eighties - but hey for 50 bucks including frames - lenses - and exam... Why not. We also stopped up at another glasses shop. I ended up finding a second pair that I loved, and that we ended up springing for. Jade said in her parental tone - ok now, that's it for a few more years. I happily agreed. The second pair is a black plastic boxy-modern pair. Jade impulsed a cute little 6 buck cover up robe thing (of which I'm not fully sure if it's to lounge around the house in - or sleep in... But I'm a guy - she assured me, Girls have these things...). Jade also got a little loungy pair of pants - which will be ready tomorrow.
Jade went to her 5pm scheduled facial - and I took a nap and watched the Discovery channel. We cleaned up, and then went out to dinner.
Dinner was another amazing dish - of local favorites. Again - everything extremely fresh - vibrant - and cleverly flavored. They pair salty with sweet - crunchy with slippery - which proves time and time again an exciting eating experience.
The day felt like a hard day's work with all of the shopping etc. We're in for a relaxing next few days though - of which we look forward to, to wrap up our adventure.
The dogs here are very interesting. They all go unleashed and roam around, but they all seem to have a home. They're all very mixed - we've seen short legged German Sheppard like dogs - big chihuahua like dogs with spots - fluffy flopsy mixes of who knows what - and they pay little attention to humans. They lay around mostly but we've seen a few playing together - and scavenging the nearby trashes for snacks.
Jade went to her 5pm scheduled facial - and I took a nap and watched the Discovery channel. We cleaned up, and then went out to dinner.
Dinner was another amazing dish - of local favorites. Again - everything extremely fresh - vibrant - and cleverly flavored. They pair salty with sweet - crunchy with slippery - which proves time and time again an exciting eating experience.
The day felt like a hard day's work with all of the shopping etc. We're in for a relaxing next few days though - of which we look forward to, to wrap up our adventure.
The dogs here are very interesting. They all go unleashed and roam around, but they all seem to have a home. They're all very mixed - we've seen short legged German Sheppard like dogs - big chihuahua like dogs with spots - fluffy flopsy mixes of who knows what - and they pay little attention to humans. They lay around mostly but we've seen a few playing together - and scavenging the nearby trashes for snacks.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Day Eleven
Hello you please liking to buy something from me please?! Hello you coming to my shop and buying please I make very good deal to you.
So the Vietnamese in Hoi An are wicked gorilla sales people! Bound and determined to make a buyer out of literally every single person walking by, we had to toughen up a bit. We went into the first handful of shops that coerced us - and looked around. The next handful we politely said no thank you, gave perhaps a compliment on the so and so's in the window and walked on saying thanks. The next handful, just a no thanks. And finally a stone cold smile turning our heads away to cut the transaction off completely.
There are hundreds of tailor shops here, literally hundreds. We ended up stopping into the guidebook and hotel recommended A Dong Silk. A good size shop with plenty of samples to see, they are capable of producing pretty much anything you can think of. And there in lies the difficulty. In a store it's easy to shop, because the items are sitting there right in front of you to pick from. Here, you basically tell them, or show them from photos what you want, or if you're lucky find something you like from the samples. Once decided on an item - shirt - pants - shorts - dress - suit - etc you are tasked with picking out the fabric. Again, with tons of fabric bats to choose from, it can be difficult. We ended up having a few pairs of shorts and capris made, and we go tomorrow to have our first fittings. We both gave them a pair that we brought along - hoping it'd be easier to have them duplicated rather than trying to describe something from scratch. The process was a little confusing - but over all pretty smooth. I guess we'll see how things went after our first fitting.
We ducked in lots of different kinds of shops, a few jewelry, a few tailors, a few shoe makers, a few trinket makers - it'd be easy to spend a paycheck here. We've stayed pretty conservative only buying what we had set out to - thwarting the impulse buying they try to enable. I ended up stopping in a glasses shop, just curious to see what they had to offer - and how much something like that might be. I found a few that were decent, and asked how much for frames and lenses. Between 40-50 dollars for everything! Tickled by these prices - it was my goal to stop at every glasses shop in town. At fourth or fifth one - I found a pair that were pretty cool. Something different - thin shinny silver metal frames - made of titanium which makes them extremely durable. After pricing out everything - 51 dollars, I bought them. They'll be ready tomorrow afternoon and I'm really excited. I was telling Jade, when you wear glasses 24/7, they're a representation of you - or who you'd like to be. It's the first thing someone would notice about you. Perhaps others don't really care much, but I do.
After shopping the day away - we cleaned up and rested a bit before dinner - Jade had a massage at the hotel salon - and then we went to dinner at the restaurant where we'll take a cooking class on Saturday. Amazing once again. The restaurant was quite large with a full main level and a full upstairs, every table taken - thankfully Jade made a reservation. Highlights would be a beef salad with Vietnamese herbs and lime squeezed over the top. It will definitely be something we try and make at home.
Day Eleven - wow, starting to feel like a long time!
So the Vietnamese in Hoi An are wicked gorilla sales people! Bound and determined to make a buyer out of literally every single person walking by, we had to toughen up a bit. We went into the first handful of shops that coerced us - and looked around. The next handful we politely said no thank you, gave perhaps a compliment on the so and so's in the window and walked on saying thanks. The next handful, just a no thanks. And finally a stone cold smile turning our heads away to cut the transaction off completely.
There are hundreds of tailor shops here, literally hundreds. We ended up stopping into the guidebook and hotel recommended A Dong Silk. A good size shop with plenty of samples to see, they are capable of producing pretty much anything you can think of. And there in lies the difficulty. In a store it's easy to shop, because the items are sitting there right in front of you to pick from. Here, you basically tell them, or show them from photos what you want, or if you're lucky find something you like from the samples. Once decided on an item - shirt - pants - shorts - dress - suit - etc you are tasked with picking out the fabric. Again, with tons of fabric bats to choose from, it can be difficult. We ended up having a few pairs of shorts and capris made, and we go tomorrow to have our first fittings. We both gave them a pair that we brought along - hoping it'd be easier to have them duplicated rather than trying to describe something from scratch. The process was a little confusing - but over all pretty smooth. I guess we'll see how things went after our first fitting.
We ducked in lots of different kinds of shops, a few jewelry, a few tailors, a few shoe makers, a few trinket makers - it'd be easy to spend a paycheck here. We've stayed pretty conservative only buying what we had set out to - thwarting the impulse buying they try to enable. I ended up stopping in a glasses shop, just curious to see what they had to offer - and how much something like that might be. I found a few that were decent, and asked how much for frames and lenses. Between 40-50 dollars for everything! Tickled by these prices - it was my goal to stop at every glasses shop in town. At fourth or fifth one - I found a pair that were pretty cool. Something different - thin shinny silver metal frames - made of titanium which makes them extremely durable. After pricing out everything - 51 dollars, I bought them. They'll be ready tomorrow afternoon and I'm really excited. I was telling Jade, when you wear glasses 24/7, they're a representation of you - or who you'd like to be. It's the first thing someone would notice about you. Perhaps others don't really care much, but I do.
After shopping the day away - we cleaned up and rested a bit before dinner - Jade had a massage at the hotel salon - and then we went to dinner at the restaurant where we'll take a cooking class on Saturday. Amazing once again. The restaurant was quite large with a full main level and a full upstairs, every table taken - thankfully Jade made a reservation. Highlights would be a beef salad with Vietnamese herbs and lime squeezed over the top. It will definitely be something we try and make at home.
Day Eleven - wow, starting to feel like a long time!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Day Ten
35 dentist-chairs lofted 2 chairs high. 1 row along the driver's side windows, 1 eighteen inch aisle, 1 center row of lofted chairs, another eighteen inch aisle and finally 1 row of lofted dentist chairs pressed against the passenger side windows. This was our bus configuration that bounced us along to Hoi An. Over all a confusing trip, not sure we're on the right bus, not sure if we're supposed to get off now, not sure how much longer it will take, not sure if we're on the right bus again, we made it to Hoi An, but don't know where we got dropped off... The ride itself was awkward but quite comfortable in terms of a bus - each person on their own lofted leather recliner with air conditioning vent above. And for the whopping ticket price of 6 dollars each, this four and a half hour bus ride is not a bad deal. On entrance we were each handed a plastic bag and the bus driver pointed at our feet. Assuming we were to put our shoes in the bag and walk around the bus stocking footed, we complied. The first stint was the hardest, as I had to pee about a half our into the ride, and I had no idea when we'd be stopping (turns out we stopped about 2 hours in). We wound our way up and down mountain side roads, and Jade was struggling. On the verge of car sick Jade held it together, barely.
Our hotel here is the most expensive one by far - 60 bucks a night. We thought we'd treat ourselves to luxury after the other smaller bargain - 3 star'ish hotels at 25 a night. And wow that extra money bumps you up pretty high here. Not that I've ever stayed in one, but I think we must be at a 5 star rating now. Our hotel is a French style two level palace in a very large 'U' shape with front balconies facing the center courtyard. Every nook and cranny if flanked with luscious bamboo trees, orange trees, coconut palms, perfectly manicured and green grass and fresh cut flowers everywhere you turn. Our room for instance had flower pedals neatly arranged in several groupings on the floor, bed, bathtub and tables - not to mention the fresh cut dozen yellow roses on the table. The most comfortable king bed we've slept on takes up a good part of our room, but we're not complaining. A large flat panel tv on the wall doubles as a huge computer monitor for our internet and computer use. And the best part of it all, as we just found out, is breakfast (included in the price of the room). An amazing spread of truly gourmet French pastries and traditional Vietnamese cuisine is a start for this buffet. Cereal, yogurt, tons of fresh fruit, breads, meats, cheeses, crepes, made to order eggs, juices, coffee (real coffee I might add), and tons of Vietnamese dishes. Jade and I walked thru the breakfast door (of which was opened and held by staff) and smiled for the feast.
Last night we wondered the streets in the Old Town which were lovely. Much quieter than the streets in the cities prior, it was really worthy of a relaxing stroll. Cute little paper lanterns criss-crossed over head, and lined up on each side are endless tailors - shoe makers - leather workers - wood carvers - you name it. With just a glimpse of Hoi An's offerings we were terribly excited to get shopping. We walked to a recommended Vietnamese family restaurant, known for its traditional fair. We ordered 6 of their specialties that were appetizer size to share. We were both energized to take the local cooking class that we signed up for, because everything was worthy of a showcase spot on a foodie tv show.
We're happy to be here - and slept wonderfully.
Our hotel here is the most expensive one by far - 60 bucks a night. We thought we'd treat ourselves to luxury after the other smaller bargain - 3 star'ish hotels at 25 a night. And wow that extra money bumps you up pretty high here. Not that I've ever stayed in one, but I think we must be at a 5 star rating now. Our hotel is a French style two level palace in a very large 'U' shape with front balconies facing the center courtyard. Every nook and cranny if flanked with luscious bamboo trees, orange trees, coconut palms, perfectly manicured and green grass and fresh cut flowers everywhere you turn. Our room for instance had flower pedals neatly arranged in several groupings on the floor, bed, bathtub and tables - not to mention the fresh cut dozen yellow roses on the table. The most comfortable king bed we've slept on takes up a good part of our room, but we're not complaining. A large flat panel tv on the wall doubles as a huge computer monitor for our internet and computer use. And the best part of it all, as we just found out, is breakfast (included in the price of the room). An amazing spread of truly gourmet French pastries and traditional Vietnamese cuisine is a start for this buffet. Cereal, yogurt, tons of fresh fruit, breads, meats, cheeses, crepes, made to order eggs, juices, coffee (real coffee I might add), and tons of Vietnamese dishes. Jade and I walked thru the breakfast door (of which was opened and held by staff) and smiled for the feast.
Last night we wondered the streets in the Old Town which were lovely. Much quieter than the streets in the cities prior, it was really worthy of a relaxing stroll. Cute little paper lanterns criss-crossed over head, and lined up on each side are endless tailors - shoe makers - leather workers - wood carvers - you name it. With just a glimpse of Hoi An's offerings we were terribly excited to get shopping. We walked to a recommended Vietnamese family restaurant, known for its traditional fair. We ordered 6 of their specialties that were appetizer size to share. We were both energized to take the local cooking class that we signed up for, because everything was worthy of a showcase spot on a foodie tv show.
We're happy to be here - and slept wonderfully.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Day Nine
I took a leak in the bushes behind the pool in the Forbidden City today. Perhaps not a great way to represent, but I really had to go, and apparently no one in the Forbidden City ever had to go, because I didn't spot a single WC when I needed it. And actually urinating in public is widely acceptable - we've witnessed many incidents - on trees at a crowded intersection, into the river while tour boats tour by, onto the sidewalk as we walked by. I'm not saying I condone the behavior, just that I have a certain sympathy for the exhibitionists now, because I was hurtin' in the Forbidden City. A disclaimer (and/or justification), there was no one around within several hundred yards, I was very discreet, and when I actually did find a bathroom (like a mile away) I was glad I chose the bush.
We walked from our hotel to the Citadel - about 20 minutes meander. And then to the citadel within the citadel. And then, no lie, to the citadel within the citadel within the citadel (Forbidden City)... A bit extreme in my opinion, but the building practices were a little different back in the early 1800's. On our walk there, we were almost constantly accosted by bike taxi drivers - boat drivers - and people trying to give unprompted tours. We kept saying a polite no thank you, we'd like to walk. At one point Jade said, no thank you, we need the exercise, and the man smiled and said Oh No, you very small and motioned with his parallel hands moving them close together. We laughed but kept walking. It is very touristy here of which we don't prefer. The citadel was really interesting when we arrived - historical buildings - interesting building methods - colorful stories of the emperor. By the third hour, walking - reading - exploring, I felt more like a kid on a class field trip, when do we get to eat our lunches and go home...?
In the heat of the day we headed out of the citadels and up the way a bit to see the Pagoda recommended in our guidebook. Not seeing an entrance we turned to walk away, before a very small old man came up to us and started pantomiming and pointing to the Pagoda. Assuming he wanted to show us around, we followed. He took us around and into the hidden entrance that we missed. He signaled for us to take off our shoes when we went in, and to take lots of pictures... It was odd. Once inside I was more worried that this guy was going to run off with our sneakers than I was paying attention to the building - it would have been a long stocking footed walk back. He took us thru the grounds performing elementary level charades and we were getting them right every time. He pointed at a pile of wood and made a chopping motion with his hands and looked back at us enthusiastically, returning the energy - we quickly said in unison - Chopping Wood! He made some sort of a laughing affirmation that we were right. He walked us by a little room where the young monks were cooking, he pretended to hold a bowl and put something in he mouth, we called out - Eating Food! Damn we're on fire! Our bizarre little 10 minute tour came to an end and we offered the little man a small amount of Dong for his tour. We didn't know Vietnamese - he didn't know English - how much more than a nickel tour could he have given us? He had one final charade as I handed him a few bills. And he stepped it up a notch! He waved off the money, and then touched his stomach with both hands making a sick face? I almost blurted out Traveler's Diarrhea but refrained. I wanted to see where he was taking this. Then he started writing something on his hand with his finger. A one, a five, the letter 'U', and the letter 'T'...? Sensing confusion, he did it again, sick to his stomach and then one - five - U - T... I had stopped paying attention to his charade and focussed in on his missing ring finger. He did the same thing a few more times, and we started walking away saying goodbye, thank you, and sorry we don't understand you. He said a few things in Vietnamese and held his hand out. Still confused I walked back to him and handed him the money - he accepted it this time. Jade and I both agreed that that was quite an experience and worth the nickel.
After our day we rested a bit in the hotel - cleaned up and went to Indian for dinner - which was quite good, and then to bed.
We walked from our hotel to the Citadel - about 20 minutes meander. And then to the citadel within the citadel. And then, no lie, to the citadel within the citadel within the citadel (Forbidden City)... A bit extreme in my opinion, but the building practices were a little different back in the early 1800's. On our walk there, we were almost constantly accosted by bike taxi drivers - boat drivers - and people trying to give unprompted tours. We kept saying a polite no thank you, we'd like to walk. At one point Jade said, no thank you, we need the exercise, and the man smiled and said Oh No, you very small and motioned with his parallel hands moving them close together. We laughed but kept walking. It is very touristy here of which we don't prefer. The citadel was really interesting when we arrived - historical buildings - interesting building methods - colorful stories of the emperor. By the third hour, walking - reading - exploring, I felt more like a kid on a class field trip, when do we get to eat our lunches and go home...?
In the heat of the day we headed out of the citadels and up the way a bit to see the Pagoda recommended in our guidebook. Not seeing an entrance we turned to walk away, before a very small old man came up to us and started pantomiming and pointing to the Pagoda. Assuming he wanted to show us around, we followed. He took us around and into the hidden entrance that we missed. He signaled for us to take off our shoes when we went in, and to take lots of pictures... It was odd. Once inside I was more worried that this guy was going to run off with our sneakers than I was paying attention to the building - it would have been a long stocking footed walk back. He took us thru the grounds performing elementary level charades and we were getting them right every time. He pointed at a pile of wood and made a chopping motion with his hands and looked back at us enthusiastically, returning the energy - we quickly said in unison - Chopping Wood! He made some sort of a laughing affirmation that we were right. He walked us by a little room where the young monks were cooking, he pretended to hold a bowl and put something in he mouth, we called out - Eating Food! Damn we're on fire! Our bizarre little 10 minute tour came to an end and we offered the little man a small amount of Dong for his tour. We didn't know Vietnamese - he didn't know English - how much more than a nickel tour could he have given us? He had one final charade as I handed him a few bills. And he stepped it up a notch! He waved off the money, and then touched his stomach with both hands making a sick face? I almost blurted out Traveler's Diarrhea but refrained. I wanted to see where he was taking this. Then he started writing something on his hand with his finger. A one, a five, the letter 'U', and the letter 'T'...? Sensing confusion, he did it again, sick to his stomach and then one - five - U - T... I had stopped paying attention to his charade and focussed in on his missing ring finger. He did the same thing a few more times, and we started walking away saying goodbye, thank you, and sorry we don't understand you. He said a few things in Vietnamese and held his hand out. Still confused I walked back to him and handed him the money - he accepted it this time. Jade and I both agreed that that was quite an experience and worth the nickel.
After our day we rested a bit in the hotel - cleaned up and went to Indian for dinner - which was quite good, and then to bed.
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