The Tour Operator

Day 11 - March 27th

• KA got up super early to go for her daily morning run. I think she's royally nuts as it's stinking hot already. But she's a woman with a purpose. Such dedication! Though her early morning jogs make her tired by 8pm and she retires to bed. Some of the cousins think she's the "weaker" one of the 2 of us. Might be because I'm beefier so they assume I'm "healthier" - most girls over here want to be weak and delicate. Which aren't too bad of traits when combined with the mentality of the boys (who want to dominate and take care of things).
• Anh Nong (one of the brothers of the cousin we're staying with) came into Nha Trang this morning and was screaming at the store's front door (they don't have door bells here and all stores have a metal gate then the inner door). Between his wailing then half and hour the morning news blaring on the city speakers then KA wanting to be let out of the building to go for her run - no one got much sleep. Anh Nong came in from Saigon for a few days to hang out with us and needed to crash here. So we invited Chi Trang to sleep in our room (as she's the only girl cousin of the bunch). We've got a considerable large room in comparison to other rooms and it's the only in all the houses that has air conditioning.
• Chi Trang is funny. We keep the room a comfortable 20 degrees (which means the air conditioning is constantly on and the door is kept shut at all times). Chi Trang finds this too cold so she's huddled under the blankets while KA and I lay outstreched - trying to cool off. We give Chi Trang a strange look - we don't understand how she can be cold when all I want to do is sit around in my underwear.
• We went out for breakfast with mom and Auntie-7. Had some Banh Beo and Banh Cuon with 2 doses of ice coffee. KA gets headaches if she goes without coffee for too long. The coffee over here is too strong (my dad refers it to chinese medicine) so we usually drink ice coffee (which has condensed milk in it).
• KA checked the weather network today on the computer. 32 degress out but the "feels like" section says 40. Yesterday was hotter - 36 degrees. We're not fending very well and are sweating like crazy. It doesn't help when KA tries to cover her body and face during the day. Though as the days progress we're wondering if we should adopt the "white people" attitude and just wear as little as possible and not worry about sun damage.
• Today we tried to hunt down a tour operator that would be willing to take us to the north. No many would go on such short notice. There were some that offered private tours but the prices where horrendous. They might as well rob us straight up!
• Chi Trang has a friend that might be able to set something up for us though - a 7 day tour of the 3 cities we want to go to (Hue, Hanoi and Halong).
• KA has run out of cash and needs to change her travellers cheques. My parents warned us prior to the trip that everything is in cash in Nha Trang. They were right. I've been changing my CDN money with this local lady that "swears" to us she's giving me a good rate. I can't do the math (there's too many zeros involved!) - I'm oblivious to whether or not I'm getting a "good deal".
• KA and I were hungry by lunch but didn't want to go over to our grandmas house as we we're kinda getting tired of hanging with family. Hence the escape to the North part of the country.
• We had to walk quite a bit farther in search for food. Darn those siestas...nothing is like open from 1-3pm. In the more tourist bound areas then there are vendors that stay open. We found a sandwich stand, asked her how much a sandwich is (4,000 Dong was what she quoted for us). We agreed and bought 3 (bought one for Chi Trang too cause she was stuck watching the internet store).
• We went back to Chi Trang's house as KA was doing laundry over there (they have a washing machine). But KA still had to take the wet clothes back to Anh Hoan's place to hang dry. KA is getting quite the workout with just laundry duty. The laundry lines are on the roof and it's super hot up there at high noon.
• We're all packed and ready to go on the tour. Unfortunately it's nearly 4pm and the tour operator still hasn't called back with the itinery - probably taking his sweet time.
• Tonight we have to have dinner with our Aunt-9 at her farm house. We're not really excited as there's nothing to do out there but entertain the little cousins. Who want to play games or fold origami. The games they play are odd - such as this tag game except you're safe if you squat.
• A boy walked by the store today and I recognized him as he was holding a wooden pipe and hitting it with a stick. He plays quite a delightful little song on it. I mentioned it to Chi Trang and said that some of the kids here are pretty talented. Chi Trang laughed and said that was the Pho man walking up and down the streets. He advertises his food by playing that little tune on his wooden pipe. Apparently there are street vendors that roam around with their carts. They find a place to park the cart then walk around advertising the food with songs.
• There's an icecream cart lady. She rides a bicycle with a little cooler strapped to the back of it. The cooler has pictures of icecream pasted to it. Under the cooler she has strapped a little gettoblaster which plays this tinkling-metallic song. She rides up and down our street twice a day. Maybe I will buy some icecream from her later - just to see what it's all about.
• The bugs are bad today. KA and I smell like Eau-du-Skintastics with a hint of prespiration. Yummy eh? :-)
• At night I don't really care what I wear down in the store. So I sit here in my pjs (which totally look like pjs as they are laced lined) and play on the computer. The other customers sometimes look over in curiosity. They probably just think I'm a nutty foreigner. Sometimes when the store is busy then I'll pull up a chair and sit infront of the store and watch the local traffic pass by. The blender lady is usually open and I'll grab a bag of blended fruit from her to drink while I people-watch. Yes - this is probably creepy behavior in Canada so it must seem even odder here. :-)
• We got good news tonight though - the final draft of the intinery is done and that the tour guide will bring it by tomorrow morning for us to review it. I'm looking forward to sightseeing!