April Showers

Today we had a baby shower for Josie's little girl - Katarina. It was a very nice to have Josie's close friends gather together to celebrate the new addition to her family. We gobbled down food and "girl talked" for a few hours. After that we played some baby games. Jenny proved to be a very good competitor. She's the all time winner of the baby sock game.Katarina shared the attention with Heather's baby - Hannah. It was cute to have these kids in the house. Sheila brought her boys who stole the show as well.

More wedding bliss

On the weekend Chicky and I went to one of his co-workers weddings. It was a very beautiful ceremony at the Immaculate Conception Church in Delta. I must say that is one of the most obscure churches I've been too. Obviously Chicky and I had to break out the map book after numerous wrong turns and frustrated sighs. The ceremony was not very long and Chicky's other co-worker played the violin for the church ceremony - how sweet. Actually it turned out that many other Richie Bros. staff members were in attendance as photographers, djs or helpers. :-) Maybe everyone at Richie Bros has a second job. It was a filipino wedding so I liked the food and the games that they played. Chicky and I had a good time but were pretty tired as we didn't sleep at all the night before. Chicky has gotten into the habit of staying up late with the other boys in my house to battle it out on the poker table. He'd better be a poker star soon and make us some real money!

Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.

I've been back in Vancouver for a week now and feel as if I have not accomplished anything. I've been saying "I'll do that tomorrow...". But tomorrow comes and goes and what I intended on completing gets pushed back to another "tomorrow".

Today I confirmed my flight to Las Vegas for Betty's stagette party on the May long weekend. It should be a fun trip. It's my third time to Vegas in the last couple of years and we're going to be staying at Ceasars Palace (I've never stayed there before). This is a combined stagette (2 brides) so it's going to be strange. The other girl is getting married 5 days after Betty and both of them are each other's bridesmaids. How confusing. Not only that - 3 of their mutual friends are bridesmaids for both of the ladies.

Since I've been back I've been trying to catch up at work, cleaning, unpacking and get reaquainted with my friends. I'm sorry if I haven't had a chance to speak to you yet! It's late so I will end it here. I hope to get a few more pictures posted to the gallery so keep an eye out for new updates.

Welcome Katarina Mackey!

I just want to say congratulations to Josie and Jonathan on their new family member. They welcomed a beautiful and healthy baby girl - Katarina - at 5:16am today at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.

Katarina Mackey
born: April 16, 2006
weight: 7lb, 8oz

Both Katarina and Josie are doing well. The whole family will be going home tomorrow afternoon.

Memories of Mexico

April 13th

Just got back from a latin club. Our guy cousins took us there so that we would be able to see at least one bar before we left. We leave tomorrow morning. The club reminded me so much of Mexico. They had a live mariachi band and the singers were good. The drinks were like Puerto Vallarta too - super strong! I was red faced pretty fast. One of the guest came up to sing. He was a french pilot. I laughed and said "I sure hope he isn't our pilot tomorrow!". I think it would be funny if he was our pilot tomorrow. Uh oh!! He sang 2 french songs. The band is great as they can play not only latin stuff but english and french stuff. Guests are allowed to make requests. Someone requested Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World" - the singer tried to imitate Louis...bad choice. The begining was like Louis but as the song progressed the worst it got. KA was really impressed with the musicians. One of them could play so many instruments. She says she would fall for a guy who could play piano like that. I agree! Lol...don't know that many guys that play instruments though. After our drinks I decided that it would be best to straddle the motorbike with my skirt on. It's impolite but at least I'd be stable. Last thing I want is to fall off the bike with my tipsy driver. Good thing is that at night the streets aren't as busy. When we got home the front desk attendant was waiting for us. The hotel looked like it was closed. We usually leave our hotel with the front desk people (something that people do here). The hotel staff are good though as when we come and go they hand us our key without even asking us our names or room numbers. We can't exactly run away either as when you check into a hotel here you have to give them your passport for "safe keeping". I think it's a guarantee that you won't take off without paying.

A work of art

April 13th

• This morning we dragged my guy cousin around shopping for 9 hours - I think he's getting tired of holding our bags and following us around. He's still a very good sport though.
  
• We went to the Independance Palace but it was closed for renovations so AN took us to do some more "tourist" stuff.
  
• We went to see a french cathedral. Very large and old. AN says that the bricks have never had moss grow on them eventhough the structure is over 125 years old. That's pretty cool. Too bad Vietnamese construction companies can't copy the same chemical makeup for their bricks. There's a large statue of Mary in the front of the cathedral. AN says that the statue cried once - but I'm not sure if I believe him or not. Though there have been accounts of catholic statues crying before (in other countries).
  
• We went to see the oldest post office in Vietnam as well. It's over 130 years old and still functions as a post office. There were lots of tourists inside. One tourist took a picture of KA sitting on the bench as she must have looked odd to them. She was sporting her usual face mask, full length gloves, hat and sun glasses. She's been very particular about her face mask in the last couple of days because of her mole removal.
• We went to an english bookstore - the prices were equivalent to here so I didn't pick up anything. The bookstore had some cool books though. I wish I read more. Maybe I should work on that when I get back. I was able to finish one book on this trip though - despite what KA and Kelvin said!
  
• We went into a art gallery that had cool designed T-shirts. Spent a lot of money on gift t-shirts for the family (a tradition in my family - everywhere we go...we get t-shirts for each other). I think they will like these though as they have asian designs and are replicas of some of the artwork. I just like them because there are images on the front and back of the shirts. I'm into images on the back of my shirt now - makes the shirt more interesting to look at from all angles.

• In the afternoon AN took us to a hair salon. He has a friend who is a product distributor and that guy recommended this place. I had my hair washed here as well as my face washed. It was a good experience. The girl did the standard stratching, rubbing, massage and pressure-point-pressing. The only difference was that this salon had massage chairs that we sat in while our hair was washed. That was pretty distracting. They used Herbal Essence to wash our hair - what an orgasmic experience! :-) The girl washing my hair told me my hair was falling out. I asked how much - she said "enough". I told her I wasn't worried as every hair dresser I've been to tends to spend half the appointment thinning out my hair anyways.
  
• The main reason for going to the salon was to have our hair treated with oils or conditioners. As the straigtening procedure dried out our hair. My hair was already coarse and dry prior to the straightening.
  
• The head hairdresser was a gay guy. At first I couldn't tell if he was a man or a woman. He's pretty flamboyant though and it made things fun. :-) Can always count on gay guys to be super trendy.
• He complained about the state of my hair. Told me that the person who straightened my hair burned some of it - lovely. I'm suppose to wait for it to grow out and just cut it off. I asked him to fix my hair cut as the nail tech that cut it when I straightened my hair did a crappy job. The layers aren't blended and they are super chunky. He shook his head and said I shouldn't get hair cuts from someone who had just finished painting my nails. Point taken.
  
• This guy is a Honger so I'm use to the style that he cut. He told me my hair is still puffy and began thinning it - guess I can't escape the thinning shears. The hair dresser's name is pronounced "she" - which KA and I thought was perfect as he on the border line of a he/she. :-) He has longer and nicer hair than me. Not to mention I like his nails (very nice designs).
• After the salon we went back the facial lady to check on KA's face. I decided that I might as well do a couple of my moles as well. I said 3 moles is good enough - all in my T-zone. When the lady looked at my face she counted 10 moles. We settled on doing 6. It was painful! Especially when she tried to do one on my neck. I jerked on the table and it startled KA. Yup - KA can stand more pain than me - I'm a wimp.
• Since being back here KA and I have started paying more attention to our looks (as it seems appearance is a huge thing here). We're obsessing about becoming 'white" - so we've got our whitening creams. We didn't think we would ever be in someone's house letting them burn our faces then giving them money for it.
  
• I'm tired now and sitting in the hotel watching "Big Fish" on the movie channel. I really miss TV! Tonight AN is taking us to some nice restaurant. Looking forward to it!
• My face is itchy and still stinks a bit from the afternoon. I've accidently wiped off some of the medication cream. I can see from KA's face that mine will take at least a week or more to heal properly.
  

Pictures Uploaded!

April 12th

• I got up this morning and started uploading some of my pictures from the trip to my gallery blog. I did some last night but it was so late by the time I finished uploading pictures from the first 2 days of the trip. I'm trying to do them in chronicological order.
  
• Waiting for AN to come and take us fishing today. He says that there's a place where we can catch our own meals. I'm excited. Got to lather on the sunblock and bug spray!
• KA and I had spent the day "fishing". My cousin's version of fishing is far from my version of it.
• The 3 of us headed out of the city and into a remote area. We pulled up to a restaurant that had a man-made-lake in the middle of it. They seated us in a hut with tables and chairs. The waiter brought over 3 fishing rods (which were just bamboo sticks with a fishing line and hook attached to it). We had a great time trying to catch something with our shrimp bait.
  
• Our fishing techniques weren't going so well - all the small fish were eating up our bait. We decided to take action. I asked our cousin if he could get the restaurant to give us a large net (as I was out to get those evil little fishes that had snatched up all my shrimp bait). As a tourist we can get away with a lot of things - so they gave us the net. The net's handle was metal so it made it really heavy. I devised a pulley system. I was out to get those little fish if it meant climbing into the water and catching them by hand!
  
• KA caught the first fish. It was the size of my finger - we sacrificed it and turned it into bait for the "big one". The big fish never got close enough to our rods - though they taunted us by jumping out of the water a few times. Looked like we weren't going to be able to catch our lunch. So we ordered from the menu instead - a 1.5 kg fish for us to munch on. It was so big and yummy!!
  
• I caught a baby fish later on and was thrilled! We took pictures of the excitement. I put my little fishy into a plastic bag and it started to shrivel up but not die. I was thinking of making it into bait. My guy cousin came and rescued the fish (he said he felt bad for turning the other one into bait). So my little fishy recovered after some tender care from the cousin. He and I watched it swim off into the lake.
• AN's girlfriend stopped by for lunch with us as well and the 4 of us sat, ate and talked for a few more hours. The wind was picking up and it made the hut very cool - which was a good thing as we were melting in the heat. I'm still not use to the 30 degree weather.
• After the restaurant we went back to the hotel. I told our cousin that he didn't have to entertain us tonight (as we've taken up so much of his time already and I'm pretty sure he wants to spend some time with his girlfriend as well).
• KA and I went out shopping tonight. We were mostly disappointed. So many stores but nothing that fit us. KA was frustrated. I found a shoe store that had "white" people sizes. I'm like a size 45 in Vietnamese standards. That's super hard to find. It's like walking into a women's shoe store here and asking for a size 13 "pretty" shoe. So I bought 2 pairs of shoes. Might not wear them though as the heels are pretty high.
• We finally got tired of shopping tried to hunt down food. Because both of us were so indecisive we ended up coming right back to the hotel area. We went next door to the Empress Hotel (that's where I'm stealing this internet connection from right now). The restaurant was filled with caucasion people. We looked at the prices of the menu items and nearly fell over. It was like 4X the price of "local" food. On top of that the restaurant charged a 15% government and service tax. This is the first time we've ever heard of such a tax. I took a picture of the menu. KA ordered chicken congee and I ordered nasigoreng. What I got was fried rice with an egg (over-easy) on top of it. So gross and expensive! We were tempted to order caucasion food (such as a hamburger) but were warned weeks before that the "white food" really sucks in Saigon. We're going back to local food tomorrow.

Stealing an Internet Connection!

April 11th

• I plugged my laptop in for the first time in the hotel and discovered 4 unsecured wireless connections!! I love people who don't secure their stuff! I can sit in the comfort of the hotel room and surf!!
  
• This is day 2 in Saigon for KA and I. We arrived yesterday morning after a very long (9.5 hours) bus ride from Nha Trang. We couldn't sleep on the bus as the driver is crazy and raced all the way into the city. I saw a motorbike accident which didn't make me feel any better about the bus zooming along and weaving in and out of traffic.
  
• We went shopping at another open market this morning. There were too many products that we were overwhelmed. Reminds me of a large Cho Dam (in Nha Trang) but our cousin says that the stuff in this market is shipped to the market in Nha Trang for resale. I don't like the crowds and don't like pushy sales people either - so I wandered around behind KA as she purused through the clothes (nothing fits).
  
• We went to the War Remnants Museum today. There were some pretty gruesome images there. The Vietnam War had so much media attention back then. Some good photography too. There was even a scary moment - when we looked into a dark cell and saw a wax prisoner looking right back at us. I nearly jumped out of my skin!
  
• After the museum trip we went to get KA's moles removed. She had decided to try it out here. KA and I met up with AN's friend who took us to this house. The lady in the house had medical equipment. I was kind of weary of the whole set up. They sell medical equipment and supplies on the streets - I've seen the many "hospital equipment" stores.
  
• KA went through with the procedure. It looked pretty painful - so I took pictures. It didn't look like regular "laser" treatment. Looked like the lady was just burning KA's face with a metal wire. She's now mole free but has to stay away from sunlight. The "technician" also recommended that she stay away from beef, chicken and seafood so that her wounds would heal faster. I wonder what left for her to eat - not much I guess. Actually - this might alleviate some of her stomach problems related to seafood.
  
• KA and I had the TV swapped out of our room tonight as the volume on it didn't work. I think the hotel staff are getting tired of us. We watched the english channels. It was so nice last night when I discovered an anime station. I miss cartoons so much!! I ended up leaving the TV on all night - I miss hearing/speaking in english.
• I went to their version of Superstore over here. It's about a block away so it's easy and convenient. The only scary part is crossing the street to get into the store - no traffic lights - almost got run over twice. That's one thing I'm TOTALLY looking forward to getting back to - "normal" traffic patterns.
  

April 10th

• We arrived in Saigon this morning at 5:30am. Our bus came in early so we had to wait for our cousin to come out and meet us. He thinks our bus comes in at 6am.
• The bus ride was on a greyhound type of bus so much more comfy then the van that we took into Nha Trang from Saigon the first day we arrived in Vietnam.
  
• We were suppose to take the train into Saigon but I wasn't able to get us any tickets the day that we were suppose to leave. We could have waited another day and taken the train later but KA and I were admited ready to get out of Nha Trang.
• We got off the bus to be greeted by a dead rat laying on the sidewalk - so gross. We stepped over it and sat down a bit to wait and get harrassed by the taxi drivers and motorbike guys. There were people in the park behind us exercising. We started watching them as they are always amusing.
• Anh Ngiem (AN) arrived and we went to the hotel. KA and I didn't like the room they put us in as the room had a musty smell and was too small. They upgraded us to a new room - the air conditioner in the second room didn't work. The hotel upgraded us after they had the housekeeper look at it. The final room we were upgraded to is really nice - very roomy and has a chinese symbol above the door (don't know what it means but I think it's the luck sign).
• We went out shopping after a couple of hours of rest. The hotel we're staying in is in the middle of the downtown core so stores are conveniently close. The strip that we're on right now has lots of computer stores - so that's where we started. KA was bored right away but at least our guy cousin didn't have to endure a FULL day of clothes shopping.
• There were no good deals on anything electronic over here. Boohoo!
  
• I've seen lots of knock off goods here. Spend a fair chunk of money on movies...hopefully we won't have any problems when we get back into town. Though the ladies that have sold me the movies have showed me "techniques" for evading inspection. Plus - there is nothing that the "right" amount of US dollars can't "fix" over here.
• I saw an SUV rush through the streets with alarm lights and sounds on. I thought it was an ambulance (as the hospital is near the hotel). AN said it was a rich man weaving through traffic. I looked again at the SUV and saw that it was completely tinted (dark tinting too). Could only see the driver - must be a REALLY rich man to have sirens on his vehicle.
  

April 9th

• Our last day in Nha Trang. We had many things to do and tidy up before we left.
• KA was having tummy problems (from the shark fish dinner we had the night before). She pretty much has written off anything that is "caught" by my family as none of it agrees with her so far.
• KA and I went to say goodbye to the extended family. Both grandmas cried so much. Such an emotional group. They're worried that they will never see us again - as they are old and don't think that they will live much longer. We took many pictures of the family.
• Some of the aunts waited for us to get our stuff and went to the bus to see us off. It was so touching as our parents didn't come to see us off (they're use to us traveling on our own). Being back in Vietnam has reminded me how important family is and why my parents want us to adopt many of the customs/culture they grew up with.
  
• I will miss having people cook/clean for me. KA and I will also miss having such a large extended family constantly around us. Back home we spend a lot of time on our own as everyone is busy working or doing their "own" thing. So different from life in Vietnam where family comes before everything else.
  

The Beauty Supply Store

April 8th

• KA and I woke up late this morning. We were in no rush to go anywhere.
• KA went to see how her clothes were coming along. The seamstress is still altering our stuff. Hopefully it will be ready for tonight. KA ordered another pair of pants as they fit well.
• CT took us to a beauty supply store today to get out hair straightening chemicals. We talked to the store owner and she told us horror stories of some salons that cheap out and mix their own chemicals with the straightening solution (to save money). She knows a girl who had some of her hair fall out so now that girl wears a hat. Uh oh! ;-) KA and I looked at all the brands and paid more (only like 5 bucks for the chemical) for Wella as it's a brand that I recognize.
• Now we're going to find a salon that will apply the treatment. KA is going to do it as well.
• KA found out that her mole removing procedure involves acid. So she said "forget it". Pouring acid on my face is probably the last thing that I would volunteer to do.
• This monring it rained and it made the walk to the beauty supply store more pleasant. Not as hot.
• While we were in the store we picked up various kinds of "whitening" lotions and nail art supplies. The prices are very good. I found out that buying from the supply store is MUCH cheaper when it comes to the face masks.
• I think all that I'm missing now is a matching purse and wallet set! Lol - there's so many knock off brand though. Some look like knock offs while others are alright. I haven't been really looking though as I don't like shopping in the Cho Dam (Dam Market). The name is rightful - as everyone there is "damn" awful. KA tries to avoid that market as much as she can.

Getting my hair washed

April 7th

• I had to create a seperate post for this as it's one of "those" experiences.
• KA and I were bored this afternoon (as I had mentioned in the last post). We had spent a hour or so watching a movie that I had boughten for Carol. The dubbing on it was so bad that we got bored of it. So we went to the salon down the street.
• We dragged mom along with us as well - time for her to get out of bed and get some fresh air. She's looking a bit better today now that the drugs are kicking in.
• The 3 of us had our hair and faces washed. A manicure and a pedicure. Cost was $95,000 Dongs total for the 3 of us (that's about $8 CDN).
• The hair washing was quite the experience though. The girls scratched, rubbed, slapped, knocked with their knuckles and pulled our hair to "stimulate" growth. It was so painful! But I was kinda expecting it as I go to an asian beauty parlor in Coquitlam and they give me the same treatment as well. Must be an asian thing. For the face washing - they pour water all over your face and rub/tap it like crazy. It kinda hurt as my girl had long pointy nails (which she used to dig into my head to get a thorough cleaning). I took a picture of KA while she was washing her hair - there were tears in her eyes. I don't think she enjoyed the "blood stimulating" procedures. :-)
• While they wash your hair - they put pieces of cold tomatoes on your face. I have to admit the cleaning is really intense as they scratch all over your head, behind your ears and even inside your ears. My girl wasn't careful so when she put the nozzle on my face to wash it - the water went up my nose. The whole washing hair/face took 1/2 hour. I was kinda weary though as one of the customers that came in to get her hair washed had lice. They were coming the lice out with a lice comb. Hmmm...she was laying next to me....
• After we got our hair washed KA had her hair straightened. I had mine just blow dried as it was too hot to sit still for a hot iron. They gave us a "massage" (or what they thought a massage should be - I was just wincing from the pounding) prior to blow drying our hair.
• We then go our manicures and pedicures. The girl who did the painting is really good and fast. She can cut cuticles and you don't even feel it. KA commented on it and said it's the fastest service she's had yet. Seeing these girls makes me want to go to beauty school - or maybe just go to a spa to be pampered!
• I had flowers painted on all my fingers and toes. Pretty elaborate work - her own designs with sparkles, etc. I took pictures! KA went with a simple polish and my mom only did designs on her big toes. I was so worried about my fingers/toes because they didn't get to dry properly before we went to dinner. I didn't want to use my chopsticks at dinner incase I wrecked the paint job. :-) So I took off my sandals and stared at the food for the first bit. Some of my cousins thought I couldn't eat the food. But realistically I didn't want to wreck my manicure but saying so would sound SO vain so I said I was just waiting for all the dishes to come out first before digging in.
• There was a guy getting his hair cut while we were getting our nails done. After his hair cut he got his ears cleaned. It's something that we've seen before over here. The cutter pulled up a chair and lamp and proceeded to pick inside the customers ears with various types of prongs and pickers. It looked so dangerous - as each metal rod was pointy and long. I'm sure you could easily pierce someone's ear drum with one of them.
• KA had taken a picture a couple of days ago of a man getting his hair cut on the street. He was sitting in a chair and the cutter did it all. Afterwards the customer asked the cutter if everything "looked good" and the cutter said "yes" (like he's going to say anything other than that) - then the customer paid him. There were no mirrors around.
• Tomorrow I'm going back to the salon to get my hair straightened chemically. It only costs about $20 for the 2.5 hour treatment. I've had people tell me that I should do it many times since I've been here (apparently I have ugly hair). They really like girls with long, straight, black hair. All of which I don't have. :-)
• KA as succumbed to the peer pressure of having her moles removed. She was really negative to the whole idea before and resented all tthe relatives talking about it. She found it super rude when people talked about her moles behind her back. I told her to get use to it as people talk about my weight behind mine (I'm super overweight in the eyes of my relatives). Blah - we'll never make those judgemental people happy so it's no use trying.
• Tonight we went to eat with some more cousins that I haven't seen before. Too much family.
• We ate roasted deer and some kind of serpent that was cooked with bananas. KA ordered a lot of pop to wash it down with. I didn't mind the food. Kinda liked the snake thing with bananas. Tastes like eel but smaller looking. We've eaten deer before so that wasn't really a new dish. My stomach is gurgling from dinner. Might have to pop a pepto bismal later.
• We walked back home from the beach. KA laughed and made a comment about our adventures for tomorrow. She says I'll go off to the salon, have my hair straightened and come back bald. She'll head to the plastic surgeon and come back with scars on her face. I laughed too and said that's about right. Hopefully all will go well tomorrow.
• If my hair treatment works then KA is going to get her hair straightened as well.

Island Girls

April 6th

• Today we're scheduled to go out to see some of the islands around Nha Trang. They are suppose to be really good sites for snorkeling and scuba diving.
• KA and I don't bring out bathing suits as we figure we won't be swimming with the whole family around.
• We got up early to head out to the harbour but my parents took their time and chit chatted with the uncles/aunts so we didn't leave till hours later. That could have been extra hours of sleep!
• 20 of us crapped onto a 10 person boat. Was really squishy with the food/cooler as well.
• The first island we went to was really beautiful. Crystal clear waters and lots fo coral/fishes to look at. Everyone sat under the huts and the cousins wanted to swim but didn't want to go in unless we did too. I went into the water so that they would have something to do. It was nice being in the water as the sun was so hot.
• I wore my capris pants and white t-shirt. I was soaking wet for the rest of the day. The other kids had their jeans and t-shirts on. Someday I'd like to just be free to walk around in my bathing suit. KA watched the other tourists who were on snorkeling trips. They looked like they were having fun. Reminded me of our Mexico snorkeling tours.
• The kids didn't know how to use the snorkeling stuff so it was funny. They went down too deep so the sea (salt) water went into the tubes and into their mouths. I swam around the coral and saw some nice fish. Only brushed up against the coral once but wasn't so bad - only a few scratches.
• We ate sandwiches and baked in the sun for a couple of hours before going to another island. By this time KA and I were pretty much tired and didn't want to play with our cousins anymore. They are still young and have silly games such as throwing dirt at each other or various slapping games. KA doesn't like those kinds of games - neither do I.
• We all squished back onto the boat and headed for another island. My uncle asked us if we wanted to go parasailing or rent skidoos. KA and I passed (eventhough it sounded better than sitting in the hot sun). The problem is that the people on the boat would have to wait for us and that wouldn't be fun for them.
• The next island we went to had a huge aquarium. We saw lots of big fishes (some the size of me!), turles, sharks and eels. Took some pictures of them. My cousins really like playing with our digital cameras as they like the idea of seeing the pictures right away. We let them take pictures with it but keep a watchful eye on them as we don't want them to damage the cameras.
• By the time we reached the third island we were tired and the sun was scortching hot. We didn't feel like doing anything. I just wanted to be sleeping under a tree or something like that. My mom looked pale - she has motion sickness so I don't think all the boat rides were doing anything good for her.
• We went home at 4pm and went straight to bed. We were pretty tired from the whole day and didn't want to spend any more time outside.
• KA and I got up at 9pm to go search for some dinner. We went to this clean looking restaurant. The waiter brought us 2 bowls and when he lifted the top bowl off - there was a swarm of ants that were in the second bowl. We didn't even blink at this. The ants ran the table and the waiter took the bowls away. KA casually wiped the ants off her side and continued looking at the menu. We're not picky about cleansiness anymore - as long as there's a fan in the restaurant then that's all we care about. I had taken a couple of pepto bismals during the day anyways so I wasn't too worried.
• We were suppose to go to Saigon tonight but there was much debate about it between my parents. My dad thinks we're ungrateful kids for not wanting to spend more time with our extended family. KA and I are done with that. We're in need of some alone time. I told my dad that staying 3 more days won't make a difference as we're just going to huddle by the air conditioned room and not want to socialize with anyone.

April 7th

• Woke up late this morning. My mom is feeling a bit better so it's good. We're thinking of getting our nails done today. Maybe even go out to get our hair washed (which is something that people do over here).
• We had brunch then bought some food for my cousins. KA and I stopped over at the seamstress' place to see if he was done with our stuff yet. He was. We tried them on. They didn't fit right. We were disappointed. We're having them adjusted again as we're paying quite a bit for these outfits. At first we thought it would be cheap to make clothes but after the cost of fabric and labour it works out better to just go buy stuff that's already made.
• KA and I are bored. We're playing on the pcs right now as it's too hot to do anything else. Plus it's siesta time so nothing is open.

Recap of the Tour

March 29th

• 1/2 hour before departure my dad decides that he wants to come on tour with KA and I. We already had problems trying to get airline tickets for my mom and CT but the tour operator made it possible. He said my dad had to take his chances at the airport as it was too late to buy a ticket from the company.
• There was a 1 hour delay at Cam Ranh Airport due to technical difficulties. KA, CT and my mom were drugged up (KA still didn't feel well from the catfish the other night) and CT/mom had motion sickness.
• The driver that met us in Da Nang (we didn't fly directly to Hue) was totally scary. He had a thick accent and we were glad that our parents decided to come along as I think if it was just KA and I we wouldn't have been able to understand his dialect.
• The driver took us to Hue using the tunnel pass. There was a mountain pass but he was driving as if he were on a race course so we opted for the "safer" route.
• There were parts of the drive where I had my heart race. Even my dad reached for his seatbelt (though no one wears them over here) at one point. I looked around the van - the rest of us didn't have seatbelts. Oh well - I figure at the speeds he was going we'd die anyways in some horrific crash.
• All drivers use their horns to signal a pass. Boy do they ever pass around here. There are even times when it's a dual or triple pass. Where cars are racing against other cars to try to pass the passers. Road signs are merely suggestions. I saw a no passing sign as we were trying to pass another car that was trying to pass a pickup truck.
• Da Nang is a very patriotic city. Lots of red flags with stars. We were told that every home and business has to have a flag infront of it. I guess I'm use to the southerners who aren't as patriotic. I wasn't able to get a picture though all those flags would have looked pretty nice on film.
• On the drive to Hue there were lots of rain forest and waterfalls. We didn't have time to stop to look at stuff and most of us had our eyes closed. Keeping our eyes closed when on longer journeys is the best bet. That way you're not tense from fear when you reach your destination.
• There were lots of temples hidden in the hillsides. The temperature in the north was cold(er). About 10 - 15 degrees. KA and I had brought clothing for 30 degree weather.
• We arrived at our 3 star hotel in Hue. We were pretty tired and wanted to rest before the tour guide arrived. There was hot water in the bathroom. KA and I were estatic as this was the first hot/warm shower in a tub that we've taken in 2 weeks.
• KA had to show CT how to use the tub and shower curtain as after CT took a shower the whole bathroom was soaking wet. She's use to taking showers Nha Trang style (which is just with a bucket of cold water and scooper). :-)
• Our Hue tour guide was this tiny little lady with a heavy accent too. She had come to the hotel earlier but we weren't there so she took off. She came back later though when we called the company asking where the Hue-guide was.
• The xit-lo drivers in Hue are pretty persistent. They wouldn't leave us along and tended to bike beside us trying to get us to ride on the chairs.
• That night we went to see an Imperial Concert aboard one of the concert ships. We didn't know what to expect. The guide took us to the boat then left us. We were kinda perplexed by this as we assumed our guides would go everywhere with us.
• The concert was good - though I didn't understand the music. There were 5 singers dressed in traditional Ao Dai's and 3 musicians.
• After the concert they gave us all wish-lanterns to let go into the river. Very beautiful scene with all the laterns floating...camera does not work well in dim lighting...grrr. We all made wishes before letting our lanterns go - some of us were more worried about falling over board or having our lantern sink (which is a BAD sign).

March 30th

• We woke up early and had a buffet breakfast. KA was really happy as this was the first western-style dining we've had in a long time. KA has gotten a bit weary of our street eating and her tummy still wasn't feeling "right". Nothing Pepto Bismal can't cure!
• We went to visit the Imperial City today. The guide showed up in a traditional outfit and hussled us into the van with our nutty-driver.
• There was a lot of "culture" to see today. Visited temples and monastaries. Lots of picture taking as well. But after awhile all the temples kinda blended together. My family did get an opportunity to dress up in Royal clothing and take pictures as King, Queen and Princesses. That was pretty fun.
• After the tour we walked around the city at night to explore the eating facilities. We ended up having Bun Bo Hue (as we were in Hue!). It rained that day so we were under a tarp with our driver (who also ate with us).
• The day was gloomy so we didn't want to go out at night too long (didn't have umbrellas).
• We had to get to bed a bit earlier as we had a flight into Ha Noi the next morning and the driver said he'd come pick us up at 7am. We wanted to get some of the yummy buffet breakfast into our tummies before heading out to Ha Noi.

March 31st

• We head out to Ha Noi (the Capital) early in the morning. The driver takes us right into the airport and waits for us to check in. The service is great - guess it comes with our tour package.
• We fly Vietnam Airlines and get their standard snack: ham & cheese sandwich with a cup of water. We fly Vietnam Airlines 3 times on our 6 day tour.
• Ha Noi is a pretty city. Much bigger than Hue and full of toll gates. But on the bright side our tour guide in Ha Noi is this young guy who we can understand (as his accent is not as harsh).
• As we drive to the hotel he shows us the "thit cho" communities. Thit Cho = dog meat. Dog meat is a specialty of the north. I try to take a picture of all the restaurants that have it advertised in their signs but the car was going too fast. We have another crazy driver.
• In Ha Noi we went to visit some lakes, temples and more cultural centers. My dad is totally bored and ran off to sit with the locals who were fishing in the lake. The rest of us following the guide around the lake.
• The shopping is better in Ha Noi as it's a bigger city. There are more stores that are catered to tourists. More things that are likely to fit us. We didn't find anything that we liked though. Bummer! Though we tried very hard.
• Ha Noi has a wonderful night market. Much bigger than Vancouver's chinese night market. We went there 2 nights in a row. Took some pictures of it too.

April 1st

• We head to Ha Long Bay. It was a 4 hour bus ride there and the guide on the bus was this grumpy girl. We were already tired as she came 1 hour late - which caused the Ha Noi guide to sit around with us to wait for her to show up.
• Ha Long Bay is beautiful. The day as foggy so we didn't to see the islands too clearly. Though it made everything kinda mysterious looking.
• The weather is too cold to take a dip in the waters. But I don't think I would anyways as there is a lot of trash in the water for a tourist site.
• We did a 4 hour tour of the Bay then headed to Tuan Chau Island.
• Tuan Chau Island is a tourist trap. It caters to just tourists and there's no way on/off the island unless you call up your guide.
• The good thing about Tuan Chau is that it's a replica of all the nice tourist spots around the world.
• One of the entertainment domes is a miniture Sydney Opera House - really good accoutics in there. The entertainment in the dome was large pool in which whales, seals and dolphins performed.
• Our tour package covered a lot of entertainment. Because the weather was MUCH cooler we didn't feel as tired so quickly and enjoyed ourselves more (maybe because it was just the main family and we didn't have to entertain extended family).
• We went to see a water show that rivals any Belagio (Vegas) show. Complete with lasers, music and movie on a 6 storey screen of water. We were really impressed with this show as it mimics everything that the Belagio in Las Vegas has to offer.
• There are other entertainment on the island - private beaches as well. We went to see some zoo animals perform the next day - it was a good show too.
• The island is still under development. Our hotel is secluded as it sites in a construction site (there are a couple of other hotels being built around it). It's weird not having noise wake you up in the mornings. We're use to the sounds of city life waking us up but out there it's so quiet - only the sounds of the frogs.
• I think that if I return to Vietnam again then I would go to Ha Long Bay and stay on Tuan Chau Island before going down to visit any family. It's so nice there - more of the "vacation-style-living" that I'm accustomed too. KA and I didn't get an opportunity to spend any time of the Sheishedo Executive Spas - too bad as the price were SO cheap!! :-(
• We only got to say one night in Tuan Chau - the tour bus was to arrive and pick us up at noon.
• Noon the next day came and went with no bus to be seen. We were annoyed. We called the Ha Noi guide to see what was going on. He told us to just hold on and wait. We waited another 2 hours then called the Nha Trang guide to see if he can tell us what's going on. He had to call the other guides to get our schedule. So in the end we waited 6 hours for the bus to arrive. That was such a waste of time. We sat in the hotel room and watched movies on HBO (english movies!!).
• When the bus did come we were all tired and irritable. CT was sick the whole ride back to Ha Noi (we had run out of Gravol for her).
• By the time we reached Ha Noi it was too late to do anything. We left CT at the hotel and went searching for some food at 8pm. We hit the night market and walked around there for a bit. By the time we got back it was pretty late and we had an early morning flight.

April 2nd

• We woke up late. We had asked for a early morning wake up call but they forgot to do it. So our guide had to wait while we packed and got ready. My parents took their time getting downstairs and wanted to have some breakfast before going to the airport.
• I told KA that we're going to die on the car ride to the airport as we only had one hour to get there and check in. The driver was already crazy on a normal day. My parents finished their breakfast and we litterally raced all the way to the airport.
• Mental note to myself - when a driver turns on his hazards and flies down a highway...it's best to just close your eyes and not think about the lack of a seatbelt. There are people who jay-walk across the highways.
• We arrive at the airport in record time (half hour) and begin to check in. The airline girl takes forever. I hear "Vietnam Airlines flight 267 now boarding" on the intercom. We were still waiting for the girl to tag our luggage.
• KA and I get confused by the gate signs. Our boarding passes said "Gate 2". We looked up at the signs: "Gates 1-4 turn left" or "Gates 2-9 turn right". Nothing is clear when you're in a hurry. We look at the signs carefully again and read them in Vietnamese - much clearer (one was for domestic flights and one was for international). I don't think a Westerner would have been able to figure that out on his own.
• We rush towards the Gates 1-4 corridor. I hear "would passengers Le Dang Kim Anh, Le Dang Kim Hoang, Dang Thi Xuyen and Le Van Them please go to Gate 2". We run as fast as we can. We hop on the plane and try to find our seats. The other passengers on the plane had to wait for us.
• We ate our ham/cheese sandwiches and try to get some sleep. We arrive back in Nha Trang 2 hours later. The weather is 30 degrees again. I miss the rain - who would have thought?!

Saigon here we come!

April 5th

• KA and I leave for Saigon tomorrow night. We'll be traveling by train so it should be interesting.
• Today we tried to finish off some last minute things - such as print some pictures to give to the family here. Hopefully the picture quality will be good as I was a bit skeptical of the store - they didn't seem to have a computer so I kept asking if they had the capabilities of printing from an SD card.

April 4th

• KA and I went to the beach today. We wanted to just go down there and lay around (possibly read a book).
• We found on of the tourist spots. Paid $15,000 Dongs/chair and enjoyed the quietness. The rental of the chairs is pretty expensive but because it's part of the "marked" areas then the rental fee comes with security guards to watch over you and a flagged off area in which beggars and vendors won't come and bug you. Plus it was nice to hang with the whities! :-)
• KA wanted to make sure we weren't too close to the locals as she was not interested in listening to them gossip about the tourists. It's a fun past time - to go down to the beach and gawk at the tourists in their bikinis.
• Both of us wore our bikinis under our tank tops and capris pants. We didn't take our outer clothing off. We watched some of the local girls dive into the water and splash around fully dressed. :-) We haven't seen any local girls wear "bathing suits" yet (well - what we're use to as bathing suits). If you go into a store and ask to buy a bathing suit - they will hand you a tank top and pair of shorts. In dark colors of course.
• Tonight we had goat for dinner. It was definately "interesting". Nevertheless KA and I prefer "steamed goat" over roasted-goat. Luckily my parents asked them to chop the goat up for us as when they brought it out both KA and I looked at each other then back at our uncle and smiled politely.
• I've learned that when eating things that are not on my usual menu - it's best to order many cans of "coca" (Coke) to wash it down with. KA and I became quickly full on pop.

April 3rd

• Tonight we went out for dinner with some of the cousins. Chi Trang and her fiance took us to this fancy restaurant that served your choice of critter. There were misters in the restaurant to keep the guests cool.
• She ordered live oysters, frog legs, clams and mussels. The frog legs were pretty good. Tastes like chicken! And it was done "Thai" style so it was pretty spicy! I took pictures.

Private Tour

March 29th

• One hour till we depart for our private tour. The tour operator came by this morning to give us our plane tickets and to go over the itinery again.
• He also gave us 2 golf shirts and ball caps with the words "TIC Tours" emblazed in big bold letters across them. Just incase people can't recognize us as foreigners with our height, cameras and American clothing - they can now see the shirts and ball caps and say to themselves "yup...there goes some tourists!"
• We had thought there would be other people joining us on the tour when we reach the other cities - but that is not the case. Only tour guides are meeting us at each destination. I have a list of guides that I'm suppose to look for at the airports.
• My mom is a worry-wart so now she wants to go on tour with us too. We had asked her days ago with us but she hummed-and-hawed about it. Now that she heard we're having a "private" tour - she's worried that they will take us out to some remote location and rob us or worst. Lol - I said she's not a very bodyguard for KA and I and that we'll probably be taking care of her more than she of us.
• Everyone is worried that something will happen to us while on tour. My uncle gave us his cell phone and I've got a booklet of "emergency" phone numbers to call. :-) It's sweet that they worry but KA and I have travelled alone before and are not worried.
• My mom has invited Chi Trang to come along as well. So hopefully it will us 4 girls touring. It all depends on whether or not they can get onto our flight at last minute though. They've gone to pack and will head to the airport to buy a ticket there. I'm sure that with the "right" amount of money they can get a flight out with us. Money can make things happen quickly over here.
• KA's tummy is still upset from lastnight's catfish meal. She's sucking on the pepto bismal tablets (which I carry everywhere with me). We went out for Bun Bo Hue and an ice coffee this morning with some family members. That seems to be our regular breakfast menu these days. Nothing like hot soup to start off a hot day. But we're always greatful for the ice coffee as it's strong enough to keep us awake.
• I don't know what the food will be like with the tour. I hope the tour guides are interesting people. If not then we only have to be with each guide for a maximum of 2 days before we go to our next destination.

Banking 101

Day 12 - March 28th

• We're set to go on our semi-private tour of the north. We have to be out at the airport at 10am tomorrow morning to catch a flight and then meet our first tour guide in Da Nang. I doubt I will be able to update this site during the tour. You'll have to wait till we get back to Nha Trang.
• The tour is 6 days/5 nights for a total cost of approximately $450 CDN each. It covers transporation, accomodations, food and events. One of the events we're attending is an opera in the Imperial Palace in Hue and snorkeling trip in Halong. Should be fun! :-) We were told that if we wanted to - certain parts of the palace will allow you to dress up in the old royal costumes and take pictures (I'm sure we'll be given a "good deal" for this - NOT!).
• This morning KA and I wanted to embark on a bank to exchange our CDN money for some Dongs. So far we've been changing our cash with a local jewelery store. KA had brought travellers cheques. Our cousin called up a taxi for us and told him to take us to the ACB Bank (which stands for Ao Chau Bank - which translates to the Hong Kong bank).
• The cabbie looked at us strangely and said that the bank was in walking distance and asked if we just wanted to walk. Our cousin insisted that we use the taxi as he was concerned we wouldn't be able to find the bank. So the taxi drove us 2 blocks and dropped us off. As we got out he told me that the cab ride cost $15,000 Dongs. I flipped out - as that's the same price to travel across town to my aunts house! But I paid him anyways as we forgot to negotiate a price before getting into taxi and he was barking back that it was only like a $1 CDN to us. That's not the point - it's the ethics behind it. We want to reduce the number of times people screw us over. We expect it but this was highway robbery!
• When we went inside the bank - which was nicely air conditioned - they told KA that they don't accept travellers cheques and gave her the address to another bank. We decided to walk instead of getting another taxi.
• The second bank was an international bank - with english words on it's doors! Yah! The tellers and system over here is very strange. No one stands in a line. People budge in wherever they can and a teller can service multiple people at one counter. I learned this as I patiently waited behind this lady - I gave up and went to see what KA was doing. KA as talking to a teller and filling out some paperwork for her travellers cheque when a lady walked up beside her and did some transactions. The other lady got her stuff finish faster than KA.
• KA is still not familiar with counting the currency over here - too many zeros so she gets confused. She asked for a calculator so that she can double check the money that the teller gave her. She doesn't trust anyone. Even with the calculator she counted incorrectly. I had finished changing my money and recounted it quickly. I counted her money for her as the teller was getting irritated with her using the calculator for so long. I don't think numbers are KA strongest academic area. Though she would probably yell at me if I told her that! ;-) Plus I was trying to horde the counter space as I wasn't too keen with the whole idea of the teller counting out my money then couting out someone else's money right beside me - the piles are too close to each other and can get mixed up. This is where being "super-tall" and not skinny comes in handy! Lol - no one approached our counter when both of us stood side by side infront of it.
• We took a picture of the stacks of money we carried home. We've never had so many stacks of $500,000 Dongs. Lol - we were more than billionaires! Realistically it was just a couple of thousand in Canadian money. KA even got a $200 Dong coin today. I'm not sure what you can buy with that.
• On our walk back, KA wanted coffee (she was going through withdrawl again). So we found a coffee shop that had a fan and some beach chairs. It was indoors and no beggars bugged us to buy postcards, peanuts or lottery tickets. That was the greatest part. We might go back to that store again just for the peace and quiet. When we ordered our ice coffees we joked about how they would probably charge us double the price because the coffee shop was desserted and near the beach strip. The coffees turned out to be regular price - $4,000 Dongs for each cup (about $0.35) which we were happy with.
• KA bought socks and full length gloves on the way back home. She's really getting into the whole "stay white" mentality that's over here. As many of you who have been to other parts of Asia can attest - the beauty supplies, creams, etc contain some kind of bleaching or "whitening" agent. Guess it has something to do with social class.
• I wear my face/neck/hair masks (have 2 of them now) just to stop people from asking me why I'm not sheilding my face. The other day I reminded KA about how she had first saw people wearing the face masks and made fun of them - saying that the face masks were just germ traps and nothing more. Now she's the one that insists on getting many of these masks.
• So the weather is 32 degrees again. KA is sporting full length pants, socks, tank top, jacket, full-length gloves, hat and her smaller face mask (reminds me of and N-95 mask). I don't think she even wears that much clothing in the winter time in Vancouver! I can see she's melting as she walks. I'm just wearing my usual skirt, tank top, jacket, beach hat and face/neck/hair mask (as I don't like the look of KA's masks). On top of that we've got on our usual layer of SPF 50 and bug spray. :-)
• The face masks here come in 4 styles (face only, face/neck, face/neck/hair and full coverage - which is like a ski mask with only and opening for your eyes). I think by the end of this trip we will have a couple of fabric patterns in each style. They are sufficating but at the same time they absort the sweat that's coming off of our faces! The good thing is that they make them with light cottons and many different patterns - some cute and some trendy. Hmmm...this would be a great time to find/buy one of those visors that we see Vancouver-girls wear in Richmond. The ones that look like welding visors! :-) Might actually be better than the "genie" look that we're sporting. I think I'll use my covers on my next vacation - lol - won't that be something for people to stare at?!?
• Tonight we went down to grandmas house for dinner. They BBQ'd catfish and squid over coal stoves for us. I was wearily eyeing the catfish as it was "fresh" and just thrown onto the grill as is. My uncle gave me one on a plate and as I stared at it's face I wondered how I was going to eat this "politely". It's very rude to not eat what is offered to you here. So as I looked at my catfish my uncle demonstrated how to rip it's head off and pull the skin off. KA was no where to be found. I was wondering why she wasn't sharing in the delicacies. I forced a smile and proceeded to poke my fingers into the catfishes eyeballs and ripped it's head off. I ate one fish when KA returned from "getting the camera". She was forced to eat one fish too. My other uncle was already putting a new fish into my plate as I gave KA a "look". KA was spared from having to try the "good" parts of the fish (parts that I thought were usually thrown away in Canada but eaten in Vietnam). KA was lucky she sat on the outskirts of the group - next time we have "fresh" seafood I've got to find a spot on the floor that is away from my uncles.
• We both had to swallow some pepto bismal when we got back to our rooms.

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!

75 cent Xit-Lo rides

It's about 10pm sunday night and I'm waiting for the "right" time to call Vancouver. I'm still on my quest to get my mom a flight home with the rest of us. The attempt the other day was very disheartening.

• We didn't do too much this evening. KA and I layed around in our room (as we always do) from 12 - 3pm. We've rendered ourselves useless during those 3 hours of the day. Too hot to go out and do anything. But lying around got boring too. We've finished listening to book 2 of the "The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" series. We've started book 3 of the 6 book series. It's so much easier listening to the audio books - that way we can pretend to do stuff at the same time.
• KA got into her homemaker mode and decided to sweep and mop the floors in Anh Hoan's place. I felt guilty so I went to the bathroom and did some more laundry. We're doing laundry on a daily basis now. Throwing a few pieces into the bucket, washing it and then taking it to the roof to hang dry. I'm careful not to lock myself out on the roof now.
• KA did her best with the floors but they didn't seem any cleaner after her hard work (the first time she dipped the mop back into the bucket - the water turned black...so she mopped the rest of the house with black water) - she actually broke out in a sweat as there are 3 floors in this building. Not including the bottom floor which is the internet station part - VERY dirty down there. The problem in Vietnam is that it's so dusty here. :-) Definately not a good place for my "white" obsession. But I wear tons of white anyhow - old habits are hard to break. To make up for it I have been bleaching my clothes on a regular basis. KA said she discovered little black bugs that would crawl away as the mop headed towards them. The mop is strange too. It's basically a clamp on a stick. So you can put any kind of cloth in it - there were T-shirts in it. I think that if KA had to mop the ground on her hands and knees she would refuse.
• In the afternoon we called up a "xit lo" (which is a guy who bikes your around in a big chair thing). That's our third mode of transportation (first being our feet and second is the motorbikes). We bargain for 10,000 dongs (which is about 75 cents) for a ride to the supermarket area. Both of us climb into the little chair (realistically it's only meant for one person but the xit-lo guys here are greedy and don't want to share in the money so they insist that they can push the both of us). I sat in the chair as I'm much bigger than KA - she manages to squeeze her little bum onto whatever leftover piece of ripped plastic is left. It's really easy for me to find these guys on the street as I'm pretty much a magnet for anyone who wants to make a buck (darn those short vietnamese girls!).
• Our xit-lo guy today was pretty scrawny and was huffing a bit when he reached the supermarket (which is 7 or 8 city blocks away). He was doing much better than this other guy we used - who was having a REAL problem with us as he lost his momentum on a hill and was starting to roll backwards. It was our fault really - we passed by a bicycle stand and waved at it. KA and I were only commenting to ourselves that we should check out the prices of a bicycle as some of our younger cousins want to exploit us and have been hinting of what kinds of "gifts" would make them happy. KA has already had requests for bicycles, watches, clothes, origami books/paper, etc. Most of the kids don't ask me as as I hold a more formal "title" here. KA is really good with giving money to the "cute" beggar children. She tries to change some of our larger currency into coins in the morning so that she has money for the kids. We don't want to give them large currency. KA and I basically carry 50,000 and 100,000 Dong bills. :-) Hard to bargain with vendors when they see your wallet full of red and green bills. Lol - we've got to start looking "poorer".
• That's one thing that we're still getting use to. The whole use of titles. We're not known as "Kim" or "Kim Anh". Depending on which house the person is from and where they rank in the immediate family - our titles and theirs change appropriately. KA still uses the wrong word for "aunt" (there are 4 versions of "aunt" in vietnamese - depending if the aunt is a sister on your mom's side or your dad's side and if she's older or younger than your mom or your dad). So it works the same with "uncle" as well. To complicate matters worst is that it's not like Canada where you would say "Uncle Jerry". Here it's about ranking. So you would say "younger-aunt-on-my-dad's-side-number-6". The numbering system is off too. I hold the "big-sister-number-2" title (which is the top title for a girl in any household). The kids are named 2, 3, 4, etc. I'm not sure why there is no "1".
• So I'm "big-sister-number-2" to all cousins who are children of aunts or uncles that rank lower than my dad. The cousins if they want call KA "big-sister-number-3" but some of the younger generations drop the formalities and just address her "big-sister-Anh". :-) When I'm not being called by one of my titles then everyone here uses my "real" Vietnamese name - which is "Hoang". It's strange having everyone call me that for such a long period of time. KA is not use be being called "Anh" either (which can also mean "big brother"). I get called Hoang every now and then from the older folks in Vancouver but they visit on such a rare occasion. I'm not use to it and forget to respond sometimes when an "older" person calls me. :-) The fun thing with ranking is that age has no effect on your title. I have to call all the cousins on my mom's side "big brother" or "big sister" because my mom is the youngest in her family. So one of the cousins we hang out with is in grade 6 and his title out does mine! Lol...I told him that he should treat me out for coffee/dinner as he's my "big brother".
• My sisters and my parents refer to me as "chi hai" (big-sister-number-2) at home so I'm use to that title. KA finds it unfair as she says it's much more respectable than "chi Kim Anh". I laughed and said "too bad" - so she continues to call me Chi Hai for my parents sake.
• In the afternoon as we wandered around the supermarket (MaxiMart) area. I found a store that actually had some shirts my size. Yah!! I don't know the misery I have had in the last week and a half in terms of find something that would fit! Goodness - I need to go to Saigon (so much more in the big city). So I bought 6 shirts for 60,000 Dongs each (approximately $5.25 each). They don't bargain in these "modern" stores but I was happy enough to find something that fit so I didn't care.
• I found a really nice bracelet in a jewelery store but the girl wouldn't lower the price for me. I was mad so I didn't buy it. KA bought a pair of silver star earings for $5.50 there. My bracelet cost too much (in Vietnamese standards) so I passed up on it. I'm sure I can find others.
• On the way home KA and I stopped by a bakery. There was so many pasteries that looked yummy and the prices were just cents! So we bought 3 bags worth - ended up costing us $8. We didn't need that much food but it's so cheap and we haven't had pasteries in awhile. We were craving "snack" food. Life over here is different - no fridges means that everything is bought in the morning and cooked right away.
• With afternoon "siestas" - it's super hard to find a local vendor selling something edible or drinkable from the hours of 1-4pm. Right beside my cousin's store is the Blender-lady. She makes fruit smoothies for everyone. So good as the fruit is super fresh...mmm. Nha Trang has awesome fruit!
• Kay - I haven't killed enough time yet. I'll stop boring you for today.
• I was on the net surfing for tours out of Nha Trang (looks like we might need a "plan B" for our tour of the north). We haven't been able to find a tour operator who is leaving in the next couple of days that will take us. We might have to just find our own transportation and accomodations in each destination.
• Here's a someone else's blog that I came across - which I found fun to read as it's similiar to our impressions of Nha Trang. Tales of Asia. You can read if you are absolutely bored of my bantering and want to read something more witty. :-)

Bug Bites and Bruises

Day 10 - March 26th

• We haven't done much today. KA got up at 5am to go for a run. I was too lazy to go down to the beach for a swim so I layed in bed.
• We went out for breakfast with Anh Hoan and his friend. Had rice today instead of soup. After breakfast we stopped by a tourist spot to take some pictures then headed to a coffee shop.
• The coffee shop was gorgeous. Japanese style with fish ponds and little pillows to sit on. We took some pictures. Had ice-coffee (which is standard here) and dried watermelon seeds. This is the second nicest coffee shop we've been to on our trip.
• For lunch we went down to our grandma's house for lunch - sat on the floor with a mat in the middle for the food. Eating on the floor is common here as not many houses have tables.
• After lunch is siesta time - KA is napping right now. I finished my audio book so I came down here to update the blog and check out the store customers. It's very busy in the store right now - all the kids are noisily playing their online games.
• This afternoon Anh Hoan has agreed to help us find a tour operator so that we can get out of this place and see the rest of Vietnam. This is our second week and we have to get a move on it if we want to see other things.
• KA and I surveyed our arms and legs last night. We have many bug bites and bruises. I'm not sure where most of them come from. The mosquito bites here look pretty nasty (big red welts) and don't go away for days! I think some of the bruises are from riding on the bikes during the day.
• Everyday we lather ourselves in sunblock and bug spray. At lunch we rinse off and in the evening we lather ourselves up again. Fun! We've been pretty good with trying to stay "white" - covering our bodies from head to toe in the afternoon sun. Other tourist probably think we're nuts but the locals cover themselves up pretty well over here. I'm amused with our full face masks...such pretty fabrics. KA wants to buy full arm length gloves so that she doesn't have to wear a cardigan each time we go out.
• We were taking pictures on the motorbikes on the way home from coffee this morning. I was more concerned about my hat blowing away (so I held it down with both hands). Throw caution to the wind I say! :-) We were traveling pretty fast on the bikes too but no one here cares about holding on or about wearing protective gear. We saw one guy wear a helmet the other day and it was the oddest thing. He stuck out like a sore thumb.
• I still have to practice driving the bike more. I'm more scared of the traffic then the actual skill of driving the bike. People here are nuts when it comes to traffic laws (or lack of them). Maybe I'll take one of the smaller bikes out tonight and practice - the bigger ones are too heavy to lift and I'm scared of burning my leg on the exhaust pipe (as we're just wearing shorts).
• Did I mention the dogs here are so cute?! The family dogs are nice - though one of them nearly bite me the other day when I went to pet it too quickly. We are fond of one of them so we feed it more often. The monkey was hording food today and we were playing with it - pretending to steal it's food. It's a smart little monkey.

Tailor Made

Day 9 - March 25th

• Didn't do too much today. Woke up late as we partied too hard last night. KA had a hangover. Went out for breakfast with our parents and uncle (who has returned from Saigon). Had Bun Bo Hue (again). Seems like my cousins enjoy eating hot soup in the boiling hot weather. :-) It's a spicy soup too so I was sweating at the table.
• Paper napkins in Nha Trang is not what we're use to. We each pack our own little pouches of Kleenex. The paper used in the restaurants reminds me of writing paper - little squares of Hilory paper. Not absorbant at all.
• When we enter restaurants that are a bit higher class than the local street vendors - they put bag of "iced" towels on dishes. When KA and I first encountered this service we eagerly popped our bags and wiped our bodies with it. Our little cousins didn't use their bags. We later found out that they charge for this "service". :-) But we don't care as it's like 40 cents a pack in CDN. So much more cleaner and more refreshing. Apparently they only offer this to "foreigners". Lol - everywhere I go I'm treated as a foreigner. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it's bad.
• KA and I have gotten to know the local beggers. We see certain ones daily. Some of them keep pestering us. We liked this little girl and bought some gum from her the other day. So now when she sees us walking around she waves and says "hi auntie" (in vietnamese).
• I got my skirt and dress back from the tailor this afternoon. I really like the skirt (as I gave him one of mine as a model). The dress is alright but cost of fabric and labour - the skirt as a MUCH better deal (about $9). I think the key now is to find high quality fabrics for cheaper. That or find a seamstress that doesn't charge as much for labour. KA and I are still waiting for our suits to be finished. Hopefully we'll get them in the next couple of days.
• We had lunch with my grandma on my mom's side. We like going to her house more than my grandma on my dad's side as it's much more peaceful (she doesn't have extended family living with her). Plus she is the one with all the pets. One of her dogs has taken a liking to us and we adore it as it reminds us of a skinny version of Meiko (Carol's dog).
• We went to see the giant white budha today. Budhism and prayers are big over here. I realize how lucky it is that my dad has not made the alters in our house the size of some of my uncles alters. Wow - some of them take up a whole room with multiple sections. We did some praying to various gods and took lots of pictures. KA and I bought some rosary bracelets for Micheal and Chicky - to bring them safety & luck for their cars.
• We had dinner with my grandma on my dad's side. That house has so many people living in it - it's like a circus over there.
• We passed by my grandma's neighbor - who had someone pass away the other day. They oldest son was still dressed in the ceremonial costumes. I think that he has to wear that white outfit for a month or more. Everyone else had white bands tied around their heads. My mom is superstitious and doesn't like us even looking towards that house as she's afraid that it will bring bad luck to our family. Apparently Vietnamese ghost hang out on earth for 49 days before "moving on". Plus they're really polite when asking about who has died. They refer to it as "gone to sleep" - referring to the dead person as if he had just went to his room to take a nap.
• KA and I checked out a travel agency today to see if we can book a tour to go to the northern region of Vietnam. We're done with waiting for our parents to get away from the main family - as it looks like they're stuck with the routine that they've established. There's a bus tour that we might sign up for. A greyhound bus ride up north 10 hours of driving - costs $9.
• My mom has decided to come home with us - instead of coming home a month later. She can't take more than a month with the relatives. So she came by the store last night and wanted me to book her flight home. Of course the time difference between here and Canada is like 14 hours - it was really frustrating trying to reach the travel agent. I gave up at midnight. I woke up at 6am to try again - found out that she was away for a couple of days. The company wasn't helpful at all and referred me to Eva Air Saigon. I called Eva Air Vancouver as I didn't want to try to change plane reservations with my limited Vietnamese. Eva Air Vancouver wasn't helpful either (chinese woman with limited english skills). To make matters worst my mom forgot to give me her plane ticket so I was trying to get them help me with not much information. Very frustrating for both parties. I gave up after awhile as each time I call - I have to use the VOIP (computer phone) here and the connection isn't always good. I will get my mom to call Eva Air Saigon later in the week - at least they will be in the same time zone as us and it will be more convenient.
• Going to bed now. Have an early morning. KA is going running again and I said that I would go down to the beach for a morning swim with Anh Hoan (he and I aren't runners). There's 3 things people do here: get up super early for a morning swim in the ocean or a stroll on the beachfront, ride motorbikes and go for a walk on the beachfront at night.
• I forgot to mention. The store is across from the city speaker - which are posted all over the place. Every morning and night the speakers come blaring on with the news. I think it's cause people don't own tvs so that's how they hear the news - through the speakers. They're really loud too and tend to wake KA and I at 5am. The store opens for business at 6:30am - there are kids that come in to play games at that time. Not everyone goes to school over here - drop out rate is SUPER high.

Wedding Crashers

Just got back from crashing a traditional Vietnamese wedding! :-) What have we been up to since?

• Gave our fabric to the seamstress to make us our clothes. One of my dresses will be ready by tomorrow afternoon - hopefully it will fit well. Otherwise I'm off to find another seamstress. Though the guy across the street looks trendy so hopefully his stuff will be good too.
• Got the pictures back from the temple - they're pretty good. I sure wish I had an SLR camera now!
• Went to the wedding with our "dates" - I was my cousin's date and KA was his friend's date.
• There goes doing our hair. Riding on the bikes to the wedding gave us a "wind-blown" look. No one wears helmets so at least we didn't have helmet-hair.
• We're really comfortable sitting crossed on the motorbikes now that we're taking pictures of each other while the guys drive us around. :-) Don't worry...I won't drop the camera this time! It seems that guys are better at driving people who sit sideways as they're use to it. My girl cousin tried it once with me and we were really wobbly - after that I only ride with my guy cousins when wearing skirts/dresses.
• Vietnamese wedding: about 1.5 hours long in total! Bride and groom don't have a table and don't eat. Their only job is to walk around to the table of guests and make sure everyone is having a good time. There was a band there and they invited guests to come up to sing. Lots of guests came up to sing.
• After the wedding we had a lot of time to kill so they took us clubbing.
• Clubbing means going to the "discoteque". We went to one called "007". Clubbing here is much different than back home. Every table is assigned a server - who hovers near your table and tops up your drinks. Our server even followed us to the dance floor when all of us went to dance! :-) I have to admit - the hospitality over here is 10X better than in Canada. There are countless times when our servants/servers/drivers wait for us to ask them to do something.
• Bar food is a plate of "fresh assorted fruits" here. So strange but nice at the same time. We offered some fruit to our girl - she ate a piece with us. We took pictures with her. :-) We're such tourists!
• I think we were the only ones in the club that was having a good time. I know we were like the only ones on the dance floor most of the time. :-) It's so much easier to be foolish when you're on vacation!
• We've been taking lot of pictures of food - almost each time we eat we will take a picture of the item we're munching on. KA is still learning how to use her camera.

Time for bed soon - it's 11pm over here but about 8am in Vancouver. I have to call the travel agency over there and book my mom a flight home with the rest of us. She's changed her mind and doesn't want to stay longer than we are staying.