tired and sticky
it is 9 o’clock in vietnam, do u know where ur children are? if either the c-man or i were ur children, then the correct answer would be danang airport. yesterday, we took a trip to hoi ann. charming old city that is a unesco heritage site. they make any type of purse or clothing your little heart could desire. cool laid back town that actually has “quiet hours” at lunch and at night when they won’t let people drive their motobikes in town….sweet! also, a neat food place where i tried their specialty (cao lau) and had another ban xeo. i’d say those two far outdistance “still covered in its skin and not deheaded deep fried sea monster” for my favorite vietnamese dishes. this was the only place we have been so far that actually had a pretty high number of tourists. no americans but lots of white faces. that made it feel a little like epcot, but b/c of its interesting blend of colonial architectural styles, its good food, relative quietude and peacefullness, i’m gonna give it two thumbs up.
that morning we climbed the marble mountain (which unlike candy mountain is a real place) and saw some neat carvings and pagodas. we also saw about a gazillion people selling things made of marble – from $2 figurines to 500 lb buddhas. it was amazing how much marble they had.
oh, and if i forgot to mention, tuesday was spent on my khe beach, home of really interesting round fishing boats and sudden drenching thunderstorms. i did get to watch a fisherman repair his crab trap, which was made of fishing line woven around a wooden frame. we ate a few times (in danang) at a neat place called “bread of life” that is run by a couple from missouri. their staff is almost entirly deaf and they do sign language training along with helping them develop jobs skills. neat stuff.
today we visited hue. it’s an old imperial city two hours north of danang. gorgeous drive up there and the emperors walled city and tombs were really impressive. one tomb was probably 80 acres and featured pine trees. if i lived in hue, i would probably picnic there with my family.
so we cabbed back to the hotel and then headed to the airport. somehow i managed to get very sweaty over the course of the day today. i feel sticky and grumpy, and i just found out my flight is delayed and i think the baby behind me have have made a number two. ready to get to saigon, sleep and then depart for cambodia and then on to the usa. i am a little curious how i will be getting to pnom penh, but i guess that can wait til tomorrow. oh good! the kid has shoes that squeak like a chew toy when he walks. well, he definitely needs to walk it off.
