Alissa Dawson
The first day we felt great, no real 'jet-lag' or exhaustion. We wandered around the city and, as Forrest mentioned, we went to the huge market in town. Upon arrival, a young man outside of the building took our photograph because, you know, we just looked that damn good. I must say, I have never had so many sales people graze my arms or pull me towards their products before. One woman didn't even show me anything or speak, she just touched my arm. When entering through a side exit of the market a relatively large rat ran out from underneath one of the tables and scampered across several peoples feet. It was entertaining but Forrest kept pulling me towards it making it that much more terrifying. If you ask him, he will tell you the rat was "cute."
The first day we felt great, no real 'jet-lag' or exhaustion. We wandered around the city and, as Forrest mentioned, we went to the huge market in town. Upon arrival, a young man outside of the building took our photograph because, you know, we just looked that damn good. I must say, I have never had so many sales people graze my arms or pull me towards their products before. One woman didn't even show me anything or speak, she just touched my arm. When entering through a side exit of the market a relatively large rat ran out from underneath one of the tables and scampered across several peoples feet. It was entertaining but Forrest kept pulling me towards it making it that much more terrifying. If you ask him, he will tell you the rat was "cute."
I was warned plenty that I would stick out here, so none of this is truly shocking, it's just fascinating to experience. We were at a bar and a waiter exclaimed that my nose was so...he didn't quite have the word for it but I thought he wanted to say "pointy." Indeed he did! He even had me write it on his hand to practice the word. He was very kind and complimentary but these experiences are still very interesting nevertheless. "Lon Don" told us that he practices English every day and strictly requests guests to his house speak English with him as well.
He mentioned that he has dreams of living in San Francisco just as a group of young boys rollerblade down the busy street (which appears to Westerners as almost certain death.) The driving rules here--non-existant. Check out the video to see the plethora of motorbikes on a day to day basis. They ride through the alley ways, all over the side-walks, and most importantly, they follow no rules, at least, none that I can make out.
The second day we did in fact take a nap. A nap that turned into a 17 hour coma...for one of us. Forrest fails to mention that I was absolutely unable to sleep from 1am until 5am. The jet-lag began to kick in then, and again the next night keeping both of us up from around 2am-6am. Today we woke up and took a Vietnamese cooking class. It was just the two of us and the two instructors took us to the local, off-the-grid market. It was full of anything imaginable; skinned, headless frogs, jumping fish, live eel, barrels of shrimp, whole chickens, baskets full of fresh garlic...you name it. It was mesmerizing. The instructors told us that the people wake up every morning and shop (the women do the shopping and the men wait on their motorbikes.) The meal we prepared was wonderfully delicious and the two instructors couldn't have been more kind.
Most things are ridiculously cheap here. 10$ for a full meal for two, 4$ for a pedicure, 5$ for a massage, .50¢ for a bottle of water...but the water puppet show...priceless. (In actuality I believe it was 16$ for the both of us.) Even though the 50 minute show is in Vietnamese, the humor and personalities still shine through. More captivating is trying to imagine how the show is being performed under the water...we still don't know.
He mentioned that he has dreams of living in San Francisco just as a group of young boys rollerblade down the busy street (which appears to Westerners as almost certain death.) The driving rules here--non-existant. Check out the video to see the plethora of motorbikes on a day to day basis. They ride through the alley ways, all over the side-walks, and most importantly, they follow no rules, at least, none that I can make out.
The second day we did in fact take a nap. A nap that turned into a 17 hour coma...for one of us. Forrest fails to mention that I was absolutely unable to sleep from 1am until 5am. The jet-lag began to kick in then, and again the next night keeping both of us up from around 2am-6am. Today we woke up and took a Vietnamese cooking class. It was just the two of us and the two instructors took us to the local, off-the-grid market. It was full of anything imaginable; skinned, headless frogs, jumping fish, live eel, barrels of shrimp, whole chickens, baskets full of fresh garlic...you name it. It was mesmerizing. The instructors told us that the people wake up every morning and shop (the women do the shopping and the men wait on their motorbikes.) The meal we prepared was wonderfully delicious and the two instructors couldn't have been more kind.
Most things are ridiculously cheap here. 10$ for a full meal for two, 4$ for a pedicure, 5$ for a massage, .50¢ for a bottle of water...but the water puppet show...priceless. (In actuality I believe it was 16$ for the both of us.) Even though the 50 minute show is in Vietnamese, the humor and personalities still shine through. More captivating is trying to imagine how the show is being performed under the water...we still don't know.