An Education (Part 4)

Chuc Mung Nom Mui ( or Happy New Years in Vietnamese)

The Tet New Year (year of the cat) came and went without much notice or massive disturbance to our travel plans. Its a pretty low key holiday here, people spend most of their time with family and at temple for three days. Quite the opposite of the new years celebrations we are accustomed to. Hoi An was a charming, sleepy, town filled with tailors. Since getting clothes made was pretty much the only thing to do there I found a tailor that was open during Tet and had shorts made. They came out really nice looking so I then decided to get a dress made as well from this fabric that had a design on it that I really loved. Kate fronted me the money and we went on our way. I came back the next day for my dress and it was nothing like what I had asked for. I was willing to leave the dress and walk away with a lost deposit until Kate told me she already paid in full for the dress. So we tried to negotiate a deal of leaving the dress (I wasn't going to wear it) and receive half the money back. That to us was fair. Of course since the tailor lady had all my money, she wasn't about to give me a cent of it back, so we both got into a heated yelling match. Without a Plan B and no gambling chip I grabbed a stack of the fabric I liked so much and said, "FINE, then I'm taking the fabric!" at that point I seriously debated making a mad dash with the fabric down the street and finding the nearest taxi as a get away car. However, I then realized that I have no idea what the laws are in Vietnam. Is cloth stealing punishable by death? Do they have a pack of wild dogs in the back ready to unleash at dissatisfied fabric stealing customers?! I just didn't know and wasn't about to find out. As the old saying goes, better safe than in a Vietnamese prison. She took the fabric out of my hand and said "you buy?!" I replied, "with what money?!!" This was going nowhere, and she went into the back of the shop and was cursing in Vietnamese. So I did the only thing I could and said, "BAD LUCK TO YOU IN THE NEW YEAR! VERY VERY VERY BAD LUCK!!!" and left without any money recouped and without a dress. I'm sure my words had a devastating affect on her for the rest of the day (or at least that's what I keep telling myself).

So after Hoi an we took a bus up to Hue. The weather is a little bit colder and the food is not as good. Hilary had to hang back from our outtings because she pulled a ligament in her foot while walking down some stairs, so lina, kate, and I rented some bikes and went biking around Hue. This is my new favorite way to explore. We saw the Citadel and the Imperial City. Kate wasn't feeling well after that so Lina and I went biking around some more and went to a monastery and some of the emperors tombs. The next day we woke up at 6AM to do the "DMZ" tour. It was alright, kinda lack luster but interesting and eerie to be at these historic places during Tet.

So, first impressions of Vietnam - it's a beautiful country, the people are nowhere near as nice and warm as Cambodians, the food is about the same to me, you're much more likely to get ripped off here, hopefully N. Vietnam will produce something more entertaining because right now I'm not that impressed. To me the most interesting thing about Vietnam is all the propaganda everywhere.

Next stop, Hanoi...

Pic 1 - View from our hotel balcony
Pic 2 - French/ Asian architecture and lanterns lining the streets in Hoi An
Pic 3 - Che Guevara lantern?! writing says "Before and Now"

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Bones, J-Dilla, and sometimes Crab Cakes