The past 24 hours have been awesome! last night we went to dinner at a restuarant that serves all the food the royal family eats. we all had to get dressed up as concubines and unics and jim and mary (the token old couple) were the king and queen. the food was alright but the presentation was amazing. there was also a band that played royal music. Later we went to a bar and met some other people who are on another intrepid trip but are going the opposite direction.
today we had a 7 hour tour of the countryside of hue...however it was on the back of a motorbike. sooo much fun. first we stopped at an old covered bridge by a market and there was a fortune teller reading palms. she read my palm and said i was going to get married when im 26 (same as the one in china) and that i will have 3 boyfriends which i will give "heartburn" to and that my parents love me very much. After that we went to a temple and it so happened to be buddhas birthday so there were tons of people there and they had a chanting ceremony thing. there was a guy dressed up as buddha so alyson and i went over to meet him and all of a sudden all these people made us pose with him and started taking pictures. also i forgot to bring something to cover my shoulders and somehow i ended up in a monks outfit. and of course people took more pictures. I also met a monk who spent a couple years in chicago and she told me about a center in new york that i could spend a weekend at and get my zen on (totally doing it). after the temple we went to an emperors tomb which looked more like a beautiful temple with a lake. apparently the emporer vacationed there often. our next stop was a nunnery full of buddhist nuns. we had a delicious vegitarian lunch and then had a siesta...on prayer mats on the floor. next we went to hamburger hill which was a bunker in the vietnam war. after we stopped by a place that makes incense and we got to make our own. then we got on a boat and crossed the perfume river to go to another pagoda (the prettiest one in hue). lastly we stopped at a house where a woman with only one arm makes conicular hats that all the people wear. tonight we're celebrating alysons birthday and then headed to hoi an by bus tomorrow morning.
many hugs and kisses
Simi
