hi guys!
hope everyone is doing well. the past couple of days were so great, so odd, so different, i just felt like letting you guys know what its like here.
to cross the street, you need to have nerves of steel ~ or, as one aussie put it to me, you just have to close your eyes! with motos everywhere, the trick is to maintain a steady, even pace and direction. this way, the drivers are able to anticipate where YOU will be by the time THEY get there. although its un-nerving (think - motos headed straight AT you, anticipating empty space by the time they get there!!!) it definately works.
secondly, the markets. full of anything and everything, the perimeter is lined with glorified street stalls...complete with tablecloths, menus, and VERY enthusiastic 'greeters' (kinda like at the Gap...!) who are trying to herd you into their stall. the restaurants are lined with fish tanks, full of crabs, lobster, and various fish...all yours for the picking, grilling, and eating ~ if you so desire. if you look at the pix from saigon, the one of me with the giant pancake/omelette was taken at one of these stalls. they just place you wherever you fit in....the tables are really long, banquet style...so you end up with really odd mixes of people sometimes!
that evening, we ended up sharing a table with a frenchman and his vietnamese-french wife, and a cambodian-australian with his vietnamese-canadian girlfriend. add me and hannah (korean heritage) to the mix, and then throw in the fact that we were holding our conversation in french....very odd. we walked away from that evening feeling very much like we were in a different world.
today was the day i mailed home my 5th (and largest yet!) package. the central post office is gorgeous...a massive affair, with vaulted ceilings, dark wood and ceramic tile, and a huge portrait of Ho Chi Minh in prize of place. all you have to do is walk up to the appropriate window, and they weigh, wrap, and box all your stuff for you. by the way, rumours of Vietnamese bureaurocracy and PAPERWORK are by no means exaggerated. i lost track of how many times i had to fill out the address and contents of my package. sheesh.
after this, i wandered into a salon to have my hair chopped....after 4 months of basically NO hair care and a lot of sun and salt, it was my only option. but what a great experience...for 10,000dong (about $6usd) i had my hair shampooed, cut, and blowdried. but NOT like at home. the shampoo itself was something i would pay for time and time again. full back, shoulder, neck and head massage. then the shampoo...you stay in the salon chair, facing the mirror ~ and they pour shampoo directly onto the crown of your head, then mix in water from a squirt bottle...using their nails, they scrape and clean every inch of your scalp. it was really cool to watch. then, instead of those really uncomfortable chairs with the basins that dig into your neck, they allow you to stretch out on BEDS with foot rests, and a pedestel with a padded headrest that extends right out over the sink. i could have fallen asleep ~ in fact, they offer you a silk eye mask if you want it!!!!
haircut ~ wonderful. blowdry ~ excellent. but the shampoo???? AMAZING.
so, that was my day today.
by the way, for those who know that i was planning on heading into Cambodia again for a visa extension, that plan has fallen by the wayside. we've found a travel agency that will do it for us, from withing the country ~ apparently we were misinformed before. so, we stay in Vietnam! which makes me very happy.
hope you guys are doing great and loving what 2006 has brought your way so far!!!!
miss you all....
xoxoxo laura
v
