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Published: August 28th 2009
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After writing yesterday, that there was an absense of nightlife...
...had another kindly cooked meal by the grand-parents. Rice is the staple of large meals, so many own rice cookers...so it is perfectly cooked (I can never get mine to sticky consistency!), I may invest in one when home, although it's always a danger buying too many kitchen appliances-no space and some are for lazy souls (egg peelers!!etc etc)...ok i'm being rather rambunctious in my writing...ahh I love that word-rambunctious. Anyway, I went out for squid with Hiem and three of her friends...this consisted on driving to the old quarter...and sitting on a woven matt on the pavement. Absolutely perfect for watching all the characters and street life of the city. The squid were huge (50cm in length) and dried over a fire, then shredded to eat and dipped in sweet chilli (rather mild sweet and fiery chilli)...quite an intense flavour but definately palatable. The girls kept trying to set me up with their friends and even invited one guy along-very embarrassing being put on the spot! But he came to be a blessing in the end looking after us in the club! About 2300, after sitting, eating, observing and
Burning incense
Raised doors as the Chinese believe that ghosts have no feet...so they cannot cross the threshold... 'chatting', three on each bike went to a Red River boat bar called The Solace. You had to walk over a rickety, ramshakled metal jetty onto the boat. The breeze was both restful and refreshing at the same time. We played pool (all with terrible skill) and sat around watching everyone else as they watched us. The music was loud old school cheese-so pretty soon, I had grabbed a partner and was whirling away on the dancefllor, much to the amusement of the Vietnamese! It was very sweaty, but eventually I persuaded the girls to dance too and tried to show them the moves ;-) -the locals loved it! Never sweated so much, not very sexy! There were a few westerners there, and not many were drinking, those that were, moderately. The two girls and I were attracting a bit too much attention for the liking, but luckily ''''' kept an eye on us and fed us water at intervals. They (mainly the girls!) are obsessed by boobs, as they are quite small chested, and kept trying to grab mine-all harmless fun! By the wee hours, everyone was dancing to the likes of 50 cent and Kayne West. I looked
like a mad harpee by the end, that crossed with a drowned cave women haha.
An early morning this morning, three students picked me up and took me to the Ho Chi Minh museum. I have got used to wearing a mask whilst on the bikes and covering up...even though stopping is calescent! My aim is to take sample pictures of different crazy things people manage to carry on their bikes...from huge swing office chairs and 8 full water fountains, to long bamboo canes that jut out into all lanes and a live cow!
Ho Chi Minh is the national hero of Vietnam. He founded the National Liberation Committee and caled for an uprising during WWII. He was the man that set up the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The museum is dedicated to his life's work-many of his speeches are displayed there along with artefacts, photos, and the preliminary equipment that was used to try and preserve his body (which is still preseved and on show next door!) The speeches are really provoking and moving. The students were obviously very proud of Uncle Ho as they call him, and were very passionate about their national history. Vietnam National
Day is next week-the anniversary of Ho's Declaration of Independebce speech in 1945. The One Pillar Pagoda in the grounds of the museum resembles the shape of a lotus flower, a buddhist symbol of purity.
For lunch and much needed AC we had the famous Pho, noodle soup,whilst the girls asked lots of questions about our lifestyle and vise versa...nd typical girls, mainly ended up talking about guys! After lunch we visited the Temple of Literature, which is a little oasis flanked by blaring horns and crazy traffic. There are courtyards adjoining elaborate gateways and fish pools...There are 82 stone tortoises which the students who once inhabited this building when it was the first university in Vietnam, touched, to give them luck in their exams. I say I'm not superstitious, but still went around some of the tortoises touching their heads....you never know!
Feeling relaxed at the prospect of a shower and seista...headed back, only Hiem and her friend was waiting to take me for a massage we had discussed the previous night! At least there was a shower at the parlour, was not relishing the prospect of a massage when already soaking with sweat! The price was
Temple of literature
The first university to be founded in Vietnam, now a temple 100,000 VD (about 7US dollars) fopr a 70 minute massage...wow I'm moving here. We the girls upstairs to a room with three massage beds in! So all three of us had a massage side by side-hilarious. The massage was amazing, had all my back clicked, plus fingers and toes-most of the time the tiny Vietnamese masseur was sitting astride me on my butt, releasing all my knots and tensions! Could have fallen asleep had it not been for Hiem's friend taking about a million text messages grrr-turn off your bloody phone and relax! This girl is probably the most beautiful I have ever seen-want to take her picture in blank and white...all the texts were from various amorous guys!
Chilled out on the roadside cafes for the rest of the afternoon and early evening, before heading back to more delicious local food-crab and spinach soup, chicken in lemongrass, rice and pickles. Yum. It's such a healthy diet, hardly any fat. Do not miss any food or bevy from back home yet...hmm maybe chocolate.
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