As the journey continues . . .

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Hello all . . . It's been a whole week since last I wrote.
Our very limited Vietnamese vocabulary continues to slowly grow. I think we are up to 20-some words and numbers. Things have been looking promising in the languard department when margot and I finally (really it was Margot, for my own entertainment) was understood when she told the cab driver "95 Quang Trung" which is our address in vietnamese. It's taken over 2 weeks for the cab drivers to finally understand us and even this time, he hesitated and almost had us write it down (the preferred method of communicating with cab drivers here). And it certainly did get a big smile out of him - the vietnamese are very surprised and happy when they realise that we are in fact actually trying to speak to them in their own language (as unsuccessfully as it usually is). Tonight we tried to order chicken noodles (Bo Ga with appropriately places accents). But what we got was Bo Ca - and it had less to do with the constanent sound as it did with the fact that we used the wrong inflection.
Anyway, enuf with the linguistics.
Last week, we had a dinner out Thursday night with the hospital director, a translator and 3 surgeons from the US that were here this week to perform/teach the hospitals first total knee replacement surgeries and continue teaching/performing/developing the ACL reconstruction surgery with the local surgeon here. Unfortunately, I was layed up most of thursday with some kind of bug that was messing with my GI. And dinner was then followed up with a 2 hour massage at the hospital's clinic. Such unfortunate timing for my little tummy as it gurgled its way thru the massage. Also, we were vidoed last week for a commercial/news spot for the hospital, doing a pediatrics treatment on some children in the hospital and I was interviewed. Kinda strange set up, I had no idea what was going on. And it wasn't until after I delivered the lines that were fed to me that perhaps they were using our western-ness to help promote the hospital. Who knows.
Friday, we took a local city bus to Hoi An - a mere 30 Km south of us, 20 minutes by taxi, but 1 hr by bus. This thing started out to be a bewildering thrill since it barely slows down for passengers as an operator yells out the back door to waiting passengers so they can start to run to catch up to the speed of the bus. He jumps out and tosses them on and the bus quickly speeds up to resume its full speed. This is of course while its frequent use of the horn continues thru out the entire ride. All this for a mere $1 (twice as much as normal bcz of the upcoming Tet holiday, all prices go up).
So, dropped of in Hoi An, a super touristy, picturesque, historic village on a river known for its tailored clothe-shopping (and shopping of all things, really), art galleries, restaurants . . . all marketed to western tourists - which was initially so weird for us. So, after wandering down a few narrow streets, our hungry tummies quickly settled on a restaurant. This time not one at the side of the road with plastic, dirty, kids-size furniture for dining. But, it had full sized chairs and tables with a menu that was translated (entertainingly so) and nearby patrons that were also tourists - how w.e.i.r.d.
Our hotel was comfy, recommended to us by a french backpacker we met the weekend before. And actually, we were so excited to get TV in english we stayed in Friday night, curled up in bed watching English-speaking TV to our hearts content. The next day was a full-on day busy busy full of shopping and fittings to have clothes made - there is a strategy to it that we completely missed, but hope to pass on to our girlfriends when they arrive this weekend. We even got to ride bikes! Oh yeah, and fyi the weather has been unseasonably cold and rainy for this time of year. Anyway, oh, and margot and i got cheap "spa" services in our hotel room - yes, it is as strange as it sounds. I will not go into further detail. But it is true what they say about you get what you paid for. My "delux pedicure" was $5 and margot got that with a "facial" for $6.25. For dinner, we actually made it down to the river and Japanese bridge - super picturesque and quaint. And after, we met a couple of sweet, nice and cool Israeli girls and joined them for some beer and shared travel stories. Let's see, Sunday was spent running around to finish fittings for our clothes and shoes that were made, more shopping (i hope to not have to shop for the remaining of the trip). And then we had a cooking class with the 2 other girls at a mom and pop run place across the street from our hotel. She took us to the market to pick out the food and taught us to cook the dishes we picked out from the menu in her kitchen. It was an impressive set up she has with her family. They run this little restaurant, do people's laundry, teach cooking classes and I'm sure probably cut people's hair if you asked. While we were cooking a pizza delivery guy showed up with pizza which I thought was so weird for a restaurant to order. But, we learned that the 2 guests in the restaurant ordered pizza. And voila, pizza served. The kitchen actually is only equiped with a 2-burner gas coleman stove (with the tank), sink and small refridgerator. The patrons asked for more pizza sauce and her neice didn't understand. They of course didn't have any. So one of the israeli girls, Rani, grabbed what they had left of some kind of ketchupy tomato sauce and thru some garlic and spices from our cooking into it! Chem, her girlfriend did eventually tell them that the pizza was delivered and why would they order pizza from a local restaurant?
Anyway, Margot and I splurged on a $10, 20 minute cab ride back to Da Nang Sunday night. We've been back at work, following up with the post surgical patients, trying to get protocals in place for them by the time we leave after next week. We've been doing more exploring, trying the local "sweets" with our Vietnamese friend, Linh.
Yesterday, we were informed that the "media" was coming back in the afternoon to interview and video us again for the news. We seem to be turning into local celebrities. So, I was once again interviewed in the PT gym, promoting the services of the hospital. They then wanted to also do a spot promoting the massage clinic there. What a trip. So Margot and I are in a "couples" massage room with 2 tables, plastic roses sitting on each table, a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. This time, they wanted to interview Margot about the services they offered. So, Margot is delivering lines about what kind of massages they offer and how the proceeds go to help the poor and such. Then, they want to also video us receiving a massage . . . So, some time next week there is going to be a spot in the news with Margot and I receiving side-by-side massages by 2 teenage Vietnamese girls. Our translator told us to just stay once the cameras left; the girls would continue with the massage. The girls just jabbered away and Margot and I were half laughing half sharing our confusion at the whole thing.
After our massages, we met up with Chem and Rani as they were in Da Nang for a night, had a nice dinner out and brought them to one of our happy places, Le Bambino. We just discovered it Monday night. It's owned and run by a French expat from Lille. And you feel like you've stepped into the south of France. That's about it for now. Too tired to add observations. But, we seem to be in the hang of the ups and downs of this crazy trip.

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