catchup

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The last time I posted a more descriptive entry we were still in Saigon and about to make our way to Nah Trang. We have been in Nah Trang for 3 days now and will be heading back to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow for our flight to Malaysia on the 14th.

Being in Nah Trang has been a great time. After being in HCMC, which is really fast paced and insane, it was nice to have a couple of beach days. The weather in Nah Trang has been amazing, sunny and hot (but not too hot) every day. We found a hotel right on the beach and shelled out the few extra dollars for a view of the South China Sea. The bed at our hotel is probably the most uncomfortable that we've slept on yet, but the view more than makes up for it. The mattress is literally the cheap spongy crap that is used to fill seats on elementary school buses. I kept wondering what people meant when they would advertise a hotel with "a real mattress". Now I know. Our hotel also includes breakfast which is a first here in South East Asia. After coming from Turkey where breakfast (and a darn good breakfast at that) was include at EVERY hostel, I was rather sad to have to seek our breakfast every morning. When we heard that the Tran Phu 52 had a free buffet breakfast we were pretty excited. When we woke up on the morning of Day 2, we discovered that buffet breakfast in Vietnam includes noodles with seafood, noodle soup (which has floating chicken claws in it), boiled vegetables, and fruit. We've eaten there every morning except on my birthday.

Here in Nah Trang we've settled into a eating routine. Our first night here we ate at a restaurant that was totally overpriced with horrible food. I ordered a seafood curry, and it was actually the most tasteless curry I have ever had. The following night we ate at this restaurant on the water called Veranda. The food here was so amazing that we've eaten there every night since (we also ate my birthday breakfast there and when we walk in now the servers laugh to themselves in Vietnamese). What can I say, we are creatures of habit.

Today we went snorkeling in the South China Sea which was very impressive. We postponed the outing because as most of you know, Adam had an infection on his arm for which we had to seek medical attention. More details on our experiences with the Vietnamese health caresystem when we get home, but here are the important points:

1. White privilege was alive and well at the walk in clinic we went to. We didn't have to wait in line and the doctor saw us right away. I felt pretty guilty bypassing on the parents with their sick children in line, but I don't know how to say sorry in Vietnamese, and quite frankly we were glad to deal with the whole situation as seemlessly as possible.
2.The doctor told Adam he had an abscess on his arm. If you wikipedia the word abscess, you will see an almost identical picture of what Adam had on his arm (Adam's had slightly more pus). He cleaned out the wound and prescribed some antibiotics.
3 The doctor spoke English which made a huge difference. Turns out his daughter is in medical school at McGill.
4. The doctor had to tell me to sit down on numerous occassions because I wanted to see every little thing he was doing. I asked him a myriad of questions and wanted to know everything he was doing and why.
5. We are both so thankful for the Canadian medical system. We already were, but a little reminder is never a bad thing.
6. It's now day two of antibiotics and Adam is doing well. The abscess is looking a lot better. We've used our trusty mountain equipment co-op first aids kits to change the dressing (the doc gave me a tutorial) and it should be cleared up in 10 to 14 days.
7. We got to use our health insurance! That will be a nice little surprise cheque when we get home.

We are going to enjoy our last couple of hours at the beach before we head back to Saigon. More from Kuala Lampur.

Lots of love,

Nicole/Poke/Coco
xoxo

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