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Published: February 25th 2009
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Quan Chay Au Lac
My favorite veggie restaurant! So Saturday night, I went with the director of the rehab center and his assistant to pick up Dr. DeMuth and Dr. Watts...it was good to see them and they looked great for all the traveling they had just done! We made plans to meet up the next day and I also knew I would be seeing them at the dinner that the director was taking us to Sunday night.
Sunday morning I got up and went for a very sweaty run along the river where I am pretty sure I once again learned the word for 'crazy foreigner'! I am also pretty sure that inhaling all the pollution while running probably offsets the good the running does, but I feel like I should be doing it anyway. I then went to meet my former professors for lunch and I brought them to my favorite veggie place. We all enjoyed our meal and then I realized it was time to say goodbye to my restaurant. So sad! I had a piece of paper with 'I am leaving Da Nang and wanted to thank you for everything. Goodbye!' written on it in Vietnamese and when I showed it to them, I
Dinner
out to dinner my last night in Da Nang! am pretty sure they were sad too! We then walked down to the market and I got to learn about some fruits that I had never had (thanks!!) and we just wondered around by the river. We then walked back to their hotel where they shared some of the fruit and they were both really yummy! It was good to discuss my time volunteering at the center and the different things we have all learned as to the ways things work there. I then headed back to the center to take my now required afternoon nap!
At 6 o clock, I was picked up to attend dinner. It was the director, his assistant, Dr. Demuth, Dr. Watts, a few of the docs from the center and 2 physiatrists from the US. We had a very good and festive meal and luckily they were able to order me some good veggie food! While there they also gave me a beautiful silk scarf as a thank you for volunteering!
On Monday, I had been planning on saying my goodbyes and then catching the bus to Hoi An. Well, I was unable to get my passport back in the morning so
My Son
This place is MUCH older than me! I knew I would be staying until atleast after lunch! I didn't really mind spending another day bumming around Da Nang. I ended up sitting at a coffee shop and reading for ahwile and then headed out of town around 3. It was very sad leaving the center, but atleast I had a few months of travel to look forward to!!
I decided to catch the local bus even though I knew it would be a bit of a challenge with my big back pack. I walked to the stop and got there just in time to quickly jump on the still moving bus. I sat down and could not believe what happened next....I was part of a conspiracy...against me!! It was crazy!! I was the only one who got on the bus at that stop, but when the money guy came around, he went to the old lady next to me first and said "money" (In English even though I am pretty sure she didn't even speak English). She hands him a 50,000 dong note and he does not give her change. He then looks at me and says "money" and tells me it is 50,000. Well, I know that it is only 8,000 and I was prepared to even pay up to 30,000 because i had my bags with me and they do take up space. He refused to take anything less than 50,000 and kept pointing that the lady also payed 50,000. A bunch of teenage boys were cracking up the whole time as they knew there was absolutely nothing I can do. Seriously....he got an old lady to take part in a scam against me!! Even though I knew the truth, other than getting thrown off the moving bus, there was nothing I could do but pay!! This just confimed my former knowledge that the only real dishonest and not nice people in Vietnam are the bus money collector people! Oh well!
I arrived in Hoi An to a bunch of motorbikes trying to take me to my hotel. I knew where I was staying and was ready to walk to 2km into town, so I was able to get away and take my walk. I arrived at my hotel and was able to get the room one next to the one I had stayed at last time I was in Hoi An. I wondered around the town for a little and then ended up having Indian food for dinner. I had been craving it for some time and figured it was most appropriate to have it just after the Oscars as a way to celebrate "slumbdog" winning so many awards! I then headed to a bar down the street and ended up hanging out with a German guy named Wolfgang...no joke! We played pool for awhile where I proved my complete inability to play pool and ended up not heading back home until around 1:30. I fell asleep very quickly (thanks to the 2 for 1 vodka/7-ups), but woke up at 4am and could not fall back to sleep. I am pretty sure it was becuase I was reading the best book and I kept wondering what was going to happen. (Saving the World by Julia Alvarez...highly recommend it). So I stayed up until 6am when I finished it and then slept until about 8 when my hotel got kind of noizy! Oh well...being tired is ok when all you have to do is be a lazy bum! I got up and walked to the beach even though the motorbike drivers kept telling me I was crazy. Seriously, since when can a person not walk 6km? It was very hot, but it was nice to stop in the shops and venture off the road a little!
I spent the whole day on the beach and got some more very nice uneven sunburn lines. Especially around my ankles. It looks stunning. I then found a veggie restaurant on the river and had a late lunch and then headed back to town to pick up some of my clothes that I had made. I did a ton of shopping (oops!), had some dinner and went to bed early!
Today I got up to go to My Son which is about an hour from Hoi An and is a site with many Cham ruins of ancient temples and stuff. It was pretty cool, but everything is so old and pretty run down. And ofcourse I got to see some more big holes in the ground and stuff thanks to the American bombs (sorry!). It is set within the jungle so the surroundings were actually cooler then the actual ruins (to me anyways!). I spent some time there and then took a boat back to Hoi An. the boat was very relaxing which was a nice end to the day. I then had to head back to my tailor to pick up some more stuff and finally everything is almost perfect! I am thinking the last dress will be ready when I go back again tonight!
I am now ready for a short nap and then will be meeting up with some people for dinner who i met this afternoon.
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lukas
non-member comment
money power respect
so like here is what to do next time stand up and act all pissed off like your leaving and give the money collector the evil eye and start spakng really fast and start at a controlled level then let the volume increase decrease increase decrease of your tyrade and then look up "now this is most important" look up like your talking to god and start pleading with god as you look up and back to the money collctor to not strike him down where he stands and then curse him by taking your fingers and opening one eye all big at him so he thinks you put the mother of all curses on his ass.. turn in a circle three times and chant in pig latin and do the hokie pokie turn yourself around sit down and cross your legs and roll your eyes back in your head so you show him only white eyes while you meditate and i swear he'll bring you change next time and the old lady next to you change and then repent for his ripping you off... or just pay the 50,000 and bitch about it later.... hahaha love ya my way is more fun. and if you oay extra you might as well get a show for it??