Thailand: The final affair...

I arrived in the Bangkok airport around 11am and ran into a few backpackers I had met in Sapa. Five of us opted to sandwich into the back of a 4 seater taxi and head to Khao San Road... Two of the crew were dropped off along the way, and the three of us remaining found a hostel along the main strip to crash for the night. We agreed to meet up for dinner, and I headed out to eat some Khao San street meat pad thai, people watch, and hit the infamous MBK to shop.

Around 7:00pm we caught up and had dinner at a greasy diner. There we met two other girls from England and we all decided to hit up a ping pong show together... The trick with ping pongs in Bangkok is to find one that's not going to have three huge bouncers meet you at the door on your way out and demand you pay them several hundred baht before you can leave... Somehow we managed to find a dodgy tuk-tuk driver to take us to a "legit" performance. The tuk-tuk drive was an adventure in itself... Three of us were crammed into the back, and the driver was the craziest mofo I've met in a few weeks fo shizzle... He started off the trip by popping a wheelie (this is the 2nd tuk-tuk wheelie I've been fortunate enough to experience to date) and continued to blast through the streets of Bangkok at approximately 100+ km/hr passing every single other taxi, and tuk-tuk at speeds so great it felt like we were the only ones moving... I started to make a video of the craziness since it's pretty hard to describe- at which point the driver decided it would be funny to take his hands off the wheel and show off a bit. The good news was- we made it to the ping pong show without injury!

Now... I'm about to describe a few of the more "special" acts witnessed at said ping ping show... so Grandma, Mom, and anyone else who is easily offended... Please go ahead and stop reading here... I will mark an astrix when it's safe again. ;-)

LAST WARNING- THIS IS BEYOND PG-13... Purely RESTRICTED material here: Read at your own risk of trauma...

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So... I walk into this dark room with everyone else in tow, and see an elevated stage in the middle of the room with four poles on each corner and right in the middle of the stage: two Thai's having a go at one another in a live sex show!!!! That was enough for me to nearly turn around and leave on the spot! I exchanged horrified glances at the two girls with me, and we avoided looking until we found some seats a few rows back to ensure safety from any kind of off-shoot ping-pongs, darts, crabs or airborne STD's... Luckily by the time we got our seats and ordered a couple beers the two on the stage were finished, and there was a bit of a break for us to recover before the next act.

Next thing I know, there is a Thai girl back up on stage dancing around (very unenthusiastically I might add) with a bucket of ping pongs... She proceeded to play ping-pong tiddly winks, shooting the ping pongs from her hoo-ha into a glass vase in the center of the stage. Thankfully, none of them went into the crowd as that may have been enough for me to chuck my pad thai from earlier... The next few acts included many acts performed by numerous hoo-ha experts including: shooting darts in the air to pop a balloon, pulling out razor blades, blowing out candles from a birthday cake, smoking a cigar, writing Welcome to Bangkok on a paper with a jiffy marker, and removing a glow in the dark string long enough to stretch the length of Khao San road- TWICE! Most of this was like a train wreck- you want to flinch and look away, but you just can't tear your eyes from the obscenities they are witnessing... However I did spent PLENTY of time just laughing at the creepy old men in attendance. Some of the looks on their faces- priceless! I left when the climax (no pun intended) performance sex show started up again, cause that was a traumatic incident I didn't need to witness more than once.

The long and short of the ping pong show is: It's an experience that I'm glad I saw once- cause you really do need to see it to believe it- but its something I NEVER want to see again. Bangkok: Complete!

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Okay, Mom, Grandma, any other respectful people who didn't want to read that (and I sincerely do hope you flipped past it) it's now safe to resume reading...

The next day I caught a bus and a small boat to Ko Samet Island to get a couple days of beach in before I left. The journey was a typical Thai experience- we arrived two hours later than expected and spent most of the day playing the never dull game of "Hurry up and Wait." Eventually we arrived in paradise, and I ended up meeting a nice girl from England who I ended up sharing a bungalow with. The weather was gorgeous for us, and I spent all day enjoying the sunshine for the next day and a half before I had to head back to Bangkok. I also met up with a dodgy Thai dude, who I hired to fix up my "Balance" tattoo with bamboo... it was a bit worse for wear after neglecting it for the past three months with sun, sand, and chlorine... The good news there is that bamboo tattoos heal much more quickly than machine tattoos do, and they hurt WAY less too! So hopefully this one won't fade out as much this time. For ten dollars though, I won't complain if it does.

Anywaaaaaaaaay, I spent a few hours on the beach my last day and then made the trek back to Bangkok to enjoy one last night of Thai bliss. I got a manicure, pedicure, wax, Thai massage, and as much thai food as I could fit into my body before finally wondering down the crazy streets laughing at all the drunk people, and lady boys stumbling home from a big night out, getting back to my hostel, and crashing out around 2:00am.

Thus ends Thailand for Christy Smith. Standby for further updates as Christy's Adventures continue on: THE DETOUR DOWN UNDER

Hanoi - Sapa... The last leg of my Vietnam adventure!

Ok... time to update the old blog- but this may be a short entry cause this keyboard is formatted to input Vietnamese so it keeps putting weird letters and accents in place of regular English-- so pardon the "Chinglish" if I make numerous typos... hahaha the joys of traveling. I asked the two night-time guys here to help me but they're total tools, and no speaky too good... soo yah... hêre ưe go!

I arrived back from Halong Bay on Friday at 5pm and Ruby and I caught the night train to Sapa at 8pm. Pretty quick turn around.. but we made it! I had planned to buy a return ticket from Sapa to Hanoi from the train station, but the ticket lady was super rude. After standing in line for 15 minutes, she said a return ticket would cost $300,000 dong. I got my money out and handed it through the glass, and then she said she was too busy to help me, and told me to go away. Meanwhile, she carried on helping all of the Vietnamese people in line trying to buy the same tickets for a fraction of the price. Eventually I gave up after three failed attempts with two sêparate ticket agents and conceded to buy one from a travel agent in Sapa for an even HIGHER price... I was super confused because I haven't been treated so badly before by any of the countries I've visited, but I soon learned- such is life as a traveler in Northern Vietnam- people are downright nasty up herrrrrrr!!

We arrived in Sapa around 5:30am and Ruby had called a tour company to arrange a seat on a shuttle bus to take us from the train station to Sapa- about 30 minutes drive. This ended up being a huge P.I.T.A. because the driver dropped us off at a hotel that had no vacancy, and then some random "tour guide" showed up and wouldn't leave us alone until we allowed him to take us to a hotel (that paid him commission). The deal was, if ưe stayed in this hotel, the bus would be free- otherwise, god only knows what the price would be--- this is why I never pre-book stuff when I travel, but Ruby is much more trusting than I am... So... anyway, buddy takes us to this dive of a hostel, for $11/night, which is about $5 more expensive than anything else in town, and about 10x more dodgy. But we dropped our stuff off so we could avoid wasting any more time arguing with anyone.

From thêre we continued on to the Sapa market where I picked up a cheap North Face knockoff jacket, and a few souvenirs. I also wandered through the "local" market where they sell mainly household items, produce, spices, and meat- Here is where I found FRESH BUTCHERED DOG FOR SALE! AHH!


The hill tribe people were EVERYWHERE, and very much "in your face" at all times. I'm normally pretty patient with this kind of thing, and I usually enjoy talking to peddlers and lôoking at their stuff- just for kicks, but thêse people were awful! I got sooooo claustrophobic cause they'd basically attack you mob style and give you no way to escape them until you were forced to snap and tear a strip off someone. Asking politely for space, or saying no thanks one hundred and fifty times, goes nowhere!

Later that day I bumped into an Aussie that I had met a couple weeks ago in Nha Trang. We got to talking and decided to check out a waterfall nearby via motorbike. Well- this ended up being a gong show too because first of all, the bike wouldn't start, then it needed another part, then it was dropped on ít side, and cracked a display case in a merchant shop- which cost the Aussie $200,000 dong, by the time we were finally ready to go, it started monsooning!! We grabbed a coffee to wait it out, and were confronted by a young girl peddler- the rudest of the bunch. She continued to stand beside our table verbally abusing us for not buying from her for the next 45 minutes. Despite asking her to leave about 100 times, she refused, and dropped so many F-bombs I lost count. I wonder who the jerk-face tourist was who taught her that!? :-(
The weather finally cleared up so we took off on the bike- only it started raining again within 5 minutes of the trip. I quickly got drenched, and we ended up breaking down again, and taking a wrong turn somewhere before heading back without seeing any waterfalls...
Soaking wet and cold, I went to find a place to have dinner with Ruby. While at dinner, I had a great idea to call one of the nice hotel/spas and see if we could go use their hot tub... The front desk clerk said we could use their hot tub for $10 and that would include use of their steam room and sauna... SOLD! I spent the next half hour walking in the rain (thêre are no taxis in Sapa) up a large hill to the hotel/spa, only to discover- NO HOT TUB! The hotel people were huge jerks about the whole thing- which was not surprising by this stage of the game- and Ruby ended up buying a $55 massage just so she could get a ride home as her knee was hurting too much to walk back.

Later that night, I ended up having a domestic díspute with my hotel because thêre were no sheets on my bed, and nobody could speak English to understand what I needed. I said "no sheets, I NO PAY" which they miraculously understood, and then presented me with a bill for $11 for the room + 40,000 dong for the shuttle bus!!!!!!!!!!! This made me snap because the ONLY reason we were even thêre was for the free shuttle-Meanwhile, a room full of Vietnamese people across the hall thought it would be hilarious to try and pimp out tưo older men to me, who started trying to enter my room while making sexy noises and pelvic thrusts... this action resulted in an appearance by super-grumpy Christy who ripped up the hotel bill, threw it on the ground, and slammed the hotel room door in the face of the two men. Nothin but class...
The next day started out well- We ưent to the Bac Ha market- about 3 hours away, which happens only on Sundays... The market was great! So many amazing costumes, and cool handmade things to look at and buy. I took loads of photos of the locals wearing their traditional costumes. We stopped for lunch (which was HORRIBLE) and then continued on to a small villiage to have a short walk, and then to the border of China/Vietnam where I snapped a shot of the China side before loading up in the van again to head home....

This is when day two took a turn for the worse- around 7pm, I had a light supper of a veggie sandwich, and tea and started feeling realllllllllly sick... I managed to stagger back to my room before becoming violently ill and spent the next 24 hours wanting to die-- FOOD PÔISONING-- not fun... but it was bound to happen at some point on my SE Asia tour, and might as well have been the dang N. Vietnamese that did it!

The following day, I was still feeling a bit woozy, but I caught the night train back to Hanoi and went back to the hostel I stayed in before. Sooooooooo, all in all, Sapa wasn't my favorite part of the trip so far- in fact, aside from the gorgeous scenery, cool costumes, and markets- I don't have many great things to report. Maybe my expectations ưere too high, as many people I've met said Sapa was one of their favorite places... or maybe I just had a string of bad Karma- either way, the last few days have made me MORE than ready to be blowin this popsicle stand tomorrow to head to Bangkok. It's too bad this had to happen at the end, as it left a bad taste in my mouth for the Vietnamese- however, if it happened at the beginning I may not have wanted to see the rest of the great things the country has to offer- so maybe its a good thing....
Oh and by the way, thêre ảe about 10 other brutal incidents that happened with people ripping me off being unbelievably rude (including a parting F-you from the night time staff at my hostel in Hanoi) I opted not to report for tưo reasons - 1. It's negative, and I don't need to focus on that, and 2. This keyboard is driving me mental...

So with that, I'm out! PEACE

Hue - Hanoi - Halong Bay (aka Nirvana)

Right, so I have a bit of catching up to do, as the last few days have been a whirlwind of travel, when compared to my last two lazy weeks in Hoi An and Nha Trang... So- Here goes

HOI AN - HUE

I took a train from DaNang, just outside of Hoi An, to Hue because I had heard the trip was scenic, and the train went through several mountains, and went over the highest peak of the railway system between these two places. GREAT ADVISE! The trip was fantastic-- with exception to the bad breathed Vietnamese man sitting beside me that decided to strike up conversation every hour or so... (HHHHHEY, MHHYY NHHHAME IHHHS HHHHHONG- foul). I also had to remind him of the invisible line between our seats that represents the division of my space, and his, as at one point I was squashed so far to the asile, I had one butt cheek hanging off the side of the seat. Thank goodness for tuning out via iPod is all I have to say about that... buuuut, back to the view- phenominal! We went through several tunnels between mountains and the green hills and ocean views were unforgettable! Needless to say the ride passed quickly, and soon enough I had arrived in Hue.

I met a couple of backpackers from Slovenia before boarding the train, so we met up after we arrived in Hue and shared a taxi to a hostel. Afterwards we had a quick dinner, and then I hit the sack. I got up the following day and went for a walk around Hue. It used to be the capital of Vientam and the home of the emperor, so there is a lot of history. I walked to a walled mini-city called the Citidel and wondered around looking at the various buldings and statues contained within. I met an Irish traveller wondering around and we chatted for a while before I continued on to a park to stop for a break on my way home.

At the park I ran into some old Vietnamese dudes playing some form of "Asia-Botchie" that had eight lead balls instead of the tratitional two balls for botchie that I've always used... I hung out watching them for a while hoping that they'd finish, and I could take on the winner for a $15,000 dong prize, and bragging rights, but they took too long... So, then I walked over to the gardens and took some pictures of the beautiful statues they had. Obviously, when I encountered the female statue with breasts, I had no choice but to set the self timer on my camera (while it balanced on top of my water bottle) and took a picture of myself molesting said statue. This was going well until some female garderers insisted on taking my picture- which was rather embarassing, so I had to pose naturally for the second shot.

On the way home, I got caught in a monsoon downpour- again- and enjoyed the funny looks I received from the locals wondering why the crazy blonde tourist wasn't sporting an umbrella (which I ALWAYS forget to bring on monsoon days) or a poncho. While I walked, I rocked out to my iPod and wondered WHY on EARTH is it that everytime you want to find a cyclo driver, they are NOWHERE to be found- yet every other second of the day it's: HELLO! MISS... WHERE YOU GO? HELLO!!! I TAKE YOU! MISS!! OVER HERE!! HELLLOOOOO!

HUE - HANOI

The following day (Tuesday), I slept in, had a lazy breakfast, and prepared for my flight to Hanoi. As it turned out, my flight was two hours delayed... so I used the time productivly to book flights home! I will be coming home on October 9th, at 11:00am.... So y'all can go ahead and get your welcome home signs, and champagne ready for my arrival in YYJ mmmmmmmmmkay.....?

So I arrived in Hanoi late, around 4:30pm and felt really super nervous about getting a taxi. I'd heard many, many horror stories about robberies, and being taken to the wrong hostels and stuff... so I decided to book a hostel, and requested they send a driver for me. This went well, and I arrived safe and sound! YAY!

Once I arrived at my hostel, I made arrangements to leave the following day (Wednesday) for Halong Bay. I went out for dinner, picked up an "authentic" North Face backpack for $8 and packed it for my trip. I figured I'd invest in a smaller pack so that I wouldn't have to haul my big one all over Halong, and Sapa for the next week- an excellent call I'd say!

Soooo, now we get to my favorite part: HALONG BAY

The trip started with a long drive to the boat launch area. Once we arrived, I was confronted by a cute little tour guide named Jenny and taken away from my bus group (a fun mix of european backpackers) and put with a group of 12 Asian tourists (hello kitty).....

I was pretty bummed out about this at first, as most of them didn't speak english, but I soon found out this was only the Universe intervening, as there was a very special person on the boat I was meant to meet later on.

Once on the boat we had a seafood lunch, that wasn't that fresh, or delicious, considering the circumstances, and then we began our cruise. I went by myself to the top deck where I rocked out to my iPod while watching the scenery and topping off my tan- paradise. As you can see by this stunner photo, Halong Bay is pretty much the most amazing thing EVER. It's soooo beautiful!! I had a smile across my face the entire time! Eventually we ended up in a small bay where we stopped to check out the "Amazing Caves" (touristy, but a couple good views) and then went to another bay go for a swim and watch the sunset. It was then that I met Ruby- my newest travel friend.

I had noticed her sitting alone at lunch earlier and wanted to sit with her- but I couldn't because we share communal food, and my table was a meat eating one, and she is a vegetarian. So anyway, Ruby and I went swimming together and I had the fortune of learning all about her massivly interesting life. She is in her fifties, was born in India, got her PhD in England, and then practiced medicine, and public healthcare in over 50 countries in the world, she has done consulting in over 100! Currently she lives in Papua New Guinea where she teaches Public Healthcare at a University. We've had an amazing time talking together, and have decided to go to Sapa together tomorrow night.

Anyway, back to Halong Bay, Ruby and I decided to sleep on the top deck of the boat last night instead of in the cabins- and it was AMAZING! I watched the moon rise over the crest of the stacks and rock formations, and starred at the stars until drifting to sleep. I also watched the sun rise the next morning before retiring to my cabin to get a few extra hours in before breaky... Definitely one of the highlites of my trip- potentially my life.

During the night, Ruby told me all about India, and invited me to attend an Ashram with her near the Himmalayas- done aaaaaaaand done... just a matter of when I'll get around to it, but I know it'll be in my future for sure!

Today, we went to a national park where we took motorbikes over to a small villiage and went on a jungle trek... about 10 minutes before the trek, I was off taking a picture of some villiage pigs and I tripped over myself, and somehow smashed my foot into a pointy stick which pushed itself into my toe, and under my newly pedicured toenail... GROSS! I literally had my toenails painted for less than thirty minutes before this happend- typical Christy Smith! Anyway, being the troopy tropperson I am, I got a wet napkin, and tied it around my toe with an elastic band to stop the bleeding before treking.

While on the trek, we hiked up a small rocky hill to a cave. We walked through the cave and on the other side was a long vine (tarzan style) hanging down... Naturally, I had to transform into Janine of the Jungle and climb up the vine while swinging side to side until I got vine-burn (like rope burn) on my ankle (SMRT). So, now I have multiple injuries, but it was totally worth it- and I have pictures to prove it!

After the trek, as if the day could get any better, we went to another place and went kayaking around the bay-- AMAZING!! It was so peaceful and beautiful, it was actually overwhelming to me. I was really looking forward to the kayaking and enjoyed every minute.

Anyway, now I'm staying the night on an Island in a hotel here, and I have to be up in six hours to start the trek back to Hanoi, so I should really wrap this up... Hope everyone is faaaaaaantastic, and I am pumped for sharing some bubbly upon my return October 9th!! WOOT WOOOOOOOT! Yeaaa Turkey Weekend!

This is Janine of the Jungle, signing off! xo

I think I'm in LOVE!!! (with Hoi An)

This city is just so beautiful! I am in love with the architecture, the people, the culture--- and I have a new found love for the monsoon!

Yesterday, I decided to go for a walk to the city-centre where I sat on the edge of the river watching boats go by, and listening to the sounds of Hoi An: motorbikes, children playing, clay whistles being blown, and tailors calling tourists into shops- HELLO! LADY, YOU BUY SOMETHING?!

After I was finished sitting by the river I decided to go to a classy little restaurant called River Lounge for a bite to eat. For $6 I enjoyed a three course meal starting with a trio of tapa sized appies (Fried spring rolls on top of a sweet mango salad, spicy pumpkin soup, and fresh spring rolls on top of spicy papaya salad...mmmmmmmm), Fresh bass with lemon grass and ginger, and a casheew nut brownie with a Vietnamese coffee. Thank goodness you can't eat like that in Canada for six bux a pop, cause I might turn into a type A diabetic!

After dinner, I walked home and got caught in a ridiculous monsoon. Rather than duck into a store to wait it out, I decided to just enjoy it. I walked down the centre of the street getting SOAKED while shop keepers yelled to me that they could sell me a poncho or umbrella- I didn't want one. When I got home, I figured since I was already soaked, I might as well throw on my runners and go for a monsoon run... so I did! It was the first time I had done any form of exercise (aside from walking) since leaving Canada, but it was GREAT! I ran, and ran and ran, for around 30-45 minutes (dunno exactly cause I didn't have a watch) and I didn't feel tired at all. I could have gone forever. On my run I saw a few Hoi An specialties such as 3 huge river rats, a grasshoper the size of my fist that jumped out in front of me and scared the living daylights out of me, and a Vietnamese Jazzersize Aerobics class.

After running past the aerobics class twice, I decided on round three I'd go in and check it out. I stood in the doorway mimicing their moves until one of the ladies noticed me, started laughing, and invited me in to join. I entered the gym and started bustin a move to Dance mix '95. We actually did the Mararena at one point... no joke! It was so awesome, the ten ladies in the class were all about ages 33-45 and decked out in full on 3/4 length black leggings with flourescent thong backed body suits (circa 1987). One of the body suits, my personal fav, was rainbow coloured with a sheer black pannel around the waist to show off those kickin curves. I wish I had had a video camera to document some of the rockin Asian Jazzercise moves, because seriously, I had to focus like a mofo to keep a straight face bustin a move with them.

After the jazzercise we got our fitness on with some dumbell dancing... I can't even describe the amount of pelvis thrusting that was involved in this. Honestly, at one point I thought I would throw my back out. Plus, you have to appreciate the entire time, the teacher is blasting out Vietnamese encouragement and counting in time to the music. MOT, HAI, BA, BON, NAM, SAU, BAY, TAM! Priceless.

After we were done the class, I ended up in a Hula Hoop competition with a 40 year old Vietnamese lady.... despite my efforts (a good 8 minutes without dropping the hoop) she won! Sooooooo much fun! Eventually, I finished chatting with them, and ran all the way back to the hotel, stomping through puddles up to my ankles the whole way there. I had to wring out my clothes in the bathtub after I got home... it was crazy how soaked I was, but it was totally worth it. Me and the monsoon are friends now.

Anyway, I've gotta get out there and enjoy some of this glorious day... I think it may be my last night in Hoi An, cause I'm thinking of heading to Da Nang, or Hue tomorrow by train.

Keep it real kids! HOLLA!

National Day- and Full Moon Festival in Hoi An

Although I had planned to spend a day in Hoi An at the beautiful beaches, the weather has not been very cooperative. Yesterday it started monsooning like CRAAAAZY, and hasn't stopped since. It put a bit of a damper on the Full Moon festivities for National Day, but I think everyone managed to have a good time anyway- I know I did!

I've made friends with some of the local girls who work at the hotel I'm staying at. They are so cute. Everytime I come or go from my room I'm greeted with a "HELLO CHRISTY! HOW YOU TODAY?!" I sat around with one of the girls for over an hour yesterday talking about all sorts of things. She told me she works here 12 hours/day 7 days a week- I suggested she move to Canada... I cannot imagine how she has any time to herself!! The girls even sleep here, on the floor behind the front desk with a blanket and a mosquito net. She said she was grateful for the job because she used to work in a tailor here, and that was even worse... Thank goodness I was born in Canada, doesn't seem like much fun to have to work so hard everyday...

I wondered around downtown for a while yesterday afternoon and when I got back to the hotel I noticed there was a table set up outside with a bunch of soups, fruit, and other things. Now, it's normal here to offer food to Budda everyday, but never so elaborate as this spread was. I asked the girls if this was special for full moon, and apparently it was. They said that they offer the food to Budda, and also to the spirits who roam the earth (in case the spirits are hungry, and also so that they don't haunt them) and once the food has been offered to and blessed by Budda, then they collect it and eat it.

I was pretty touched cause later on, I was going up to my room and they insisted I take some of the squid soup (made from beans and sugar, not squid) up to my room with me to eat. I dunno how many foreigners get to eat food blessed by Budda himself, so I felt pretty honoured! I had to calm my OCD a little to force myself to eat a few mouthfulls (knowing that it had sat outside with bugs crawling all over it all afternoon) so that I woudn't offend anyone- especially Budda!

I brought it up to my room and decided to take a break from the soup while I got ready to go out for the full moon festival.... While I was getting ready, an army of ants smelled my squid soup and next thing I knew there were THOUSANDS of them swarming about in my good karma! I had a minor panic attack trying to pick up the bowl and put it in the sink to drown the little bastards, but I did it! (I'm getting much better at dealing with some of SE Asia's finer points these days). I eventually flushed the rest down the toilet, but now I'm afraid that Budda will be mad at me... fingers crossed, he'll understand.

After that escapade, I walked down the street towards town, and on the way there I ran into a big circle of locals laughing and cheering at something that was going on inside the circle... Naturally, I had to stop and see what all the fuss was about, so I watched for a while, and eventually worked my way through to the front of the circle where I saw a guy standing with a painted mask made from what looked like a woven basket. It had hair coming out of the top of it, and a big fu-man-chu beard thing going on at the bottom... super awesome! The guy obviously couldn't see through the mask, and he had a club in his hand... At first I was looking for some kind of piniatta- but then I realized it's "same same, but different." What they do here is spin the guy around with the mask on, and then he has to walk forward towards a drum and try and line himself up in the right spot to strike the drum with his club. I'm not sure if it was the traditional Dong Son bronze drum (that leaves an impact on those around) or not, but I felt some pretty sweet energy coming from there, so either way, I'm happy!

From there I walked across the Japanese bridge, which is a major historical site here, and went into some kind of pagoda that I'm pretty sure I'd normally have to pay for... but it was packed with locals, so I figured it was probably free for the night. I walked around there and watched people pray, while I breathed in the spicy incense that was burning EVERYWHERE.

Then I continued on towards the river and walked along the riverfront until a little lady with a bunch of tiny paper boats holding candles asked me if I would like to buy one (in Vietnamese, so, at first I didn't understand a thing). I asked a young local girl beside me to translate, and told her that I'd like to buy one of the lanterns and go for a boat ride. She told me that for $5000 dong (about 30 cents) I get a paper boat, candle, and a boat ride! SOLD! To thank her I bought her a boat also, and she and her three friends and I all ventured out to the river to release our paper lantern boats. IT WAS AMAZING... Not only were there dozens of candle boats flickering along the water, but there are several permanent lantern statues scattered about the river as well that were obviously lit up. It was definitely one of the most beautiful things ever... I don't even know how to describe it, but the closest thing I imagine would be maybe going through the canals in Italy-- only this was waaay less touristy, and much more authentic. The three kids I were with were all 17, and were so excited to be in the boat with me... They wanted me to have the best experience ever, and so after I released my boat, they kept leaning over and catching new ones to give me to re-release into the water. They tried taking a few videos and photos of me, but apparently even though my Olympus was made in Vietnam- the Vietnamese do not understand how to use it! hahaha It's okay though, they ended up getting a few seconds of good stuff, and one good picture.

After that I couldn't wipe the smile off my face to save my LIFE, and this ended up attracting even more good things. Everyone I passed reflected my happiness right back at me, and I ended up meeting a group of English tourists who took a picture for me, gave me the name of a good cooking class here, and then invited me to join them in Sapa next week. I have their email address in case I end up there around the same time.

By the time I finished things with them I realized it was like 9, and I still hadn't eaten anything, so I walked to a small cafe alongside the river, got some food, and people-watched.

Pretty stellar night eh! Anyway, I think I'm just going to have a quiet night tonight, and maybe watch some TV in my room or something. With any luck I can find something in English!

OH! And one more thing... I finally set a time to stop being a gypsy and head home: Thanksgiving! I figure it'll be symbolic since this trip has made me realize how INCREDIBLY much I have to be thankful for in my life... Plus all of youl can thank your lucky stars that your best peep in the universe is back in town! ;-) HOLLA!

Hoi An.... A Diva's Paradise!

I've been in Hoi An for four days and three nights now, and I'm loving every moment. The architecture here is very old-world French, and there are over 400 tailors available to make ANYTHING you can imagine. The streets are lined with colourful Vietnamese lanterns, and the silk fabrics are to die for. I'm pretty sure I could easily spend a week or two here just walking around gawking at the amazing lanterns, silk fabrics, and beautiful people.

The last two days here have been very busy for me! The first day, I went around to several different tailors picking out fabrics and designs to have some clothing made. First I went to Yaly and picked out a navy blue cashmire/wool blend suit fabric for pants, a blazer, and a skirt. Yaly is supposedly the best tailor in town, and they have some AMAZING couture dresses and coats... I decided I must become a rock-star, or famous actress at some point in my life so I can justify having a crazy couture dress made to rock on the red carpet! Seriously, some of them had peacock feathers sewn into the design!! Amazing stuff!! I tried to take some photos, but, its one of those things that is much better to see in person.

From there I went to the fabric market, where you can buy fabric and tailoring for much cheaper than you can in the stores. There I chose fabric, and designed the most gangsta get-up of all time. A pair of white pants with a small black pinstripe going through them, a matching vest lined in bright pink silk, and a charcoal grey dress shirt to match. After I finished at the market I went to a shop called Peace (soooo asian) where I drew sketches for a red peacoat that is lined with black silk that has really amazing embroidery all over it.

Later that evening, while the tailors were busy sewing up all my goods, I went for a walk and saw a super pretty silk dress in the window of a shop. I wasn't really looking for a dress, but I started talking to the lady in the store and I ended up trying on the dress that was already made on the manequin. It fit me almost perfectly (which always happens when you're NOT looking) so I bartered her down from $50 to $25 and bought the dress. She even altered it for me so now it absolutley perfect!!

Yesterday was my crazy busy day of running around from tailor to tailor for fittings, and refittings to make sure everything was just so. Normally this woudn't be so bad, but because I ended up buying from four different tailors, it was super crazy cycling from one to the next, and getting lost about a dozen times in between! I can't help it, they all look the same to me!! (Why couldn't God have just given me a sense of direction... I mean, I'm greatful for the blonde hair and blue eyes and all... but FML travelling when you're geographically challenged is tricky!) Throw in some 40 degree heat to the mix, and the Vietnamese language barrier whenever I asked for directions, and you'll start to get a pretty good idea of the chaos.

Eventually after about 10 fittings of my suit, and 2 of each the other items, I was good to go! Now, to try and get it all home in one piece....

Not only do they have shopping galore here, but apparently the beach here is really gorgeous too! I haven't made it there yet though... I had the best intentions to head that way today, but unfortunately it's the first rainy day I've seen since Laos. This is particularly disappointing because today is National Day in Vietnam. It is also the day of the full moon- which means there is supposed to be some celebrations happening downtown later on, however I'm not sure if it will happen if it is too rainy, and cloudy. I really hope it clears up, but it doesn't look too promising at this point. :-(

Apparently what was supposed to happen tonight is they shut off the electricity downtown, and the streets are lined with silk lanterns that are lit with candles. There is usually traditional music being played on Vietnamese intruments and they make dozens of miniature paper boats that they put candles in and send floating down the river.... A few nights ago while I was having dinner, I saw a riverboat releasing a few floating boat candles, and it was SOOO GORGEOUS! Almost surreal to see, I've only ever seen stuff like that in movies before. Now I can check one more thing off the life-list.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna head out now cause there seems to be a break in the weather, and I think it's best I make a mad dash for my hotel before it starts up again... Until next time- PEACE!