soaking wet dong: a brief history of the past four days

Today, I FINALLY have time and internet woooooop! Let me fill you in on the last four days in Việt nam.

WEDNESDAY:
Today, with a 7:3o am start (YESSSS) we began our tour of the Mekong Delta, just slightly south east of Saigon. We took a little boat and toured a bunch of islands there and I held a python around my neck, NBD. We also went to a place that made "snake wine", which is as much wine as 20 snakes soaked in everclear is. Also, if I thought I was losing weight here, our ten course lunch proved me wrong. In the afternoon we finally had some free time to roam around HCMC. We went to the Ben Thanh market, which was like an indoor shuk on serious steriods. Luckily, to escape the heat and satisfy my Fraiche craving, we found a fro yo place across the street. This was almost as satisfying as doing aerobics to Hindi-techno music in the central park with about 25 vietnamese ladies. MLIA.

THURSDAY:
Today, we left Saigon and flew into Danang airport, into central vietnam, and literally into a typhoon. I have literally never seen so much rain in my life, all of the streets were flooded, but of course, all of the motor bikes were zooming at full speed. The latest and most practical trend in Vietnamese fashion is the plastic full body poncho with a hood. They come in many colors and patterns such as neon green and clear with purple polka-dots, and can be purchased for the lofty price of $.56 at any of the trendiest boutiques. MLIA.

FRIDAY:
Today, the rain stopped (but not for long, we'll get to that later) and I enjoyed what was my favorite day so far on the trip. We started the morning with a walking tour of historic Hoi An, or what I like to call the cutest fucking town in Vietnam. Everything was picture perfect: the old wrinkly women selling vegetables in the marketplace, the colorful boats on the river, the shop (after shop after shop) lined streets, the ornate pagodas and the famous Japanese covered bridge. In the afternoon, after a seminar about the aftermath of French colonialism and the rise of nationalism (yipee), a bunch of us went to Cua Dai beach. Though the clouds were gray (something we are quickly getting used to), we enjoyed the 90 degree water and the dead pig washed up to shore. I'm pretty sure I now have swine flu, please don't tell the Vietnamese government. Of course shortly after the rain began again, but we ventured into Hoi An to try to find a place to eat anyways. What seemed like a pretty easy journey in a tiny town turned into the biggest wet mess in the world. Drenched would have to be the largest understatment of the past 1000 years, as we waded through 6 inches of water accented with pieces of vegetables and fish floating around left over from the vendors in the central marketplace. Needless to say, our dongs were soaking wet (that's the Vietnamese currency, stop being so dirty). 30 minutes later, we found a dry restaurant. Naturally, I ordered a pizza. MLIA.

TODAY, we began the morning with a visit to the My Son ruins of the indigenous Cham people of Vietnam who were masters of bricklaying and pretty amazing. We had the afternoon off again, so a bunch of the girls went back to downtown Hoi An to do some shopping. And I thought forever 21 was overwhelming. First of all, there were probably over 200 "tailor made" cloth/clothing shops in Hoi An (a town with three streets). You could literally get ANYTHING made in any fabric and they'd have it done for you the next day. Like the prettiest taffeta silk dresses, great wool coats etc. for only $20-$40 but since I had gone to the beach the day before, I ran out of time. Instead, I hit up a bunch of the equally numerous leather shoe stores. HO.LY.SHIT. Again, you could get any kind of leather sandal in any color you wanted. In fact, I have a pair of gold gladiator sandals I designed for the whopping price of $8 USD that should have been delivered to the front desk of the hotel. I'm gonna go check up on that.MLIA.


_(miss and love you all)_