I ate last night at a locals house, a friend of a friend, whose English is very good and who has been very hospitable to us. He took us about thirty minutes from campus north of town to his in-laws home.
On the way there we crossed a bridge which gave us our first look at the structures lining the waterway. While taking photos thus woman slowly and blankly began to exit the bridgeway, as if to jump off the bridge. It wasn't any taller than a high dive, I don't think, but still the act alerted our host. Normally timid, he approached her and started talking, grabbing her arm as she started to position herself. He motioned for Todd to come and help. She wouldn't respond and was quite blank. All of this occurred on a busy, little bridge leading to the outskirts of town and meant that traffic had to be stopped. About another five or six men joined to help pull her back over from the exterior part of the bridge and on to the ground. She was completely out of it, curlers still in her hair. It was a very strange experience.
She then followed us on the road, talking about how her son was in California and how she was needing to get to ho chi Minh city. Later on we say her reconnect with her family, whom she didn't recognize and go down a smoothie with then at a shop down the street. Very odd. Apparently that sort of thing doesn't happen much... But we have encountered two very crazy people since being here. I just hope I don't run into any on my travels alone.
At his house they have tons of geese (ducks) and chickens, which people apparently give as gifts. He keeps them and chooses not to eat them. Also there are coconut trees, whose trunk and coconuts we ate during the course of our meal. We also apparently ate the neighbors goose!
We had guava, which I bypassed being full, spring rolls, soup like chicken noodle with cracked rice, some tofu with sweet and sour sauce (like a jalapeño popper! - my favorite) and then the chicken, sprouts, mushrooms, and onions, etc. dish. It's true that they say etcetera, etcetera, etcetera here. Also we drank the juice of two coconuts. I grabbed many pictures of the house, the setting sun against the coconut trees, and the birds, as well as a second outdoor bathroom for the family. It goes like this. There is an ice chest made of styrofoam that has no floor that sits above a little wetland. There is a compartment to the side that holds what I first thought was reading material (newspaper), but now realize is whiping material. It was quite a site.
The homes there are not closed to the outdoors. There are slats towards the top of the ceiling that allow the hot air to exit, not like the temperature reaches anything near 75 or 80 or even 85, with the heat index. It doesn't feel so bad on your skin though as the dry heat at times.
Which leads me to another point. It's very difficult to tell hoe hot you are and how much your body is exerting. This morning didn't feel very hot, but it was one hell of a workout to walk just a few miles. When I return home I think my body will be acclimated to humidity, but that my post-mini muscles may be gone.
After dinner we walked a few doors down to the big Buddhist pagoda. Whoa is he big and happy! We got to see the evening service at about 7 o'clock and walked around the grounds to marvel at the various statues. By the end of the day, we were completely pooped out! Geez! We took a can home to the tune of 1.50 us dollars and - after realizing how far away from home we actually were, I was glad we took the cab in the end.
This morning we got up to have breakfast at 8 o'clock - very late by our 6am standards. Todd hasn't had the best sleep here. I sleep like a cucumber, an American one of course. Cool and long. We went out for good noodle soup - very good - with mint and tea. Waaay too much food, again and I'm tired of darn noodle soup, but this one was better than most.
In our guest house it's tough for us to get them to put fruit on the table. Here they have all American fruits plus all this wondeful stuff I've never heard of. Today for lunch we had fruit, lotus, and what tasted like artichoke juice. Very good! Coconut milk and water jello stuff. And then a fruit salad of guava, avocado, dragonfruit, pear, rembutain, and a few other fruits I can't recall. The salad was sprinkled with strawberry syrup and sweetened condensed milk, which made a fake bubble gum or cotton candy taste wow! - was it good!
Now were charted to go out again for coffee in one hour. I just wanna do touristy stuff on the weekends. This is the only time we have here and we should go out and make the most of it!
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