I wanted to try and write about each and every day that goes on here in Vietnam, but there's so much to do and so little time that I haven't been able to do so. It's already Sunday here in Vietnam (we're a day ahead) and it seems like only a day or so has gone by. On friday we decided to do a little shopping and hit the market. The market is pretty much 7 mile fair in Wisconsin where you can pretty much find anything you want; but here in vietnam it's so much better. They have everything from jewelry like jade bracelets, necklaces, rings, statues, toys, any kind of asian food you can think of; clothes, footwear, fabric, electronics, souvenirs, etc. I could go on an on, but I think you get the point…. That’s the place to go shopping!
The kewl thing about it is that most of the places you can bargin for different things, so if that’s your kind of thing you can bargin to get the lowest price on an item or just look somewhere else for it, for a cheaper price. My cousin Linh is definitely a pro at it though. What we would do is, if I wanted something I would tell here and then she would tell the person selling the item to go lower and if they wouldn’t go down to a price we would like, we would walk away.
Now this is where my impulse kicks in, and I’m definitely bad at that. If I want something I usually want it then and there. So the first time we did the bargining, and we were walking away my impulse instinct kicked in and I kept telling my brother and Linh, that we should go back and just get the item I wanted. But Linh just winked at me and my brother said just watch and hold up….. And sure enough the person selling the item, would come running up to us telling us that they well sell the item we wanted for the price we wanted. It was bargining at it’s finest, and I have Linh to thank for that. I think if I want to go shopping anywhere I have to take her with!
After we done a little shopping and hanged out at the hotel, we went out to look for this restaurant my mom seen in this Vietnam book. If you have never went to Vietnam, the streets are crazy with traffic with people in cars, bikes and mopeds and bicycles. If you thought Chicago traffic was crazy you should go here! I actually think that the Vietnamese people are better drivers, but there are so many people riding vehicles that it’s very intimidating to cross the street. You pretty much have to just pick a spot and just go, and just walk slowly, otherwise your arse will get hit! Another thing is you can’t ever hesitate otherwise you’ll get hit as well, but after the first couple times you’ll get use to walking in the street.
We couldn’t find the place my mom was looking for so we went to this place that was recommended by some local security guard out in the street that was across from where he was at. It was pretty good food considering I’m the most picky eater in the world! I actually ordered a Australian steak with fries (my cuz from Australia calls them chips) and my brother ordered this orange chicken. I wish I would’ve picked what my brother did because that stuff was great! My brother keeps trying to find that plate at every restaurant we go to now, and I have to agree with him, it was excellent! The food was actually a little more expensive then a usual restaurant, but I think it was well worth it.
Our bellies were all full, and we wanted to go out dancing, so we went out to hit the clubs and see how they did it Vietnamese style. The first club we went to, was actually right next door, so that was really kewl because we didn’t have to do any walking around. I really don’t care how far we go because these days I’m not walking I’m just rolling! My brother does all of the pushing, so I have to give big props to him helping me out. One thing is for sure in Vietnam; it’s definitely not a place for wheelchairs. The sidewalks (if you can call them that, are all uneven and have potholes and big curbs ranging from 8 inches to 2 feet, so my brother Jason is always having a workout pushing my arse around! They are some ramps by the edge of the curbs, but everybody parks there motorcycles on the sidewalk so half the time Jason’s pushing me in the street with all the hundreds of drivers. Since I have been here I have not seen 1 WHEELCHAIR! That’s prolly why everybody looks at us when we are walking around. That, and because we are also tourists.
So let me get back to talking about the club. I forgot the name of the club, but it was on the second floor ( more steps yippie for me and Jason!) and when we got upstairs and went it it was dark as hell. It was so dark that the people working there would shine a flashlight on the ground to show us where to sit down. It was like a restaurant slash club, and when we went in there, we saw a couple of people dancing to the band that was playing this jazz rock Vietnamese music. After a couple of minutes a guy came by us and flashed his flashlight at the menu to show us what was on the menu to drink. We were there for about 10 minutes and then the band stopped playing, and then all of a sudden this house beat kicked in and everybody got up and started dancing! One this is for sure in Vietnam…. They love there house/techno music!
There was actually an older crowd of people dancing to the music, which surprised me because I didn’t think many people over 35 liked electronic music, but there they were kickin a groove to the beats. I’d like to point out the all the older people were men and they were dancing with women that looked half their age. The club had decent lights, but for some reason they just mostly used the strobe lights. My mom and dad actually came with us and they had their hands over their eyes practically the whole time the house music was goin on, because of the strobe lights. We were about to go, but after 30 minutes, the house music stopped and the band came back to play, so we decided to stay a little bit longer because they were playing a couple slow songs and gus,linh,mom and my dad got up and slow danced.
We decided to leave after a couple of slow songs, and my ozzy (Australian) and Vietnamese cousins wanted to hit up another club so off we went! My mom and dad actually wanted to come to another club, so we all went. It kinda surprised me because my mom hasn’t really ever went to a club, and my dad looked pretty jet lagged. We found this other nightclub not to far away call the Rainforest. When we went in it looked just like a club you would see in the states. They had a couple of tables in the back and the dance floor took up the rest of the room. They had a DJ spinning some house,techno and everybody looked like they were having a good time. Someone was having a birthday because there was TV screens saying happy birthday to the person, and someone on the mic would say happy birthday every 10 minutes as well.
The DJ wasn’t that good though, because at one time he just killed the flow ( a sign of a bad DJ ) and at one poin the played a remix version of MC Hammer, “ You Can’t Touch This “, so when I heard that I just laughed out loud. It was pretty packed, but the music all stopped at midnight because it was more of a restaurant than a club, which kinda surprised me because it looked straight up like a club from the states. When the music stopped at midnight we all left and went to the hotel to sleep, because we had to get up early to do another adventure the next day.
Well that pretty much sums it all up for that day! I’m actually 2 days behind on telling you what happened, but I’m not going to forget what happened on those days. I will write about it as soon as I can get on the internet again and actually have time to do so again. We are actually going to another hotel at this resort by the ocean called Vung Tau and are getting up at 8am. I’ve been up writing all this for about 2 hours now and it’s midnight already, so I have to get some sleep in. ( if you don’t know me that well, I LOVE SLEEP)
I’ll be writing about the day after this and the next day as soon as I get some time again….. But until then…. Raise that Pot!
