noodle quest 2006

haaaaaaahahahahha! so it turns out that pho chai in a tone (indascernably) different to me, means “i will burn everything down!” hahahah no wonder that dude was so pissed. i couldn’t understand why “vegetarian noodles” would be so offensive to someone. yesterday we woke up and had some coffee at the hotel. then we decided to walk around and take some photos we had missed the first day. we split up to walk around. i began to sincerely feel a bit of the hostility that other travelers have expressed feeling in this country. we got a bit of it at the market with the larvae eating woman the first day- just some kind of shoving and grumbling, but i felt too glad to care about it too much. however yesterday i just felt a little beat on. i mean lots of people were just kind of rude, waving me away from their food stalls, growling at me sometimes when i took a picture of a thing, store, etc., and just being kind of unfriendly and hostile. i know, that i am there with only good intentions, i am not abrasive or ostentatious or mean. i am always only friendly and polite so whatever, screw them. then we came back to the hotel and Jue, Jess and i went to eat some pho (noodles, scallions and soup) at a little hole in the wall place which were real good. then we went to some more galleries and i made my first purchases! the seal has been broken, and i am afraid. after that we walked back to the hotel and i took a nap. hmmm… we were too lazy to go to water puppets (again….) and then we walked through weird spice town to a restauarnt called tamarind. tamarind was my angel undercover last night. 1. they make ice out of bottled water, we have not had ice in 100+ degree heat for over a week. 2. they had nachos 3. the chairs were the most comfortable chairs in the world, huuuuuuuuuge overstuffed chairs, beautiful decor, huge fans and cool music. here is what we consumed: 1 rouge cooler (watermelon, mint and lime juice… with ice!), 1 other juice with tangerine, coconut and some other stuff in it, 1 nachos with cheese, guacamole and salsa, 1 quesadillas with roast vegis and peanut sauce inside, 1 dessert with sliced mangos, sticky rice, and coconut sauce, a thai dessert. yuuuum! however i think my metabolism has slowed down with the heat and i have not been very hungry for the past 3 or 4 days. i am not that sad about it though because last night some of the smells that were a bit remaniscent of my lunch almost brought vomit into my mouth as i was walking to dinner. so, maybe it is okay that i am not that anxious to eat food right now. i am however craving tacos in a way that feels mildly insane. i would pay 1 billion dong for a taco… with some spicy tuna sushi on it. please butterfield can you find a way to same day send some raw fish to me in vietnam? i am scared to eat raw fish here although i have yet to see it offered actually. hmm what else? after dinner we came back here and hung out with spring and river who taught us how to say “eat shit” in vietnamese (an cai) and then laughed A LOT about it when we told people to (i.e. Xan an cai!) haha it was funny. then we hung out for a long time with Jue, Alfie, Spring, River (Xan), and Xui until eventually we decided we had to go dancing and jessie and i hopped on a moto and went to “new century” which was a techno club by the lake. the music was pretty awful and we got a bit hassled inside. first we sat down at a table overlooking the dance floor and then were told to move by a secrity guard so we did. some really drunk dude brought over 2 bottles of whiskey that he had bought at the bar- we were not too interested. then we danced for bit even though some cute vietnamese boys snarled at me and told me ( i think) to get the hell out. we left after a few songs and took a walk by the lake for a bit. then we hopped on one moto (why?!?!?!?!). our driver was really young and sweet and we screamed a lot because people were racing by, drunk from the clubs. this one dude was SPEEDING so fast down the road zigzagging in and out. this other dude (his friend?) was trying to follow him and was going soooo fast. he was directly in front of us and all of a sudden this car aproaches him perpendicularly and smashes into him! aaaaaaagh! he flew into the air and his bike hit the street sign. the car barely stopped to see if he was alive. somehow, i can’t understand how, this dude stands up and picks up his bike, then his flip flops, and bikes away totally unscathed. it was UNbelievable. then back to the hotel for dome midnight mango snacks with friends in the lobby then to sleep. other things of importance. most women in ha noi wear this little three quarter pant and tank top pajama sets as clothes. it is funny looking. also, as far as i can tell the only vietnamese word with more than one syllable is “bia” (beer). they like to spell english words in one syllable words as well (i.e. “pho to co py”). today we will muck around, buy some food and then tonight at 7 we will get on a sleeper train to go to Da Nang where we will then catch a bus to Hoi An. the train will take 20 hours and the bus will take one hour. we kind of splurged on the train ticket (37$, more than our hotel for a week!) but we thought it would be really fun. we will definitely miss Ha Noi and our vietnamese boyfriends Jue and Dong, but it is time to leave, two brushes with death are enough for one town. any ideas on what we are to take from these incidents? mmmmm i am going to buy a sandwhich at the “no noodles cafe” today for the train tonight. for someone on a noodle quest i sure am avaoiding the noodles like the plague…

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