Tuesday, our 1 month anniversary….. the alarm was set for 8 AM but we were up by 7 AM. The early morning light coupled with the sound of scooters honking at each other on the street leaves no doubt that morning has come. We got ourselves ready and headed down to breakfast. The buffet was ok,,, basically what you’d expect. We met our guide in the lobby to start the day of touring but not before running in to Michael and Carrie who were doing the same thing. Too funny..
We left the hotel and headed to the dock which is just a short walk. We hopped on one of the dragon boats which doubles as the dragon boat’s captain’s family’s house (got that?). Their plan is: 1) get tourist on boat, 2) get cute baby to look,,, cute, 3) get husband to drive boat, 4) get wife to sell anything she can for the entire 30 minute ride. Knowing this was the case (our guide warned us), we bartered with her on a few things and made a small purchase.
The dragon family dropped us off at another pier where we climbed some stairs and started what was to be a long day of history about Vietnam. It was interesting but our guide was hard to understand and it was SOOOO HOT,,, the whole day we were glistening. We toured the firs t Pagoda for about an hour,,, learned some pretty interesting stuff then headed over to the King’s palace which was mostly destroyed in the war. It was very fascinating to see inside what has been totally off limits for 150 years or more.
After the King’s home we were driven to another pagoda but this one was more private and just for women monks. They were super friendly, showed us how they pray (had us copy them) and then said/sang a blessing for us and our marriage. Our tour guide is in love with our camera and insisted on taking a lot of photos. After the blessing they presented us each with a gift,,, a very nice bracelet. Then they prepared lunch for us which we enjoyed. We ate,,, toured the property some and then headed off to yet another tour.
Off we went to King Tu Tuc’s vacation home. It was a great tour but we were really starting to get burnt out on the all in the information and the unbearable heat. Our guide was wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt and wasn’t sweating. Impressive!! The last stop of the day was a lacquer / bronzing craft store. We picked out our own templates, painted them and left them to be baked. We’ll take pictures of the final product tomorrow.
On the way back to the hotel I called the spa to see how much a couple’s massage would cost. I couldn’t believe my ears,,,, $60 for 90 minutes,,,, wow! This is a 6 star place,,, in the US it would be $350. We got back, showered and headed to the spa. The treatment was awesome,,, the best yet. After that we went to the pool bar to hang out for a while. We met 2 French guys one of whom is in love with Dave Mathews Band. We chatted for a while about each of our trips and what we’ve seen thus far. I asked them “Is it true the French hate Americans” – he said “Not each American individually but we hate America,,, what America says goes and that really gets us.” --- that was interesting to hear.
After the pool bar we decided to venture out on the town. We did some shopping but as far as we can tell every store in this country is the same. We bought a few knick knacks but quickly got sick of the heat and headed back to the hotel to call it an early night. Tomorrow we leave for Hoi An at 9 AM, another 3 hour drive….. more then…
No comments:
Post a Comment