From the Vietnam Queen…
From our guest blogger, MoZiLLa in Vietnam…
hello fans of maureen…
yellowknife’s fave gal is having a blast…she is meant to be boarding a plane today with frugal blake to meet up with the four very excited grandchildren and charles and myself in phuket, however after reading these last two epistles i wouldn’t be at all surprised if she missed her plane and was found wandering around the streets eating freshly made vietnamese baguette waiting for her husband, barber-trainee blake to get off work.
here are the latest letters….
*****
Good evening to everyone from Ho Chi Minh City where it is currently 26C (weather network says it feels like 39C) and humidity is 94% and I AM LOVING IT! Tomorrow is supposed to be 32C.
A short note to try to express our delight with Hoi An – what a treasure. A ‘sleepy’ small town where we enjoyed the slower pace and spent hours walking, strolling, perusing, making choices for a riverside restaurant amidst crumbling stones, plastic chairs and rickety tables but wonderful food. We were treated with respect and kindness and it was a pleasure to reciprocate. This morning we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast once again at our rather wonderful hotel – did I mention it is across the street from the bus ‘pits’ where they are serviced? Oh my.
Following our breakfast of the best fresh white bread, fruit, yogourt, jam, cheese and hot Lipton tea we left with a pre-arranged taxi driver and drove to Marble Mountain for a quick stop. The quick stop turned into a happy purchase of two small marble vases which both Blake and I immediately took a shine to. The young lady who made the transaction seemed to take a shine to us as she gave me a gift of a green bracelet and a small Buddha for Blake as she noticed a wee similarity in their tummies! And this is not the first time his tummy has been a point of interest- locals, after chatting with us for a bit, would sometimes pat his tummy and say, "Happy Buddha!"
From Marble Mountain we drove to the famous Furama Resort (Vietnam’s only 5 star luxury hotel of international calibre) in Danang but sadly could not get out and wander through their grounds š Would love to have seen more. And then off to the famed China Beach of the Vietnam War – we stopped on the highway, walked down onto the beach and sat under a huge thatched umbrella for about 45 minutes while we drank in the sight, thought of the history of this place, read and relaxed. Our faithful driver then took us through Danang – how glad I am we stayed our 3 days in Hoi An – and dropped us at the airport where we caught the flight to HCMC.
Blake is a cute sight right now as he did not cover up well enough yesterday while we were out walking around for hours on end and although the sun did not actually present itself without clouds it was pretty feisty and Blake is proof. He has the reddest solar dome and knees but thankfully is not too uncomfortable. Lesson learned – always put on sunscreen even if the sun is not actually shining.
Tomorrow is an unknown as to what we will be up to but suspect we will explore the city. Did I mention in the previous letter that we had visited the "Hanoi Hilton" where American flyers were imprisoned during the Vietnam War? Pretty chilling.
Trusting this little update finds each of you well. We continue to be blessed with good health inspite of the lingering cough from the HK plague of a few weeks ago š I remember saying to Blake this morning, "I hope I never ever take for granted how wonderful it is to feel healthy." Amen.
Our love to you all from the horn-tootingest-country in the world!
M xox
We have just tumbled in from a couple of hours of wandering around in incredible heat – I LOVE it. But hot it is – feels like 115F according to weathernetwork. A little frustrating as ‘doing’ is not evolving quite as easily as it has in the past. Nevertheless, HCMC is all part of the package and am not sorry we are here.
Took laundry in today; Blake got a snazzy pair of Puma lookalike sandals; have been able to watch some good tennis on TV in the evenings and Blake has seen Bart Simpson – what more could we ask for? We both got bitten by insects quite a bit in Hoi An but B’s have flaired more than mine – not a problem except a bit itchy and I have cream for him. Dined last night at Seventeen Saloon…… big name, not much else. Watched the world neck its way by as couples smooched in the park across the road, the usual bevvie of motorbikes roared past, joined an aerobics class in the same park enroute to our hotel. AND we are soooooo good at crossing the frenetic roads – no panic, no last minute writing of the will, no scrunching our eyes shut and praying that we will somehow live…… miraculously, it just happens š
Remind us to tell you how Pepsi Cola saved us from financial embarrassment!
And the fact that there are 14,000 dong to one Canadian dollar has turned Blake into an instant millionaire and he is liking the feeling. Frugal Blake, as Tess loves to call him in her blog, is so happy to negotiate prices when his little tiny dollar equals 14,000! He has even purchased some items without going through angst and pain and hesitation, which is the norm for him – it is such a transformation….. and I am liking the feeling!
Fortunately we are having easy Internet access thus far.
It is 12:33p.m. and I am heading up to our AC room to cool off a little before we venture out again to the Reunification Palace.
Blessings to all,
M xoxo
