Thursday night we went to a French restaurant, Cafe de Paris, for a change of pace from the usual rice and Vietnamese food. I really appreciate the homecooked meals we get for dinner, but the amount of rice this includes is making me a little bit sick. I'm a little desperate for Western food-- Wednesday I even went to KFC. I don't even eat KFC in America. (Vietnamese KFC is vile fyi).
So I thought the French restaurant would be a refreshing change. I really really miss raw vegetables--everything here is cooked and limp. When I saw the restaurant had an omelette & salad combo I had a happy little moment, imagining that the meal would satisfy the cravings I had been having for vegetables and non-Vietnamese fare.
The first sign of alarm should have come when my simple omelette and salad took wayyyyy longer than everyone else's complicated french meals. It looked pretty good when it arrived, though. I immediately ate the salad and then cut open the omelette. I took a couple of bites and then flipped over a piece to see a GIANT WATER BUG.
The ladies running the Cafe were very apologetic, asking if I wanted them to fry up another omelette. At that point, I had lost my appetite.
Saturday I took a trip into the Hoan Kiem district to meet up with some friends my parents had made when they went on their second adoption trip to Vietnam. Lisa was adopting one of her daughters around that time and they had a fun time together. Lisa, her girls, and Theresa were all very lovely and we had a wonderful time walking around the lake. They treated me to a (much appreciated) American lunch.
I came home to find this sign, with no explanation
The other volunteers were just as clueless as I was. We asked around, and apparently the entire Hoang Mai district will have no water Monday through Wednesday. I guess the district has trouble in the summer with maintaining steady electricity and water. So Monday and Tuesday night I will be in a $30/night hotel in Old Quarter. It will be nice to have aircon anyway.
I spent most of Saturday shopping in Old Quarter. The day was mostly uneventful, but the bus ride back was the best bus experience I've had so far. About halfway through the bus driver put in a tape and turned the volume all the way up. The song was this:
Immediately everyone on the bus perked up. A couple men started bobbing their heads, a woman tapped her foot enthusiastically, and several people started whistling and humming along. An old man began dancing in his seat. It was like this one particular song was the snake charmer song for the Vietnamese people as a whole. It was one of the most surreal and hilarious things I've seen on the bus, where people are usually reserved and proper.
I'm going to Sapa this week!
Angela
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