unable to return to the hopeless euphoric rejuvenation that sleep never is, i went downstairs to e-mail. after a while, martin awoke to join. we decided breakfast @ the hostel: bread, butter, jam, tomato, and cucumber slices for 10,000 dong was our best play. at an extra 10,000, a large water was given to us. although the water was cheaper on the outside, it was worthwhile as induced by our laziness. roy, our israeli friend, threw down 15,000 to get eggs, plus what we had ordered. talk about balling.
we talked about loans, the army, tuition expenses.
(*) i checked my e-mail to make sure kristan's story about leaving 1 day after they said b/c of visa and possible standby issues in korea was still true. it was.
(*) i'm not sick yet. yay.
(*) sabine planned our walking day trip. on our way to the first place - a temple - martin and i went postal with my camera - running through a pair of batteries in little less than 1 day. i suppose that's also the result you get when you buy things off the blackmarket. even though they are technically in a proper store. here is a smattering of the pics i took. i call this collection "everyday life in an absolutely unusual world".
man welding. outside. on the sidewalk.
multiple forms of balance.
flowers.
foot.
public gambling.
-----------> everyone in the world should be forced to drive scooters, except for industrial uses. this would infinitely increase fun, while linearly decreasing pollution.
(*) the first stop is the temple of literature. built about 1000 a.d. maybe 600 a.d. 3 things were instrumental in its creation. small ponds, red lanterns, turtles. few group photos. heard local traditional vietnamese musical performance. we then left.
here are 3
border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124693156872829170" />so that's what you call turtles in vietnamese. or english. or, wait. what?
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Zhjv-orFaSWmQOAX1fscmiPyWB-Xxj7cOsrfaX46-OM7zfgEnvbzWigrJgrC91_Lyr1CmUZX3WQDTaxcg5Pguk0Z2O9z0eKegie0ZQ31NtH-hH6yqMYRTn1kheas35UKkY6AShyphenhyphendJSjq/s1600-h/Asia+288.jpg">
the vietnamese version of mr. grinch. my sister's retarded dog.
me. with stereotypical asian tourist greeting sign.
(*) we ate @ KFC - the trendy restaurant which serves fountain drinks in a glass, uses pseudo plates and offers modern seating. sabine & martin were really enthusiastic about the whole kfc experience. their jollility amused me. surprisingly enough, the kfc itself wasn't that bad. the bathrooms were miraculously clean. its amazing how clean bathrooms can get when a country really utilizes its cheap and massive labor force.
(*) next, we hit the quad of ho chi minh's mausoleum & museum. the mausoleum was closed. we passed out under a tree for a while. as there are not too many parks or places to rest in hanoi without a constant stream of noise being funneled into the park, this was a welcomed difference from the urbanity that was hanoi. here are hipster pictures.
martin & sabine taking an interesting perspective picture
tree. an awesome tree. but a simple tree nonetheless.
(*) we then walked into 2 lakes / parks - we had to pay .25 cents to the woman at the gate, who we are pretty sure did not work for any city park governmental office and instead merely took & pocketed the money. the closest we've come to peace & quiet, were these 2 lakes / parks. i've never heard silence so deafening before. we got to see depressed peacocks & monkeys that were in utterly despicable cages in the park: both lacking clean water and clean sanitation. i thin the vietnamese attempted to create a very mini zoo in the middle of these parks, by erecting several cages for several animals. but it was the most depressing thing i had ever seen in regards to animals. these animals were not happy looking animals.
we saw 2 rifles & 2 levers behind the remnants of what appeared to be a firing range. 8 year olds trying to hustle and get money off one of us through either pity or pickpocketing. the park was not gorgeous, but was pretty because of the veiled attempt given to ensure quiet peace.
(*) afterwards, the group made our way back towards the hostel. after a bit of confusion, near the tail end, we scored the location of our hostel at about 3:30 pm. martin & i returned to the place of lunch yesterday for a 2nd attack. we unfortunately did not receive the hot sauce, we only got hot sauce served with our meal, but it was still delicious. then we went DVD shopping. i bought 2 dvd's - Coachella music festival & Miles Davis live. we walked back to the hostel to get out of my drenched shirt. i checked my email.
(*) after my shower, we had 20 minutes to get to the firebreathing motherfucking water puppets. we were lead by the irritated comptroller sabine. with sabine in the lead, we got there jackie joyner kersee style. except no one died in the end b/c of heart failure. 20,000 dong got us the 2nd to last row. if you ever have a chance - go see firebreathing motherfucking water puppets show. the voices were hilarious, the musicians were talented, and the actual play itself was light hearted and, for no english spoken in the play - it was entertaining and cultural.
(*) the show ended with me, rufus & the germans having our chairs forced knees into our stomachs - they were not constructed for lanky westerners. we stepped out into the night. rufus was hungry - so we stopped at what i deem "mama's place". it was the best ambience ever. it was a literal road side cafe. we ate on the american equivalent of the sidewalk, inches from the bustling street, all while on plastic small child like tables & chairs. we ate pho ga which is basically a bowl of noodles with chicken. i also ate hot peppers that were small, and bright hues of red and orange. they were not only incredibly tasteful, but they were incredibly hot.
(*) the plan was not to go out as zee germans and rufus were taking a side trip to halong bay early in the morning. so we went back to the hostel, checked my email, read 'atlas shrugged' and drew. got to sleep by around 11 / 11:30.
No comments:
Post a Comment