Day 39: Sleep Over!

Okay, so right now it's 8:31pm in Vietnam, June 19, 2009. I'm at Ma Bay's store/house. Mom and I are sleeping over tonight. I think Ma Bay's been wanting us to sleep over for some time, and since we're leaving in just a few days, Mom decided we'd sleep over tonight. I'm just sitting here on one of their laptops, with Chi Thanh to my right on the other laptop. We're surfing the net while Mom and Ma Bay watch a DVD about Buddha and a local temple over here. I have to be honest and say that I'm not really understanding anything their saying on the DVD, but it's interesting nonetheless. I'm glancing up every so often to see what's going on. The last scene involved a glow of light beaming from one of the edges of the rooftop of the temple and the mysterious snowfall that accompanied it. I don't see any rational explanation for it, and I know I can be negatively realistic at times, but I think we should all be more hopeful about the existence of miracles. Don't you??

Okay, well I just checked facebook.com a few minutes ago, but seeing that it's summer and was only 9:30ish a.m., people are probably still sleeping in.

Okay, so going back to...umm...yesterday. Yesterday was Day 38, and on day 38, Mom and I went to the beach. We woke up early, took a taxi to the port, where we boarded a boat at 8:30am that took us to...umm, I don't remember the name of the place....but it was very nice! Haha, as if that helps at all. Well from Saigon, the ride was about 1 hr. 30 min. Overall, it was a smooth ride, except at the end, it got a little bumpy, and the ship kept making a sound that was oddly similar to the sound of screeching tires. I don't know, but I do know we made it there and back safe and sound. Well once we arrived there, we caught a taxi to the beach. We bought a floating tube, well because, they're fun! Then we bought some beach towels, because we only had our plain white bathing towels from home. Before heading into the water, we got 2 beach chairs where we sat for a while just relaxing. I walked around a little bit and took some pictures, and even recorded the beach for my siblings and friends to see back home. While sitting in our beach chairs, a few women approached us carrying large round platters of fruit, trying to persuade us to buy their ngot (sweet) and ngon (delicious) fruits. We did end up buying some longans and bon bon (I don't know what they're called in English). We ate, then we went and put our belongings in a locker and changed into our bathing suits. Then we headed down to the beach.

I don't know about everybody else, but for me I think I always build up the fun to be had at a beach just a little bit too much. The ocean is gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but the moment I accidentally drink some sea water, the appeal decreases just a bit. Nevertheless, I still want to go back. But hopefully next time with my siblings and some sand buckets too! We didn't get around to making any sand sculptures this time around. Partially due to the lack of proper equipment and also, now that I think of it, I don't remember seeing anybody making any castles or anything. Ok, well back to the ocean. The only other beaches I've been to have been the few in New England. I don't remember the waves there being as big as the one at this beach in Vietnam. At first, the waves weren't too big, they were a good size to jump in and be pushed along with. But as time passed, and it grew cloudy and windy, the waves got bigger and rougher. And they weren't just coming directly onto the shore, they were coming diagonally too. They got pretty big...well for somebody that's not a great swimmer, has never surfed or water skiied, or anything. They were probably small baby waves to other people. But I do remember jumping at the wrong moment at times, causing the waves to crash right into my torso, and causing me to fall backwards...it wasn't too fun at first. But then I got the hang of it, and it wasn't so bad. Once we felt we were done in the water, we collected sea shells. But seeing that I didn't have my glasses, I couldn't pick out the great shells on the beach. After this, we washed up and headed back to the port we landed at.

Once we arrived at the port, we headed into the building just by the docks and ate KFC. I ate some popcorn chicken and fries. The quality's pretty much the same, but maybe a little less flavor and a little less salt. But still good, and the employees were very friendly. Then we sat outside waiting to board the ship. It got cloudy with many ominous looking clouds in the sky. We were worried that maybe we wouldn't be able to head back when we had planned to. It did start raining, but it ended a few minutes before we boarded, ique suerte!

On the way back I fell asleep. I eventually woke up, but every few seconds I'd fall back asleep, then wake up again, and then fall back to sleep. And I kept that up pretty much until we got back. I was really, really, really tired when we got back home. At home, Ma Tam's house, I took a shower, then after I went downstairs to hang out with Anh Thinh and showed him the pictures from the beach. Then....I went to sleep! :)

Day 39: This is Suoi Tien day! Another Vietnamese theme park. But unlike Dam Sen...hmm...I don't even know if I've written about Dam Sen yet, it's much larger. I went with Mom, Ma Tam, Ma Muoi, Tien, Dat, and Diep. Unfortunately Thinh had to go to school and couldn't come along. Well we left for Suoi Tien in a taxi van about 8am. And we got back around 4pm. Yup, it was a looong day. But a long, fun, eventful day!! Well once we got there, I think the first obvious thing were the two large, massive, golden dragons bordering the front entrance. It's beautiful. I don't know if I can describe it all in words...maybe, but it'd probably take a long time. I'll probably just post pictures....if I can figure out how to do that. Well anyway...the first thing we did was ride on a cart all around the park. We recorded us going around the whole park. After the ride, we walked a little before coming across a play. I feel like we were really lucky this day, because shortly after the play, we walked right to the beginning of a parade....hmm. Well, anyway, the play was interesting, but I didn't really understand it. I thought I did, until my Mom told me what was going on, and I realized I was completely wrong. Oops! (Mom's on the phone right now...I think I'll probably have Mom retell me the story, do some research, and write a blog about it...if people want me to). Well the parade that followed was for the fruit festival going on. The parade started with these men dressed in monkey suits and others wearing pig masks (there's a monkey-like person and a pig-like person that are a big part of Vietnam's history), and they were going around acting silly with the onlookers. What came next were floats containing large fruits with women dressed in beautiful Vietnamese gowns that stood by the fruit waving at the crowd. Oh, and there were also dancers dressed in cute costumes, like butterflies and such. It was really nice. After that, we walked around some more, Mom bought some bon bon's from one of the many fruit stands that lined the walkway. I think the next thing we did was go through the animal part of the park. The first thing we saw when we walked past the curtain was a man standing with a bamboo stick and a monkey riding a bicycle. It's cute, and fun at first...but then you notice the chain around the poor monkey's neck and the threatening stares the man throws them when they fall off and don't get back on immediately. Like my cousin, Anh Tien said, "The circus seems cruel." :/ We continued on further down and saw some porcipines, monkey, birds, bears, and fish. I think the fish was the most amazing part. In the take there was a variety of fish. But the one that drew our attention for awhile was the dragon fish. It's HUGE! They were probably 5-7 ft. long. And that's not the only amazing part, some of them had scales that were golden and silver. They were so beautiful. Also, Mom says that these fish are lucky and that you can make a wish on them. Ma Muoi kept repeating something and laughing. It was when I asked Mom what she was saying that I learned she was wishing for a house. Haha! I love Ma Muoi! But this time everybody was starting to get tired, but kept on going. Our next stop was at a little exhibit of mutated animals, pigs with one eye, birds with 3 legs, deer with two heads, etc. After this we took a drinking break, I got a coconut...but it wasn't that yummy. Not wanting to be wasteful, I drank it all up quickly then moved on to the coconut filled with coconut jelly that we brought along that Ma Muoi had made a couple of days ago. Then, you can imagine where I went next after drink a whole coconut in a minute or so...the restroom. Haha! Next, we wanted to go see the dolphins, but the show had already began 15 min. ago. So we kept moving on. We were considering riding the large ferris wheel, but seeing that Ma Muoi was scared, we decided against it. But I did get Dat and Diep to ride the rotating swing ride with me (the one like at Six Flags). They held onto the bar the whole time while I swung my legs and stuck my arms out, trying to grab leaves from a tree that stood nearby. I think it was their first time, and I think I was probably scared my first time too. Then, we finally went home. Where Chi Tam and her sister were...I still haven't learned all of my cousins' names yet... :( Once they left, I headed upstairs and took a shower. Then headed over to Ma Muoi's house to eat dinner. I at rice with fish, some veggies and a fried egg topped with some soy sauce. Oh yeah, then another one of those coconut jelly filled coconuts to finish off. Then I went upstairs to play on the computer, and tried to give Anh Dat some studying tips for learning English. I told him to write the text he had to read in English and in Vietnamese....that's what I did for Vietnamese class and I think it really helped me. I know it's not fun and kind of tedious...but it helps! Then Chi Thanh came over, and soon I was at her house...where I am now, finishing up this loong blog post! Haha, ok, good night!!

<3Love,
Quynhie