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The joy of Engrish revisited
Aug. 22nd, 2002 07:41 pmI don't think I've really discussed the water issue here, so here goes.
Because we don't want to risk illness by drinking the tap water, we have to either use M-P's Pristine drops (which make the water taste like it spent the week inside a steel drum) or buy bottled water. In Canada, you can get Evian, or Aquafina, and a few other brands. Here, things are very different.
For starters, many brands of water have funny names. There's La Vie, which is actually a French company, Quater, Joy, I Love and Diamond Rain, and those are just a few. M-P and I crack ourselves up saying things like, "Donne-moi La Vie!" and "I've got Joy in a bottle!"
The other thing is the ridiculous statements on the labels. There's one brand that boasts "Pure water from a reverse-osmosis ozone treatment!" (which is what, exactly?). Diamond Rain claims that it is purified using "NASA's award-winning technology". This award was apparently given by the International Association of Bottled Water. Whether or not this outfit actually exists is another story. To back up their claim, there's a picture of a shuttle taking off on the label.
Other products have amusing packaging, too. You'll be relieved to know that the hotel we're currently staying in offers us nothing but the best, in this case Zilk, the "No. 1 best selling toilet paper in Thailand!" We've seen Pulppy tissue paper, which I know would never sell in Canada, and many mispelled menus. Like today at lunch, M-P had caramel cutard for dessert. And in a museum we visited, there was a sign over some old coins explaining that "...these old coins found by farmers which they were cultivating." I'm guessing they didn't get a bumper crop that year.
Tonight is the full moon festival, and the streets are packed. This internet cafe is at the outer edge of the old town area, and theamount of traffic is ridiculous, so M-P and I are going to follow the crowd and see what it's all about. The shops selling lanterns seemed busier than ever, today, and we saw some huge red lanterns sitting out on the sidewalk to dry.
Tomorrow morning we move on to Hue. We managed to hardly buy anything at all, today, but I think staying here longer would be too much temptation. Besides, we still have lots of things to see elsewhere.
Because we don't want to risk illness by drinking the tap water, we have to either use M-P's Pristine drops (which make the water taste like it spent the week inside a steel drum) or buy bottled water. In Canada, you can get Evian, or Aquafina, and a few other brands. Here, things are very different.
For starters, many brands of water have funny names. There's La Vie, which is actually a French company, Quater, Joy, I Love and Diamond Rain, and those are just a few. M-P and I crack ourselves up saying things like, "Donne-moi La Vie!" and "I've got Joy in a bottle!"
The other thing is the ridiculous statements on the labels. There's one brand that boasts "Pure water from a reverse-osmosis ozone treatment!" (which is what, exactly?). Diamond Rain claims that it is purified using "NASA's award-winning technology". This award was apparently given by the International Association of Bottled Water. Whether or not this outfit actually exists is another story. To back up their claim, there's a picture of a shuttle taking off on the label.
Other products have amusing packaging, too. You'll be relieved to know that the hotel we're currently staying in offers us nothing but the best, in this case Zilk, the "No. 1 best selling toilet paper in Thailand!" We've seen Pulppy tissue paper, which I know would never sell in Canada, and many mispelled menus. Like today at lunch, M-P had caramel cutard for dessert. And in a museum we visited, there was a sign over some old coins explaining that "...these old coins found by farmers which they were cultivating." I'm guessing they didn't get a bumper crop that year.
Tonight is the full moon festival, and the streets are packed. This internet cafe is at the outer edge of the old town area, and theamount of traffic is ridiculous, so M-P and I are going to follow the crowd and see what it's all about. The shops selling lanterns seemed busier than ever, today, and we saw some huge red lanterns sitting out on the sidewalk to dry.
Tomorrow morning we move on to Hue. We managed to hardly buy anything at all, today, but I think staying here longer would be too much temptation. Besides, we still have lots of things to see elsewhere.
