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blodeueddToday, I am *not* in Halong Bay!
Because M-P's stomach is not being nice, among other things, we decided to put off our nautical excursion for another day. Instead, we signed up to visit (more) temples and pagodas and a silk village.
Well. This morning, after a sleepless night and being violently sick, M-P was in no state to do any kind of sightseeing, so I went off on my own. Turns out I had my own private chauffeur, who spoke only Vietnamese. Fun! First of all, I had to try to explain that there was only mot person going, not hai. After that was cleared up, we set off.
The first temple he drove me to was apparently the site of one of Ho Chi Minh's great exploits, because everyone there kept saying "Ho Chi Minh". And other stuff, but that was the only part I understood. After a grinning old lady (with blackened, betel-stained teeth) sold me incense, two children took me into a cave where there are lots of Buddha statues. I lit the incense and put some money on the altar, then the kids led me to another part of the cave that looked like some kind of bunker. There were bats flitting about, and there was much talk of Ho Chi Minh, though I didn't understand a word of it.
At the second temple, I was again sold incense, three bunches this time. Here, incense is sold in bunches wrapped in pinkish-red paper. You light the paper, using it as a torch to light your incense sticks. I was having trouble with the super-cheap matches I had been given, so a lady came and helped me out. We managed, after several matches, to light the paper, and then the sticks, but then we couldn't blow the sticks *out*! We did, eventually.
I went off and lit my other 2 bunches of sticks, then went to the silk village. This place was like heaven, except I didn't have enough money to buy all I would have liked to. Bloh.
It was only noon when I got back, and M-P was feeling well enough to go out to lunch. We went to this great vegetarian place that does take-out, so maybe we'll be extra-lazy and order from our hotel next time. At any rate, the pear-banana smoothie I had was wonderful, as was all the food. Except for M-P's miso soup that she said didn't taste like miso soup.
Because M-P's stomach is not being nice, among other things, we decided to put off our nautical excursion for another day. Instead, we signed up to visit (more) temples and pagodas and a silk village.
Well. This morning, after a sleepless night and being violently sick, M-P was in no state to do any kind of sightseeing, so I went off on my own. Turns out I had my own private chauffeur, who spoke only Vietnamese. Fun! First of all, I had to try to explain that there was only mot person going, not hai. After that was cleared up, we set off.
The first temple he drove me to was apparently the site of one of Ho Chi Minh's great exploits, because everyone there kept saying "Ho Chi Minh". And other stuff, but that was the only part I understood. After a grinning old lady (with blackened, betel-stained teeth) sold me incense, two children took me into a cave where there are lots of Buddha statues. I lit the incense and put some money on the altar, then the kids led me to another part of the cave that looked like some kind of bunker. There were bats flitting about, and there was much talk of Ho Chi Minh, though I didn't understand a word of it.
At the second temple, I was again sold incense, three bunches this time. Here, incense is sold in bunches wrapped in pinkish-red paper. You light the paper, using it as a torch to light your incense sticks. I was having trouble with the super-cheap matches I had been given, so a lady came and helped me out. We managed, after several matches, to light the paper, and then the sticks, but then we couldn't blow the sticks *out*! We did, eventually.
I went off and lit my other 2 bunches of sticks, then went to the silk village. This place was like heaven, except I didn't have enough money to buy all I would have liked to. Bloh.
It was only noon when I got back, and M-P was feeling well enough to go out to lunch. We went to this great vegetarian place that does take-out, so maybe we'll be extra-lazy and order from our hotel next time. At any rate, the pear-banana smoothie I had was wonderful, as was all the food. Except for M-P's miso soup that she said didn't taste like miso soup.
Re: M-PEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Date: 2002-08-30 03:52 am (UTC)vous allez vous amuser beaucoup!
G.