Although my alcohol intake had been much higher on Wednesday night than on Tuesday night, I woke up on Thursday morning feeling better than I had on Wednesday morning! I was moving around a little slower, though. Thus, it took me a tad longer to shower, eat breakfast and get all of my miscellany together to go out for the day. Just as I was about to walk out the door, my phone rang (the one in my room, not my cell phone). It was D. She said that the hotel had made a mistake. Although she’d wanted them to reserve a room for her for two nights, they’d only reserved it for one. Therefore, she was calling to tell me that she was checking out momentarily and didn’t know where she’d be staying. I told her that the solution was simple – she could stay in my room for the second night. She thought it might cost more if there were two of us in the room, but I assured her that the rate was the same for either 1 or 2 people in a room. She said that wasn’t the case in Germany. Either way, it didn’t matter to me. If they charged a bit more for her being in the room, then she could pay me the difference if she wanted, as I’d already paid for the room in full months ago. She thanked me, intended to ask at reception as she checked out of her room and said she’d be up in 15 minutes or so. When she showed up at my door, she told me that I’d been right; there was no difference in the room rate for 1 or 2 people. She was just incredibly happy to not have to go in search of another hotel room. As I was about to leave and have more fittings with the tailors, I asked what her plans were. She needed to mail something at the post office, which just happened to be down the road from us, but also asked if I was interested in getting a massage. Like me, she’d had a massage on Wednesday. Unlike mine, hers had been great. Her massage place was also down the road from our hotel, but in the opposite direction from the post office. We agreed to get a massage first, go to the post office, possibly grab something to eat, then I could make my rounds between the two tailors.
The massage place had a name that I don’t recall, but there were 6 or 8 beds in the front with big, billowy curtains around them. I opted for the one hour hot stone massage, but she decided on a one hour Thai massage. Our beds were opposite from each other. We undressed down to our panties, laid down and were covered with a sheet. My hot stone massage wasn’t quite like the ones in the U.S. or even like the ones in Bali, but it was a good massage. It’s just that the actual use of hot stones was rather minimal in comparison to ones I’d had before. That being said, it was a thousand times better than my massage the previous day. When our massages were done, D. asked if I’d be interested in getting a facial as well. That was fine by me. We both decided on the same type of facial. This time our beds were parallel to each other. Oddly to me, they told us to lay down (fully dressed) and didn’t cover our chests with anything. The girl who was giving me a facial seemed to do so in a quick and sloppy manner. She’d put some type of liquid or other on my face, do a strange butterfly-type massage, wipe off the stuff, then repeat with a new liquid. That didn’t bother me as much as the fact that they hadn’t covered our eyes, either. Every other spa that I’d gone to before (in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.) had covered my eyes with a cloth. Not this girl. She globbed so much stuff on my eyes that I could feel it seeping down into my contacts, as well as onto my top. I didn’t mind the first two times, then I asked her to please NOT put anything on my eyes. Her response “Are you ok?” After a few minutes, she put stuff on my eyes again, but maybe slightly less! I was no longer relaxed at that point, but getting annoyed. It ended soon enough, though, because it was time to cover my face with cucumber slices. I’ve hated when that’s done, too, because the coldness and the weight of the cucumber slices makes me feel as if I’m going to smother. Of course, the facial description hadn’t mentioned that this one would have the cucumber treatment. I just wanted it to be over. When it was, I definitely had goop in/on my contacts, making them a little cloudy. The corners of my eyes hurt a little as well; I was merely hoping that it wasn’t the start of an eye infection. We tipped the girls and left. I explained to D. that, while the massage was wonderful, the facial kind of pissed me off! She said that she could sort of watch what my girl was doing out of the corner of her eyes; she also thought that girl was messy and not very good. You can’t complain too much, though, when your total bill for a massage and a facial comes to $20 or less.
Next stop was the post office. Luckily for D., there was only one couple in there, so she got her stuff mailed out quickly and efficiently. Since the post office was in the vicinity of some famous restaurant called the Ba Le Well Restaurant, we decided to go in search of it. After asking about 3 people for directions, we came upon it. The restaurant is decidedly local, with both indoor and outdoor seating. We chose to sit outside. They asked if we wanted tea or coffee, but didn’t bring us a menu of any type. We both got tea, but, once again, Vietnamese tea is horrible. Neither of us had more than a few sips. Next they brought out a huge plate of rice paper skins, along with plates of greens and herbs, nem, banh xeo, chicken and pork satay, and several sauces. They showed us how to take a rice paper roll, stick a little bit of everything in, dip it in a sauce and eat. That was obviously not going to happen with chopsticks, not even for someone who’s a PRO with them! I used my hands, but D. wanted a fork. The waitress explained that it’s meant to be eaten with your hands, but D. still wanted a fork. They complied with her request and we constructed our “rolls” and ate them any old way we wanted! D. had also already managed to spill something on her white clothing, so asked for napkins. They didn’t really have napkins, so brought us some newspaper! We ate until we were stuffed, although there was still a fair amount left over. Our lunch ended with a choice of chocolate or vanilla pudding. The bill was about $10 apiece. D. found it expensive, which it kind of was for Vietnam and the atmosphere. Yet I told her that the price was supposedly all-inclusive and (I believe) was for as much food as you could eat. In other words, if we could actually have finished all of that, they would have brought us more.
Then it was on to the tailors. D. basically watched me put on a fashion show at B’Lan during my fitting. She thought the dresses were beautiful and the dress shirts looked expensive. When we went to Kimmie Tailor, she didn’t get to see me in either that dress or blouse, as the fittings were conducted upstairs while the general public sat downstairs choosing fabric and asking questions. Forgot to mention that on Wednesday, I’d said “WTF” and decided to have boots and shoes made at the shoe maker recommended by Yum Yum. I’d taken in my pictures of a pair of boots and a pair of flats from Anthropologie. They’d taken my measurements, let me choose my leather/fabric, took a deposit and said that they’d be finished the following day. I didn’t feel like going by that Thursday, though; felt it could wait until Friday, as I wasn’t leaving until Sunday, which gave them plenty of time for adjustments, if need be.
We stopped in at a travel agency, as D. was going to Siem Riep next (the following morning, in fact) and had a few questions about hotels and transportation. We also perused some tailors as she wanted to check out different types of fabric. While doing this, we ran into our Aussie friend, J. He said that his mom was resting back at the hotel while he went in search of a place to get his hair cut. They were also flying out in the morning, had a long layover in Ho Chi Minh City before their final destinations, but that he’d be back at work on Saturday and wanted to look presentable. D. decided to go back to the hotel and look up some things on the free laptops in the lobby. Meanwhile, I accompanied J. in search of a salon. We were unable to find the one he’d been recommended, but found another one that seemed geared to women. He hesitated, but I told him that surely the woman would be able to cut his hair; he wasn’t looking for some fancy, schmancy new ‘do, but a simple cut, after all! As he got his hair cut, then washed (while laying back in a huge zebra print chair), I took pictures and made videos of the process, to keep ourselves amused. Oddly, he ignored my suggestion to get a Chairman Mao cut with green tips! Afterwards, we went shopping, kind of. He told me that his mom and he had ended up having 5 pairs of shoes made at the first shoe maker that I’d gone to. He’d also seen some boots that he liked somewhere and wanted to show them to me. We meandered all through the town, but were actually heading in the direction of my hotel. He found the exact shoe maker and showed me the boots, which I thought looked great on him. He was wondering if he should have a slightly bigger size. Although they didn’t have the size he needed, they assured him that they could have a pair ready for him before dinner that night! His final decision was against getting the boots because (a) he didn’t really need them and (b) they were too “pretty” for him! We walked a little further ’cause I’d found those pop-up cards for less than a dollar at a place near the shoe shop. We went in and drove that poor salesgirl crazy asking to see everything, wanting more of some and deciding against others. I must have bought 8 cards and he bought 5 or 6. When you think about it, they were totally worth the price. A plain card in the U.S. now goes for $2.00 to $4.00. These were nifty pop-up ones that were done very well. I promised to send J. one of Sydney Harbor if he’d send me one of the Eiffel Tower! With that, we parted ways as I had to go freshen up before all of us met for dinner that night.
At the hotel, D. was in the lobby on one of the free laptops. She’d gotten lost on her way back to the hotel, so had only arrived about half an hour before me! She’d already showered, though, so I went upstairs to take a quick shower, too, since it wasn’t long before our planned meeting with the Aussies.
We met at the same place as the previous night, then walked across the bridge to the other side of the river and found a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was one where they trained young teens to work in the hospitality industry. I admit, everyone who worked there was extremely nice and attentive. My dinner choice was the mi quang. Although it was good, it didn’t even come close to the flavor of the one from the roadside stand. After dinner, we walked further down to the fish and chips place to drink “fresh” beer (as opposed to flat beer?!). Actually, fresh beer is known as bia hoi. That restaurant was selling it for the equivalent of $0.19 per glass, so we had several! Over drinks, the 4 of us also exchanged information so that we could stay in touch, share our photos, etc. Forgot to mention that as we walked to that restaurant, one of L.’s young Vietnamese fans saw her, patted her on the shoulder and said “Hi, Mom. How are you?” She was startled at first, until she realized that it was one of the guys from the Meet Market. Of course, I teased her endlessly. Anyways, when the evening ended, the 4 of us hugged it out. D.’s driver was picking her up at 7:00 a.m., while the Aussies’ driver was picking them up at 7:30 a.m. Obviously, they’d most likely see each other at the Da Nang airport. For me, I was a little sad that everyone was leaving. What would I do in Hoi An without them?
D. with our Bounty at Ba Le Well Restaurant
J. Getting His Hair Washed
Pop-Up Cards
Food Vendor