The Morning After

Last night was a bit of a rough night sleeping for everyone it seemed. Some people stayed up late playing truth or dare and other similar games which woke some of us up. It didn’t really bother me too much because I sleep through just about anything, and if I did wake up it was more because I have sleeping problems rather than from hearing everyone playing. Others didn’t feel quite the same... I guess it was more of a silent type of breakfast this morning since everyone was so tired. My back hurt slightly after sleeping on the cots, but I still think that the experience was worth it for a night because it was such a difference from HCMC in its surroundings and lifestyles of the people. An told me also that the people here are even friendlier towards foreigners than in HCMC because they get less tourists in their region, which I found to be true.
Next we went to see a local hospital where Dr. Eder (Scott) had brought some medical supplies to donate. The look on the nurse and doctor’s faces seemed pretty perplexed as they were given vials of medicine to prevent blood clots, provide local anesthesia, etc. It startled me how the condition of the hospital was, in American standards no hospital would be in this condition. I wondered how many people in critical emergencies actually made it out of there alive, and I became even more grateful of my good health in general, and while in the Mekong Delta region more specifically! Once getting back on the boat we made a quick stop at a brick making factory to see how they were made. They also produced pottery with the same material, and explained that pottery is their best seller and brings in the most money for them, but they can’t make too much because then they wouldn’t have enough clay for the bricks which are needed to build. I noticed that they had a stone casket right in the middle of their factory which was a little creepy. Apparently it was their boss who had passed away some short time ago…must have been an astonishing boss!!!
On the bus ride home we learned a little bit more about the history of Vietnam from our guide Van, and most of us tried to nap from the exhaustion we felt from our lack of sleep the night before!
Since we had a free night, a group of us decided to go out for some Italian food followed by massages. The restaurant we went to had amazing food… it was nice to get a different flavor on my palate as opposed to the traditional Vietnamese food we had been eating every day. A few of us had been handed out these pamphlets on the street of a place that did massages and other salon-type services. We were happily surprised that the salon ended up being directly across the street from the restaurant we ate at. So we walked over only to find out that they were closing and couldn’t take any more customers. Disappointing, but I didn’t mind that much because I had already had one a few days before. As we were walking home, we noticed a massage place right next to our hotel and took a chance and walked in. They said they could take two of us, so Auntie Pand said for us to take it since she wasn’t going with us the next day and had all day to get a massage. The massage was overpriced but I decided to go for it anyway since my back hurt so bad from sleeping on the cots. To my surprise, I get led upstairs and find that the rooms are separated purely by curtains… I could literally see the people next to me. I thought that was weird, but I stayed anyway. Afterwards I walked the 30 second walk back to the hotel and passed out!