Entries this day: Vietnam_transcribed

Vietnam transcribed

6:10pm ICT Sunday 29 May 2005

9:23am ICT Sunday 29 May 2005

I'm on the beach now and little dude named Long who's about 12 years old was trying to sell me pineapple for 15000 dong and I was like, "no" and he tried for 10000 dong and I'm like "no" and he tried 5000 dong and I'm like "no" but then I gave him a dollar (15000 dong) for taking my picture with the pineapples. He was smilin' after that.

Now a woman is coming up to sell beads and I don't want any beads.

- - - -

At the beach I let myself loose a bit; I was tied up in my brain with watching the clock. Be is the woman who sold me the bracelet. Fuckin' hell she got 3 dollars outta me for it. Couldn't believe it. Then I got a foot massage on both foots and felt like I cheated on my first foot massage offering woman, but she didn't seem phased.

Be cut the pineapple in a cool spiral after removing its skin; the spiral exactly removed all the brown hairy dents.. pretty cool!

10:07am

I'm back at Tam's shop again; I've just negotiated a price back to the ship. I hope it's all going to work out, cause if not, I'm fucked. It's great.

Tam can be reached at Vietnam phone number 910-360. That's the shop Bin Bin across the street.

"Bau new ting" (2nd, 4th, 4th tones) means "how much is this?" and will get me a better price in Vietnam.

Tam told me dramatically that I should always come to her for good prices in Hoi An. I should only pay 2000 dong for a small water (500 ml) and 4000 dong for a large water (1.5 liter I think). 10,000 dong for the yummy sesame covered chewy candy, and I was like, "I've got no money!" and she totally just gave it to me; stuffed it into my bag. "After you find money [you can pay me back]."

Oh my gosh, she just stuffed the tape recorder into a Pentax camera bag! She gave me the camera bag, the candy AND, And she gave me some of her tasty beverage.

10:15am

I'm at a bridge and took a picture; there's a huge skink on the bridge. Not huge for a lizard, but definitely the biggest skink I've ever seen! Maggie loves skinks, so I'm thinking of her right about now. The water is disgusting. It smells like rotten food and I certainly wouldn't want to swim very near it. I've seen grosser water in my lifetime, but... eek.

This is a total tourist spot. This whole city is based on tourism.

10:54am

At a restaurant now. Next time I'm in Vietnam I will spend much more time here. Weeks, probably. There's a guy with no legs using his arms to propel himself forward.

- - - -

Oh; he has legs, but they're all small and curled up under his body. He wanted me to buy a newspaper, but I chose not to. Dude is hardcore to be a businessman with no functional legs, and no bag/desk/anything to do business with. Except one copy of a newspaper.

11:37am

Just met Chachire (sp) at Hai Scout cafe. She's really cute, but was embarassed to get her photo taken. I got some pics of her over my shoulder with the rabbit.

She studied Japanese, so we spoke a bit in Japanese together.. just how long we've studied and stuff, but.. damn.. we spoke in Japanese!

After talking to her, I absolutely felt ready to go. I felt... good. After that it was like, "I can go home now.." I felt fulfilled. All I had done was flirted with some girl, getting the mad props from her that I am very handsome.

I imagined the nearby western-looking couple were like, "hey man; that cat's not speaking English anymore." It was great. I was really happy to chat in Japanese with a woman in Vietnam.

- - - -

Come to Tam's counter across the street from Bin Bin in Hoi An. She's so friendly and awesome! I really believe she will remember me when I come back.

11:41am

Oh my gosh! she gave me a beautiful hematite necklace with heart pendant!!!! That's just beyond all comprehensionly beautiful. Oh my wow.

12:01pm

It's noon; I've just been dropped off at Marble Mountain and am climbing these steps. Ninh said he'll be back in one hour and I visualize myself being on the boat and happy. Just a bit worried about time.

There are marble-engraved sayings from Buddha, but the English is messed up. Wow.

I got a picture of the rabbit on a bush near the top of Marble Mountain.

- - - -

I'm barefoot and have climbed into a cave and am in a vertical shaft about 50 feet tall. Most writing on the wall has been scratched briefly. Some has been scratched/carved more carefully. There are some painted names.

I'm climbing through this cave thing, barefoot, holding my sandals and holding the tape recorder. Gotta be careful for scorpions; this is good weather and terrain for them.

Holy cow this is really beautiful; I'm super glad to be here. barefoot. It looks like these rocks have been formed like a block of cheese. Take a block of cheese, grate the cheese, then take off all the grated slices and you're left with a block with grooves in it. That's what these rocks are like.

This view of the beach rules. Got a picture of the rabbit on top of Marble Mountain.

12:15pm

The beach is beautiful. One side is jungle and the other side is sand. Trees and yukka bushes are around me, and I've got my rabbit hanging and my new sandals sitting..

Met Scott and Amy from Sydney OZ. There are prickly pear cacti scattered around the top here.

- - - -

Okay, this is why I don't like to give my backpack to other people to hold. I was going to pan around the entire top here, looking at all the different directions and then end with a closeup on the rabbit, hanging from a bush.

But.

Ninh has my backpack, therefore video camera. Crap crap crap.

I'll come back, backpack equipped, and do it later.

1:13pm

Aight. Made it back to Tien Sa Port. It's been fantastic. People are super friendly, even given they are trying to make some fat coin, I believe.. Tam is genuinely my bud now. I'm really thankful for that.

- - - -

HAaha there's a huge pile of wood chips behind the Emergency Souvenir shop, right here on the dock.

3:08pm

Greg and I escaped the boat again and are tossing the disc around carefully.

3:23pm

My Senora de Nuestra disc is in the water. We have to be back on the boat in 7 minutes. I release the disc into the world. I hope it is used well.

- - - -

Wonderful Oh My Gawdrey put "Frisbee Sadness" on the agenda of today's meeting. That helped me gave a chance to talk about it. She goes, "everyone be nice to Rob tonight; he lost his frisbee."... true.

11:21pm

I'm now caught up with these transcriptions. I'm on tape 2 now. Just gotta add the pictures that I've taken.