After dinner, the gang wanted to have a few drinks. I of course did not want to have drinks because I don't, but I like to hang out, so I was up for an experience in a Vietnamese bar. However, I was not up for the experience we were about to have.
John asked Huy if he knew of any bars in Chau Doc, and after Huy and the guide for J and C conferred for a while, they decided that they knew of a great "impression" bar. In fact, their guide (did I mention that they had a different guide? we went through the same tour company) was very excited about this place and repeated again and again to all who would listen, "this is an IMPRESSION bar!"
Well, the impression was not so great. As with everything in Vietnam (in our experience, it seemed) it was on the side of the road, along with houses, shacks, stores, businesses, etc. It was a big building with neon, and inside it was basically a discotheque. All the tables had bottles of expensive liquor on them, and there was an armada of waitresses and waiters standing by to serve. We were seated by the hostess, and when the order was finally conveyed to the hostess(no one spoke English there, and our guide left while J and C's went off somewhere (he was pretty lame)) and she relayed it to the waitress, the waitress rolled her eyes in disgust and threw her hands up at hearing our small order of 4 beers. I didn't even order water, as I was stuffed from dinner.
I guess they decided that they would show us how real big spenders party. They brought two cases of beer and set them at the foot of the table, followed by a big tray of fresh fruit. Then, the musical assualt happened...some of the loudest dance music I've ever heard. We had hoped to have a peaceful night of talking and instead were subjected to heartbeat changing pulsations from a stack of speakers that put an AC/DC concert to shame. Two Vietnamese DJs spun the tunes. We were the only patrons until a couple walked in and sat next to us. They were Asian, but one leaned over and started talking to us in perfect English, saying she was from Missouri, and that she had grown up there. That was about it, but it was pretty coincidental.
So, anyway, given that we couldn't talk to each other, and the general vibe sucked, we decided to leave. That, too, was a very unpopular decision for our hosts to hear. They brought a bill that included the two cases of beer and the fruit plate. That totaled more than 1 million dong (the currency of Vietnam, and yes, every day was filled with plenty of jokes about dong).
This is a pic from the bar...note the waitress' less than pleased posture.
Lucky for us, by then the guide for the other group had reappeared, and he was able to help us negotiate a settlement. I don't know what was paid for, but it was more than the 4 drinks they had. Lesson learned--don't go to the disco.
So we went back to J and C's hotel, which was a Victoria Hotel and had an awesome Casablanca-esque bar. I bought a great Cuban cigar and had a water while the gang had one or two drinks. Heaven!
The next day, we were up and at 'em once again bright and early. I woke up very early (5ish), and hit the streets of Chau Doc. My best picture from that walk, unfortunately, is a mental one--a man on a moped riding with two large baskets on the back. They were fat at the bottom and tapered at the top, kind of like a bowling pin...and at the top, a quivering pig snout was protruding from the end. For some reason, my camera phone was in my pocket at that second (can you believe it judging from the 20 bazillion pics I've uploaded?). So, I fumbled and started running after him, but as I've mentioned, they drive kind of fast in Vietnam, so I didn't catch up.
However, I did get this great picture of a bicycle taxi fellow sitting outside of our hotel. He was nice enough to pose, and I gave him some dong (insert joke here).
I took lots of other pictures, and they don't yet have comments. We left at 7 a.m. for a floating fish farm, which we reached by water. I am amazed at how self-sufficient and efficient the entrepreneurs are here. I think that it's a good explanation of why Asian entrepreneurs succeed in the U.S. They work they're asses off, and they don't waste any time or effort.
It was explained by Huy that this has not been a great year for the fish farmers. They do not export a lot of their fish, which are kind of like bass, because the Australians and Americans do not like them. However, we didn't quite elicit the true reason that it's been a bad year. Perhaps it was a hint to give a tip.
There was also a guy in shorts that was diving below the deck and breathing through a tube that was coming out of an air compressor and that he was holding in his mouth. They made their own fish food, and you'll see pictures of the way we crossed from one part of the fish farm to the other.
This was also where the people lived, as is the usual. Note that in one of the videos, I pause on a temple (a small homage to the Buddha and assorted gods of the river). It's basically a shelf on which incense is burned, candles are lit, and flowers are placed.
This was the start of a long day, but now I'm running way late. I have to shower, eat and be on the bus in 25 minutes--some things never change. I find lots of things to keep me off task.
There are tons of pics that you can see at the link, but they're not in order. I'd like to wait to link to them until they are more ordered, but that's not going to happen. I have to get in the shower, as we are on our way today to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam.
http://picasaweb.google.com/John.Purcell.3rd/VietNam
I'll fill in the blanks on this day (Thursday) later. I'm slowly catching up.
No comments:
Post a Comment