John, Daddy, & me
Upon arriving in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, I felt pretty anxious. I couldn’t believe I was really here, and I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve only ever visited in Winter and Spring. Walking from the plane to customs, I told my brother, “Dude, it even smells like Vietnam.” And he agreed. I don’t know what it is but there’s this distinct smell that reminds me of nothing else but here (it’s not bad or anything.) I think it’s partly the humidity that attributes to it, who knows. After a long line up with customs, we met up with the rest of my brother’s friends who were only there 20 minutes before us. After picking up our luggage we went out and were greeted by my stepmom, little sister, and my stepmom’s side of the family. At first I thought the weather wasn’t too bad until we stepped outside to get in our rides. It was only 10AM and we were already being choked by the warmth and humidity. Welcome to Vietnam. =P
My brother and his friends sat in the bus we were renting while I rode with my dad, sister, stepmom and her family. It was a little weird because I had no idea who they were and had never met them, but turns out two of the guys are my “nephews” even though they’re older than me by a lot. In the Western family tree, these guys actually aren’t my nephews, but there’s no real translation for how I address them in Vietnamese. My little sister is so adorable; she speaks much better Vietnamese than me! When she saw Jeff, she immediately grabbed him and hugged him the entire car ride. She fell asleep on me in the car =) Man, she’s tiny!
We arrived at my stepmom’s mother’s for some Pho Ga =P We were going to spend the night in Hanoi, so my brother and his friends got to get dropped off at the hotel to shower. Through my dad’s logic though, it somehow made more sense to have me shower later on… What a terrible idea. I was feeling pretty grumpy while eating because the two kids of someone in that house were dragging Jeff around and throwing him about. My heart died inside when he hit the ground :( I freaken sleep with that!! Also, I felt really sticky and gross and my mosquito bites from back home were acting up. When food was finally prepared, I have to admit I was quite disappointed. The pho was quite bland, BUT! I don’t want to complain too much, I’m on vacation!
After my brother and his friends finished eating (it was quite funny with seven Caucasians eating in such a small Vietnamese dining room) I finally got to shower!!! However, shortly after stepping outside the sweating commenced immediately. I met up with everyone else who were sightseeing at a lake. Tony was sweating beads LOL. I wasn’t doing too bad, but Dave had to take his shirt off. In the temple, everyone was giving him dirty looks, and someone had said. “Put your shirt back on,” in Vietnamese. I don’t know much about Vietnamese tradition and culture when it comes to things like these, but it was obvious something like that was disrespectful =P
The lake is a major tourist attraction, and with that comes hustlers! With such a huge group of people, we were targeted like crazy and they wouldn’t leave Dave alone, despite us walking such lengths. They had girls that were probably only seven years old selling things! One of them had told Dave, “You’re a bad man.” WOW! Its funny how of all things they knew in English, it was how to tell people off. Things had gotten really heated because they wouldn’t leave us alone despite telling them we didn’t want anything. It got to the point where they started swearing at us in English, which set my dad off, and he started bitching at them in Vietnamese. INTENSE!
He wouldn't be left alone LOL.
We stopped by to rest and cool down at a Café, and then did some more sightseeing around Hanoi. I couldn’t believe I saw a KFC! Or a Shiseido, or a Clinique, or a Nike store…. OR BUBBLETEA! What the heck? I’ve never really toured Hanoi like this before so I guess this is why I’m so surprised.
As the sun was setting, we headed to eat dinner at this buffet. This was the biggest buffet I have ever been to. There were so many choices and different types of food. There was sushi for crying out loud! The food was good, but I had more fun walking around looking at everything rather than eating it. A family friend’s daughter joined us, whom I apparently have met before but was too young to remember. Her name was Quynh and she was the same age as my brother, and pretty much everyone else (23). She was really cute, and being Dave’s wingman, I told him to chat her up. She had learned English after university and it was actually really good! We were trying to convince her to go clubbing with us, but Dave’s charm wasn’t working on her. So, Dan stepped in. It was hilarious, but I felt bad for Dave because I had failed him :( Dan worked his magic, and she finally agreed to come dance with us =)
We all headed back to the hotel to freshen up, and then off to the club we went! Now, clubs in Vietnam generally aren’t like the ones back home. For one, I was allowed in HAHA. Two, there isn’t a dance floor, you just stand around some high tables, drink Hennessy, and eat fruits. Where you’re standing IS the dance floor. Quynh had brought her friend along and boy, was she tall! It’s pretty difficult to have a conversation in the club as the music is ridiculously deafening. I didn’t drink, but I still had fun dancing, and used up a lot of my voice to get Kirby to quit drinking so much. Dave was already on a high and watching those two dance was pretty entertaining. Tony and his girlfriend, Nicole, weren’t with us, but they did miss out on his younger brother, Billy, get drunk. The waiters/waitresses fill your cup up literally every two seconds. My dad, stepmom and other friends of my dad were with us as well. The two nephews of mine were also there, but being my dad’s minions they didn’t drink so they were clear headed to take care of us. They’re both really sweet and made sure everyone was okay.
At 12AM the party was over, and most of us stumbled to our bus. Seated to my left was a drunk Dave with his thumb stuck in a waterbottle, and a piss-drunk Billy who opened the bus door while it was in motion so he could puke. This was only Day One. LOL
No comments:
Post a Comment