Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Posted by Tootsie & TwoLively
Today was our last day in Vietnam. Since our flight didn't leave until 11:55 PM, we planned to hang around our hotel until noon, then head to Grandma's house for the rest of the day. The Travel Agent reminded us to eat lunch before we headed over. Unfortunately, we were so busy doing nothing (sleeping in, Skyping, blogging, hanging out) that we ran out of time to walk across the bridge in search of lunch (TwoLively: Ok--I admit it's my fault! I realize I often run Mormon-Standard-Time--LATE!--and, yes, MarcoPolo reminded me multiple times that we'd run out of time. Oooh. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.) Since we ran out of time, the only option was to eat lunch at the Nasty Restaurant across from our hotel--which really wasn't an option at all! So, Tootsie headed back to her room to enjoy a delicious SlimFast Bar...and Monte, TwoLively and MarcoPolo scrounged up the last of our emergency rations: a can of tuna and crackers, and a can of chicken and crackers. We sat at our hotel's we-only-serve-breakfast-and-kem-at-night empty restaurant...enjoyed the balcony view...and pretended those crackers were waaay more delicious and far more heartier than they really were!
At noon, Taxi Drivin' Uncle picked us up, and drove us to Grandma's house. Oz, Glinda, Tootsie, and TwoLively decided to walk the short distance out of the neighborhood, and back into the town. TwoLively was searching for the mysterious candied roses we had sampled at New Years...but, unfortunately, we did not find them (we later found they are sold exclusively for New Years.) We DID find a meat vendor, with all sorts of fly buzzin', meaty carcases rotting in the sun. Tootsie was especially grossed out by a skinned goat head for sale. TwoLively saw a duck nestled with a few chickens, and thought it was particularly cute the way the different species were snuggled together...until she realized their feet were tied together, and it was a forced snuggle!
Believe it or not, we found our way back to Grandma's house! We had a delicious lunch of Chicken Mushroom Soup, and as we ate, we told The Travel Agent about our walk. She told us that earlier in the morning, she and her Aunt visited those vendors. In fact, she helped pick out the very chicken we were eating in our soup! Talk about fresh...and TMI!
We spent a good deal of time outside on the porch, rearranging, repacking, and weighing our suitcases. We tried to pare down on the non-essentials, so The Family was gifted our Costco-sized bottles of Tums, Immodium, Handi-Wipes, etc. All that packing tuckered us out...which Uncle noticed. He swept off the floor, then brought us kiddy-sized princess pillows, so we could nap on the floor. We shamelessly sprawled out all over the living room floor. The cool tile felt so cool and refreshing. We now understand why dogs sprawl out on the tile!
Travel Agent's Aunty-in-Law (a wife by marriage--her husband is Grandma's son) is a weaver, so we asked to see her wares. She showed us her supplies (huge bolts of plastic, cut about an inch wide), then she showed us a storage room full of finished handbags. She generously invited us to pick out some totes for ourselves! We chatted, and learned that she's been weaving for about ten years. She visited a relative, saw them weaving, and asked to learn. At first, she worked as a subcontractor, and sold bags to the wholeseller. Today, she is the wholeseller, and she has subcontractors working under her! The bags we chose were handle-less, so we watched in awe as she expertly braided plastic into handles. Then she did a series of knots, which secured the handle to the handbag. Tootsie and Glinda tried their hand at handle-adding (but not TwoLively--she wanted her tote done right! ha ha) The Aunt makes up to 15 bags per day. Small bags sell for 20,000 -- medium sized ones, for 30,000 (with double-stripes) or 75,000 (with triple-stripes.) We found out that the bags we'd previously seen on our walk into town were her bags--very cool! We wondered how she even made the bags. She graciously demonstrated how to make a bag from start-to-finish. In the video, watch how her hands fly! It was fascinating to watch!
Meanwhile, Grandma demonstrated for the guys how to weave hats. She is 71 years old, and she weaves about 10 hats per day, about 5,000 each. She sells the untrimmed hats to a wholeseller, who machine-cuts a circle around the brim, and machine-fold and sews the edge down. Grandma gets the reeds for her hat from a neighbor, who dries them out, and machine presses them until they are flat (we walked by him on our walk, and he gestured to show us what he was doing.) These type of handcraft skills are amazing to watch, and important to preserve.
Before we left, Uncle removed the fruit from the altar, and presented it to us. We were told by The Travel Agent that it was a sign of deep respect for us. We were very touched, of course. We are their wacky American family (complete with our I-Love-Lucy moments.) Sometimes ya gotta just wonder if they think we're commitable. It was a great experience to travel to Vietnam to meet The Travel Agent's family. We all agreed that we'd love to have Brother and Sister come visit us!
All-too-soon, it was 5:00 PM, and time to head to Ho Chi Minh. Due to our excessive, clunky luggage, a mini bus was hired to transport us to the airport. With all the extra space available, there was room for our Goodbye Committee: Brother, The Travel Agent, and Monte to ride with us. During the 1 1/2 hour ride, the driver blared a musical--LOUD--but thankfully, he kept his eyes on the road, and didn't watch the video! Our Goodbye Committee walked us as close as they could, outside the main doors, by the fan club area (which was packed and crazy.) They pointed the way inside, and tried to give us last-minute instructions. After we walked inside, we stood in a group huddle, trying to figure out our next move. None of the signs were in English...and which counter was ours? We looked back and saw our Goodbye Committee standing outside the glass windows. The anxious look on their faces read, "They have no freakin' clue..."
Fortunately, the airport was fairly empty inside. We'd arrived at the airport 4 hours early, which was far too early for counter to be open. So we parked our Great Wall of Luggage next to us and sat...and waited...and waited...and waited. Then we waited some more. When midnight rolled around, we boarded the plane for Leg One of our journey home: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to Narita, Japan.
