Trapped in the Elevator!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Posted by TwoLively

Glinda, prepared for every emergency, passes out water...MarcoPolo contemplates eating Tootsie
Glinda looks oh-so-pleased, Tootsie points at the posted 5 people limit

Yes, that's right...tonight we were TRAPPED in the elevator! When the sign says "max 5 people" -- it means small, teeny-tiny Vietnamese people -- not 5 American-sized people! As we were riding the elevator up to the sixth floor (actually the 7th floor, since the 2nd floor is counted as the 1st floor), MarcoPolo told us about his friend plummeting in a Mexican elevator--which made Glinda realize the lit sign had been saying sixth floor for awhile--and we realized we were stuck! We tried yelling for help. I should mention the elevator is about 1/2 the size of an American elevator...so we were pressed together tightly. What do you do, and who do you call for help? MarcoPolo called The Travel Agent's brother (who had just left our hotel, and was riding home on his scooter) but he didn't understand what his sister's crazy family was saying! A good 5-10 minutes later, we heard people tinkering on the other side of the door, and to our relief, two hotel workers managed to pull the doors open. Our elevator was about a foot lower than the sixth floor...but we stepped up and made it to safety. Oz accused us of causing these things to happen, just so we have something to blog about. (Later: we saw the sign said 425 kilograms max....so it must've been the weight of our bags that put us over. That's our story, and we're stickin' to it!)

Views from our hotel...
The Breakfast Bunch...Oz eating fish for breakfast...the river where Oz's fish was probably caught
(where we saw a man bathing...and another one pooping!)

This morning, we went to Dong Tam (Snake Zoo.) There were cobras, boa constrictors, vipers, ostriches, monkeys (chained to trees), and goats (with funny eyebrows.) In one cage, a monkey was eating a treat out of a plastic sandwich bag, with the juice box on the ground below him. And, let's just say there was "a little monkey business" goin' on in the Monkey House. Ahem. There were R.O.U.S.'s (Rodents of Unusual Size -- Princess Bride) seriously the size of small lions! The cages were close enough that you could stick your fingers thru the mesh bars. Clearly OSHA, PETA, and the Humane Society are not well-represented in this country. We also made friends with some cute lil' kids who kept saying "hello" to us. Glinda and Tootsie gave them some gum. We're either celebrities or freaks--and we may cause some scooter rubber-necking accidents before we leave! As we left the zoo, a lady ran over, waving a paper with vital information. The paper was written in Russian, and it was an advertisement for Snake Venom to treat baldness.

Snake wine...Monkey holding chain...on the bridge
Snake charmers: Oz, Marco & TwoLively, Glinda
Tootsie's toes...Marco & Oz sticking their hands inside the cage...Marco & Baldness Cure
ROU's...ostrich...monkey business mama

We ate a yummy lunch outside...and are getting ready to have a siesta for a few hours. Nap-time is popular here in Vietnam, which is fine by us! Later this afternoon, The Travel Agent's brother will come back for us, and take us on another adventure. We will upload some pictures tonight...and add pictures to previous posts, too.

Oh yeah: the water was fixed in the other hotel rooms. The maintenance worker had to go though our bathrooms ceiling in order to get to their rooms--which was funny because their rooms are across the hall and down a few doors. He must've fixed our leaking water while he was at it, because when we returned our bathroom floor was dry. So we should be able to bathe without elecrocution. I hope it doesn't sound like our hotel is a dump, because it is really clean (just a little run down.) And for only $20.50 (we don't know if that is the cost for one night--or both nights? Breakfast included.) you can't beat the price! The city we are in is called Song Tien. (Update: I guess the water isn't really fixed in the other rooms afterall, so everyone will shower in our room. And, our light doesn't leak water...however, now water runs down our bathroom wall, which makes our toilet paper sopping wet.)

LATE AFTERNOON:
We went to a Vinh Trang Pagoda, which is a Buddist Temple, with possibly the biggest, happiest Budda ever! The building had intricate carvings, with incence burning everywhere (hate that smelly stuff!)

Happy Budda...standing by Budda (for scale)Buddist Temple
Offering...Graves...headstone

Afterward, we went to Co-Op, which is a grocery/department store. We noticed a group of about 4 teenage girls spying on us. When they realized we saw them, they hid--but we kept noticing them peeking at us. I (TwoLively) tried to find a pair of flip-flops, but the largest size marked was 8...which was more like a 6! I'm 5'7" and tower over even the men (they come to my shoulder level), so logically their feet would be tiny, too.

This evening we are going to walk down the street in search of a restaurant. Hopefully we won't get lost!

EVENING:
We took a left, instead of a right...stopped at a few restaurants that weren't really restaurants (Bars? Oz did a great pantomime of opening a menu and eating food, but it didn't translate well. I said "Pho" and they understand we were talkin' about food, which they didn't have.) We finally found the restaurant NEXT DOOR to our hotel. Yes, we completely walked in a big ol' circle--but MarcoPolo, our trusty navigator, insists we weren't ever lost! Along our route, the sidewalk was rough and uneven--plus it was dark--and Glinda tumbled on the gray brick road (she twisted her ankle for the 2nd time today.) Every time we crossed the street it felt like we were playing a game of human Frogger with the moped maniacs. At the restaurant, we were the only customers (Later: Hello! Ominous sign.) We all ordered different items on the menu, and when the food came, the puzzling thing was we couldn't tell it apart. Three ordered beef...yet only one entree looked beef-ish...and with tortoise, frog, snake and eel on the menu, it's anyone's guess, really! We gave up trying to figure who's food was whose, and just dug in family style. I must mention that this was a rice-free meal because I accidentally sent the rice from our table. Here's what happened: a mosquito was buzzing by my drink, so I instinctively shooshed it away...at the exact moment the waitress was setting the rice on the table. Thinking I was waving her away, our waitress got a funny look on her face, and scurried off with the rice. Ay-yi-yi! At the end of the meal, MarcoPolo pointed out food remnants (not his) on his chopstick...seriously dry-heaving just thinkin' about it again. At a nearby shop, I found some man-sized flip-flops, and bought them for 60,000 dong (about $3.00) Who knows? Maybe they really are man shoes...but Tootsie bought an identical pair, so we can be manly odd-balls together! Tomorrow afternoon The Travel Agent & Montezuma Revenge will arrive...yay! (We never thought we'd cheer for Montezuma's Revenge...)   

Our walk...Russian-Roulette mystery food...Sopping wet toilet paper (at least our bathroom has water!)

Tootsie and Glinda ended the day with not-so-gentle foot massages (tender-footed Tootsie is still recovering from hers!) The masseuse used some sort of sharp pressure-point tool...ouch!

-- TwoLively