Toothpicks, Snorkeling, Shopping and my Vietnamese

Ok so today I am feeling a bit better. My 48 hour fever broke last night and now it's like having a cold again. It was a weird fever. My body didn't ache at all; I was just burning up like the fiery pit of hell. Now I'm just congested and I sound like a Vietnamese frog-man.... err women I guess. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my voice so I've been drinking lemon juice like there's no tomorrow.

Anyhoodles, enough about my ailments. I'm here today to talk about toothpicks, snorkeling, shopping and my Vietnamese.

Toothpicks

Ok, here is an interesting observation. People in Vietnam really like their toothpicks. Anytime you order a meal here they bring toothpicks to your table. It doesn't matter whether your at eating at a street vendor or a high end restaurant, you get a small delivery of toothpicks when you finish your meal.

I find this amusing because now I understand my Dad a little bit better. After meals at home he like to use his toothpicks. Of course, first he uses it to pick any bits of food left in his teeth but then he moves to chewing on it. I have always found his "thing" for toothpicks bizzaro. He even performs little magic tricks with his toothpicks; "The Magic Jumping Toothpick". This is where a toothpick will miraculously jump into the air without any sudden movements from his hand. It just leaps out of the palm of his hand!

So for me... mystery solved! ... about my Dad and his toothpicks! It's just something Vietnamese people do! I guess he's not so strange after all!

Snorkeling

Today we took a boat trip out to one of the 29 bays in Nha Trang to go snorkeling. I was a bit worried considering I wasn't feeling so well. I was also feeling a bit apprehensive about snorkeling without fins. They tour boat only provided snorkel masks and the rest was up to us. Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself a strong swimmer. Actually, to tell you the truth, I have a great fear of drowning. Nonetheless, I jumped in the bay anyway. I figured if I was going to drown at least it was going to be somewhere beautiful! But as it turns out, I'm such a sucky swimmer after all. The coral in Nha Trang is the most beautiful coral I have ever seen. I've snorkel and dove in the Dominican, various areas in the Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii and I'd have to say that the coral here is second to none. There was so much variety of coral and they had such vivid and lush colours of red, hot pink, electric purple, glowing lime green and deep liquid blues. It was utterly amazing! I think I was so mesmerized with the sea life that I completely forgot about my fear of drowning into the abyss.


Shopping

So today we did a little bit of shopping. I was getting sick and tired of wearing my clown clothes so we headed to the market. Colin was on a quest to find a few nice shirts that would actually fit him. And I was frankly looking for anything matching.

I eventually found a shop where some of the tops and bottoms looked stylish yet not too pricey. I tried on a few shirts but low and behold, my build is too BIG for the clothes! Craziness. I guess being a size 2/size 4 at home is too big here! So I moved on to the next shop. I eventually found clothes that fit. I even bought a couple pairs of jeans. And get this.... (this is the most exciting part for me)... I don't have to hem my pants!!!! Hooray! I tell you, I don't often buy too many pant back home because I hate having to put in the time to get them hemmed. That's why I've been so happy that capris had come back into style. Anyhow... that was my little moment of glee!

Colin on the other hand had a much tougher time shopping. First of all, when he walked into a store on his own they merchants immediately charged him the "tourist" price. So we came up with a way where I would go into a store first ask about the prices and then he would come in and look at the shirts. The prices I can get are half of what they offer Colin! Sneaky little buggers!

My Vietnamese

I'm finding that my Vietnamese is getting better and better each day that I am here. It's really strange to me that I can understand everything going on around me. Several of my cousin mentioned to me that I sound a lot like my mom when I speak in Vietnamese. Well I guess any idea that I was adopted is out the window! I know I'm going to have a tougher time when we go up North to Hanoi. Their accents are different there so I'm crossing my fingers. Well I've go to go because I'm getting kicked out of the business centre at the hotel. Toodles and I hope to have another up date soon.