Oh Viet Nam....

just got back from a long first day in Viet Nam. It is 10:49 pm our time and I am exhausted but can't stop laughing. I just got a foot massage with one of my friends...it was soooo awkward lmfaooo. the lady's hands were going up our thighs... this one guy in there got moved to a room so that he could presumably get a "happy ending" we got worried about what the lady thought we wanted (haha) and we bust out laughing about some stuff they were doing. (lol just thinking about it). they did some poking with what i presumed was a chop stick and at first i had no idea what was happening so i thought it was a needle or something and almost thought to stop her...it was a sharp shooting pain... but oddly felt like all my blood was rushing to one spot which didn't feel so bad after all??? if that makes any sense... anyways, she did that tediously for pressure points? i dunno. she did some kneading like my thighs and legs were bread which kinda tickled in an odd weird way, then she pressed a hot stone up and down, then she did some karate chop stuff and started smacking and pounding the shit outta our legs... and once i felt that and heard the other lady doing it to Dorian, I got the giggles and bust out laughing so hard.... pretty soon everyone was laughing. omg it was hilarious. mind you i wore a sun dress to day so she had my legs up and all i could think was omg i had no idea this would be like that. it was the most unusual foot massage we could ever imagine or anticipate. so she spreads my leg, and then holds it out and yanks it in the opposite direction, cracking stuff...then she sits me up and i'm thinking its over. the other woman is asking Dorian where we come from.... my lady is behind me, legs around my waist, twisting my body first to the left so that i could crack my back. then she does the same to the right. then, she grabs a pillow, places it on my back and forcefully pins me down so that my head is resting against my legs. it's a good thing I am capable of stretching and reaching that far because that would have sucked. anyhow, Dorian is asking me what do I wanna do at this point because we were fearful of missing the shuttle back to the ship at 10:30 and it was 10:15. I am laughing hysterically buried in my legs and the bed, underneath this woman and she can't hear me. the woman she is talking to asks if i could speak English when I get up and I assured them, laughing again, that I could. how funny is that? Anyways, the price of this lovely 40 min massage? $5 USD. awesome laughs, awkward, memorable Viet Nam moments =)

note about today's activities:

Did the city orientation, had a delicious full course meal at this Vietnamese restaurant. Then did some more sight seeing on the buses, getting off at designated spots. Then we (me, Lauren, Dorian, Meg, and some others) signed off at the Rex's Hotel. Had a drink and some food (definitely more pricey there than in other spots)...Walked around and ran into Eylee and Christine, walked around the night marketplace...tried not to get swindled by some of the women attempting to sell us overpriced stuff... although we did try some cool stuff on... then we went and had some local beer (Red Saigon) outdoors at this outdoor eatery which had an awesome grill... we were fascinated by the whole fish, prawns, shrimp and other stuff on it and how they cooked it in front of us. we actually asked and took a picture of it hahaha. but it was so difficult not to just buy food just because... it all looked so good and most folks like me realize how much money goes to food as opposed to anything else...