weird day.

Sunday May Something at 10pm...

Today has been a weird day. Ah my laptop power is getting low so i tried to plug it in and it made a frying sound..not good.
Anyway, today we were in Saigon and we got up at had breakfast which was on the 7th floor for some reason. Then we went on the bus to a boat on the river and we rode it to a fruit market place where you sit down and have tea and fruit and people sing and play vietnamese music.
We tried a popular fruit here called...durine or something. It smells really badly and they say it tastes really good, lots of people love it. It looked like scrambled eggs and tasted like onions. It wasnt good at all.
No one liked it.
Then we went on a little boat with 4 people and a guy rowing, and we all had the vietnamese hats on in the boat and our guide told us to sing row row row your boat. It was fun.... it was down a little river with big palm trees and things like that along the sides and other boats passing us with everyone wearing the triangle hats.
Then we went to a factory where they make coconut candy and we tried some, it was good so we all bought some... then some people held a big snake, cobra or something.
Then we had some honey tea.
Then we went walking through the jungle, the actual jungle...weird... to the place where we had lunch. They brought us out a weird looking fish thing turned on its side and it actually was a fish but it looked like one a lot... and they made us spring roll ish things... they said if we wanted we could order a cobra. they would chop off its head and you can drink the raw blood and eat the beating heart then eat the cobra...
so most of the guys in the group decided to do that...
so they went and watched the guy cut off the cobras head. Then he came out with shot glass things of the blood mixed with rice wine... so they all had a shot of that. One girl did it, Gil... but then she threw up. Then they brought out the heart and meanwhile the waiter guy was saying sorry because he didnt know what was going on... one guy, Owen, ate the heart in a shot...
Then they brought out the cobra in a salad. meanwhile most other people weren't really hungry anymore... so most of us hardly ate anything that lunch.
Then it started thundering and it got really dark and it started raining really hard and we had to go back on the boats to the main land and we got al wet... then we went back to the bus and drove to the ferry where we had to get off the bus and walk with a bunch of motor bikes for some reason and on the ferry. And Gil was still sick... and we stoof the ferry then we came to Can Tho.... to our weird hotel... which everyone is afraid of.
There are lizards in the rooms and it's just weird.
We took pictures of it and of the ghosts.
People are saying it reminds them of Hostel or something.
We went for a walk to dinner and we heard a bunch of sirens and a parade was going down the street.
Then we got a little lost but made it back to the hotel. We have a sign on our door that says Courteny and Kaitlynn's Honeymoon Sweet.
And we took ghostly pictures here.
Tomorrow is our last day. Time has gone by fast.

same same ... but different.

here is a post i wrote a few days ago first of all... in word :
Thursday, May 15 2008.
Today is someone’s birthday and it’s either Lissy’s or Emily’s but I am leaning towards Lissy.
We left Hanoi this morning and caught an hour long flight to Hue.
Once we got here, we met our new guides, Pho and Chinh. Then we went on a walking tour of some places…The Citadel or something like that.
Before that we ate lunch at a nice restaurant but they were really slow to bring out our food. They made everything look really nice. There was a pine apple with sticks in it and spring rolls in it and carrots so that it looked like a peacock.
I should make something like that for a party sometime… except maybe with marshmallows or something.
After the walking tour we came to our resort, which is reallyyyyy nice. It is the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in or probably ever will.
There are a lot of trees and ponds and everything, and different buildings and candles. The rooms are in a townhouse kind of style. We are upstairs and we have a front balcony and a back balcony that looks out to the swimming pool, a pond and the restaurant. It is really big.
I am hungry. It is 7:35pm and dinner is at 8.
No one wanted to wear their fancy dresses tonight so we are doing that a different day.
Our room is really big and nice. We have 3 beds in here…. Its nicer than my house. Like 10000 times nicer.
Karen and Gillaine are in our room right now because we are ready to go to dinner. I am drinking Huda beer from the mini fridge because it is only a dollar.
The internet café here is called the Candle Bar and it is an actual bar with candles and couches… its all just too beautiful for our minds.
I feel so rich.
And they even have a blowdryer.
You can buy anything in your room and I wanted to get the blowdryer to use for the rest of the trip but it is the plugs they use here so I wouldn’t be able to use it at home.
It is now 10pm. We just got back from dinner. It was pretty goood but we have the same basic things every meal. The fruit at the end is usually the highlight. Tonight it was fried pineapple and it tasted really good.
Now I am going to bed.

in hanoi again.

there isn't really any time to write in this so i think i will be giving up on it. we are in hanoi again for the 3rd night over the trip and we are getting the free wireless signal from the lobby in our room because we have rooms near the front of the hotel this time.
we never stay up this late... its 10:30. normally to bed around 9. we have to pack because we are going on a flight to Hue.
"I have to email my mum to tell her to book me a hair appointment"-Kaitlynn

I kinda want to dye my hair darker too but I dont know.

The last time I typed in here or aunt bridgette did, i cant actually read back on it because it wont work but we were in Sapa...so after that we went to the homestay. On the way these adorable women walked with us the whole way and they talk in such cute voices and say "You buy from me???" and they try to sell you stuff.
We walked with them all the way up to the homestay in a little village in the mountain and then went swimming in the river. The current was really strong and some people thought it would be fun to go down the rappids so they did and I didn't really mean to but it sucked me in so I thought OK oh well I will go dow but then it was kind of hard to control and it sucked me under the water and I thought I was dying but I was ok hahah but then we had to swim across the river to get to the right side without going down the more deadly part of the rappids and I was swimming and getting carried away so my teacher had to save my life and I was yelling about my bathing suit falling off and he thought it was funny how I cared more about that than for my life hahah.
It was fun and memorable.
Then our guides showed us a bunch of games in the homestay and there was a thunderstorm.
The girls slept in one house in a big room all together and the guys in another.
In the morning we went on a big hike up and down muddy hills and the mountain women came with us again. A littleish girl helped me. We all had someone helping us the whole way, they held our hands and stuff so we wouldnt fall. At the end of it we bought stuff from them. I bought a wallet from my little girl who helped me and she gave me a bracelet as a gift.
I had a woman who I kept talking to so I gave her money. I also gave her a hug out of nowhere because she was so cute.
Then we went back to Sapa and had dinner and stuff then back on the bus to Hanoi... and we had dinner or something I don't remember what happened...iThen we went to Halong Bay and stayed on a boat for 2 nights. It was way nicer than I expected... but they kept giving us sea food, like baby octapus. My feet are asleep.
We went kayaking and swimming off the side of the boat in the salt water.
Etc etc now we are back in Hanoi. We went walking around tonight and then we had a free dinner so we went to a cafe and had american food..pizza and then we got dessert including a flaming banana.
Now we have to pack to go on an airplane tomorrow.
ITS ALMOST 11PM.
gotta go.
BYE BYE WORLD.... probably forever. well i might not write on this anymore.
ps didnt feel any earth quake.
~courteny

Vietnam Update...

This post is from Bridgette (Courtney's Aunt) As sent via email from Courtney in Vietnam...its too hard for her to do this herself being as it all appears in Vietnamese when she logs in!

Hi everyone,

my blog website is in vietnamese and never loads so I am writting an email to aunt bridgette to write in my blog. It is now Thursday at 11am there, or so Karen just announced. Here it is Thursday at 10pm.

I am in the lobby with a bunch of people from my class, we are all on our laptops because we don't get internet in our beautiful rooms.

Kaja just came down and said, "I just saw someone beat their dog with a stick".

"They were getting ready for dinner"-Neil (my teacher).

I get way too distracted. Everyone is leaving now. Ahhh there is no time for this.

We have been doing so much and there is no time to explain it and no time to upload pictures. It is already 10pm and we get up at 6.

Uhh I am trying to think of what to say. We have done so much I forget what we did before yesterday because I cant think back.

A few nights ago we slept on the night train and had to get up at 5:30pm and we all accidentally got up at 4:30am becaus Kaitlynn keeps announcing the wrong time to us all. But then we went to a restaurant in Lao Cai. We had noodles in water with onions.

We have that a lot.

We eat every meal with chopsticks.

Then we went on the bus to somewhere.. Oh yeah to a village way far up and out of the way of the local minorities and they were not used to seeing tourists (it was up muddy roads all far)... they came and touched our skin and laughed at us it was crazy.

I really had to go to the bathroom so an old lady led me behind her house back in her garden bside a pig pen and to a hole in the ground bathroom. haha.

Then we went on a long boat ride and into a cave and then on a big hot hike (its hot here). Then we went to our hotel in Bac Ha. A village againw ith not really many tourists... we went on a bike ride, the hills were crazy.... but it was all beautiful. We have been seeing beautiful things and different ways of life.

Umm then we went back to the hotel and walked to dinner with dogs at our feet and yeah.

Thennn...we went to bed by 9:30... got up at 6 to roosters... went to breakfast, then we went for a walk around the town.. and then on a long bus ride, stopped in lao cai for lunch, I had banana juice. Then we went back on the bus and way up high in the mountains...we

are so up high that we are in the clouds. Well the clouds are at the same level. There is a huge mountain right outside our window and clouds. This so far is my favorite hotel and my favorite town, its called Sa Pa. It is more of a touristy place... so many stores. There are the colorful hammung minority, the old ladies are SO CUTE that its crazy and I want to hug them and they mumble in a cute little voice with no teeth and they try to sell you stuff...same with little kids who should be in school.

We had free time this afternoon and we walked around shopping. We love it here.

Tomorrow we are going on a big trek through the rice patties and stuff and swimming I think and to sleep at a homestay.

The next night we are on the night train again, which was hilarious...

and then back to Hanoi which is a bigger city, where we stayed the first night. That hotel was pretty cool too but not compared to this beautifulness.

I have no idea what happens after that. I have to look at the intinerary....however you spell it.

There is a huge bug on the fan right now.

We bought some snake wine today. It is wine with snakes in it. Our guide just told us the scorpian wine is good for women so I should get some of that.

We washed our clothes by hand last night at the hotel and hung them up to dry but they didnt because the air is too moist.

Its better here though.

OK well I cant think of anything else to say so I am going to go now. May or may not write another update. I guess I have a lot of days left so I probably will.

I am having fun here and it is nice to be so far away in a place where life is so different.

~BYE BYE FOR NOW~

-COURTENY

in vietnam

we are in vietnammmm... its crazy. our hotel is really nice... it is monday may 5 at 8:30pm...
we had an extremely long flight... and it was night for about 24 hrs or something. Everyone looks really tired today.,\
we are in the business centre because the wireless wont work.
I can't even think of what to write...
long plane, really long... then we got here this morning... we had a delay at the airport because one girl had a mistake on her visa, it had the wrong date so she had to stay at the airport all day to get it sorted out.
We walked around the streets and went to the water puppet theatre and walked around following our guide and taking pictures. There is so much traffic and its mostly motor bikes. It is really scary to cross the street.
Some old lady almost hit me.. it was funny.
I stepped on a dead rat.
Our hotel is cool with big old wooden doors and panels and high ceilings and really big shutter windows that you can open and look into the street.
It is exactly what I imagined for windows.
Tomorrow we get up early.. sunrise here is 5:30am and sunset is 6:30pm.
We are going on tours of a bunch of places and later on a night train where we have to sleep and get up at 5am...it is my birthday tomorrow.
We will be back in a hotel on May 7.
For dinner we had to use chopsticks and I had to use the stabbing method for a few things but the food was good...fish and chicken with spicy sauce and sticky rice...etc.
The buildings here are really cool and tall and narrow. On the bus way from the airport I saw some people's homes that looked like fallen down haunted houses.
And people constantly come up to you on the street to sell you things. Our guide said to not make eye contact or answer them.
I took gravol awhile ago to make sure I can sleep tonight... I guess that is normal for me anyway/
Wellll nothing else to say right now. I am not sure when I will have internet again but thats OK!
As soon as more people came to the airport in Toronto I was way less scared...and now I'm not at all anymore.
It's summer here. Yay....
and the bathrooms are normal so far and there are showers so far.
OK well Karen is leaving now so I need to go. BYE WORLD.

GILLAINE'S

www.gillaineinreallife.blogspot.com

that is gillaine's blog about vietnam and life apparently...so hopeflly she doesnt say anything embarassing about me.