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Little Kirsty Ventures to Pastures New
So following on from last post-
Went for a stroll and were dogged by a couple of biker tour guys. Ended up chatting cause they weren't too pushy. They tried to persuade us to go to the water park but we were more interested in the War museum. When we tried to barter for a lift, they claimed they needed extra money cause the men always had to be the ones to support the wife in Vietnam. But then one of the guys started telling us how his wife had left him and the other claimed it was cause he was bad in bed- highly amusing convo. So we hopped on the back of their bikes- twas totally crazy- zooming through HCMC past a million other crazy biker/mopeders. They obviously forgot to mention that the museum was closed, so when we arrived, we had to wait about for a couple of hours for it to open. When the dudes dropped us off (in front of the main gate, where there were security guards watching), they asked is we smoked and if we'd like marijuana- the guards instantly came over and he was off in a flash- haha. Took refuge in an air-con hotel nearby cause it was boiling. We were hoping the museum would tell us all about the war, but it only showed shocking photos and pictures, which were amazing- but it would have been so much more worth while if we actually knew anything about the war. The information was obviously very biased, but we got the jist of it. There was lotsa info on the effects of "Agent Orange" - the chemicals America used to destroy land and crops- resulting in deformities in new born children. Lots of graphic images were shown. There were also paintings, which Vietnamese children had drawn of war scenes and of peace. We were all astounded by the photos displayed- like of men about to be assassinated, a man falling on the front line after being shot, a soldier carrying the remnants of a diseased comrade who had been blown to bits- so nasty, but incredible that such things were captured on film. Like how did the photographers get that close? Loads of the photos had captions under them, saying that this photo was from the final film of so and so, before they were themselves killed. We were all very keen to learn exactly what happened in the war and where these awful images came from.
While we were looking around the museum, limousines pulled up outside and the display rooms were invaded by some random famous white people, surrounded by photographers. There was one famous woman, escorted by about 10 other people. They arrived while we were watching a film describing the effects of Agent Orange, and decided to place themselves directly in front of the screen. Kirsty and I were not amused- so asked them to politely move their asses out of the way. They continued to get in the way of various things, and as we were looking at the paintings drawn by the children, we were asked to move, since these famous people were on their way to that building. We obviously refused, since we'd paid good money to see the museum. No idea who the ponsey people were though. After the museum, we strolled home, through the side streets and stopped of in the downstairs of someone's house to have some noodles and rice- yummy. Once back on our street, we got some ice cream then went to find the others. No luck, as they had gone out for dinner already. That evening we went out for delicious pasta, then managed to meet up with Chez and Annie. Caught up on all the goss, then Chez, Sarah and I headed to GO, while Kirsty and Annie got an early night. Got a few drinks, then at midnight the doors were closed- so we all had to go inside. Guy called Han, who worked there was chatting up Sarah and determined to buy us drinks but was obviously wanting something in return. These mingin Irish geezers approached us next -total nerds- spoke the biggest amount of crap ever. So we had to leave to escape them. Sunday-Late morning, lemon pancake at Sasa café for breakfast, then we headed next door to the beauty parlour, where I indulged in a full on facial, Sarah got a leg wax and pedicure and Annie got her first ever wax-woo! Some snaps of the relaxation were taken then we separated off for different adventures. Annie and Chez went to the museum and a tour of the city, while Sarah, Kirsty and I hit the shops. We instantly went to a department store we walked past the previous day, and as soon as I walked through the main doors, I saw 4 absolutely GORGEOUS skirts on display upstairs. Like something out of Gwen Steffani's music video, or something Sarah Jessica Parker would wear. I totally thought they'd be extortionate, but went on the hunt for the shop they came from anyway. It was heaven I tell you. In that shop the first thing we found were drop dead gorgeous boots for about 25 quid. I was obviously determined to get them, but of course, as bloody usual, Kirsty's calves are too big!! Grr! So smelly Sarah fitted into them and ended up getting 2 pairs- so jealous! Buut, it was all OK cos Miss shopaholic Kirsty D (or Krusty as I am now called) stripped all of the dummies in the display window, and tried on all of the absolutely out of this world skirts and ended up buying 4- ahh! They are too gorgeous to even describe. And they were only about 10 quid each, apart from a mental mental one I bought, that weights about 10kilos and has a hoop in it. Crazy. So yeah, the reasoning behind the name Krusty may have not been mentioned yet (I don't remember if I told you all about it). Basically, when I was booking a hotel in Kuching for Mum, Gran and I, the guy asked me for my name to make the booking, and when I said "Kirsty Duncan", he replied- "Krusty Pumpkin?" Twas the most amusing thing ever. So I have now been re-christened Krusty Pumpkin by these guys. And it's actually quite useful since there are 2 Kirstys in the group. So anyway, after the skirt shopping spree, I wandered off into the mall to find more exciting things, only to have the lovely "Department store" music, to be interrupted by an outrageous tanoy message-"Calling Miss Krusty Pumpkin"..then silence and an outbreak of laughter (Sarah of course)- "Will you please make your way downstairs immediately". At the time a sales women was showing me a top, and I just ended myself. She must have wondered what I was on. Anyway, met Sarah and Kirsty downstairs. We were supposed to have met up with Chez and Annie at a Cathedral, but of course the shopping got the better of us and we missed our meeting time by miles. So instead, we headed back to our guest house, dumped our stuff, then headed for lunch. We bumped into Chez and Annie in the guest house and had a fashion parade with my skirts- they were very impressed! We then chatted for a bit then went to book a tour for the following day. As we headed for pancakes, there was a crazy crack of thunder. It sounded like a bomb had gone off- I panicked slightly, but didn't really show it. There was a nervous silence down the street with shocked looks on people's faces, but I think the realization of it being thunder set in a few seconds later. Was scary though, cause it was soo loud and just sounded like an almighty crash, like a bomb demolishing something. Early rise on Monday for the Mekong Delta Tour. 2 hour bus ride to the harbour, which was darn right stinky. There we bought the traditional Vietnamese cone hats- rocking. First stop was the rice paper place, where we saw a little lady making rice paper and a guy carving things out of coconuts. Sarah bought a coconut bag and we all chilled out in hammocks before having a traditional Vietnamese lunch. We then got in another boat and headed to the bee farm where we saw some bees and their honey. Then we sat down for some tropical fruits and some Vietnamese Tea with honey and rice wine, while we were serenaded by traditional Vietnamese folk music being played by 2 dudes on a Vietnamese guitar and a banjo lookalike thing. Then a gorgeous little Vietnamese girl joined them and sang to us. Was really nice. At the end they sand Auld Lang Signe in Vietnamese- amazing! Next we had the chance to hold the "family's pet python". It was friggin massive! I'm not scared of snakes, but Sarah and I went up to hold it and get a photo and I held the end with it's head and it was blatantly going for me- the photo says it all. It had a huge head, and its eyes looked directly into mine- I think it was hungry. So I got out of it's grasp sharpish. We then all piled into a little long boat and took turns in rowing it down an river inlet. Was really nice and relaxing, singing "row row row your boat" as we glided down the river, past locals in their little boats. Next stop was the coconut candy place. We watched how they made the sweeties and had a little taste- yummy. Annie bought some then we headed back to the harbour and hitched the bus back to our HCMC. Jumped in the shower straight away as we were all sweating lime P.I.G's, twas nasty. Went out for yummy Italian food (the food here is pretty good in general) then we booked the bus to get to Nah Trang, from STA travel shop. Next headed to the beauty parlour again for full body massages this time- sooo good! Then back to STA to book a tour to the tunnels for the next day. We were bored, so had some banter in the shop, taking photos and chatting to the staff. We then headed for a drink and witnessed a bit of a fight between the little kids that try to sell chewing gum and cigarettes, and the bar staff from GO. All we really saw was the bar staff physically aggressively pushing the boys out of the bar. The little boys then slyly picked up some bricks and were gona have a go but the bar staff scared them away. Don't know why that came about though. Next morning was an early one again to make the tour to the Cu Chi War Tunnels. Another 2 hour bus ride- stopped off at a rubber plantation, where we saw guys carving wooden things that had a smell to them. We learned about the Gorillas (sp?) and how they crept up on the American troops through these tunnels. We saw craters in the ground from the bombs and were shown the booby traps the Gorillas made to trap their enemies- these were nasty. Like holes in the ground containing bamboo spears and traps designed to flip soldiers over and spear them in various places. We were then given the chance to go through the tunnels originally used by these guys. I completely forgot that I was scared of the dark and stupidly it didn't occur to me that it would be dark down there, so it was pretty creepy crawling through these miniscule tunnels in the dark. One of the girls told us that that individual tunnel had to be expanded to allow tourists to crawl through it, since the original Vietnamese soldiers were teeny tiny. We could hear gun shots, which was a bit disturbing and it grew louder and louder. Turns out they had a firing range next to the gift shop for absolute losers to pay a dollar per bullet- sorry but what the..?! We were at a friggin War museum kind of place, with statistics of how many people had been killed, and they were advertising the use of firing weapons, bit odd if you ask me. At the gift shop, they sold "Snake wine". You can find this all over Vietnam. It's a bottle, containing a venomous snake- usually a cobra, and filled with Rice wine. Nasty how many snakes have been killed to make this stuff. Back to HCMC for lunch, then we all headed off for the market. Ended up getting 2 pairs o f beautiful shoes, while Chez found some fake Birkenstocks. The rain hit hard so we took refuge in a shop that actually sold nice- real make shoes. Stayed in there until the rain eased off then went back for dinner. Packed up our things, paid for our accommodation, grabbed a pancake, then headed for the night bus.
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