Mom and I FINALLY got massages. I swear there's a gazillion massage places in Hanoi. You easily pass 10 in a 2-3 block radius. I think I got the better deal out of the two of us...Mom spent $6 for a 45 minute foot massage at a place down the street. I wandered into a place across the lake and paid $6 for an hour. The place had a much better ambiance than mom's. I actually went into another massage parlor a few doors down but there were no customers and there were only men working so I opted to try another place...There's lots of warnings in tour books and such about massages. Sometimes you get a little too much bang for your buck. Anyways, the place I went to had nice low lighting, relaxing music, and comfy leather chairs with matching ottoman and stool for the masseuse. My guy treated me well...First, I soaked my feet in one of those electric foot spa things. In the meantime, he gave me an arm/hand massage. Then, he moved on to the lower legs and feet. I was afraid I'd be too ticklish, but it was ok. I feel bad for the guy because he had to rub my hairy legs. Anyways, after that he massaged my legs a little more and then gave me a back rub, followed by a neck and head massage. I walked in expecting to simply get a foot massage, but it basically turned into a full body massage by the end! I think I'll be giving them some more business before we leave. Certainly can't beat that price/service. It was raining quite steadily when I finished up with the massage. Wearing a white t-shirt was a poor choice...Walking back to the hotel was interesting because instead of waving junky souveniors in my face, the locals were trying their best to get me to buy a poncho. They're always looking to close a deal...
On a different note, we enjoyed a laid back day. As always, there was a lot of walking. It's nice to be able to walk everywhere instead of relying on a car to get around like at home. We little shopping in the morning...mom napped in the afternoon while I got my massage...I watched two of the pirated movies we've picked up and then we headed out for dinner. Sidenote: I made friends with a woman I bought doughnuts on a stick from and another one I bought some pashminas from. They seem to get a good kick out of my attempts at speaking Vietnamese while bargaining. "Dat qua" (too expensive!) and "Zam za" (discount!) are two of my favorites. I'm also pretty good with numbers now, which comes in handy. Anyways, we ate at a place that had a set menu for dinner - BBQ chicken, spring rolls, veg, and rice for 50,000 dong ($2.50). To my surprise, they brought out a chicken wing instead of meat off the bone. I couldn't eat it...just couldn't stomach it after walking through the markets earlier and seeing all the raw meat. Gross. Mom was a cheap drunk - she started hiccuping after drinking 3/4 of a beer. All in all, the meal wasn't great...probably because I didn't have any chili sauce for the rice and veggies. I asked for it, but the guy brought out salt. The language barrier is a constant struggle...I really should have invested in a mini English-Vietnamese dictionary! We have to remember that it's our responsibility to use their language considering we're the visitors.
In other news, the storm is approaching! It was definitely a blustery day - what a relief! Although it was breezy, it was still humid. We had light rain periodically throughout the day. I think the heavy rains are close. The winds are picking up...mom and I took a lap around the lake after dinner and were surprised to see some branches down already. We're supposedly supposed to get the heaviest rain between 10pm - 1am. I'm interested to walk around tomorrow and survey the damage. Sounds like tomorrow will be a pretty rainy day...Mom and I might have to go to the movies. We can still consider it a cultural experience since we never go to the movies at home. I'm pretty sure the movies aren't dubbed, they just have subtitles for the Vietnamese people's viewing pleasure (thank goodness!).
Stay tuned for the tropical storm report...
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