I get up at 6:15AM and go downstairs to brush my teeth real fast. Everyone downstairs was already up. I said some quick byes and walked down the alley way to Phan Huy Ich street to flag down a taxi.
I get to Anh Hung's house around 7:00AM, brushed my teeth again, showered, sent out an email, and went to bed around 7:30AM.
I wake up for the second time this morning at 10:30AM, showered for the second time this morning, and ate my already prepared breakfast and lunch.
At 11:15AM, I walked out to Nguyen Van Troi street, hit up the ATM, and then flagged my second taxi of the morning.
I get back to my aunt's house around 11:50AM. I go in and asked Trong "Where is everyone?" He said they left for the day and they ain't coming back. I asked where and he said he didn't know. Odd.
I went upstairs and I see Sonny and Hang in Trong's room. Only Thanh and Nhai were in the rented out room. I asked them where Tram Anh went and they said she went out for a bit. So I left to go get some more phone money cards to put into my phone.
These phone money cards have scratch off serial numbers on them. They sell them everywhere. You just find a store that has them (pretty much on any corner), tell them your provider (there are 3 major ones in Vietnam: VietTel, MobiPhone, and VinaPhone), and the amount of money you wanna buy. They have different amounts. I normally buy the 50k's ($2.50), and the 100k's ($5). Once you have these cards, you just punch the serial numbers into your cell phone and the minutes register into your sim card and cell. There are directions on the card on how to punch in the numbers. It's pretty simple and straight forward.
Right when I stepped outside of my aunt's house, this guy drives up to me on his moped and says hello. I recognize the face and quickly remember it's Long, Dinh's little brother. After we greet, he told me to hop on his bike and he'll take me to my mom. The bike ride over to Long's house took about 3 minutes. When I go upstairs to Long's rented out room, I see Long's mom (Hoa), my mom, and Nhi Sam. They were all "hiding" from one of my Mom's sister, Thuy, who was supposedly coming to visit that day.
I didn't stay at Long's place for long. His room was an average size. He had a king size bed on the ground. His kid, a boy that looked about 4 or 5, was playing with the chair that sat beneath a bunch of pictures. I recognized one of the pictures as his father's. Outside of his bedroom, is a long hallway that held a kitchen stove, a small shrine for prayer, and a small shelf for dry foods, bowls, plates, cups, pots, pans, spoons, and chopsticks. I left after a 20-minute visit, as I had to get back to my aunt's to meet up with Phuong, Tram Anh, Nhai, Thanh, Monkey, Trong, and Hang.
Momma and Long's kid inside Long's bedroom.
Long's kid.
Picture of Long's dad.
Outside Nhi Sam's house. They're playing poison.I told Long to drop me off a block from Nhi Sam's and gave him 400,000 VND ($20). I went inside the convenient store, and bought a VietTel and a MobiPhone money phone cards. I gave the MobiPhone card to Tram Anh when I got back. The night before I checked her cell and she didn't have any money in it.
Phuong gets home around 1:15PM and we leave for Binh Quoi at around 1:30PM in a 7-seater taxi. We squeezed in 8.
The taxi ride was interesting. Tram Anh had never been in a car before. I was in disbelief as she asked questions after questions about cars.
When we get to Binh Quoi, the four college girls came alive. They were jubilant, joyful, and super excited. They ran after trees, climbed on tree branches, ran across bridges, jumped on stationary bicycles, hugged statues -- all while someone snapped a picture.
Early on, we tried getting some che (dessert soup) at one point but they weren't serving it yet. It kinda sucked cause we all sat down at the small table and waited a couple minutes until we finally tried to order and got denied lol. We got ice cream instead. There was a Fanny Ice Cream stand near the entrance. It was about $0.75 a scoop. Everybody got some except for Hang. I'm not sure why she didn't want one but I don't recommend this kind of decision ha -- especially in humid Vietnam.
After ice cream, we checked out the whole place. Binh Quoi is this beautifully designed village. It has a traditional taste and feel. It's clean. We saw a lot of wedding couples taking pictures. It's very naturally scenic. Bamboos, trees, plants, and flowers of all sorts encompass the place. There are also statues, waterfalls, ponds, bridges, water wheels, outdoor restaurants, music, handmade brick walls, straw houses, wooden swings, open window restrooms, food carts, and a light touch of people. Adjacent to all of this sits the song Saigon (song = river). We saw some bypassing cargo ships when we went up for a breeze of fresh air. It was nice.
When we were done covering the whole place, it was 4:20PM -- too early for dinner and too late for lunch. I've been to Binh Quoi before and the food here is excellent but they don't start seating people until 5:00PM. I don't like wasting time so we get on the taxi out to Suoi Tien.
Suoi Tien is the Disneyland of Saigon. It's a very colorful place. Instead of being sprinkled with Disney characters, there are tons of dragons, unicorns, tortoises, phoenixes, horses, and lions -- all in the name of statues and sculptures. The four sacred animals in Vietnam are the phoenix, the unicorn, the dragon, and the tortoise. Lions and horses aren't too far behind on the list. The park also has tons of waterfalls, ponds, and water rides. One huge difference between Suoi Tien and Disneyland is the power supply. Man power is needed on most of the rides. This sucks real bad. You have to pedal. So unless you're a biker, the rides suck.
We get to the amusement park at 4:50PM. The park closes at 6:00PM, so we have about an hour (we did call Suoi Tien ahead of time but I decided we should go anyway because these girls work six days a week - their only free day is Sunday - I only have one Sunday left and I'll be outta town next week). It cost 40,000 VND ($2) per person to get in. As we walked up the steps to enter the park, everyone was exiting the park. It was near closing time and the rain started to come down. Once inside the park, we took some more pictures, toured the park, ate shrimp chips, got on one of the water rides, bought drinks, tamarinds, and oi (guavas).
We left when the park closed and headed for nha hang Ngon (Ngon restaurant) for dinner. Luckily our taxi guy took a great detour to avoid massive traffic on the main highway, while we chewed on tamarinds and guavas.
At the restaurant, everyone got their own entree and drink, plus banh beo, banh nam, banh it, egg rolls, banh bot loc, and nem chua. I ordered the latter stuff as appetizers and fillers. This dinner made me realize that Vietnamese girls in Vietnam do not eat much at all. I had to eat most of the extra stuff I ordered. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem but there was just too much. We had to box home two plates.
After dinner, the girls wanted to see Nha Tho Duc Ba (Notre Dame Cathedral), which is within walking distance, but the rain squashed that idea. We all called it a night. So I thought.
I was getting ready for bed around 9:30PM when Sonny comes downstairs and says Luong (Nhi Sam's husband) just got in a bike accident. He was drunk and collided head-on with another motorist, suffering a head injury. The hospital is near my aunt's so it's across town.
We called a taxi to go visit him at the hospital. Sonny and I get there around 10:20PM and he's lying in the hospital bed with Trong, Hang, Momma, Sam, and Hung around him. We help escort him into the taxi and onward home. He was a little woozy and had no idea on his whereabouts. He kept asking the same question and repeating the same things. We told him to be quiet and to just rest.
I kept the taxi when we dropped Luong off at his house and went straight home for bed. Son stayed over at my aunt's.
Right before bed, I tallied up the amount of money I spent for the day: $170.00. Dinner was $75.00 and the rest of the chunk was taxi money. I start looking for transportation alternatives and before I know it, I'm sound asleep.
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