Monday, March 31, 2008

I think I ate dog last night

Son picked me up and we prepared to leave for a drive then dinner somewhere. The owner of the hotel is a friend of Son's and he was sitting there with 6 other guys having dinner on the terrace. It's a casual situation where one guy cleans the vegetables, someone else cuts the meat, someone cooks, and then they all sit and eat together. Son called me over to them (I tried to avoid them because it was uncomfortable to be around men I didn't know) and said, "One beer, Jane honor." So I joined them at their table while they poured Tiger beer. "No Heineken, okay? Tiger, okay?" Can you imagine if I had said no thank you and walked away? Of course it was okay! So the owner poured my beer then we all clunked our mugs together while they said something to me - - seemed kind and sweet because they all smiled nicely and nodded. I was informed through body language that I needed to POUND IT. So I downed the entire mug of the stuff. It was cold and delicious made only colder by the huge chunk of ice floating in the mug (probably made from unfiltered water). They all yelled, "Yeah!" as I finished it and slammed it on the table then wiped my mouth. They clapped, we said good-bye and off we went.

We drove around for a few hours looking at buildings that were built using the steel he sold to them. We drove to various beaches in far-off towns and the terrain became more and more rustic and agricultural. It was beautiful. We went to the top of one mountain that has a Buddhist Temple/Monestary atop and it was one of the most peaceful and beautiful places I've ever visited. It was similar to Tibet but it was a tropical version with birds, frogs, swamps, and that incredible sea view all around. We drove to huge expanses of open land next to the sea where Son said 'future Vietnam' meaning this is where resorts would be built. 'Resort 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6' he said indicating that there would be 6 resorts there one day. The opportunity for growth here is astounding. We were in Long Hai, Lo Hoc and Loc Son to name a few of the towns. It was nice to get away from the city and all the motorbikes. The beaches are pretty yet there's a lot of trash on some of them. One of them I was on (in spite of my fear for sand fleas) was tricky to walk on for all of the debri and trash. I managed to find a few beautiful seashells and walk in the water a little bit - - it was probably 75-80 degrees!! We took photos of each other near the water as well as photos of his car in various positions against the sea. Funny!! That car is like a member of the family, much more important than the family dog, Lucky.

Son announced he was hungry for Vietnam Barbecue. *Yikes* An alarm went off in my head as I immediately thought *dog meat*. When Son said "America barbecue Vietnam barbecue not same-same" I really thought I was going to have dog so mentally began preparing for the experience. We drove back in to Vung Tau and arrived at a simple, open-air building with blue plastic chairs and lots of motorbikes out front. He ordered for us while all the men in the place gawked at me (us) and obviously talked about me whilst pointing, nodding, and laughing. They'd smile at me if our eyes caught so it didn't seem like they were being mean but I have no way of knowing. They definitely leered.

A burner arrived at our table, then a little frying pan-type thing with melting yellow fat, then small rounds of meat arrived on two plates. "Same-same" Son said pointing to the meat. Even though they looked different they were from the same animal, I gathered. I asked what it was but he couldn't say. His son had tipped me off earlier that it would probably be goat so I made a pantomime of 'horns on my head' and Son responded nodding affirmative and adding a bleating sound. So it's goat. Whew. That was even a little freaky to me but I bucked up and ate it - - especially since Son was cooking it with chopsticks at the table and tossing the pieces into the various sauces in front of me. Putting basil in the bowl along with some okra and garlic cloves, the meat was quite tasty. Across the aisle from us was a girl cooking more meat - - an apparently special meat - - on a clay oven. I figured it was for us since Son kept looking over at it checking its progress. It arrived and Son announced, "Son favorite. Number one Vietnam." He tossed only one piece to me and waited until I tried it to see if I liked it or wanted more. "No like?" he said after my first "bite" (I used only my front teeth to grind off a small portion). Actually, it was okay! I said it was good. He tossed another piece in my bowl. I ate it but then decided to stop. Trying it was enough and besides, I wasn't even hungry anymore. It did not taste like chicken.

Sitting over that barbecue in the 93 degree heat made me a sweaty mess. And my hair was damp and curly - - I was a mess and felt awful. Next on the agenda was to go listen to music. There was no way I could do that without a shower so I asked to go back to my hotel to take a shower (pantomiming lathering my hair and washing it, then using imaginary soap to wash my arms). He seemed to understand but I was surprised when we arrived at the Palace Hotel and he said 'massage.' So he signed me up for a VIP massage which included a steam bath. He took the regular massage and off we went, him down the 'male' hall and me down the 'female' hall for our treatment. Once in the room it made sense that he did understand afterall. I took a steam bath, a whirlpool bath, then took a shower with the various acroutements of cosmetics available. It was wonderful! Then I had a massage - - the kind where the girl crawls around on my back and stands on the back, legs, feet, and hands. Amazing!

No music for me; I was exhausted. I think Son was happy when I asked to just go back to my hotel - - he looked tired and didn't fight me when I said I was finished for the evening. So I was back at the hotel by 10:15 or so and was too tired to even read or write in my journal. It was a fun day!

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