Tuesday, April 01, 2003

Hospital

Last night, I could feel myself getting a fever, Court felt my forehead, and she thinks I have a fever. This morning, I was having difficulty breathing, shortness of breath. Court was not feeling very well either. Then I realized these are the symptoms of the SARS disease that's plaguing everything. And we were just in Hanoi. We decided to go to the local hospital anyway, and guess what? They turned us away! They didn't want their hospital to get the SARS, because they can't deal with it. The hospital wasn't much anyway, I don't think they could do anything for us anyway. We decided we need to get to Thailand ASAP, Thailand apparently has the best hospitals in SE Asia, so we are going to get ourselves to Ho Chi Min City, and get ourselves on a flight to Bangkok. I don't know how long it takes SARS to get bad (or fatal), but hopefully they'll let us on the airplane. We don't know what to do, we booked a train to Ho Chi Minh City, and are just staying in our hotel room. I decided to head out to an internet and post this, despite Courtney's fierce arguments that I don't. She doesn't want me to say anything, to make it worse for you guys. It's probably nothing, but we're going to Bangkok anyway.

And, for those of you actually still reading, please check the journal date.

Still not making sense? April 1...April Fools??? Ahhh, ok, sorry mom, you probably just had three heart attacks read the above, but I couldn't pass up the absolutely perfect opportunity...the timing of SARS and April Fools and our visit to Hanoi was just way too coincidental to not do it!!!

So, the real journal for today.

We got up early, and just watched TV, then got up and went to the post office to check prices to ship a parcel back to Canada. Then we headed back to the tailor, and Court tried on her pants, but the back only came half way up her butt, so she had to get them adjusted, and I ordered two more shirts! Court and I will do a fashion show with all our new garments, and burn a CD with the pictures, before mailing them home.

The three of us rented bicycles (pedal bikes) and biked to Cua Dai beach, about 5 km away. Very nice beach, it stretches for miles and miles and miles, right to the horizon on both sides. Incredible. Nice white sand, clear water, very clean, the water is a little cooler than the waters in Thailand, though, but once you get in, it's fine.

Yesterday, we were talking to a lady (older lady) who had went to a place in Hoi An, and had a "fake waxing" done on her legs. And she loved it, and was telling us about it. Dana decided she was going to get her bikini line done at the same place this morning, so she left early to do that. When she came back, she loved it!! She was going to go back after the beach and get her legs done.

So, while we were at the beach, two ladies came up to the Courtney, and tried to sell her this "fake waxing" that Dana and this other woman got done. They agreed on a price of $1US for each leg, so these two ladies started doing it. It's really neat, all they do is use cotton thread, and "twitch" two strands of the thread against the skin, and it squeezes the hair right out of the folicle. It's soo neat to watch. Same idea as waxing, but nearly as painful, Courtney says. Then Courtney suggested I get my eyebrows done (she started complaining about them early on, and has been plucking them for me), and I decided to do it, for $1US for both eyebrows. OUCH!!!! It hurt! I even started bleeding a little from it, but she had cotton balls handy to stop that. Both Dana and Court say my eyebrows are much better now. My eyebrows took about 15 minutes, Courtney's legs took an hour or more. And waxing is expensive ($30-$50 in CAnada), and she paid $2US. She's happy. It was so neat to see the little hairs just pop right out of the folicle.

We headed back to town about 4:00, showered and went for supper. Met Matti, an Aussie guy we had met at the beach, and the four of us went for supper, then I did internet, Matti and Court went to the bar next door, and I met up with them about half an hour later. They had happy hour, 2 for 1 drinks, so we had a few. Eventually, Dana, Esmerelda (from Holland) and another Aussie girl came, and we stayed out until about 11:30, when they kicked us out of the bar.

Of course, this is Vietnam, and there are all kinds of people selling all sorts of things, from cigarettes, lighters, postcards, fruit on the street. They come into the bars and restaurants and interrupt your meals and drinking as well. We had about 3 or 4 kids (10 years old) hanging out with us in the bar, they were showing us card tricks, and just plain having fun. They liked us a lot, even though we weren't buying anything.

And the street and beach vendors are smart too! If you say you don't want anything, they will say you "Later?", and if you say yes, they will come back for you later! Even if it's the next day! They remember you! And they will remind you that you said you'ld buy something later. It's almost scary. You have to be very persistent with them, though, as they don't like "No thanks" for an answer.

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