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D17:
We started early today heading to Da Nang so I could hit a meeting with a bunch of American ex-pats. Then we went to Sun World, the most random tourist destination one would expect in this area. The place attracts Korean tourists by the busload. Koreans love taking pictures, especially women posing like models and everyone has their own selfie stick. As usual, Twila Beth had a fan club and we were stopping all day so people could photograph her.
Sun World is a resort destination high up in the mountains, accessible by the world's longest cable car (5,801m). It was built in the early 1900s by French Colonists as a tourist destination. It resembles Disney World. It is an odd place, truly. There were people dressing up like characters (like you would see at NYC's Times Square), rollercoaster rides, gigantic statues of Buddha, and the most beautiful tulip garden you've probably ever seen. Fish cakes were being sold at every corner with dozens lining up to buy them. I couldn't figure out why fish cakes were so popular until I realized that fish cakes are actually fried sweet dough in the shape of little fish and not at all like the name implies.
Mom did not like the cable car as she has a mild fear of heights. I didn't mind that but was not a huge fan of the crowds so we were not dawdling much at the top.
Once we got back in town Jason and I went for a fitting of our new suits. They are awesome! Such a great buy to get a custom fit for our "sturdy peasant stock" figures. Something weird happened while mom and dad were waiting for us. Dad went over to buy some silk liners (like for a sleeping bag) for himself and his camping buddies at the store across the street. Because he was buying so many he haggled the price down and an agreement was reached. He pulled out his wallet and began counting the money when she grabbed the wad in his hand and said she'd make change. Dad felt like it was not quite right and took the money back out of her hand and walked out. He told Tuan, our guide, that he thought he might have gotten ripped off by her and Tuan got angry and went over to the store. Several minutes later he came back with 500,000 dong (oh did I forget to mention that Vietnamese currency is called the dong) and said the woman pocketed it from his wad of cash. Thief. Tuan called the police. He was furious. By the way 500,000 dong is equal to about $20. I hesitated to mention the incident because it is so contradictory to our experience thus far with Vietnamese. Aside from this outlier, the Vietnamese people are extremely kind, generous and honest. We always have felt safe and have never felt people to be so genuine and polite. I am enjoying my time in this country more than I anticipated. And I think the rest of my party would agree.
We wanted the opportunity to see the beautiful town at night so we left the confines of our hotel and went to dinner in Hoi An. I guess a million other people heard how beautiful it was because the crowd was insane. Awfully insane. But the lights were pretty. Really pretty. But a lot a lot a lot of people.
Dinner was at a famous restaurant called Morning Glory. We had the waitress order for us and it was delicious. There was a karaoke bar next door and we were serenaded throughout dinner with John Denver, Madonna and Hank Williams. They must have been good because Dad didn't even realize it was karaoke and said "oh they're playing Hank Williams" For dinner we had:
1. Pork dumplings (fried like gyoza)
2. Banana blossom salad
3. Cao Lau (The chewy noodle dish famous in Hoi An)
4. Fresh crab won tons
5. Five spice pork belly
6. Coconut duck
We wanted dessert but obviously were too full. Tomorrow we go for SCUBA.
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