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puddlelilies.com / proofreading negates the immediacy of feeling

Month: July 2014

  • Today we spent most of the day wandering between appointments for fittings for the clothes we ordered yesterday. Everything is satisfactory. Right now it’s almost 4pm and almost time for our last fitting at Yaly (my new suit is gorgeous).

    We also had lunch. I had cau lau, (pron. cow lau) which I’ve had every day for lunch since being in Hoi An.

    wpid-IMG_20140724_131014.jpgIt’s seasoned pork, greens, thick rice noodles, and sauce. It also comes with rice crackers – shown is a white puffy one, but I’ve also had it with brown crispy ones. It’s very yum and a specialty of Hoi An, which is why I’ve been eating it every day. Apparently my face lit up when I fisrt saw it but this is no surprise as it comes in a bowl, and I am a fan of food that comes in a bowl.

  • Yesterday afternoon, after ordering all our clothes, after a long lunch at one of the restaurants along the river here, and after a swim in the hotel pool, Julie and I went for a spa. (I had a nap in there too, sometime.)

    We went to a place not too far a walk down the road. As we were walking, we noted it was getting windy, and that the sun was gone (the morning had been quite hot). As we approached the spa a few drops were falling; as we lounged at the front of the spa, waiting for our treatments, the rain started; when we were lying down for a massage (Lindsie) and scrub (Julie) we could hear the rain pounding on the roof above. Very soothing with Enya in the background.

    I watched the rain pour later as I got a pedicure. It was so hard that for a little while there was water flooding under the doorway of the spa. Lots of rain. People walking by with rain ponchos and umbrellas. Unprepared tourists soaking wet. Motocycle drivers with their ponchos over the handlebars and a passenger huddles behind them and under the same poncho.

    By the time we’re were done the rain was gone. Good timing, us.

  • Yesterday when the second taylor was measuring me, she was impressed with how white my belly is. The women crave lighter skin here. I wasn’t sure what to say – I said that it was because of my parents.

  • This morning Julie and I went into old town Hoi An and we’re fitted for clothing and shoes. So many choices, but we went to Yaly first, which Julie noticed was quite quality. I chose a suit made of a dark blue linen/cotton blend. Pretty basic. And a white linen/cotton tunic-type blouse. Pretty cheap. Julie has a whole bunch of dresses being made for her, an had fun designing them with her associate from the store.

    It was a lovely experience at Yaly. We were there at opening (we are keeners) and we’re each claimed by an associate. Then we were taken into a room where we looked at books of tear sheets and placed bookmarks when we saw something we liked. I had a book labelled ‘suits’. Once I showed my associate (her name is Tanya) that I knew what I wanted she took me to look for fabrics.

    The walls of Yaly are covered in bolts of fabric. Tanya first showed me the section with wool and cashmere, but I wanted linen so she showed me those instead. Lots of colours to choose from. I knew exactly what I wanted when I saw it and Tanya yanked it out from the wall and let me touch and explained the price. Then some cotton for my blouse (off-white because the white-white was too white). Then to the back further into the store to choose from a wall of polyester linings (cotton lining cost more – and I don’t think I’ve had a cotton lining for anything.) I chose white with blue and black stripes. I was tempter to get bright pink, but no.

    I then had my picture taken against a wall with height markings. I had to stand facing front, to the side and to the back. Very scientific, or I have been very secretly arrested. Then Tanya measured me – old school, with a tape measure. Unfortunately I don’t have a regular bra with me (only sports bras) so Tanya added a bit to my chest measurement.

    I have an appointment for my first fitting tomorrow at 12:30. I might need a second fitting tomorrow night, and they’ll deliver to my hotel when everything is done.

    Very relaxed at Yaly. The associates are all in uniforms of an asian dress with the slit and pants beneath. They all carry a little purse with supplies.

    After Yaly, we ventured into the cloth market, where I was expecting to browse, but we were picked up right away by a vendor and led deep inside to her stall. The cloth market is made up of stalls full of bolts of fabric and taylors. All the tayors want to make you things.

    Our taylor sat us down and gave us wated and caught our attention by saying she had linen (caught Julie’s attention-I was still like whaaaaat’s going on??) They had books of tear sheets too, which we promptly started looking through, while the taylor bantered. There was a whole handful of swatches of linen. I found a pair of pants I wanted made of linen, and chose a colour, then since I was there, found a blouse I wanted to, and the taylor showed me some nice cotton (the non-wrinkle, washable kind). She also described how she could alter the design along the neck, and could make the sleeves quarter-length. I’ve ordered two.

    Then, the friend of the taylor approached us and invited us to her shoe stall across the road from the cloth market. This was in the shoe market, I guess: there were a lot of shoe stalls. Same thing: looking through books and choosing the leather we wanted for shoes. I’m getting some red flats.

    As we were leaving the shoe maker’s, another woman approached us trying to get us to buy souvenirs, or do threading, or get a tattoo. By this time, however, we needed a rest and lunch. It was kind of hard to escape.

    We have a series of fittings to attend tomorrow morning. I have much less money now.

  • This morning Julie and I went into old town Hoi An and we’re fitted for clothing and shoes. So many choices, but we went to Yaly first, which Julie noticed was quite quality. I chose a suit made of a dark blue linen/cotton blend. Pretty basic. And a white linen/cotton tunic-type blouse. Pretty cheap. Julie has a whole bunch of dresses being made for her, an had fun designing them with her associate from the store.

    It was a lovely experience at Yaly. We were there at opening (we are keeners) and we’re each claimed by an associate. Then we were taken into a room where we looked at books of tear sheets and placed bookmarks when we saw something we liked. I had a book labelled ‘suits’. Once I showed my associate (her name is Tanya) that I knew what I wanted she took me to look for fabrics.

    The walls of Yaly are covered in bolts of fabric. Tanya first showed me the section with wool and cashmere, but I wanted linen so she showed me those instead. Lots of colours to choose from. I knew exactly what I wanted when I saw it and Tanya yanked it out from the wall and let me touch and explained the price. Then some cotton for my blouse (off-white because the white-white was too white). Then to the back further into the store to choose from a wall of polyester linings (cotton lining cost more – and I don’t think I’ve had a cotton lining for anything.) I chose white with blue and black stripes. I was tempter to get bright pink, but no.

    I then had my picture taken against a wall with height markings. I had to stand facing front, to the side and to the back. Very scientific, or I have been very secretly arrested. Then Tanya measured me – old school, with a tape measure. Unfortunately I don’t have a regular bra with me (only sports bras) so Tanya added a bit to my chest measurement.

    I have an appointment for my first fitting tomorrow at 12:30. I might need a second fitting tomorrow night, and they’ll deliver to my hotel when everything is done.

    Very relaxed at Yaly. The associates are all in uniforms of an asian dress with the slit and pants beneath. They all carry a little purse with supplies.

    After Yaly, we ventured into the cloth market, where I was expecting to browse, but we were picked up right away by a vendor and led deep inside to her stall. The cloth market is made up of stalls full of bolts of fabric and taylors. All the tayors want to make you things.

    Our taylor sat us down and gave us wated and caught our attention by saying she had linen (caught Julie’s attention-I was still like whaaaaat’s going on??) They had books of tear sheets too, which we promptly started looking through, while the taylor bantered. There was a whole handful of swatches of linen. I found a pair of pants I wanted made of linen, and chose a colour, then since I was there, found a blouse I wanted to, and the taylor showed me some nice cotton (the non-wrinkle, washable kind). She also described how she could alter the design along the neck, and could make the sleeves quarter-length. I’ve ordered two.

    Then, the friend of the taylor approached us and invited us to her shoe stall across the road from the cloth market. This was in the shoe market, I guess: there were a lot of shoe stalls. Same thing: looking through books and choosing the leather we wanted for shoes. I’m getting some red flats.

    As we were leaving the shoe maker’s, another woman approached us trying to get us to buy souvenirs, or do threading, or get a tattoo. By this time, however, we needed a rest and lunch. It was kind of hard to escape.

    We have a series of fittings to attend tomorrow morning. I have much less money now.

  • Hue!

    Yesterday was the day of the motorcycle tour of Hue and surrounding area. Don’t worry if you’re thinking that I was given control over my own motorcycle. Each of us was paired up with our own motorcycle buddy who drove us around, so I was just on the back. It was very fun. Mildly nerve-wracking at first, but then fun after a bit. We ate an animal-free lunch at a working Buddhist monestary, stopped at lots of places to take photos and buy souvenirs. There was a boat ride, too, to the pagoda. (which I will remember the real name for and purpose of later…)

    Dairy

    I told the tour leader at the start of the tour that I don’t do dairy – when he asked the group for dietary issues. There has been no dairy except for the obvious: condensed milk in the iced coffee, for example. The coffee is crazy thick here, and best consumed, or so I hear, with condensed milk with ice cubes stirred in (they melt and water down the coffee a bit). I tried some of the coffee black this morning with a titch of sugar. It was very very strong. I’ll try some more with more sugar.  It was strong and bitter but I kept sipping at it. I just wanted to try it, at least, even without the milk.

  • “Is it a toilet or is it a hole?” Lindsie asked with some apprehension.
    “I don’t know,” Julie replied. “But I’ll find out.”
    And thus concluded the best conversation of the trip, so far.

    *

    I’m on the night train to Hue (pron:HOO-ay). The sleeping berth I’m sharing with four other girls is currently occupied by about eight or nine people? Including the four girls? I was’t sure about this but then there was whiskey so now I’m fine.

    I tried dried squid. It was hard to chew.

  • I saw Ho Chi Mihn this morning. To get into the mausoleum, we had to abandon our phones and turn off our cell phones. Then we all had to line up 2×2 to walk past the body. Very regimented. No hats, hands at sides. Not much talking in the line-up, but no talking in the mausoleum. I don’t know if this is the rule, or if that’s just what peole do.

    The we say Ho Chi Mihn’s various houses. The one he was supposed to live in was very big and grand (and really yellow). The one he chose to lice in instead was modest. The one he had built for himself was super-modest. There are massive queues of people we stood in to walk past the rooms of the last two.

  • Today.
    1) woke up in Halong Bay
    2) 4 hour ride back to Hanoi. I napped and listened to music
    3)short stint as rice planter. Muddy feet.
    4)Much time time spent wandering streets of Hanoi
    5)Shopping
    6)electic car tour (big golf cart) of streets of Hanoi
    5) Water puppet theatre/nap
    6) night market
    7) packing for tomorrow evening’s overnight train to Hue
    8)too tired to write in paragraphs
    9)good night.

  • Our tour group has been eating meals- lunch and dinners, as a group, passing around share-plates. The group leader took a tally of everyone’s food allergies/dietary preferences but so far there’s been no dairy in anything. I’m eating well.

    As the only two Canadians in the group, Julie and I had a brief conversation regarding hockey at dinner last night. (Fights good or bad?). Represent.