Dalat la-di-da.

Hello royal family.

I wanted to back-track a bit and tell you about my little vacation in Dalat (and show you some photos.)
I stayed with my friend Mark at his grandma’s house all last week. We were getting over some colds, so we didn’t do too much at all. We slept. We ate too much. Mark played Hearts. I listened to too much sick music. We coughed up some flem friends. I yelled at Mark for playing Hearts too much. Mark texted everyone and their extended family. I blew my nose through 3 toilet paper rolls.

Every morning was the same. We were right next to an elementary school, so the first thing we would hear every morning at 6:30 was some crazy recording of a Vietnamese kid singing that just sounded like bad karaoke. We could hear the students sing along with him too. God only knows why they would want to sing along when they could have just meditated to his voice… anyway, it was the same song. every. morning.
And at 8:30a.m., the kids would scream their vowel sounds in perfect unity and it sounded so funny. It could have been a new sample to a hip hop song.

But anyway, we were able to get better because Dalat has much cleaner air than Ho Chi Minh City and although we didn’t ask to be pampered, we were being constantly fed amazing food by Mark’s grandma and her assistant: nem nuong wrapped in banh trang (special Vietnamese pork sausage in rice paper), canh chua ca (sweet and sour fish soup), ra muong xa toi (morning glory stir-fryed with garlic), lots of marinated chicken (Vietnamese chicken is much tougher/chewier than in the U.S.), and about a dumptruck full of rice to compliment every meal.

Then, we met up with AnThu, a second-year VIA volunteer that was teaching at Dalat University. She took us out with her Viet friends and we went to a little place that was known for their “jungle meats.” There wasn’t snake meat (which was what I wanted to try), but instead… we had porcupine and “thit chon…” :::sigh:::
…Meerkat.
No comment. I’m still trying to sort out emotions.
But, the good news was that there was a baby that came out to “nhau” with us and sing karaoke with us, so I have several pictures of her because she was actually made of gold. No joke.

Anyway, here’s some pictures of Dalat that I took… and then AnThu’s friend Dung took some pictures of us at the karaoke place (they get blurrier and blurrier towards the end… kinda fitting.) Sorry I can’t make it easier with a slide show, it takes way too long and costs money if I want to make a nice one. So, I don’t know… squint-n-pick, or cross your eyes “magic-eye style” and maybe you’ll magically see them all at once.

our candle during the black-out.

sweet tiles.

Vietnamese looove the Carpenters.

…apparently so does Hy.

Mark and his grandma watching some tube.

this is a bridge to kitty heaven.

kitty heaven has well-lit streets.

i know. it’s sad. mark somehow wound up in kitty heaven.

a perdy church in Dalat.

this is useful.

schnailer.

board^2

that’s not a mechanical puppy-in-a-box toy.

the sweetest red ride.

Mark’s grandma’s new house currently being built.

“Here. Read this for Grandma. In Vietnamese. Now.” :)

a car garden.

kind of dark… like his soul.

his gma’s house.

I tried to save her before she turned into a bush. (naaame that Greek myth!)

known for their “jungle meats.”

…that’s some meerkat for ya.

i’m bringing this picture into my tailor shop… for me.

some karaoke.

eek.

eerk.

:|

~ by Hy Huynh on August 23, 2008.