Monday, April 21, 2008

Vietnam Memorable Moments

I had such a fabulous time in Vietnam. I had magical moments, funny moments, scary moments, somber moments. I was chuckling to myself about this particular story involving toilets. This isn't gross, I promise.

So I'm using the bathroom in the hotel room, and I see a sign that says "Do not flush the paper". So I think to myself "well, there's no paper towels in here anyway. so don't know why they need that sign." and I keep using the bathroom as normal.

So my friend Ing says "ah Deirdre? have you been flushing the toilet paper?" And I go "well, YEhhhh." She says " in Asia, you shouldn't flush the toilet paper. the plumbing can't handle it in most places." She said " you put the paper in the trash and use the hose to wash if you do more than pee." So I say "OK" but I think " WHATEVAH, I'm not doing that".

So at about 3am, I wake up to use the bathroom per usual and I do the usual. Wouldn't you know? The toilet started to overflow! OMG I was so shocked and mad at myself for being so stubborn. Nooooow what do I do? So I weigh my options. Option 1 - Go get help and admit I did wrong. Option 2 - Go back to bed and pretend nothing ever happened.

So I did the honorable thing and went for help. I was so embarrassed but luckily Ing slept through the whole thing and never got a chance to say "I told you so". And to be honest, that's all that really matters. I did get scolded by the owner the very next day though. Darn!

Outside of that, the things that I will always remember are captured in the pictures below.


The Scenes


The Poverty


The Coffee... with condensed milk


The life threatening traffic


The Shoppiiiiiing