In the morning I went for a run (my first time in 5 months I think) and of course I picked one of the hottest days (and time of day) to run on. Twenty minutes into it I exhausted myself and stopped to take a rest. To my right was a billiards bar, meaning: three outdoor pool tables under a tin roof. A few Vietnamese guys were playing a game I had never seen before, Carrom. The object of the game is to hit your cue ball into one of the two red balls and then either have your cue ball hit the 2nd red ball, or have the first red ball you hit, hit the second red ball. If you do that, you get a point and get to go again.
There are no pockets on the large pool table and it seemed like an intriguing game to me. I love to play pool and approached the guys to watch. They didn’t know too many words in English, but we were able to introduce ourselves, say how old we were, I said where I was from, and they asked if I was married. They were all around the same age as me and invited me to play with them.
I was learning the rules as I went along and liked this game because using “english” on the ball is very important (as well as using the diamonds on the table to measure angles). After a few shots I was getting the hang of it and was joking around with the guys… saying things in English if they made a good shot or making sounds if they missed. They thought I was so funny and would repeat the things I said and we all laughed the entire time.
Unfortunately I had to leave to get ready for my ‘lunch date’ with my Vietnamese fear factor hosts, so I said good bye to my new friends and jogged back to 10-1 to prepare for meal. Barak and I joked about what would be served, but were pleasantly surprised to sit down to a meal of cooked spinach in a clear broth soup, steamed rice, and sautéed pork with a curry coconut sauce on top. I mostly ate the soup water with spinach and rice and the dinner was fine. Mostly, I was just glad to see semi-normal foods at the table.
Jon asked what time we would like to have dinner; we decided on 6:00pm and before we left the meal, Barak said, “You know, Lauren really liked that octopus you had last night, can you make that again for dinner tonight?” I kicked him under the table and gave him a death stare as he smiled and laughed. Luckily, Jon and his wife didn’t understand what Barak said, and when they asked him to repeat; I said, “Barak said this meal is very good, we both liked it a lot. Thank you”. They seemed happy with that.
When dinner rolled around, I prayed for no squid and luckily for me, we didn’t have any. We had cooked tomatoes in water (soup?), cooked green vegetables, fried tofu, and steamed white rice. The food was alright... but I started to wonder if these unappetizing meals were even worth the $1 I was spending on them.
In the morning Barak and I had some Vietnamese coffee and then he left for Ho Chi Minh. I mentioned to Jon that I would be away for lunch and dinner today and went back to my soup lady and fruit stands next door to eat. I was very happy to return to the foods I enjoyed and they were happy to see me. Two new loft mates arrived and I gave them the low-down about Mui Ne, where to go, where to eat, what to do. I spent the day catching up on my blogs and speaking to my family.
At 8:00am Jon yelled out to me, “Lauren! Come try coconut honey bee larvae!” Well, I only heard the “coconut” part, which is why I ran downstairs to the kitchen, but what I found there when I arrived was Jon sitting down with a dark-skinned Vietnamese man (who had dirty feet from climbing a coconut tree) and both men were tearing apart these honey combs and sucking on the hive, while bees were flying around their faces. Jon showed me how to break apart the comb and seek out bee larvae. Apparently, they are a delicacy here and he said I must try it. “What the hell” I thought, “When in Vietnam
The little white bee larvae gushed when I bit into it and tasted of milky coconut with a strange insect-like aftertaste. Not too bad, but I don’t think I’ll be searching for these back home. A guy named Matheiu was around watching and together we tried the honey and took pictures.
Later on that evening I started to feel pretty ill. I wasn’t sure if it was the bee larvae or the coffee I had earlier, but I dismissed the stomach ache and went to bed. All night long I had a fever and chills and the entire next day those symptoms continued along with loss of appetite, nausea, severe headaches, faintness, and body aches. I’d already had swine flu in Portugal and food poisoning in Cambodia
The entire next day I was in bed and only got up once to grab a huge bottle of water and some fruit to eat. I felt extremely weak and the sunlight made me feel faint. I was hoping I would be better the next day because I had a bus booked to Ho Chi Minh.
In the morning I wasn’t feeling any better but had to get down to Ho Chi Minh one way or another. My normal 15-20 minute packing routine took me almost an hour and a half and I was dreading the bus trip. I suffered through it and made it to the big city 6 hours later, exhausted!
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