There is a couple on this ship. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE! knows them. They are, what we would say, missing a few filters. They are huge (bigger than Bill and I), very loud (louder than Bill and I) and will say anything to anyone no matter what it is at four million decibels (way more forward than Bill and I).
Today, in this little old village with narrow streets, teeming with people and scary motorcycles going so fast, these two people decided to hire two tuktuks. These tuktuks were very small, thus they needed two. With great noise and attention- getting guffaws and loud comments, they climbed into their respective vehicles and settled in. Off they went, with her in front, yelling really loudly to her husband in the tuktuk behind. Such a spectacle! The British couple we were standing beside tut tutted and said we should give them wide berth, have nothing to do with that lot!
About half an hour later, further down on another corner I heard a howl and great crashing behind me. It was the lady. Her tuktuk had either overbalanced or a wheel crushed because she was upside down in a screeching mess out on the little cobbled street. Motorbikes were squealing to a stop and all the white people rushed over to help. I scanned around and all the Vietnamese were killing themselves laughing behind their hands. Jeez!! It was like a scene out of a bad movie! She was screaming "LANCE LANCE LANCE" on the top of her lungs and Lance was trying desperately to extricate himself from his tuktuk all the while yelling, "I'M COMING BARB, I'M COMING, I'M COMING…HANG ON!!!" Oh my god it was so frigging funny. When they finally got her up and she was barely hobbling, she turned on the poor hapless little tuktuk driver and smacked him with a plastic bag of stuff she had in her hands. Honestly!
Another thing happened last night that is a first for us. The Captain came on the blower, just at dusk, to say that he was stopping the ship, he was seeing a distress light signal from a very small vessel off the starboard side (which happened to be our side of the ship) and we needed to check it out. So out on our private deck we went and sure enough there was this tiny tiny conical reed boat, attached to a long line of floats on a fish net, with a man standing in it, with this weird long rowing implement, rowing to beat hell to us. Now and then he would stop and frantically wave a flashlight. I had noticed a larger fish boat about 2 miles away, and the Captain said that we were 18 miles from land. It played out slowly before us and I obligingly took pictures, which have been posted on face book (sorry Stan and Antonia!). He reached our ship and the captain finally came on and said they had had to find a Vietnamese interpreter on board and discovered that his master fish boat was on the way to pick him up (the one I had seen earlier) but could he have some food, drink and maybe some money???? So the Captain told us they gave him food and water, and upon a very loud blast from the ship's horn, we sailed off, leaving him well fed and waiting for his comrades. The Captain sounded somewhat chagrinned and ticked off.
Today we docked at Da Nang. We didn't go into the 1 million strong city but bypassed it to go to Hoi Han, a Unesco Heritage protected village. This is the place that is nearest what was called China Beach. A very charming little village it was. We bought Chinese lanterns, one of which will replace the "pantaloon light fixture" hanging over our dining room table at home. We were taken through museums, a personal house, a pagoda and then finally left to our own devices for a while. Bill and I went for a walk off the beaten path through the working/living part of the village. So peaceful. I truly love Vietnam the most. Tomorrow is a day off. Yay!!!! TTYL (I forgot to tell you about being naked, I will write about it tomorrow)
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