Fun and Games in Pleiku

Jess, Irene and Gail on the street they used to live on

Our van ride to Pleiku yesterday was quite the experience. It was great to see so much of the Vietnamese countryside and glimpses into the daily lives of the rural population. The 552 km trip however did take us 11 hours! We felt sorry for Mikayla to have to travel so much the day after getting off the plane in Saigon, but she mercifully slept 6 hours of the trip. We stopped for lunch at who-knows-where. Mikayla had to use the bathroom and being an experienced squat toilet user, I was prepared to help her (ie tissues, wipes and hand santizer). Mikayla understandably was reluctant to use the "toilet" but of course did. We ate lunch with our driver. Based on the number of diverted looks from fellow lunch takers and passersby, foreigners must be rarely seen there. Mikayla, of course, has and continues to generate a lot of attention travelling with a non-Asian family and many folks presume that she is Vietnamese. Today when someone asked Gail her nationality he proudly said, "American" but then did go on to explain her Thai heritage. Mikayla used chopsticks at the restaurant quite well, although it wasn't necessary as they did have spoons. Briefly, just after having used the toilet and struggling with the heat, humidity, exhaustion and her chopsticks said, "I don't like this place! Everything is goofy here!" Her choice of words amused me. During our drive, we encountered thick fog which reduced our visibility to zero, heavy rain, water buffalo, small herds of cows, pigs on bikes (yes, literally held by a passenger on a little motorcycle), wooden carts and countless motorcyles carrying everything from glass doors, two by six boards of wood and innumerable other items. And we only thought that we were going to crash two or three thousand times :) Our driver to his credit was quite excellent but the style of driving here is exceedingly different from that of the West. The highlands are beautiful and lush, filled with coffee and tea trees, corn, rubber tree plantations and orchards of tropical fruits. The dirt is a vibrant brick red and the rivers are a deep red from the soil. One small bridge we drove over had much larger bridge to its left which had been bombed during the war, with its centre section over the river completely absent. We arrived at our second choice hotel in Pleiku (the one that we had tried to book from home was reportedly full) and secured a room for the night. Jess and I choose the "suite" as we thought that it would have more room for Mikayla. The room was awful! We tried to downplay its trouble to Mikayla but when she went over to her bed and touched it she sternly said, "I am so not sleeping on that bed!" The bed was damp and had a musty odour. We took a taxi to the hotel we orginally wanted to stay at to eat supper and to our delight found that they had rooms available for us. The "Cockroach Cabana" was not happy when Gail and Jess went back to unbook our room but we were all thrilled to be out of there, no one more so than Mikayla :) Even though Mikayla had slept several hours during the van ride, as soon as we finished our very late supper and returned to our room, she climbed into bed and asked, "Can we go to sleep now?" She slept from 11:30pm until 4:40am so Jess and I were happy that she slept so long. Breakfast at the hotel this morning was excellent with a wide variety of Vietnamese dishes and that great crunchy bread. Mikayla tried several new things - things that Jess and I had never tried. I am so proud of her willingness to experience strange and new things, especially considering that everything is so different here. After arranging our return trip for tomorrow back down the coast to Mui Ne, where we will spend a few days at the beach, we headed out on foot for our "tour" of Pleiku. It was raining quite and bit and with the heat it kept us all rather damp. We walked down the street where Jess and his parents had once lived, but unfortunately in the ten years since Jess' folks were last here, no trace of the home could be found so we settled for a photo of the street instead. Pleiku is a rather bland city as much of it had been destroyed during the war, but the people are friendly and fascinating to watch as they carry out their daily activities. After our walkabout, we bought some Asian fruit - rumbutans, mangosteens, pommelo and long-gon but I haven't yet had the chance to try any. At the fruit stand, Mikayla's presence generated alot of attention, but she didn't seem troubled by it. One man put his hand on her shoulder but the watchful eye of Papa and Daddy, kept his curiousity at arms length from there. Miikayla has received many compliments on her "good English". We decided to take a rest at the hotel and freshen up. Jess and I had read that the hotel offered massages and decided to each get one. The one hour massage was $8US each so we figured why not? Let me tell you, it was quite the experience. A gentleman lead us to the changing room. Yes, I said THE changing room, my first clue that perhaps this was a little off. We were then lead to the steam room. Jess and I entered and sat in the hot room, with the aroma of lemongrass around us. After about 10 minutes the door opened and in came a Vietnamese man. My level of nervousness increased as I was only wearing a towel, which although may provide plenty of coverage for a smaller Asian woman, was barely keeping me somewhat decent. A minute later another Vietnamese man entered and sat right beside me. When the steam temporarily shifted, he realised that I was a woman and moved away from me. Then another Vietnamese entered, he too sat beside me (to my left - Jess was to my right). Again, once he realised that I was a woman he made some comment, laughingly in Vietnames and moved away. We had no idea how long to stay in the steam room and I finally had to leave. My anxiety briefly increased when I couldn't get the door open, but my darling husband rescued me. Next we entered the dry sauna. Now we were alone but the lack of steam coverage encouraged my short stay as I didn't want our Vietnamese "friends" to follow. I was directed to a shower. I entered and as I turned on the water noticed that the curtain was very billowy and meekly called out to Jess who came stood by the curtain to protect my privacy. After the shower, I was lead back to the changing room where I was given a pair of silk boxers and a very short silk robe. By now it was obvious that women do not frequent this massage facility. I was lead to a room where, to my relief, a female massage "therapist" entered. The massage got increasingly amusing as she soon lept up onto the table and sat on me to continue her work. She finished with my back and began to focus on my calves, my thighs and my butt. We are talking VERY up close and personal. I couldn't help my tense up as she massaged my backside and more than once thought, "Enough lady! It's not like I carry around alot of tension in my butt!" And I kept wondering about Jess' experience next door. When she finished, I did and still do feel great but found the entire experience hilarious. When I got back to THE changing room, Jess was there. He told me that, shall we say, some "services" were offered which he firmly declined. Needless to say, this massage was one that neither of us will soon forget. I am chuckling about it now even as I type. (Mum, I know that you are finding this especially entertaining). What is even better is that I suggested that Irene come a get a massge with us. Blessedly, she declined. We are getting ready to go and eat supper at one of the local joints (that is a bit of a joke because everything here is local - there are no tourists up here). Until next time.