Vietnam: Early Birthday Bonanza

Surprisingly, after only two hours of sleep, I was up and at it around 9:30 Monday morning. I went to the different tailor shops, only to find that not only were none of my outifts (or shoes) ready, but they were all miserably far from what I had pictured. Patiently, I endured more fittings before once again renting a bicycle and escaping to the beach.

That evening, after yet another disappointing fitting (this time at the actual seamstresses' building), Erin and I went out for dinnerwith Max and a French Canadian couple we met in Laos. After dinner, Erin and Max called it a night, and we ran into the British guys we had met the previous night. Together, we took a "party bus," complete with its own karaoke machine, back for another night at the Dream Bar. We found a quiet table and spent the evening chatting about the ubiquitous lady-boys, soccer (I mean, football), and traveling before calling it a night and heading home.

After breakfast yesterday morning, I went in for yet another unsuccessful clothes fitting. (Erin and I were originally planning to leave for Hue on Tuesday, but thatnks to various tailoring emergencies, we had to push our plans back a day). I then rode bikes with three of the English lads, Greg, Dave, and Oscar, back to the beach, a welcome source of peace in the hectic and chaotic world of tailor-made clothing.

Eventually, Erin and the American boys joined us, and together we spent the afternoon tossing around a frisbee, showing off our football/soccer skills, and holding various beach contests, complete with handstands, breakdancing, and a mini-triathlon (which I miserably lost...I blame it on a swimsuit malfunction!). It was a wonderful day...a perfect way to begin my 26th birthday celebration.

That's right...March 23 is my birthday, but seeing as I was already surrounded by the people I love, I decided to celebrate my big day a bit early. Therefore, after saying goodbye to the Brits, who were heading down to Nha Trang, Erin and I, along with my American buddies and the French Canadians Bea and David, all went out for dinner, complete with a horrendous game of pool, a big fat tofu burger, and even a birthday pancake with a candle. After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to our hotel for a relatively wild night playing cards and enjoying our final night together.

This morning, red-eyed and exhausted, I went in for my final clothing fittings...of course, it was all a disaster, but I sucked it up to bad luck, crammed my horrible new clothes into my backpack, and had lunch with all of our friends. Soon, we will board the 1:30 pm bus bound for Hue.