Day 7 American Hustle

Before the beach, we ate pho. That was definitely the worst idea ever. It was so hot and eating a warm meal did not help. I couldn't wait to jump in the water and go to the beach. The water at this beach was a lot cooler than the other one which was perfect. There were also a lot more waves, so we decided to rent a float. When Kenny and Vuong asked how much the prices were the little boy said 20,000 dong about 1 dollar. When me and Nhan went over to the stand they told us 10,000 dong. That just shows Vietnamese people are always on their hustle.

We spent the afternoon floating in the ocean on the floats. Tommy and Kenny started playing soccer with some older Vietnamese men. To no surprise, they won 2-0. They had to stop playing, because the game started to get a little intense. The ball got kicked off the field and hit some guy in a polo while he was eating and sand splattered everywhere. He was not happy. So, the boys decided to stop and find other ways of entertainment. My sunburn started hurting a lot more, so I went back to land. While I was in the shade, the boys decided to use my hat as a fishing net to catch a squid they thought was dead. The squid freaked out and inked all over my hat. There goes my attempt to shade my face and avoid anymore freckles.

Finally, after we gathered showered in these disgustingly small booths with no lock on the door, we went home. Our pit stop on the way back was the indoor market. This market already had some prices already labeled. We tried to bargain but failed because we were American. I almost bought a pair of sandals but they didn't have my size. Tommy bought a jersey for 50,000. The women first told him 100,000. The actual price that a Vietnamese person purchasing it would have been 35,000. Again, another hustle but then again 15,000 is less than a dollar.

For dinner we at a Vietnamese Crepe. It's made of flour filled with shrimp, pork, and beans. I had to make sure that there were no vegetables. Vuong started telling me how he would be pissed if I was his kid that he brought back to Vietnam. It's not my fault that I can't eat vegetables. Some of the ones the brought on the table were very hairy. It was just green, gross and nasty.

After dinner we went to our first massage. This was by far the worst massage I have ever gotten. She started to pinch my shoulders on my sun burnt area even though I told her that it hurt. After the massage we had to fill out this ticket. I had no idea what it said. So me, Alice, and Mai waited for U to come out of her massage. She then wrote how the massage was and the tip amount, which we each gave 50,000.

We had to wait in the lobby for the boys for probably 30 minutes. The boys went before us so we had NO idea what was taking them so long. When they came out we found out that the boys had gotten a steam room, sauna, and jacuzzi treatment. They were given robes and a change of underwear for the message. Apparently, the place we went to specialized in men not women. When I started to talk to Mai and Alice about their message, I found out that my women had gypped me of the best part, cracking the back.

The funny part of the night was definitely the tip amount. The boys after their massage did not wait for Nhan's cousin Kenny, so they had no idea how to fill the ticket. Tommy actually signed his name on the tip amount because he was so confused. The women wrote on a separate piece of paper a number he should write on the slip which was 300,000. This was over three times the price of our massage 80,000, unbeknown to him. Vuong only put 20,000 and Nhan put 100,000. Kenny put nothing. It's such a pain to find a good massage place because none are sex neutral. Hopefully we can find a suitable message place when we're back in Saigon. I'm not sure if I'll get anymore in Kien Giang.