One night in Nha Trang, Viet Nam

The writing fever finally made itself to a public place so here's my contribution... Sitting at a desk on the fifth floor of a hotel in Nha Trang. It's almost 11pm here on a Tuesday night. I rub my forearm back and forth against the desk as to avoid my overwhelming desire to put the five long nails on my left hand to good use. To dig them miles deep into the mosquito's conquering heap that so politely is sure to leave a scar. Maybe? The mosquitoes here in Vietnam have been much kinder than those in Indonesia and Thailand...and Cambodia. I can't believe I have come this far. I am even further from believing that life back home will be what it before was. In few ways surely but in many ways that count, different. I resist the scratching and go for a lonnggggg deeeepppp inhale/exhale instead. I love it here!!!!!!! I love traveling, exploring...Jay and I just walked back from the beach where we dangled our feet from our concrete seats made of wall and watched the litters of youngens rollerblading and laughing. People seem so happy here. Dad's walk their babies in the dark and Mom's walk around barefoot with their baby's in one arm and a to go container that alternately feeds the two pinched in hand. Before the park we walked through a night market. It felt like a carnival. In spirit of, Jay and I got cold drinks (Jay got his favorite Mango and Banana mixture and I went for the Iced Thai Tea which served as a duly functioning treat with loads of colorful tapioca squares mixed in)...Jay got a noodle veggie dish with phenomenal little bitlets of celery mixed in and I went for a long shot and slowly ordered with intention, "Crawwkk-O-. Please" and bowed my head. He repeated, suggested rice, and I went for a veggie mix instead. The croc was good!! I asked Jay if it could have possibly been chicken. "No, it's definitely more gamey." Anytime one gets to use the word 'gamey' is a night to remember. Or at least worth taking the time to pick up blogging again...I only managed three bites but the green bell pepper had a particular perfection to it and I walked away satisfied.  Right by the stand where we ate dinner was a bridge...not just any random in the middle of a night market bridge...this bridge carried it's own full time television series. Not that anyone was getting paid but the drama seemed centered around this bridge in such a way that we witnessed a hoochily dressed bon voyage hat wearing local number snapping away pictures of herself perched atop the bridge...then a teenage daughter being yelled at and chased through the crowd by her irate mother...then chased back in the other direction where there is a brief PAUSE mid scene to reveal a younger brother whom directly seems to earn an open handed echoing SLAP across somewhere...then a younger gent crosses the bridge in his suit...the five children look for frogs in the pool of water under the bridge (it was made for something, right?)...and as we turned our backs to the script that we so surely fit into...a family of many put on smiles as they lined up for a photo. We made our way passed the stands of colorful glitzy this and that's of nothing with a few wood carving too expensives and too big to carries...Jay seems to meet his polar opposite and, hips first, pulls toward a stand with a million glitz and jingles. I see his eyes meet the stack of jade bracelets and I'm flattered that he so badly wants to spoil me. Back at home, when my Mom takes me to get my nails done (missing that ever so slightly ,-)) there is a Vietnamese woman named Lani that sometimes does my nails. Pronounced Lan (like Pan) i (be excited...eeeeeeee!!) Lani. She's such a doll and knows exactly how to use that shaper to really give your toes the not too long/not just cut look. Those hands work magic. If you could only see...ok, I'm getting sidetracked...anyway, she has this bracelet that I was instantly drawn to the first time I met her. After asking her about it, she explained that her mother put it on her when she was a baby. She has worn this stone ring around her left wrist her entire life!! Her mother got really sick at the end of last year and she was able to get back to Vietnam to see her one more time before she passed. She says that she carries her past in the bracelet and that it brings her luck in the future! I knew my mom had a jade bracelet so after months of planting seeds and dropping hints, I finally got that beauty around my wrist. Unfortunately, if the bracelet is  a little bit too big, their demise is soon to follow...and mine was. After telling Jay my story and giving a glance to every jade bracelet I have come across, Jay apparently had enough and was even more determined than I was to find the perfect one. SOooo, it was no wonder Jay was so drawn to this particular stand...It had the PERFECT JADE BRACELET!!!!!!! What a sweetheart, he pulled out his wallet and the Vietnamese girl around my age grabbed my wrist and pulled me a few stalls over where we pushed through the crowd and over some big metal sink behind some stand. Jay was no where in sight and before I knew it, I had my left hand covered in plastic, then water and next dish soap... then two Vietnamese professionals giving all of there might to this new tattoo of mine yanking and pulling. My hand was turning purple and my fingers seemed to all mush together, there was plastic slipping and moans and grunts...I'm quite sure the nearby Aussie needed a new battery because of the sluggish second hand on his wrist watch ticking at an ever so daunting and lagging pace...The girls kept working...I was certain this thing was simply too small for me. Nope, these girls have stamina and confidence like no other and before I knew it...I had myself one good looking bracelet. On. Just like that. And the Aussie's battery didn't need changing after all. I love it!! (My bracelet.) There are still red marks on my hand but the five or so minutes of struggle were worth every ounce of the pleasure this stone has already brought to me.  We've been meeting the most fun people, seeing the sights, learning the struggles that the Vietnamese faced (and still face) from the war against the US...I got a ride on a motorbike by a local that discussed Tim O'Brien with me...(discussing any topic with a local is very challenging and this gent knew the likings of an American author)...We've been riding on strange buses and sleeping in strange beds. We have been reading and playing cards, sharing life stories and finding new reasons to step out of our comfort zones. It's nice, life this way...I can honestly find nothing more than gratitude. For this experience, for all of the luxuries at home. It's good. Really good.