a black square, some fruit, and an old Vietnamese lady

Today, I had my first extremely frustrating experience of not being able to communicate with someone. We caught the bus from Hanoi to DaLat, which is about a seven hour trip. I was sitting next to this very nice Vietnamese man for the ride who spoke only the smallest bit of English. He would ask me questions, and I would try to respond or vice versa, but neither one of us really knew what the other was saying. Each of us would just agree with a "Yes" when we didn't know what the other person had said. We both knew that the other was doing this too, so we would just laugh it off mostly. I pretty much felt like scum for going to a country without having even tried to learn a bit of the language, but he was very kind. At one point, he pulled out something to eat wrapped in banana leaves. Whatever it was, it was a black square and seemed to have some sesame seeds on it. I thought I was just looking, but I may have been staring because he saw me looking and handed another one to me. I unwrapped it carefully, because it was very sticky. I took a bite, and it seemed to be black tapioca-esqu substance filled with a banana and sesame seed paste. I only took one bite because the windy roads up in the mountains were making me sick, but it certainly was an interesting food. I've asked my brother's friend who is Vietnamese if he knows what it's called, so I'll have to get back to you.

There were also two ladies sitting on my other side, and they were eating some fruit that I didn't recognize (typical because I recognize maybe two fruits here). Again, I flirted with the line between looking and staring because she offered me some of the fruit. It had been pre-cut and packaged, so there was no telling if the knife used to cut it had been clean. I decided against the fruit, and tried to be as polite as possible about it.

When we arrived in DaLat, I breathed deeply for the first time since getting into Vietnam. Most of the Vietnamese would agree with me when I say that Saigon is loud and dirty and way to busy. DaLat is in the mountains, and the air is cool and clean here. It was so great to be off the windy vomit bus and in clean air. We walked around for a bit just wandering and looking for a restaurant. We crossed paths with a cheery, elderly Vietnamese woman. She touched Allison's arm and started talking to us in rapid Vietnamese. She pinched my arm tenderly in that affectionate grandparent style and then gave my face a love pat (akin to a slap only a lot more gentle) all the while speaking Vietnamese to us. I have no idea what she was saying.

I don't have any exciting food updates. My stomach has felt wrecked the past few days, so I've been eating mostly chicken and rice. I am frustrated by my tummy.