Day 299 - Dong Ba Market, Hue

Thursday, May 2nd, 2019.

We decided to spend all morning enjoying our hotel. I worked on my proposal for the Encinitas Community Center and caught up on emails. Gregory and I are starting to look for different jobs and opportunities. There is a day when I get very anxious and I need to calm myself and remind myself that God will take care in His own time but I still get anxious and scared!

Anyway, after several hours of work, I went back to the room to take a nap. Sunshine knocked on the door around 3:00pm saying that she was hungry, of course. We all got ready to go out for lunch but first, we walked to a travel agency to get our bus tickets to leave tomorrow to Hoi An. That was easy and simple and 100K cheaper than the price that the hotel was giving us. We walked for a while and then we stopped at a touristy place called DMZ Cafe for lunch. Gregory and I had pho ga, mostly for my throat that still hurts! We had a good lunch then Daniel walked back to the hotel while Gregory, Sunshine and I went to Dong Ba market.

Crossing the bridge was a nice experience where we got to see thousands of motorbikes crossing the bridge. Remember to check the video below. When we  got to the market, it was dark and some of the stands were starting to close. The reason I love to go to market is to experience the local culture, people, their food and how they interact with each other and with us!

There were all sort of stands with coolie hats, flowers, fruits, candy, treats, food, seafood, backpacks, and clothes. We bought some treats for the bus tomorrow and we met a lady who said her name was Lili as well. She kept following us and wanted us to visit her shop upstairs. We made other stops looking for socks for Daniel but the funny part is that they were all too small. I explained to the lady that my boy had a big foot but then I realized that the socks are made for Vietnamese people who are short and have small feet.

I also stopped to ask was in some large pots that looked like chocolate pudding. It smelled like fish but I just needed to ask. They told me that it was fish pudding. It didn't smell good at all. There were other dishes with shrimp and some other kind of seafood in oil that didn't look appealing at all. Many of the stands sold the same things, like markets that we have seen in other parts of the world!

We went upstairs to see Lili's clothing shop but we didn't like anything there. She was happy enough that we came. Everyone was closing now and we were done anyway. We got out of the market, crossed the bridge with its colorful lights and stopped at a cafe in front of our hotel. Daniel came to join us for matcha tea. I'm just enjoying all this family time that we are getting!

For pictures please click here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JGvRYs4yhPGsVm1w5

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