So we're at home with a ton of stuff on the bed, passports on top, and downstairs is a beautifully packed picnic. But suddenly we've called off our plan to go to Tam Dao. We're just too tired! Not sad though, as we're still relaxed from last weekend.
At the minimart the other day, I came in looking for tortillas and Tuan was giggling by the door. A Western guy was talking in rather good Vietnamese, and purchasing a huge bunch of bananas, costing him over 100,000 dong. He was asking if he could buy half but they were saying no, no, you can't cut it, it's bad luck. This sounded very strange to me as they are very honest in the shop and would never bamboozle someone into buying a huge bunch of bananas like that - they'll sell you just one banana if you prefer, or one yoghurt, or even one battery. Tuan explained in a stage whisper that the man's house is haunted. The electrics are up the pictures, lights flickering on and off, a bad feeling in the house and all housemates suffering from bad luck in their daily lives. On advice from a friend, he was buying things for an offering table, which would consist of fruit and a whole boiled chicken with a rose in his mouth. It's bad luck to offer anything partial or cut, so the bunch of bananas had to be whole. When the man passed over the bananas they noticed one of them was bashed and black so they had to exchange the bunch for another "more beautiful" (and even more costly) hand. He had also arranged to have a shamanic exorcist visit the house. All the talk of ghosts made me feel shivery, so of course Tuan crept up on me while I was paying for my tortillas and I jumped a mile.
Nicholas has a minimart story too: he was shopping today and a Vietnamese guy walked in and said, "Have you got that thing...?" "?" "You know, that thing?" "Sorry, sir, what thing?" "Er, I'm not sure..."
Apparently the precise nature of the thing was not clarified before Nicholas left the shop.
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