I got the death cold here in Saigon. Sniffles, body sores, whole shebang. After two days of laying in bed and being pretty upset I couldn’t go job hunting, our friend Nguyet (this girl ends up in a lot of our stories, she never ceases to amaze me) who’s English can be hard to understand at times, tells me “(something, something), sick, (something something), back, oil, (something something), it’ll make you better”. Cool right? Nguyet is totally going to come upstairs and give me a sweet ass massage? WRONG. Check out her Vietnamese “cure” for a bad cold. It involves some weird Tiger Balm smelling oil, and a key gouging out the top layers of skin on my back.
FYI, its the day after this lovely incident and I’m still sick as all hell, but hey, the red gashes on my back have turned into more of a lovely shade of a light magenta after 24 hours. It was totally and utterly, not worth the pain. Although I can now say I royally got my ass kicked by a Vietnamese chick that probably weighs 80lbs.
Oh, and I also have good news, but you’re going to have to wait for that one. I like to add some suspense to the equation. Duh, duh, duh.
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Rad Cure for the common cold. At least it looks cool and Everyone in Vietnam will know your down with local remedies. A proverbial tip of that as well for toughing that out for a cure for you cold Serene. I can only relate to the desperateness you get for relief from a bad cold and the length you will go through to find it. Thanks for documenting it for us!
Ouch! Try the suction globes next time. I walked in on our Guest House manager getting this done and it leaves giant red suction marks all over your back. It’ll go great with your new zebra back lines
I’ve seen the suction marks on people here before. Kris freaked out thinking that some poor woman had been beat up, but Jen was able to quickly explain that its some acupuncture related treatment. Thus far, I haven’t seen a single damn person with my ever so elegant design on their backs, and I’m beginning to think that she might have made it up. If I leave Vietnam without finding another zebra, I’m gonna be pissed. It really hurt!
Confirmed! Now that I know what I’m looking for, I’ve seen two “remedies” being administered in the past two days. You can relax, Serene – she didn’t make it up. It’s “legit”.