Anniversary and New Years

On the 30th, we had to say goodbye to Brian and Karen, as they flew from Bangkok back to Hong Kong. They'd leave for home the following day. Drew and I continued on our trip to Vietnam, another new destination for us. We flew from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City and stayed the night at a really nice boutique hotel on the Song River, maybe 30 min outside of downtown, for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We were only going to be in town for one night, as the next day we'd fly on to Hoi An for New Years, so it didn't matter to us if we were in the city or not. Besides, we would be visiting HCMC on the way home as well. The hotel was lovely, the grounds, the architecture, the view of the river, everything. It was perfect.

After settling in, we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for our anniversary dinner. We got to sit right next to the river and had fun watching all of these shallow bottomed barges go by carrying shipping containers etc. We could also see downtown HCMC from there, as seen in the picture above.

Dinner was delicious. Drew started out with an avocado and soft-shell crab salad, followed by a gourmet burger he had been craving with bacon, onion rings, blue cheese, etc. His favorite. 

I had a beet cream soup, which was delicious. 

Next I had a tuna steak over a bed of sweet potatoes and brussell sprouts. The prices at this place were ridiculously cheap, and we'd come to learn all of Vietnam was the same. Drew could have ordered an Angus steak tenderloin for $15. Anyways, this was one of the nicest restaurants we ate at the whole trip, so what happened next is even more hilarious. 

I know for a fact I am not allergic to anything that was on my plate that night. I don't have any severe food allergies that I'm aware of. Regardless, about halfway through my meal, the inner part of my ears started itching with a fierceness equal to a religious fervor. Now, for a few minutes I thought it was just a lingering cold I had been battling, because that is a personal symptom that I get, itchy ears. However, after a few more minutes my tongue started tingling, so I knew this was unusual. I told Drew I thought I was having a minor allergic reaction, but I couldn't understand it because I knew for a fact I wasn't allergic to anything I was eating. Not wanting to waste a good meal, I finished it off. Needless to say, our romantic anniversary was taking a nose dive to the unromantic very quickly. 

After dinner, I immediately felt better. We went for a stroll around the lantern lit grounds, then returned to our room for a special treat, the Christmas special episode of Downton Abbey. About halfway through the show, nature calls, and afterwards, as I look in the mirror while washing my hands, I, to my surprise, notice that my entire body has turned a lovely shade of carrot. Literally, from head to foot, all of my skin was flushed red. I can't tell you how many people asked me if I took a picture, but no, that didn't cross my mind at the time. Funnily enough, I truly felt ok other than the carrot imitation. I jumped onto my ipad to web-md this stuff and started looking up my symptoms. They were, not surprisingly, identical to an allergic reaction to food. Still, I knew I wasn't allergic to those ingredients. After some more careful searching I found my answer. Apparently, certain fish, particularly tuna and mackerel, if refrigerated improperly, can build up an alarming amount of histamines, due to over grown bacteria converting another chemical histadine into histamine. So, when you eat it, your body reactions to the histamines like any other allergic reaction. It's called Histamine Toxicity, and it's technically a type of food poisoning. Luckily, or unluckily, I have been dealing with allergies in Hong Kong from pollution, I hope, so I had some antihistamine pills in my purse. Popped in a couple of those, went to sleep, and the next day I was back to my normal shade of ghostly pale with no ill effects. Funny, this was only the second time in all of our travels that I have gotten sick from food, (the other time being in Myanmar) and it was at one of the nicest restaurants around! Back to safer street food, I suppose. 

We flew out the next day for Hoi An, to meet up some friends of ours for New Years Eve. The friends were Ilde and Larry, South Africans living in Hong Kong, whom we met through airbnb of all things. They are wonderful people and good friends, and they let us join up on their already planned plans. They were staying at a lovely beach resort, and said resort was throwing a huge party that we joined up for. The evening began with hors d'oeuvres and cocktails by the pool, into which we released paper lanterns with lit candles within, to make a wish for the new year. There was also a lion dance and other festivities. 

The night then continued, very much like a wedding, with a huge buffet table, a stage with song and dance routines throughout the evening for entertainment, and even a chocolate fountain. The buffet table, which was almost a mile long, was obviously Drew's favorite part. About halfway through the evening, it started drizzling, hence the umbrellas given out by the resort. Clearly I'm telling a very intriguing story below. Perhaps even the carrot story again?

After dinner, dancing began, and close to midnight, they handed out all sorts of festive garb. 

The best part of the dancing was this group of Mexican 20-somethings who were going to town all night. Anytime a song came on with a hint of Spanish they'd go berserk. But it made the dancing more fun. It drizzled essentially the whole night, but that didn't stop them. It did mean that the poor Filipino cover singer put a towel on her head by the end to try to salvage her hair. Not sure it helped. 

Thanks Ilde and Larry for letting us crash your New Years Eve! We had a blast!