Not long after I puffed out my chest and proclaimed with absolute certanty to my travel buddies that it was not necessary to pay $25 for a new-fandangled synthetic travel towel, (since, after all, even the grodyest guesthouse provides them) I booked myself onto a tourist traveler cruise to Halong Bay.
The travel agent gave us a list of things to bring along for the cruise. And on that list, it specified that I bring a towel. A towel that I did not have.
I managed to convince the grotty hotel that I am staying in to lend one to me, that I was not going to steal it, that I was, after all, checking back in within 48 hours. I felt humilated having to ask to borrow a towel
(but not nearly as humiliated as my weener became after I went swimming in the cold water of Halong Bay).
Yesterday, I went towel shopping.
I put on my beige Ernest Hemingway outfit (with matching pith helmet) and then hacked my way through the forest vines with a machete until I came to the "Big C" hypermarket located in the outskirts of Hanoi.
Towels are about 80 cents each. I chose a mauve one.
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