Yes. Really.

Every conceivable delay tactics and best efforts notwithstanding, it happened. Considering that Hien owns a bridal shop and the Vietnamese penchant for kitschy, over-the-top weddings, I probably should have just given turned myself over to the experience earlier in the trip. Instead, yes, this is why we missed our flight to Cambodia. (Fortunately for Dan, whom I hold singularly responsible for this crime against (my) nature, we're booked on the next one, which departs in a half hour.)

Edit: Truthfully, though, it was important to Hien (and, hence, to me) to show me what she does, to make me up and dress me up and fuss over me. This is, after all, what she does for a living--and seemingly quite well, too. She has a team of stylists, photographers and videographers who make transformations of the feminine visage and photoshop look as easy as playing paper dolls and etch-a-sketch. Her shop is beautiful, too. But I discovered that it's in the back, in Hein's kitchen, where the REAL transformations take place, where Hien took the humblest of ingredients and created (just a "fast cook", as she described it) to make what may well be the best lunch--no, best *meal*--I've ever had. At that point, despite having already told Dan for the fifth time that I had officially reached the panic point over our getting to the airport, I would gladly have sacrificed our flight--indeed, the entire rest of the trip--if only could continue eat Hien's cooking.