Bai Bien Cua Toi (XIII)..... Woes, Washer remote service...Wacky Wind & Whatever else

4:00

Argghhh..... I smoked and drank too much again ....

 ....BUT..... there is always THIS ....... and this NEVER gets old ;-)

It's May 31st today..... 
I can't believe it's only been one year since kokum died.....

One of the people who are no longer in my life and whom I think of daily ....

5:30
Time to call Grandma..... even though I barely have minutes left on my phone....... there are two women in that house and they can't get the washing machine started....  I have to walk them through it, trying to remember where all the buttons are, from OVER HERE......

....and then I hear through from over 12,000 km away ...."Oh, it works!"...... 
Of course it does, LOL.



7:00

8:00
More walking

When I first used an old stick to prop up a garbage bag at the beach 10 days ago, I didn't think the idea would be copies THIS quickly

... and swimming ...

Life in paradise can get BORING...... what to do now?...... let's fly a kite.....

Time to let it SOAR !

WTF?  WHAT does that black bird think it's doing?

 GET AWAY from my kite !!!!

It has finally realized that my kite is NOT willing to mate ?

Quan grabs the kite for a second when I come back..... his reaction after he gives it some line proves he's NEVER had a kite in his hands 

And of course there is Banana Beach Boy:

12:00

Why YES, the sun IS high in the sky ;-)

12:30
Speaking of dogs...Sweden has about as much liveliness as a dog cemetery......

.....but something furry sneaks up on me, nuzzling my legs....

I LOVE that dog ;-)

....PUPPY is back and the love is mutual ;-)

13:15
should I drive to Song Cau or a have a nap......?

I try visiting Chau.... but I forget that between 13:00 & 15:00 everyone in Vietnam seems to be asleep in a hammock...... toi se hoc !

Oh screw it....I'm going swimming again ....

15:30
L is sick, so I cancel dinner with Q..... we'd just be sitting there eating and grinning at each other.... somehow I don't think I'd get up to any high levels of speaking Vietnamese today.....   tomorrow will be a better day!  And given that The COLD is going around..... getting ample of sleep is probably a good idea....maybe I get to avoid getting it ?


A while later.... back in Sweden: 

I'm training Johann to make a Cosmopolitan...

....but Bobby delivers the coupe de grace with the 3rd one ....  and I must admit that I am WASTED.......
BED..... NOW!

18:15
One last smoke..... and NO REST FOR THE WICKED ... there is Q walking up to my terrace....... his son H wants to become a taxi driver instead of working in his learned profession of hair dresser.... I understand Q's annoyance, LOL.

Bai Bien Cua Toi (VII): Frail & Feeble Folk almost Fail to Fish

4:00
I could and want to sleep more ..... but 4:00 is an improvement ....

I should have declined today's fishing invite...... I feel overextended.... I don't seem to have sufficient time to come to my senses.....

An e-mail from Werner !!!!   Finally!  I am happy to hear from that dear man ;-)

5:30
The power fails again..... which means the internet router is out..... Good thing I have my 2GB / day from Vietnamobile on my phone.... I can keep going as if nothing happened ;-)

6:00

7:10

I've met Lisa and Hien at Nha Quang..... Now we are walking to the beach...... WHY are we walking towards a coracle ?..... I KNEW IT....a boat is involved, LOL.   

After carrying and rolling one of these I have even more respect for Vietnamese men.....it's NOT as easy as it looks !

We finally get the thing into the water......

On second thought.... it's a small one.... too small really for three people.....

Then Hien asks me whether I get SEA SICK..... NOT a good omen .....

Time for the real action.   Hien hands me a spool with fishing line, lead weight and a bit of shrimp attached...... WHAT am I supposed to do with that?.....  I can see the bottom of the bay being filled with ballast plastic bags weighing the lobster cages down......

After a few minutes I get it..... I can see the baited hook down  there.... keep it above the ballast bags and WHERE do all those FISH come from ?????

I GOT one !!!!

Hien pulls out his first catch after 2 minutes....... there are numerous times when he just throws the line into the water and INSTANTLY pulls it back with a fish on the hook...... I kid you NOT .... it's as if there is a diver below the boat attaching a fish to the hook as soon as it goes down there,  LOL.

8:30

10:45

A bit of waking up.... and then.... I AM GOING to friggin TOKYO !    

12:15

I try to save my hotel in Sai Gon from paying the Booking.com commission by e-mailing them directly....... and they want to give me my room for 670k VND instead of the 470k Booking.com price......

WHAT THE FUCK ???

HOW DARE THEY?  I've been staying with you for TWO years now....

And I tell them exactly that in the reply e-mail.....

NO MORE FEAR & NO MORE NONSENSE !

13:00

A completely different definition of FREEDOM !

...another e-mail..... my Sai Gon hotel acquiesces ;-) 

 NO MORE FEAR, NO MORE NONSENSE !

14:30

Chantal is following me on DuoLingo???? How the hell did she find me ???  

15:00

It's going to POUR soon...

and does it ever...

15:30

It's raining cats and dogs.... but the Viet kids are playing soccer in the downpour.... I catch myself grinning from ear to ear..... I love this country so much !

17:00

another tete a tete with Bobby next door.....

or even a heart-to-heart...... and then Phi snuggles up to me on my bar chair and doesn't seem to mind too much that I'm gay.... 

I LOVE these people ;-)  Their hearts are openly out on their tongues!  I AM learning how to be a proper human being again !

Ho la mot gia dinh cua toi !

19:00

New construction pictures from Lisa.... it seems they built the lower edge of the front window at the WRONG height !.....

I ride over there to talk to Lisa & Quang and hopefully they will fix things.... and YES, that too-high wall under the front window WILL COME DOWN AGAIN !

20:45

Pheeew.  So-called "Holidays" can be quite EXHAUSTING, LOL.