Bai Bien Cua Toi (IX-XI):... Days wasted bent over a toilet.... and recovering

2:45
That's the price for sleeping all day yesterday...... Crazy-Hair German woman is playing music in a hammock 15 meters in front of my room.... which puts a damper on my enjoyment of the amazing starry sky.... this place is going to the dogs.....


3:45
I try calling Grandma but she does not answer..... either on the balcony or out with Jessica....

4:15
Grandma is back from a shopping trip....buying more crap....lamp shades this time.... it's a nasty thought.... but I'll have to toss them in a few years.....

Dawn with moon

The Freezer did it again... it uncorked the bottle of wine for me ;-)
I cheer up when I watch Ip Man.... 

7:00
a walk...

.... and a swim...

9:30

A phone call... Tin wants to borrow a scooter.....  I agree but the thing doesn't start again!  Instead of pushing the whole scooter over to Chau's place (that's what he did last time), we use my bicycle tools to take the battery out on site and only ship that over to Chau's for charging ;-)

And then all of a sudden there is that unpleasant feeling .....
I think I feel a gall stone!

PUKE nap PUKE nap PUKE nap .... repeat....
for 18 friggin hours...... 

6:30
This time it's different when I wake up..... I'm fine again ;-)

7:15
LOL, 
my wine bottle stayed too long in the freezer, pushed up the cork, and now has wine icicles along its length ;-)

8:00
No swim yet today.... the weather is just not that inviting....



























13:00

A knock on my door...... It's Chau.... his sons computer is not working properly.....of course I'll come fix it.....

Dinner at Nha Quang... Now Hien no longer wants to become a cook...too bad because his food is OUTSTANDING, even the chicken feet !  That's at least the third career he has abandoned.....

Tam & Hien at Bobby's.... but at 20:00 I have to say Good Night.... I am just too tired....

Awake again at midnight... drenched in sweat after 4 hours of sleep....

5:00
No more sweating and feeling awake!

6:00
A morning walk.....

 I don't think I'll be going swimming for a while....

.... those waves look just a little scary.....

9:30
Oh Fuck, maybe I should have eaten a yogurt instead of the egg baguette...

.. PLEASE don't let it start AGAIN !!!!

11:00
I've moved..... back into a bigger and brighter room at the German hotel.... but why is a friggin second bed taking up all that space ?

Oh those bloody retards at Microsoft...... they updated the Windows Photo Editor (naturally without asking me).... and they miraculously manage to BREAK the Enhance Photo functionality...... that's what happens if you give your 20-year old employees free Coke & Candy.... 

11:30

The new 'river' along the beach has collected all the surface plastic junk and concentrated it along its banks.... 

I mention to M that it is really easy today to pick up most of the garbage at the beach..... His reply:  Tomorrow the ocean will take it out again.  

Lazy Bastard..... 

My reply:  NO, it won't, because I'll pick it up today.... and so I do.

14:30
So Sluggish....

By mid-November that sandbank will be completely gone !

Tam wants to borrow my scooter and brings me a banana shake....  I drink it and instantly feel like crap... WTF?   I actually PANIC and race over to Muoi & Chau to cancel the dinner in one hour.... back to bed hoping that I won't be sick again.....

... I wake up at the originally appointed dinner time and I'm PERFECTLY fine..... 

I finally figure it out..... after the throwing up episode of two days ago, my normally PERFECT stomach valve has not yet recovered completely, so that one hour ago I suffered from acid reflux, which I normally NEVER have...... I feel sorry for the people who do!

Melancholy is back.... WTF?

And then I simply CAN NOT sleep......

Bai Bien Cua Toi (VII-VIII): TIRED..... OH SO TIRED

2:30
The house news robs me of some sleep after all..... but at least 3 months later I can't even remember what that bad news was....probably something the Spherical Dwarf said....

5:30
there is no more water in the bathroom.....

7:45
I am SO SLUGGISH today....I suspect it's the lack of stimulating conversation.....but maybe swimming will help?

10:45
I'm just HOT and I can't move.....

Johann is back....

.... shares his tales of debauchery at LAB Backpackers....

and I must admit to myself that I am too old for that ....

14:00

an exam for Vietnamese students learning English... I can't even do it!

NOT my day.... that pin just broke....good thing the watch didn't drop on the ground when it did !

15:30

16:00
What a lost day.....

I'm trying to wake up my body.... it's NOT working .....

17:30

Huong filling my foot-wash basin

18:30
My Bun with whatever meat stand is not open today....

 .... but they sell Banh trung nuong right next to it and I get two to share it with my favourite people....  Tam, Tin, Thanh,

Tam feeds me some concoction of pure liquor and tiny wild grapes.... it almost shoves me under the table, LOL.
But in the following 2 hours of mostly Vietnamese conversation I learn a lot ;-)

21:00
The Afro-German is (hopefully) enjoying her LSD trip...Johann is watching her .... (those young NUTTERS).... and I'm going to bed ;-)

5:00

The LSD chick is STILL in her hammock, skyping with another woman in Germany.... too loud!

7:00

In the news: Trump is even Dumber than I thought..... he actually thought about nuking hurricanes..... 

9:00
I need to get out of my beach stupor.....

So I ride to Song Cau....

On my last trip here, while Lisa was picking out dishwashers, I noticed a TINY watch maker next door....that is where I go.... The man has a little booth in front of his living room..... I show him the broken watch strap .... he sits down, digs in the drawers and installs a new retaining pin....

I ask bao nhieu?.... and he holds up two fingers...... 20,000?   less than a Dollar?  That is cheap.   I repeat Hai muoi nghin in Vietnamese but he shakes his head .... HAI NGHIN... 2000...  that's 8 US cents....

The "Wine Store".  The sympathetic young woman is back and recognizes me right away.... THANK GOD, I recognize her too... that means it's not Alzheimer's !
 The box of wine is always the same price but this time I get the "Export" quality, which is much better than the "Classic" wine....  And I pay less per bottle of the good stuff than for the bad stuff at Coopmart...... bizarre..... When I also buy cigarettes, the older owner woman says "Thank You" in English..... I am the one who should be grateful.... less than US$ 32 for a box of wine and a carton of cigarettes..... In Canada that  purchase would have cost me US$ 160 !

10:00
More chit chat back at the German place.....

11:00

OMG, another nap????

What is my body doing?
13:30

In the news:  Waste-to-Energy plants...... people still think they are recycling.... but what they are really doing is separating burnable stuff from non-burnable stuff..... because your government is BURNING waste... and YES, even in Beautiful British Columbia ....

A walk ....

..... along a graveyard beach

There is a dead fish....

and another one !

a dead lobster

ANOTHER dead fish !

# 4

 And to top it all off:

A dead dog.... already a bit bloated and probably ready to explode.... I approach with hesitation:

NO, it does NOT explode while I take the pictures.....

...but the sight of its face having "melted" off the bone is more than enough...

The MORAL: .....Live before you die !

I'm shocked my self that even after seeing all this I still go in the water ....

15:30
Half an hour until Bobby is supposed to return...... maybe he will help me pierce through this shroud of melancholy/sleepiness ?  

17:15
Bobby is still not back..... afternoon flights are always late from Sai Gon ;-)

20:00