Lisa postpones AGAIN...... I might as well go swimming again.....
The road to Quy Nhon....
This view is still unspoiled....
As I approach Life's a Beach: The landscape is still beautiful but more and more building sites for hotels and resorts are appearing....
Life's a Beach.... Quy is still here... the last of the original guard....
I try to make up for it by asking her a question... and I look at her outstretched hand and her shaking her head..... ENOUGH, she says, I am so MAD when you don't remember me.....
How is that for being put in my place ?????
14:15
I feel like a nap.... too much booze or awake too long? who cares.... a nap would be nice...
Hammocks are not suitable for good napping! I want to get out of here.... and the waitress whom I did not remember is STILL ANGRY at me.......
The entire city of Quy Nhon and the surroundings are changing at an alarming rate.... the road over the pass will be double-laned soon by all appearances and there are way too many high-rises going up in the town itself.... Even Dong is building a new 8-storey hotel across from his old one..... but he is still the old charmer and I'm invited for dinner at 18:00.
I try to take the elevator to my third floor room.... the elevator is out..... and as I find out in my room, the power is out.... I am sweating like a pig and the A/C does not work..... I wanted an adventure, LOL.
A quick shower and a scooter ride to the flower shop..... mot mon qua for my hosts.... and then Coopmart for wine, bread, cheese (I have a craving), lotion and even some tea on the way out..... No idea what kind of tea it is...but the Vietnamese sellers are going crazy when they try to explain to me in English that I should use two bags per cup and I say "mot cai ly, hai cai tui".
The power finally comes back on at 17:45...... too late to chill the wine....
Dinner is postponed until 19:00 because Dong is watering his new concrete....
I am way too tired to be fun, but after dinner Dong shows me that he added a floor to the hotel.... and it's all covered in SOLAR CELLS ..... smart man ;-)
20:30
I've slept lousily.... maybe it was the mothballs that Dong likes to place in his rooms or maybe it was that horribly soft mattress or that doll-house chair & table..... be that as it may...I need to get ready because at 6 am I have to go swimming with Dong..... my own bloody fault for agreeing to that, LOL.
It's time to possibly be out-swum by an almost 70 year old ;-)
 |
| but then he doesn't look too hydrodynamic |
7:00
I STILL have NOT decided where I am going to go today.....
I can't believe the SPEED with which the building crew mixes concrete and delivers it to the roof....
I've finally decided where to go today..... back home...so I'll make another wine run to Coopmart ;-)
It can't hurt to try I think when I walk into a phone repair shop and ask the whether I can buy phone minutes there......they seem amused but the repair man triple checks whether I actually want what my Vietnamese seems to suggest..... and then he recharges the minutes on my phone with an app on his phone...... Amazing ! That means that I should be able to recharge my phone online somehow !
9:45
I'm already sweating like a pig.....
Swantje e-mails me that she is on the way to the hotel..... I remember that she is utterly inept at reading maps though.... half an hour later I pick her up in front of the General Hospital, where I told her to go....
3 G&T later..... a really fun conversation, but for good-bye she turns out to be an adamant NON-HUGGER (some people's kids!) , and I'm on my way back to The Beach...
14:45
No rooms at T, so I drive over to OB... they're happy to see me and I get my old room back.....
As a reminder to remove the construction debris before sand is poured over it, I step into a LONG RUSTY NAIL that is part of a board just barely hidden under the sand....
...and there are more of them:
17:00
Lisa & Quang show up for a visit....
Phi is EMPTYING the deep freezer, which is acting as my fridge..... WTF? I don't want to stay here if I don't have access to a fridge.
