Yup it's early. But I slept 6 or 7 hours and I'm EXCITED.
There are a few people whom I haven't seen in 3 weeks. And I'm looking forward to seeing them again ;-)
And I FEEL that strange THING again.
It feels like someone pushed the Pause button on Life the moment I left here but that excruciatingly long Pause is finally over now !
Anthony Bourdain put it into words quite well:
I’m back.
Back in Vietnam.
Shit-eating grin for the duration.
A giddy, silly, foolish man, beyond caring.
I couldn't put it any better way ;-)
5:00
Do I detect the slightest hue of pink on those clouds at the horizon?
YES. Dawn is here !
5:30
The rolling shutter in the lobby is open. GET TO THE BEACH !
I'm not the only who had that thought, LOL. Even though I seem to be the only WHITE person with such strange thinking patterns.
This is paradise.
And again I have to think of the price people in the West have paid for their high wages, their free dental insurance, their iPhones, their George-Foreman grills, for driving their brand-new cars over the immaculate roads with all those fancy traffic lights, their shopping malls every 500 meters with their shampoo aisles.
The price they pay for that crap is THIS:
The ability to just walk to the beach at sunrise and go for a quick swim.
MUCH too high a price in my opinion.
I walk back to the hotel, only to find the rolling shutter CLOSED. Maybe the owners are getting their own beach time? Nothing I can do about it, so I walk back to the beach, strip down to my Tunisia-bought boxer shorts and GO FOR A SWIM. OMG, this is nice. Am I ever glad that the rolling shutter was closed, LOL.
When I get back to the hotel 25 minutes later the shutters are OPEN again.
7:00
LOL, it's 7 am and this day in Vietnam has already been more fabulous than most entire days in Gulagtown.
7:45
Breakfast at Barbara's Kiwi Connection is actually not too bad. I've secured a scooter rental for 12 days for the local price, so that I will be mobile for the time I'm here.
9:00
I've checked out, left my passport for copying at the Kiwi Connection, walked to the bank machine, bought a bungee-strap for the back of the bike ($1), rode to the gas station to fill up the scooter ($3), and am back at the Kiwi Connection.
Now that I filled up the tank, the scooter refuses to start. WTF?
It takes some experimenting and in the end the day-saving assistance of the woman at Kiwi Connection to figure out that the scooter is wired NOT to start when the kickstand is down. Quite a simple and useful feature, but INFURIATING if you don't know about it.
OFF WE GO, YIPPPEEEEEEEE .....
Of course I can't resist to stop at Life's a beach. "You're still here ?!" (I'm still wearing shades and a helmet and just shout out Xin Chao Bao) and "The last time someone ordered wine this early ....." are the respective comments from Bao and Steve. Even BigHead dog, who followed me down the beach three weeks ago, quietly sneaks up and sniffs my toes.
11:00
I'm comfortably sipping my wine at Life's a Beach and uncomfortably working on a translation. But I also have absolutely no qualms of hanging out in this general area for the next 2 weeks. And right off my head, I can't think about ANY OTHER place in this world where would even remotely think the same.
11:15
Tine to buy a carton of cigarettes and two bottles of wine from the village store. I pre-open them at Life's a Beach because there most likely is NO corkscrew available where I'm going, LOL
11:30
It's RAINING !
A quick check of the Quy Nhon weather forecast reveals that it's supposed to rain lightly for the rest of the day. Now wouldn't it have been smart to check the weather forecast BEFORE I took a 2 hour break at Life's a Beach, LOL. No worries, the scooter had two smurf outfits under the seat. Unfortunately I used the lime green one to wrap the backpack strapped to the rear so that I will have to wear the PINK one, LOL.
12:00
I've walked Las Ramblas in Barcelona many many years ago and I do remember that I liked it a lot. The closest I've found to it is a street in La Habana, Cuba. 13 people died on Las Ramblas yesterday. Now people refuse to travel to Barcelona, Paris, Istanbul, and I don't know where else.
The number of people who died in car accident worldwide in 2015 was higher than 35,000.
Let that number sink in for a sec.
Is anyone not driving their car because of fear they might get shredded?
In 2016, 9764 Iraqis died in terror attacks.
300 people died in a mudslide in Sierra Leone last week.
So WHY is the news ONLY occupied with 13 dead in Barcelona?
Let's not even get into the number of people who drowned in the Mediterranean in the last few years.
And YES, if you say "That is different" that just makes you a racist and a fool, LOL. Because none of us is going to make it out of life alive. That however shouldn't mean that we shouldn't LIVE it !
Doesn't the audience realize that it is being scared on purpose and manipulated?
18:00
I've arrived in VH quite a few hours ago. A 1.5 hour nap did me good.
Time to head over to my hosts for dinner.
The Fish is GREAT and Binh made some salt/pepper/lemon dipping sauce. How did she know I LOVE that stuff?
20:00
Time to hit the bed.
After all, I've only stayed 2 nights away from Vancouver, so jet lag is still fresh and vicious.
I couldn't put it any better way ;-)
5:00
Do I detect the slightest hue of pink on those clouds at the horizon?
5:30
The rolling shutter in the lobby is open. GET TO THE BEACH !
 |
| 5:35 am. YES, those dots are all people swimming ;-) |
 |
| Even a rainbow is not missing. No wonder the Viets float around in Unicorn inflatables, LOL |
And again I have to think of the price people in the West have paid for their high wages, their free dental insurance, their iPhones, their George-Foreman grills, for driving their brand-new cars over the immaculate roads with all those fancy traffic lights, their shopping malls every 500 meters with their shampoo aisles.
The price they pay for that crap is THIS:
MUCH too high a price in my opinion.
 |
| My facial expression should say it all ;-) |
When I get back to the hotel 25 minutes later the shutters are OPEN again.
7:00
LOL, it's 7 am and this day in Vietnam has already been more fabulous than most entire days in Gulagtown.
7:45
Breakfast at Barbara's Kiwi Connection is actually not too bad. I've secured a scooter rental for 12 days for the local price, so that I will be mobile for the time I'm here.
9:00
I've checked out, left my passport for copying at the Kiwi Connection, walked to the bank machine, bought a bungee-strap for the back of the bike ($1), rode to the gas station to fill up the scooter ($3), and am back at the Kiwi Connection.
Now that I filled up the tank, the scooter refuses to start. WTF?
It takes some experimenting and in the end the day-saving assistance of the woman at Kiwi Connection to figure out that the scooter is wired NOT to start when the kickstand is down. Quite a simple and useful feature, but INFURIATING if you don't know about it.
OFF WE GO, YIPPPEEEEEEEE .....
Of course I can't resist to stop at Life's a beach. "You're still here ?!" (I'm still wearing shades and a helmet and just shout out Xin Chao Bao) and "The last time someone ordered wine this early ....." are the respective comments from Bao and Steve. Even BigHead dog, who followed me down the beach three weeks ago, quietly sneaks up and sniffs my toes.
11:00
I'm comfortably sipping my wine at Life's a Beach and uncomfortably working on a translation. But I also have absolutely no qualms of hanging out in this general area for the next 2 weeks. And right off my head, I can't think about ANY OTHER place in this world where would even remotely think the same.
11:15
Tine to buy a carton of cigarettes and two bottles of wine from the village store. I pre-open them at Life's a Beach because there most likely is NO corkscrew available where I'm going, LOL
11:30
It's RAINING !
A quick check of the Quy Nhon weather forecast reveals that it's supposed to rain lightly for the rest of the day. Now wouldn't it have been smart to check the weather forecast BEFORE I took a 2 hour break at Life's a Beach, LOL. No worries, the scooter had two smurf outfits under the seat. Unfortunately I used the lime green one to wrap the backpack strapped to the rear so that I will have to wear the PINK one, LOL.
12:00
I've walked Las Ramblas in Barcelona many many years ago and I do remember that I liked it a lot. The closest I've found to it is a street in La Habana, Cuba. 13 people died on Las Ramblas yesterday. Now people refuse to travel to Barcelona, Paris, Istanbul, and I don't know where else.
The number of people who died in car accident worldwide in 2015 was higher than 35,000. Let that number sink in for a sec.
Is anyone not driving their car because of fear they might get shredded?
In 2016, 9764 Iraqis died in terror attacks.
300 people died in a mudslide in Sierra Leone last week.
So WHY is the news ONLY occupied with 13 dead in Barcelona?
Let's not even get into the number of people who drowned in the Mediterranean in the last few years.
And YES, if you say "That is different" that just makes you a racist and a fool, LOL. Because none of us is going to make it out of life alive. That however shouldn't mean that we shouldn't LIVE it !
Doesn't the audience realize that it is being scared on purpose and manipulated?
18:00
I've arrived in VH quite a few hours ago. A 1.5 hour nap did me good.
Time to head over to my hosts for dinner.
 |
| I have a feeling I'm not in Kanada anymore, LOL |
20:00
Time to hit the bed.
After all, I've only stayed 2 nights away from Vancouver, so jet lag is still fresh and vicious.
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