Home's a Beach 9: Rays of Evil from afar .... and shipwrecks afoot

I actually sleep until 5:00 today and awake refreshed and feeling great.  Not to last long.  During my every-other-day phone call to Grandma I hear instantly that she is in one of those moods again.  Out to make everyone as miserable as she is.

Her caretakers are ROBBING her BLIND, she says.  I know the mad routine already, so I calmly ask:

"What did they steal this time?"

 The Cheese YOU brought me!  I remember the Brie that I got for her in MARCH and that she let ripen in her fridge since then.  FINALLY someone got rid of the foul smelling disaster !  

And on and on she goes.  All fruits of a material-possessions-obsessed mind that has way too much paranoia in it. But that's not the bad part.   It's all MY FAULT because I let those thieving women into her house and I am solely to blame for Grandma's heart trouble brought on by all this commotion.

 I end the phone call and decide to call her every three days from now on.   

  What did that fortune cookie say?    NEVER surrender your dignity !

Another short nap takes the edge of the insults and during my beach walk I manage to shrug most of the rest off. 

  Some people are miserable and MUST make everyone else miserable too.  For some strange reason that makes them temporarily happy.  Think about that for a moment.  

 What to do about that?   STAY AWAY from them!

 The Dalai Lama's Rule # 20 for better Living?  

 #20:  Seek the company of Positive people !

Good thing Vietnam is such good therapy ;-)

And you meet great people here, like Elke, who only says "you should break all contact with such people".  Hmm.  That's what the Lama says.....

I'm heading out on the road with Elke today, NOT to Ganh Da Dia today because the wooden bridge was destroyed by Typhoon Damrey, but to Quy Nhon, both for a joy ride and as a shopping trip.

It is when I try to take the below picture with the Canon Elph that I realize that the camera battery is still in the charger in my room.  %#@!  I guess the cell phone camera will have to suffice.

Some people will LOVE this picture; for all the wrong reasons !

Elke also was fascinated by that mountain in the background.  Mount Doom?

Here is one of those positive people the Lama is talking about, LOL

Not a very common location for a big ship ....

We get to Quy Nhon and scoot on the left side of the road (the Viet Special !) to Big C.

Elke wants to visit the bakery.  So we do.  But what is THAT?

A baguette Christmas tree.  Gotta love this country ;-)

Shopping is all done and it's time to head toward Life's a Beach.   

When we're about to pass by Science Avenue, the area where all the big Physics conferences take place, I decide to follow a hunch.  I've never been down here and I have seen a magnificent beach from the hill-top road, which should be right behind the Science Centre AND should have some interesting features on it right now.

Let's just say that my craziest ideas are usually the best ones ....;-)

OF COURSE, we have to walk over and inspect the wreck ;-)

There is even a rope ladder leading from the beach to the top, which another tourist is climbing down as we approach.

This is unreal.  I feel like I'm a participant in my FAVOURITE Iain Banks post-apocalyptic space opera "Against a dark Background".

But I notice some laundry drying outside the building on top, so we refrain from climbing into someone's home.

Surrealism is hitting hard today !

And yes, there are probably WAY TOO MANY selfies with shipwreck, but c'mon, how often does one run into a post-apocalyptic style shipwreck on a beach????

Now what is this strange RED thing next to me at the beach?

The bow !

Enough of that.  We head back to the scooters to continue the trip.

By now I'm feeling the heat and the rough roads.  Time for a road stop with Hai San pizza and ruou vang trang; and what better place for that than Life's a Beach ?

I guess I'm not the only one having fun .....

By the time we get back to the hotel, all I can do is walk to my bed and fall asleep for one hour

Binh is working, as usual

Instead of the kitchen, dinner today is served at the beach.

Nice .....

But there it is again.  There is conversation with only one person at this table that is interesting (Thank you, Elke!), but the rest is so stale and re-warmed  that I'm heading to my room early again.