Bai Bien Cua Toi (XIII- XV): Mu'a, Mu'a, More dinners & Moving closer to an epic ride....

8:00
is that Singing outside?
The Christians are at it again..... 

...too much Hallelujah for me but it sounds VERY nice. 
And it provides a peaceful background while watching some light appearing over the ocean again after the last brief downpour.

9:00
I'm supposed to move back to my room today, but the manager & staff are still singing Holy Songs, instead of cleaning my already empty room...... Would asking When my room will be ready be Rude or would it be justified since after all I did the hotel a favour in vacating my room to let them put the guests they double-booked into my room?


10:30
My room is ready.   Even though I told them that it does not have to be sparkling, they cleaned it to a level of shine I have never seen here before.
Cam on nhieu Ti/n !

The weather on the other hand is only moderately shiny
My trip to Song Cau is in jeopardy....

11:30
I've had half a bottle of wine today, but no food ..... time to head to Sweden for a Banh Mi trung & a G&T

The sky opens up while I sit under the thatched roof..... HOW am I going to get back home ????

I shove the laptop under my shirt and run..... 

16:15
 A constant rain has slowly crept in over the ocean and seems to have settled in position......    I'm supposed to be at Quang's place in 45 minutes..... HOW do I get there without getting drenched ?

17:00 I'm lucky.  There was a break amidst showers and I reach Quang's place DRY.

The view from Quang's terrace ;-)

There is another guest present today.  Tall, not bad looking man, my age or a bit older, Vietnamese.  
And there it is again.  None of the phony behaviour one encounters at a Western dinner party.  Just an INTENSELY CURIOUS stare at me, the Western newcomer. NOT AT ALL in an unfriendly or impolite manner, just CURIOUS.  

Once I mumbled a few words of probably unintelligible Vietnamese, the man displays that big smile that I've got used to by now. He is Quang's older brother. I'm used to how slowly 57-year-old men move in the West and I'm flabbergasted by this guy's agility.

Kim & Quang are barbecuing pork...  NO, not the boring dry pork from Safeway but chunks of tasty Vietnamese thit heo ;-)

Mme Kim

Already during dinner, the flood gates open and swaths of rain are driven through the village:

The ride back is something else.   The trip is only 1 km long but it borders on an adventure!  When I rode to Quang, maybe 5% of the length of the village road were flooded.    NOW, about 5% are NOT under water.    It's still pouring and I'm trying to navigate on the road that I can't actually see under all that water.  Good thing the motor on this scooter sits high, because along some stretches, the water rises above the floor board and at times it feels like I'm operating an icebreaker to push my way through the floods.

I can still hear rain pounding on my windows when I get up at 5:00 but at 6:00 the cloud cover disappears ;-)

On a beach walk at 8:00 ....

I find the PERFECT Styrofoam packaging to build a shelter for the orchid so that it can survive its trip on the scooter to Quang's house.  The Styrofoam comes from the beach and the 3 zap-straps I found 3 days ago on the ground come in handy to clamp the two Styrofoam shells around the flower pot.    
Professional packaging.... and the orchid survives the trip unscathed ;-)
Kim invites me to come for dinner again..... KHONG, hom ngay toi khong an ! 
I need a day off from feasting and social engagements, but I let her twist my rubber arm and accept chicken from the BBQ tomorrow at 17:00 again .....

Knut & Karin are about to leave and offer me their left-over 3/4 bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.  I try to pay them, but they won't take a penny.  In the back of my mind I realize that Knut is engaging in the typical German generosity overkill because he still 'owes' me a pack of cigarettes.  Some time has passed since I followed those odd conventions blindly, so I accept the offer of FREE wine, LOL.

12:30
I've said my good-byes to Knut & Karin and it's time to leave....
The flooded road tells the story of how much it rained since yesterday....

 Have fun with simple things !

 Once you forget how to do that, you're OLD !

As usual, A-stop is a good stop for ice cream.   82k instead of 90k last time... she got the price wrong and UNDERcharged me....

Then the usual store again.  2 bottles of Dalat white, a carton of cigarettes as well as TWO ao mu/a (rain coats), all for 380k VND.

I do a double-take when I get back to the highway.  WHERE in the world is all this traffic coming from?   A backlog of 18-wheelers and other vehicles seems to be stuck behind SOMETHING.......  

When I get closer, I realize it's a funeral procession.  Two open trucks with people on the back throwing Dead-People Money into the air, then a van with the coffin, then an open bed truck with mourning women, and then about 100 people on scooters.   NICE ;-)
One of the Dead-People bills gets caught on the mirror rod of my scooter.....

Money for the afterlife

After taking this picture, I consider whether it is wise to keep it, after all it's for the Dead (Bad omen?)!  So I throw it back into the wind.

The same consideration comes when I come catch up with the procession again a few km down the road ..... is it REALLY wise to OVERTAKE the DEAD on their route to wherever they're going????

Luckily, I don't have to come to a decision on that one..... the funeral procession makes a U-turn on the highway before I completely catch up.  

Only later do I realize that I DID overtake the DEAD just before filming the video....... Ah, but I let them overtake me again... so I should be in the clear ;-)


14:00 
Back at my beach, it's too overcast to swim for my taste, so I head to Sweden to eat my first REAL MEAL of the day ...

can you say HEALTHY?

Simply the BEST banh mi trung... Ani even brings me a bowl of chili peppers in soy sauce ;-)

I settle my tab..... after all, one never knows what a 1500 km road trip on Vietnamese roads will do to me, and I'm relieved that Ani since last October has learned what a tip is..... the woman is a darling and does her utmost to prepare fabulous meals well and quickly ..... 

18:00?
Holy Fuck.... how much can one person sleep?

20:00
Oh, what is THAT ???
The first episode of the 2nd season of Star Trek Discovery is out on Netflix....  
I've watched the first season a while ago and it actually was NOT bad, so I think I might spend some time in front of the screen tonight....  in addition, Vietnam is 15 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, so I get to watch it 15 hours before anyone in California, lOl.

As expected, the show causes me to shed tears, both tears of laughter and tears of sadness, within the first 20 minutes.

And as usual, Science Fiction causes me to think outside the box.
Is it possible that I LOVE being here in Vietnam also for the reason at being in a country where I don't yet speak the language makes it easier or maybe just more logical to be alone/lonely?   Something to think about......
I wouldn't want to be here for the wrong reason !

5:00
I try to call Grandma but there is no answer.....   
Let's hope Nurse Jessica is taking her on an excursion somewhere....


5:30
STILL no one answering the phone .....

I read the last message from Vietnamobile (in Vietnamese of course) and realize that my data is valid until 2020 but my phone minutes expired on January 18.... YES: yesterday.  WTF?     My own fault for recharging my phone in that weird little store in Quy Nhon Coopmart......

But since when do minutes expire in Vietnam?  They're learning the Western Way?  How unfortunate!

ONLY after all this huffing & puffing, do I get a message back from Jessica..... she took Grandma shopping..... so maybe my minutes didn't expire after all?

6:45
I try calling again.... and I hear Granny's voice...... All is well with her.
And my minutes did NOT expire and all is well in Vietnam ;-)

8:00
I am the only guest today and it shows.   Even B is NOT praying early but is still sleeping...

9:45?
LOL

The hotel is awake now & toi di boi ;-)

Not only does M interrupt me loudly in my room too check what needs to be fixed (I'm checking out tomorrow and this couldn't wait until then???), he also manages to say the unthinkable.    He points at my bathroom light and asks me "Are you still using the bathroom because otherwise you should turn the light off".  

'nough said?


Since Grandma will have a new PR card in the spring and she is adamant that she wants to see her daughter again before summer, I'm starting to schedule the first half of 2019 accordingly.  Another flight to Vietnam?.... booked.... the hotel for the return? ..... booked.

Another swim during which the ocean tries to suck me out into the bay....  the shape of the sand UNDER the water includes a drop-off and it's HARD WORK to get back to the beach when one is right over that drop-off..... 

.... and being hit from the back by those 2-meter-high waves at the drop off doesn't help either !

At noon, I am still FUMING about the question about my bathroom light (AND the fact that my room is advertised on Booking.com for LESS than I am paying as a 'regular').  This couple simply has a GIFT for making people feel uncomfortable & unwelcome......

So I head over to Sweden for breakfast and some less grumpy people. 

Bobby has a new cook.... and Ani's little sister has already understood the concept of GREED.   Even Bobby wants to let that Chilean wine go for 300k but she wants 500k, LOL.  Only when I thank her for the offer and in earnest turn around to drive to Song Cau to buy cheap wine, does she agree ....

.. another 2 hour nap and I wake up 2 minutes before my alarm clock would have gone off.  Must hurry to get ready to rush over to Quang's place for dinner.   I end up being 5 minutes late and while in the past that would have been 15 minutes early, this time it really is 5 minutes late.

The tables are laden .....

What a feast...... good thing I at least brought a nice wine ....

And I'm VERY happy that I brought the 2nd orchid over here.....while at my hotel no one would even care if the wind had kicked it over, here it finally gets some love.   Quang himself created a pot/stand out of an old coconut shell.  It looks as good if not better than anything I've seen in fancy Western Floral Boutiques !

Time to say good-bye to Kim & Herbert and ride home....
But my hotel again feels like the place where elephants go to die.... 

.... so at 8:30 I head over to Sweden again for night-cap Gin&Tonic.

OMG, it is hard to believe HOW MUCH MORE relaxed and FUN the atmosphere is over here ....almost too relaxed:  Ani's little sister is hitting on me, LOL.