Bai Bien Cua Toi (XII-XIV)..... Getting out of the slump ....and drinking seahorse booze

5:15
Oh what a horrible night.....  I simply could not sleep for any stretch longer than 2 hours.....

But the sunrise makes up for it ;-)

6:15
The colour magic is gone... now it's just a different kind of gorgeous.

 Swim Time !

6:45
Market Time !
No one in the West works as crazily as these woman here in the market.... and for almost NO MONEY by Western standards, but then they don't have the expenses either....
No trai du/a but I get yogurt and oranges and a Bun Cha Ca to go..... the woman at the Fish-soup vendor's long table almost start screaming with joy when the first one realizes that my Vietnamese mumbling almost makes sense.... One... A bag... I want to take.... 

Thanh is STILL sleeping in the hammock when I come back.  But I won't wake him to offer to share....  and I surprise myself by eating the whole yummy bowl myself....

7:30
I feel like a nap already....  but I can't fall asleep .....  my thoughts keep revolving around my house ..... FRUSTRATING....

Watching Thanh work hard all day long finally gives me an energy kick..

.. if he works that hard, I shouldn't feel so sluggish....

I cycle over to the construction site.... I could get my windows installed NEXT Friday?   We'll see..... as expected, they just poured sand over the construction debris, even though I had told them that I wanted to clean up first..... but even that's still the good part...... the bad part is that the Vietnamese neighbours closed the direct road to the two new houses..... maybe Lisa & Quang underestimated the need for diplomacy ???  Because if she's opening a new road to HER place, nothing will prevent M from opening a new road to HIS place right through our front yards......

2 G&Ts with Bobby and I feel better.... He has overcome exactly the same issues that I'm facing....

13:00

15:00

Let's hit Song Cau... I need some wine ...

The "Wine Store".... Pretty woman is there.... but so is her brother (?) who keeps talking non-stop in very good English ?..... but enough is enough and eventually I surprise him with the fact that I speak a bit of Vietnamese  .... 12 bottles come with me....

The "Popcorn Store":  Not only do they have popcorn and are now my #1 stop for coffee.... the two presumably brothers can't get enough of my Vietnamese (NO English here).... I'm just about to leave when one of them calls to a newly arrived customer "nguoi tay noi tieng Viet".... and I even understand it and repeat it with a BIG grin..... "the Westerner speaks Vietnamese"

It's HUGE... but unfortunately deceased....

another one of those Huepfers who kept staring at me....

Another G&T with Bobby....

... it's nice but unexpected... he's becoming one of those people for whom I would travel around the world to have a drink and a chat with .... ;-)

Two hours of drinking ruou nho (Grape alcohol but don't be mistaken, this stuff is yummy and VICIOUS) & fun chat with Tam & Tanh..... Tanh is so quick on picking up on my pidgin Vietnamese and he often translates it to Tam...  and even Tam is making fun of the colour of my house ......

21:30

2:00

WTF is that NOISE ?

An outside A/C cooling unit is loose and creates a really annoying resonance rattle.... I turn off my A/C but that is not the cause.... someone else's.... but I can feel MY walls vibrate when I put my hand against them..... AND I already have a crack in the ceiling concrete .....

no chance of sleeping more ....

5:30

Fucking Fan...... Brrrr Brrrr BRRRR Brrrrr Brrrr BRRRR Brrrr and the wall vibrates.....

7:30

BRRR brr BRRR brr BRRR brrr... if the thing at least kept a steady rhythm... but no, the song changes ....

I might as well hand-deliver yesterday's lottery ticket to Muoi

9:00

Maybe swimming will shake off whatever is hanging over my head and body....

11:00

Chau shows up..... and of course we empty a bottle again.... mot nguoi uong ruou chuyen nghiep....  and I'm getting very much used to Thanh's sly grins.... I will miss them if he ever moves on ;-(   And finally he believes me that the acting-up heat-exhausting unit is NOT connected to the A/C in my room.....

Toi la nha khoa hoc ;-)

11:45

14:00

To Song Cau with Quang & Lisa.... to the UGLIEST lighting store EVER ....  I am supposed to pick one of THESE HIDEOUS lighting fixtures... NO! NO! I'm NOT having any of these monstrosities in my house!  Please install bare light bulbs!

Next stop:  The bamboo store... 

....WHAT is that sign doing there?... and a touch of disharmony.... Lisa still has to grow up a little

I mention Bobby's suggestion on how to fix the ownership issues to Lisa.....and she translates it.... BAD MOVE....it's a HUGE BLOWUP at the building site...Quang hisses and foams at the mouth and threatens to throw everything down......Quang is like a little puppy that constantly needs its belly rubbed.....

All is smoothed over at 18:00 at Nha Quang after.... and I hand over my Mon Qua Cam On envelope.....4000 Euros... a small price to pay for him working his arse off for 4 or 5 months...but in his heyes his integrity and honour have been confirmed .... and we're good again.....

19:30

Here we go AGAIN..... Tam and Thanh and the Grape Liquor.... this is so much fun...and it's REAL .... 

..... Thanh lights a tooth pick and waves it at me in a questioning way.  Huh?  Then I clue in.....Tam told him about my habit of burning incense and remembering departed loved ones......  

OMG, I haven't done that since I returned.....I can't believe I forgot about that and let it slip ;-(

21:30

I haven't had a real meal all day and I slept lousy last night....

Enough!

5:00

OMG, that grape liquor is good.... I just slept 7 hours STRAIGHT without waking up a single time..... I can't remember the last time I managed that feat !

Yes, today is Vietnamese Independence Day. On this day in 1945, Ho Chi Minh read out the declaration of independence....

.... little did he know that it would take another 30 years to kick the French and then the Americans out....

7:00

What better day to 'hoist' the flag ?

NOT quite awake yet ;-)

8:00

a walk...

9:00

The Vietnamese have noticed the flag.......   the reaction was predictable..... as Tam agreed to yesterday... It is important to show respect to other people !

The bay is inundated in rain.... it's probably going to last two days.... but at least it's no Dorian....

and even with the rain......

I'm FINALLY dancing in my room again..... ;-)

The first bottle is finished by 11:00 so I head over to Bobby's for a lousy Pho Ga & some G&T.....

We're almost exactly exact opposites gay/straight, heavy-metal/New Order, etc etc, but underneath it all tick rational brains.... so we get along extremely well ... or maybe I'm just piss-drunk ...;-)

13:00

doc sach va ngu ?

14:30

An omen of bad things to come ....

 Then it's 2 hours of shoveling sand... (and drinking beer ;-)

17:15

It's going to be yet another drinking night.... 

Oh, those eyes.....

...and WHAT exactly am I drinking?   It's rotting bananas.... and these guys:

ca ngua

In Vietnam Thank You is the hands of death... Tam says it.... but WTF does THAT mean???...... I understand it an hour later.... I use the Cambodian Namaste..... and Vietnamese only put their hands together to wave incense to the departed..... should I adapt....???  Khong!  Toi la toi!

21:30

Time to go to sleep?  NOPE... I just put my head on my pillow when my phone beeps....OH NO.... that's my WORK e-mail..... a patent translation for a hair clipper ....

23:00