Odds n' Ends

 Settling In

I took wonderful memories from La Silk Hotel, including my first morning sunrise,

but left my comfort zone behind. I had met Cherry at the condo on Saturday (it's not, more accurately a ground level duplex apartment, but that's too much typing) to  preview it. Sister Joanne would know the correct term. 😉 After getting the key at the condo on Sunday I realized that I had no food, no transportation, no towel or shower supplies, no local geography knowledge - and no toilet paper! I was a stranger in a strange land. On Sunday, while still at the hotel, I had walked 21 km, and cycled 6 chasing down no longer existing Viettel stores on Google maps to buy a SIM card. So I was a little sore and rather hungry. 

 I had seen some buildings on the other side of the Moon River and figured that was a starting point. I walked over the river bridge and found a "Google-designated" Mini Mart, which in reality are small stalls with mostly beer and rice and cigarettes - no TP. I wandered further and found a butcher shop that made baguettes and purchased one to take home. The butcher told me there were no markets in the area. 😧 I found a Mini Mart that sold serviettes but no TP, and bought some. I asked if they sold coffee - the instant kind as I have no perk of any kind. The owner thought I meant fresh to go, went into his living quarters behind the store, poured some from his personal coffee maker and didn't charge me. another example of the Buddhist vibe here. 'Twas a delicious pepper steak baguette. 

I realized there was a hand held bidet beside the toilet which is common here. Ergo, TP is not stocked much. Wasn't sure how I would manage it tho' as I hadn't used them last trip. Luckily, I had no need at the time. One of my two ac units was not functional, so a repair man was sent for. He needed a part and said he'd be back on Mon morning. He returned at 4:30 pm on Mon. I waited all day with no food or TP. He fixed the unit in 20 minutes. I walked again to the butcher's for another baguette, and some Toulouse sausage to make a pho (soup) dish and also bought a passionfruit ginger IPA that was very good. 

 Yesterday I hailed a Grab (Asia's Uber), found a "real" Viettel store, bought a SIM, found a "real" market with real TP, rented a bicycle.

I had a great lunch before returning home:

The owner advised me to add garlic, pepper and chilli to the pork meatball soup, then gradually add the seafood spring roll sections, noodles and the greens as I ate. Delicious! And was advised to wait until finished the meal to have the egg coffee, served in a small bowl of hot water. A real treat. 

Finally feeling settled, I was ready to do things I wanted to do, now that the "have to dos" were accomplished. So I cycled the 20 minutes to Cua Dai Beach. This part of the Pacific Ocean is called the South China Sea (unless you-know-who wants a slice of the pie). The beach is a Lake Huron vibe, rather than an Ocracoke setting. The sand berm in the second picture is man-maintained. The Cua Dai village is much like Wasaga or Sauble, Viet style. A local told me that the sea is cold and angry until the end of March and to be very careful if I go into the water. Often the boats to the popular Cham Islands are cancelled at this time of year. Like the misty lady of my youth, the mists of the islands call out to me kind of like the Bali Ha'i of the musical South Pacific. 

"Any night, any day

In your heart you'll hear it call you

Come away, come away

Bali Ha'i will whisper on the wind of the sea

Here am I, your special island

Come to me, come to me."

This morning I'll cycle through the rice paddies and shrimp pond farms, and hope not to get lost. If you don't hear from me again, carve on my tombstone "Here lies Jamie. he ventured out through the rice paddies and unfortunately Snap, Crackle, POP! Now he's a Krispie Critter. 

Ted - A real trivia question - where did those three terms originate?

PS: You might be able to comment now - I hope.