Tonight there is a wind, a hard and forceful thing that was constant and bending. At home the wind comes is gusts. This is different. Trees and signs are bent over straining to right themselves. It is non ending and non interrupted. I have never experienced anything like it before. I watch teenagers riding tandem, both peddling for all they are worth only to travel mere yards with the effort. The leaves from the trees and the dust and small rocks on the road become missiles that sting the face. I was driving against the wind with Mai behind me. As I rounded Hon Chong rock I could physically see the air had filled with a flow of sand and other unknown stuff. I told Mai to close her eyes until we reached the hotel. This is one case where wearing glasses is a good thing. The hotel is a mess. The constant wind had been blowing debris and dust all over everything. My computer is covered in a gritty dust. The floors in the kitchen also. I can hear the saw like twangs of the metal roof and laundry room flexing behind the force. I hope there is no damage. It is funny how fate plays it’s hand. Today was our cleaning staffs last day. Tomorrow, Khuyen, the gal I went to Saigon to lure away from another hotel will arrive. The poor girl will be introduced to a messy sandy hotel in need of a lot of cleaning. Oh well……
Wow!! This is just wicked. I just had a rain of debris shower my head. There is a large free air space that runs from the lobby right up to the fifth floor. During the day we get a nice ocean breeze that enters the lobby and travels up to vent on the fifth floor. In the evening is the opposite. The breeze quite often is reversed and it comes from the top of the building and exits through the lobby. All in all, a very pleasurable thing. Tonight that same flow has become howling moans and clanking stressed metal. The cool air still feels good though, and I have no fear that there will be trouble. These buildings seem to survive anything.
It is later at night and the wind has increased. I am standing in the lobby typing this and am watching the large French doors being sucked towards the outside, or perhaps it is the pressure from the inside, but it is a strange sight just the same. Perhaps this is the start of my first typhoon experience??? We will see tomorrow.
About things to do.
There is a resort built on an island very close to Nha Trang called the Vin Pearl. They have built a resort hotel and an adjoining theme park that is somewhat like a miniature Disneyland. At great expense, the built an amazing cable car across the ocean to get to the island. I am sure that it is probably rated as one of the biggest cable car projects n the world. Soooo… You can take the cable car or a boat to the attraction. There are rides, bumper cars that move way beyond the speeds that would be allowed in the west. Also underwater aquariums, displays, and other theme park like attractions. At around 6 pm the locals that can afford it head over to watch a fountain and laser light show. ( the Vietnamese seem to be bedazzled by light shows, something that until the last couple of years was unheard of here) I personally think for the twenty dollars it costs, it is worth seeing. The view from the tramway is superb. There are also lots of photo opportunities to be had on the island……. Now fade to grey….. I remember
In 1999 Mai and I rented a boat for the day. We headed off for this same island. There was nothing. A village did exists on the west end of the island, but nothing on the east. We were dropped off for the day and I decided to try a little adventure by hiking through the jungle. Mai was a little afraid of me going on my own but…. I made my way through a winding path that lead up a hill. It was jungle but the path was wide enough that I had no worries. I did try to venture off the wide path onto a narrow one but the grasses and bushes had thorns and razor sharp grasses that easily cut material and skin. That I was able to ignore, but not the spider I almost walked into. I looked big enough to suck me dry. I quickly resumed my walk to the larger trail and ended up on one of the most beautiful deserted beaches of my life. Small and secluded with no garbage, seaweed, or even footprints in the sand. Paradise…. Now, I can no longer walk there. The Vin Pearl resort sits in its place and unless you can show you are a guest, it is forbidden. So sad.
Cool!! I have tomorrows post tonight. No rush.
An update. I was just called by my neighbor that the front door to my house is open. It was midnight. I bravely dawned my leotards and cape and fought the winds driving at a whopping 60 km per hour, being blown like a leaf to the house. And what did the caped crusader find???? The cleaning lady forgot to latch a double door and the fierce winds had forced one open. I locked the door and drove scattered like a butterfly with the wind back to the hotel.
Ahhhhhhhhh….. the adventure continues
