I arrived in NhaTrang at 7:00 am., waking up 20 minutes before arriving in NhaTrang. It was a nice break from the confusion and rush of getting the hotel in order. I met with the manager of a large hotel to pass on some vitamins that Ken had brought from the Us. His name is Tan, a nice fellow. I was treated to a nice buffet breakfast before heading to the hotel to pick up li’l Sissy. Back to the confusion!!

I arrive to find my cleaning lady scraping the new paint off the stairs in order to get rid of paint splatters. She has scraped it down to the old paint. I then am doing room checks to see that everything is in order when I discover to my horror that all of the wiring and controls for my new neon sign are located on the floor in the middle of the 1^st floor balcony. One child or rainstorm will destroy all of my efforts… Then my night receptionist comes to work after too many beers, and when I go to work on my computer, I discover that the browsing history is full of pornography sites, a great thing for a government inspector to see…… My handyman storms out in a rage about something, and more unseen expenses have surprised me….and later in the evening, an official of some sort cruised up on his bike to ask why we had no flag displayed yet…. Egad!!!! Will it ever stop??

 The boat driver turned out to be quite the adept and concentrated on the heavy waves. Somehow he was able to read the timing and the severity, riding some almost surf board like, and others crashing into head on. I was not able to get any photo’s as I was too busy trying to unclench my but from the bamboo seats. The water calmed and we merrily chugged our way. There is a tourist facility called Unicorn Island that I have been to before. It is a delightful place visited by many tourists, but another less touristy venue was on Hau’s mind. The boat veered its way down a narrow rivulet or channel for a ways and docked at a little used concrete stair. We climbed and proceeded to a coconut candy factory located close by. Here we learned

Making coconut candy

of how a coconut was processed from its raw state into a delicious treat. Nothing is wasted. The husks are used for fire and for all sorts of goods. And of course the pulp is turned into candies and other tasty items. It is a small world…. At this not to visited site, I ran into another tour operator who I just

Our transportation

happened to meet a day earlier in my hotel…. Huh….We then walked a short distance through the jungle and came to a road where a man with a cart and pony were waiting for us. Up into the cart we went for a long ride up island. I felt sorry for the poor pony having to haul my fat carcass in the hot sun. I truly

Banana tree

 hope those animals are well cared for….. they look pretty exhausted to me. Anyway….. As we trotted along, I beheld one of the most unusual sights of my life. There were two young men with fishing poles at a small ditch. The poles were a long bamboo with a line tied to the end. At the other end being

Homestay

used for bait was a duck!! I am not kidding. I guess that the duckling swims around and threatens  The baby mud fish. In it’s baybies defense, the adult mudfish will nip at the ducks feet in order to scare it off. The duck will have a hook dangling undernieth to snare the fish. How ingenious!! And cute too.

Home made wiskey

  We were dropped off at a location in the middle of nowhere and proceeded to journey through beautiful narrow paths in the jungle. After walking for a while, Hau thought we might be getting lost so he asked a local for directions. No problem! We were on the right track. On our trek, a large insect of

Duck bait at the end of the line

some sort was buzzing around the back of Hau’s head. I thought it was a bee, but when it landed, I was slack jawed to see the mesmerizing beauty of one of the most colorful beetles I have seen in my life. I did not know beetles could be pretty to look at. At last at our destination, we encountered a

Catch of the day?

 monkey bridge. We crossed and arrived at our destination. The resort is called the An Khanh Vuon Dau….They offer a homestay which is a very interesting way to enjoy Vietnam If you are interested in a jungle stay, you can email Mr Vo Thanh Dung at ankhanvuondau@yahoo.com . There was to be three of us for lunch but Ken was not attending, therefore, Hau invited a local to dine with us. He was a very thin man that seemed to have no interest in food, so we called the driver to make his way to us and have lunch and a drink. It took him a while and many phone calls from being lost but he finally made it. I feel saddened that Ken is not here with us. It is a beautiful spot and the company is good. It got to be around 2 pm and it was time to head back as I had a night bus to catch to come back to NhaTrang. Traffic was light at that time of day and we headed back via the old highway. ( For those of you that were with me last year) I asked if we could drive by some cafes that I thought might lead to some interesting photo opportunities. They feature road side hammocks where a person can nap in the afternoon. For us it was about coffee time, but for many others it was sleep time. Even though there were many shops, we elected to find one that had people awake. We did eventually find a place and we were dropped by the driver. Hau and I walked a hundred yards or so to a place that had a couple of pretty waitresses swinging in a hammock out front.

Well….. there is that word count thing again…..

Meet my friends Beverly and Richard. Beverly is a fun lady I met last year while traveling, and as luck would have it, we have met again. She is from Vancouver, retired, and loves spending time in NhaTrang. Who can blame her. The man next to her is Richard from Washington State. He is a man as fast as me with the one line comebacks… maybe even faster…. But nhyaaa.. that can not be possible!! The photo’s were taken at the Ha Van Hotel where they were celebrating their Employees, a great bunch of people. A funny thing happened yesterday, I was sitting in the lobby working on the computer and Mai was in the kitchen working when a well dressed man on a motorcycle pulled up, he reluctantly parked his bike in the parking area. To

Brad in his new high fashion duds

 Mai’s surprise, a woman came roaring into the kitchen on her motorbike through the kitchen door. It seems they were a cheating couple trying not to be seen going into the same hotel. We politely informed them that we no longer rented by the hour, and they left. This got me to thinking. Maybe I should still offer a room, but at the overnight prices. Why turn away somebody with money. As long as the room is registered to one person, there should be no trouble with police, and they will be gone by the night. Hmmmmmm Besides, there are probably a lot of legitimate lovers that have no

New external paint job

place to go because of multiple families living in the same household. Maybe I should rethink my policy of no short timers…… We will see. I was out taking a couple of shots from in front of the hotel to put on the website I am developing. I think I hit the time perfectly. The shots looked very good and here they are to share with you. Things are coming along nicely. There is confusion, language barriers, and good old Vietnamese impossible thoughts, but I am slowly breaking through those barriers. How about a little bit on water sports? Back in the days, there was no such thing.

Beach in front of hotel 1

 Swimming was the only thing you used the ocean for. Nowadays there is almost any kind of activity that one can imagine. If swimming is your thing, the best location is on the beach where we are located. It is somewhat more sheltered so the waves are gentler and the water is cleaner. The

Beach in front of hotel2

southern beach is still good for swimming, however, there is a lot of activity. A person can rent Sea craft, go parasailing, windsurfing, and of course scuba diving. I have not gone diving yet, but have been offered to go for free in exchange for computer repair services. I may take them up on it one day. There are supposed to be a few decent choral reefs here but sadly many of

Beach in front of hotel3

 them were destroyed after the 1070’s.You see, the Vietnamese being ever the quick learners found that fishing was much more efficient using concussion grenades instead of nets. The fishery was destroyed as was a lot of choral reefs. To this day the fish do not get a chance to grow and fishing although

Beach in front of hotel4

available, is limited to tiny 4 inch fish. The water here rivals any other place on the globe. It is warm, multicolored, and gentle. However, sometimes the main beach may wash up a thing or two a person could do without seeing. The main river that flows through the countryside is also the main disposal place for many towns upstream. Unfortunately sometimes refuse washes up on the main beach area. To their credit, the Vietnamese have cleaning crews out cleaning the beach area and the government is trying to clean up the upstream problems. Our beach used to have a similar issue, but the polluters upstream were shut down and now the water quality is good. The majority of what washes up on the northern beach is simple, harmless, seaweed. Lastly, I stopped at a pub I frequent to use the wifi and do some computer work. He and only one waitress working and he was swamped with customers. I have no idea how hit books will fare, as he was drunk as a skunk and had no clue how much my tab was. I was honest and paid the correct amount hoping that my customers would do the same.