Water, water, everywhere
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.
Last night we spent New Years Eve at a hotel called the 
to anybody who wishes a good, clean, and affordable place in NhaTrang. It is in the heart of the tourist area and within walking distance of anything you would wish to do. I will take ideas and examples from them to help model my hotel. I have stayed there myself. Yesterday, I entered a light fixture store looking for a motion detector. The shopkeeper and his family were sitting on the floor eating lunch. As I entered, A mother was 
jokingly telling her daughter what to say to me in English. They had no idea I could understand them. The girl asked me “what do you want to buy” . I said nothing but continued to look at the light fixtures on display. The mother made some comment I did not quite catch, and the Father said maybe I was shopping for girls. I looked again at the family sitting and eating. There were 4 girls, one boy, and a mother and father. To 
their utter amazement, I replied in Vietnamese that I was not shopping for a girl but I was wanted to buy a light I did not know how to say in Viet. After explaining to him I was married and even though his wife’s sister was very beautiful, but I only wanted one wife, I was told they did not sell what I was looking for. They even gave me the Vietnamese name, but I forgot already. Anyway….. on with the past The staff at the hotel have done nothing! The receptionist just sits on her laptop all day chatting with
people on Yahoo messenger. The cleaning lady? Well, I guess she changes the sheets, and maybe some very basic cleanup. There are tire tracks in the lobby…. CLEAN THEM! The storage rooms are chaos, The bathrooms are all rusted and stained, the paint was just slopped on everywhere so it looked like birds had pooped on everything. The paint on the staircase is worn out. All of the faucets, mirrors, and grouting in the bathrooms are 
damaged, rusted, or moldy. The pillow cases and sheets have holes. Climbing up to the fifth floor is a hazard. Electrical cords are everywhere, being used to dry wet laundry. I have seen enough…. I talk with Mrs. Owee and we agree that unless there are some compromises made, we just could not take over the place. I sat in the lobby one day to do my blog and watched the goings on. Sure enough, a few good looking gals left by themselves maybe only to return another day. Motorcycles would drive into the lobby
and bang into the new paint leaving a new rub mark on the wall. We arranged a meeting with the building owner and said point blank what our concerns were and that she would have to spend money to fix the building. We would look after the painting and decorating, but there was no way we would pay for all the mirrors, faucets, or repair of moldy bathrooms. We re-inspected the rooms and saw the beds were OK. The 
furniture was dated, but easily repaired. All of the bathroom doors have to be replaced, but that is not our responsibility. We will have replaced, but she will be billed. After this second inspection I came to the realization of how cheap labor is here and revised my opinion of how bad the place was. With enough cheap labor, I can repaint, recaulk, retile, and patch up everything at a reasonable cost. Replacing furniture though, may cost a few bucks, but at least we will retain ownership of those items. The deal is back on. We have discovered another problem with the building that must be
addressed, a damaged sewer line that causes a bit of a stink. If this one final obstacle is overcome, renovations will start on Jan 3rd. We will let the current people continue to operate it as a short term hotel, but will not allow any of the renovated rooms be used for that purpose. Once the hotel is finished, it is our hope that it will be acceptable to a westerner’s eye. I will not rent a room that I would not want to stay myself. I will also end the short term business. I do not need to be hassled and shook down by the police to look the other way. If any of my customers are interested in that kind of action, I will give them the heads up and advice, but there will be limits as to what will be allowed in my place. No by the hour rooms….No more parking in the lobby. The premises will be clean, no cockroaches. (lizards allowed) This was the past and the plan. I will follow up with two other blogs as time goes on. One about the Hotel itself, where it is, and what it is and what it is near, the other will be The present. A snapshot of the finished and running Hotel. I may add a thing or two along the way.