Day 9

Today Maxi met us at the house and then all 5 of us went for breakfast in a coffee shop near our place. It was a very cosy place: lots of green and a wonderful pond with a little fountain. Of course that the prawn noodles couldn’t be missed and our cà phê sữa đá neither.

The waiters at this place are very nice to the kids and give them things so they can play and be entertained. We watch a TV show on discovery channel (if I’m not mistaken) where a couple guys have to complete some challenges. These guys are SEALS, Army and so on and the challenges are like “the last man standing”. What our body can endure only by watching this show amazes me…

We head home so Thach Tao and Phuc can rest a little bit and we go visit a Chinese temple near Xuan’s mum’s house.

Chinese temples are different than the Vietnamese ones and one thing that enters up your nose is the incense smell. In this temple, people offer little fishes and little turtles to the temple as sign as good faith so theres a pond with thousands of little fishes and bigger ones that, I guess, have been there for long time and another place with lots of turtles.

Inside lots of people pray and the faces of the Buddahs are aggressive while Vietnamese Buddahs seem more peaceful and hopeful.

It’s a beautiful temple but I think it transmits the wrong kind of state of mind. I prefer a peaceful, zen place where I can connect and feel I’m a whole.

After the temple Carlos wants to go visit the war museum but when we arrive there is lunchtime and it’s closed. We head for lunch in a little Vietnamese restaurant and don’t think that hen I say Vietnamese is just to sound posh, no! In fact, this restaurant has the real food of Mekong Delta and shrimps, coconut water and all other things I don’t the name come to the table and it’s really good.

We head to thewar museum and as Carlos enters with the motorbike there’s an exchange of words with the security and I don’t understand what happens. Carlos turns back and tells us that’s better if we go for a massage.

Today I got a new lady and she was even better than the one before. This one didn’t walk over me but made me feel so relax that I almost fell asleep. Dry steam bath is not as god as the hot steam one so I think we won’t repeat this one.

It’s time for dinner and we’re all very excited as we’re going to a friend’s place for a karaoke night. I’ve told you already that karaoke is like national sport in here. There’s no one who doesn’t have a karaoke system at home and peeps, I’m not talking about karaoke games for playstation or Wii, I’m really talking about professional karaoke system!

Just have a look… ;)

And that’s all folks! Good night don’t let the bed bugs bite!

PS - i'm really turning vietnamese... =)