Jazz, May

Frank is wrapping up his stay for now and heading home on Monday, 22nd.  Last weekend I went to high tea downtown.  Quite a fancy place - very Victorian.  From a return trip to the tailors we stopped at a Kashmir rug store.  The all silk rug I bought is such a treat to put bare feet on.

Just what I need - another carpet.  But it is a small one:)

There are so many place we still have not visited but we did make it to a jazz club we heard about.  It was perfect to end a Friday night out.

After getting home around 1am, Frank got up at 4am to go with some of the ladies from work to check out the flower market - a warehouse where all the shops come to get their produce for the day.  I declined to tag along.  They then went to a 'bird park'.  An open air park where people bring their caged birds and sit with their coffees and visit.  It is like bringing your dog to the dog park.  People come and look at your bird(s) and ask about them. By 6:30 am the park is full of folks having their coffee and visiting - with their pet birds. I wonder if this will catch on at home?

Deserted Resort

For the last weekend of Hayley's visit we decided to explore a remote resort 40km north of VungTau. We took the speed boat to Vung Tau and then ordered a cab for the next part of the drive.  There was confusion about how to get there and Frank and the cabbie got into a bit of an argument.  It was when Frank slapped the dash board and demanded he stop in order to clarify our situation that we knew it would be an interesting ride.  On line this resort reported that it was busy and we had few choices of accommodation left.  When we arrived we were upgraded to a villa on the ocean - but the entire place was deserted.

View from our villa balcony

 
It was clean but the bathroom could have used an upgrade.  It felt very eery because there was NOBODY around except a few staff who just sat and watched TV in the lounge.  The pool was lovely and again all to ourselves.

AT the restaurant we were quickly told there was almost no selection to choose from (probably because there were no guests)  But what they did have was good and so we had it for dinner as well as there was nothing else close by.  The next day the rains started again and so we left early and had a lovely lunch at our favourite French Bistro in Vung Tau before our ferry was due.

We did get a few swims in before leaving and the water was almost too warm.  The last few days the rains have started and there have been a couple of thunderous storms followed by super rainbows.

It was a strange weekend.  How a place that accommodates well over 100 guests can be deserted on a weekend and with virtually no staff in sight can be a little weird. Oh well, they still only charged me for the discount rooms I booked because the website claimed all else were booked????

SUPing

I had a long weekend and with Hayley and Lila here, we headed off to Mui Ne.  For 3 days we had nothing but sunshine and ocean breezes. We did not plan much other than swimming in the sea and pool  and lounging.

A long 4 hour drive but Lila slept  most of the way :)

The sea water was so warm.

Early morning stroll along the beach.

Sampling the local beer.  A grandpa's duty.

The fishing boats.  They are round in order to avoid being swamped by the waves.

Just before he fell.  It looks calm but the water was choppy and some waves were 1/2 m high.

I paddled most of the time on knees but I did make it up a few times and I also did a dive in the sea.  Lots of fun and a good workout trying to stay balanced on the moving water.