Today I decided to do nothing. I've been back and forth here and there since last Sunday and I needed a rest partly due also to a bad nights sleep, the first I've had here. I woke up in the middle of the night and had the horrible feeling that I'd lost my plane ticket. I got up about 3 am and searched through everything and of course found it, a little waterstained and crumpled but there it was. Also on my mind was the way I've been spending money like there's no tomorrow and I had almost decided to give away the Hanoi part of the trip. This morning I sat down and worked out how much I had left and checked with the bank and found I have plenty enough to go on.

Here I am worrying about my next taxi to the dentist and these poor souls here are begging to give you a shoe shine for $1 . We get it so easy in Oz with our welfare system. You would think a Communist government would provide free healthcare wouldn't you, but no they don't. If they put a tax on cigarettes that sell for a dollar a packet they could pay for a lot of healthcare.

The people here are remarkable, such hard workers and they have this great social cohesion that I don't quite understand but they all have this huge drive to succeed and prosper and they help each other achieve the same, from what I can tell, from someone who has been here for 2 minutes. For example--the cigarette guys and girls, they come inside the cafe or bar with their attache case which they open on the table and which displays all the cigs they sell. After the cigs its the weed,the marihuana, the smoke, can you imagine this happening in Australia? the bar owners know of course but they accept that these people have to earn a living to survive.
One of the things we saw last time I saw again a few days ago--the addicted woman with the baby. She walks around looking completely wasted and gaunt with a baby and goes up to people and begs. This particular baby was wrapped in what looked like a christening robe and was well fed but the woman could hardly hold it. I thought she was going to drop it on its head at one stage. Maybe she borrowed it, who knows? The front lady at the restaurant had a look of utmost pity on her face but didn't say a word. They are an accepting people.

When I came back from my Bahm Mi hunt Thanh told me the boss and his family were inviting me to dinner "seeing I've stayed so long", nice touch. I'm looking forward to it. 
Very ordinary lot of images from me today-not inspired-especially after a dispiriting coffee at Burger King-highly un-reccomended. Pardon me, but they don't give you sugar! I went back in looking for some and they showed me a bottle of liquid sugar they had poured into a small container on my tray. I've had bad coffees but this was the absolute worst. 

 Learned a new word today, Co the, pronounced Co Tay means Maybe.Should come in handy.