Settling in days

Sunday, September 11, 2016
Hoi An, Vietnam
What have I done and seen the past two days. The Govment has tried to get the disabled working and consequently instead of two guys pestering me to buy the Vietnam News the paper in English, I now have six of them. Same same at the beach, more vendors. One girl told me she was sick of fighting other girls for customers and was going to open a shop near the beach. 
I drove right down the beach road to check on the ghost hotels which have been sitting empty and unloved for years and surprisingly the most dilapidated concrete shell on the strip is being worked on and might see customers in due course .
The point where the Thubon River flows into the sea is being developed as well with one spanking new cafe open for biz and new wharves are being built for the eco tour boats. Building happening everywhere, too much building and not enough tourists from what I can see. The roads are unusually quiet, surprising for VN. 
On the way into town I passed a funeral celebration on Thursday,a marquee set up by the roadside and everyone dressed in white as they do here, now it's Sunday and it's still going full bore. Incense, drums and lots of drinking and eating. I hope they do that when I go.
Nick and I went for a ride today to Cam Kim island. We went over by a wide bridge and got disoriented and drove back soon after on a narrow bridge. I told Nick we were back on the mainland but he wouldn't believe me so we rode and rode to find the end of the nonexistent island and ended up on Highway One which connects Saigon and Hanoi. Man oh man do the trucks own that road! I would never drive on it at night, daylight was bad enough. The papers here are always full of some horrific accidents.
I just got home from the best meal I've had over here ata new place by the river called Con Gai. Big steamed clams, a dish called bacon pork, and grilled squid each of them to die for. They have two menus one labelled "Tay" or westerner and one blank but because we were with Hai we got Viet prices, not that there was much difference. Total with 8 cans of beer was 320,000 or about $16. 
On the way home I passed the funeral and it was going strong, they last five days, enough time for the soul to find rest.
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