Trip to Tam Ky

Monday, September 19, 2016
Hoi An, Vietnam
The last few days are a bit of a blur of eating sleeping drinking eating but today I actually did something. When I came here I brought with me some presents forTram and her brother and sister. My book Mud Blood and Gold for Tram and some money for her birthdaay which is tomorrow, a hobby electronics kit for Chieu the brother who is about eight and (don't wince) a Barbie doll for Y who is about six. I took them to Tam Ky today and they were a great success even though the instructions in the hobby kit were in English, Chieu has already built a solar powered car.
Nick and I both went down and after calling at Trams house where preperations are underway to build a bathroom and a flushing toilet and after presenting the siblings with their presents we went to see the huge Mother statue which you will see in the pics even though I've put them in a blog before . It's a bit like in the Citadel in Hue, every inch of a huge space is paved in stone and it was unbearably hot we trudged up the multitude of steps to see Mother. For those who don't know she was modelled on a real person who lost eight sons and a husband in the American War and is dedicated to all mothers who lost children and she is well known and venerated by the Vietnamese.
After we tootled down to the beach and took the beach road for a few kms till we reached mural village where some Korean art students painted murals on the houses and changed the colour schemes on a few. It looks effective in some ways but it would be good if they came back and did some more.
We came back via the beach road which is a lot more interesting than the straight bitumen ribbon through the wasteland and innumerable cemeteries. We arrived back at Le house burnt and tired but I was unable to sleep until I had six glasses of water even though we kept drinking (water) often on the trip. 
Tonight we went to a BBQ cafe the other side of town and I had to battle through the hordes of tourists with my one bung eye, luckily I didnt knock anyone down . This was a small chair place and they bring out a barbie to your table and you cook your own food. Needless to say it was delicious, pork, beef, vegetables washed down with Larue. After the incident with Nick I am careful what I drink especially having to navigate back through town.
Hai and Nick went to the same place last night but I missed out as I wanted to eat some western food and I went to White Lotus and had the ugliest most horrendous steak I've ever had. It had a huge slug like piece of fat attached to it which I had to surgically remove and put on the side of the plate. I swear it was quivering and giving little twitches every now and again. So tonight was to maake up for the meal I missed. The steak cost me 500,000 about $25, and the BBQ tonight for three people was 310,000 with ten cans of Larue. This trip I have really got into the cheaper food which if you look hard enough is up every laneway and in amazing varieties.
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