It's cold and raining here and the warm clothes are out. However, before arriving in the central highland town of Dalat, I passed through a small beach town called Mui Ne, so some photos are from there.

The Vietnamese language is proving to be quite difficult . For example, depending what tone you use, the word ma can mean ghost, tomb, mother, but/which, horse, or rice seedling.  How all that's possible I'll never know. My problems are much more basic. While on a tour of the country side, I said a friendly "xin chao" (hello) to the waitress when I entered the restaurant for lunch with my local guide, Hai.  He was quick to inform me, however, that I said it completely wrong.  "You just begged for noodle", he said.   How can anyone learn this language?  The amusing thing is that I think I've been begging for noodles all over southern Vietnam for quite some time now.

After a quick look around the countryside, which included a tour of a coffee plantation, a silk factory, a pagoda, and an embroidery workshop, I've determined there is absolutely nothing else to do here. It's cold and wet and I'm going back to the beach!