sunday february 21

we met up with 7 others for dinner last night on the river. 3 canadians and 6 poms, as the aussies call them, brits to us. this is the group that is renting the van for the trip to na trang tomorrow. we will try to make a stop at mai li on the way there. there is a museum and a memorial there. it will be sad but hopefully worth the visit.
today we rented bikes and rode around the coast. the beaches are beautiful. white sand and surf as far as the eye can see. there is only one tiny section with resorts although i suppose that to will change with time.
all the vietnamese ride motorcyles. there are thousands of them on the road and nobody follows any of the rules. lots of people here where masks, i am guessing as the birthplace of avian flu perhaps that is what they are trying to prevent. what you see all time, however is a family of 4 on a motorbike. both parents often have helmets, but the children never do. they are often standing or riding side-saddle in their flip-flops, no helmets, but masks on. seems crazy, but it is the norm. i read in the paper yesterday that there have already been 400 fatalities on the first six days of the new year. crazy.
we are off to grab some dinner. we just can't decide where, we both feel like good old home food tonught, but i guess that is out of the question. we had lunch at a great little restaurant that trains street kids for the hospitality industry. it is an 18 month apprenticeship and they get hired for all the best spots. it was by far the cleanest place we have eaten in yet, and the food was wonderful.
off at the crack of dawn tomorrow. i expect that we won't get to na trang until about 8 tomorrow. in the meantime, hope everyone had a great week-end.