Vietnam 2012 Look once, look twice, look three times, pray and cross the street.

Had a bad night with gastro. Woke up in morning and still not well. Sent Kevin off to breakfast and he ate his fill. Here at Thien An Hotel breakfast is included and you sit around a long communal table and eat to your hearts content. Kevin ate a variety of fruit, bread, boiled eggs and coffee. I then sent him out to explore on his own before lunch. He trekked around town, up hills down hills, over to the lake and got lost a number of times. Finally came home with bread rolls for lunch. After lunch it was raining and so we waited until it eased up and got on our hired motor bike to explore a bit more. Just after we left the hotel it started raining again so we stopped to put on our poncho's. We proceeded to get very lost and ended up many miles from where we really wanted to go. The lake. Finally stopped when we came to the hospital as I realized we were right on the outskirts of town. Finally found our way back and stopped at supermarket for a few supplies. Later in avo we went for a walk and stopped in at local open cafe for coffee and tea. Kevin's coffee was in a shot glass and very strong. They kept bringing me tea and I ended up with 3 cups. For tea we headed to a local Vietnamese Cafe Phong Thuy which had a tiled floor and laminated tables with a cloth. Locals used the floor for rubbish, ash tray and anything else. Every table had an empty beer crate beside it for patrons to put the empties in and to replenish with fresh ones. Kevin had beef skewers which came out very raw and he had difficulty in explaining he wanted them well done. He then had beef in lot leaf and as I still wasn't feeling great stuck to vegie and tofu soup which was yummy. I also ended up ordering sautéed vegies as I didnt know what she was saying. Food and drinks for 175,000 dong or $7.50.