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

Over breakfast we met Monica and David who are Aussies working as international teachers in Singapore at the moment. Previously they worked in Jakarta for 10+ years. Vang bought her son Anh to meet us. Kevin had a nurse and was besotted. Anh has 6 teeth and munched on some watermelon. After breakfast we headed to An Bang beach - Soul Kitchen Restaurant where we had lovely lounges on couch grass. From here we would head down the beach across the hot sand to the ocean. The water was crystal clear and very shallow. You could walk out about 40 metres and the water was still only chest height. Came back to hotel for lunch - picked up a tomato and cucumber at the local market and some bread rolls from bakery. After lunch we lounged around and I uploaded the pictures for our blog. We then headed back into town to the optometrist where Kevin got some new sunglasses for $70. It was too expensive for me to get my multifocals with transitional lenses so I just bought 2 frames for $50. From here we parked the motor bikes by the river and changed some money at the local gold shop and then went to Market and said hi to Miss Forget Me Not and then to see shoe maker Thanh for Kevin's fitting. Not happy! He couldn't get his feet into the shoes and Thanh says she will fix ready for tomorrow. Kevin doesn't believe her. Kevin headed home and I worked out a price for a pair of leather work shoes with Thanh. I also went to Mai's shop where she sells scarfs, ties and so on. After a brief haggle and sweat pouring off me in the ehclosed area I bought some scarfs. I was so hot - 37 C and was about to collapse I walked away and she chased me and agreed with my price. Also spoke with Anne at the souvenir shop who we met last year. Mai, Anne and Vinh at Voung shoe shop all know Jenny McCormick from Mt Gambier as she comes to Hoi An each year for the past 12 years and I met up with Jenny the week before we left Adelaide. Back at hotel and Kevin went for a run along the river and pulled a groin muscle. Wanted me to rub it but told him NO!! Went for dinner to Dao Tien Restaurant which is on the river and is very flash looking. Kevin had beef, shallot & capsicum dish which he said, YES, was the best he had ever tasted. Surprise surprise the beef was only rare-medium and not sizzled. My Hoi An pork noodle dish was good. We spoke with a couple from New York who are here for 3 days after having worked in Thailand for 3 weeks with Western Digital, the big IT coy.