7 a.m. breakfast, bloody hell.

26/4 - Trung was waiting for me at the cafe and enthusiastic to brush up his English. He invited his tennis mate, Phuc, said almost as you thought. We sat about 3 hours trying to chat. I was knackered at the end of it and needed to relax, so I hired a bike and peddled out of town, looking for a temple, which as normal, I missed, but as normal, for the best. I ended up on an up and down paving stone track along the side of the river, not the Mekong, a small tributary. It was part residential and part industrial. Rice mills, coffin maker, carpenters, a good mixture of professions. I did a dodgy U turn when the track narrowed, got closer to the river and became dirt. I thought it for the best. As normal, I found the temple on the way back, but it was shut for dinner or prayers, probably the latter, so I carried on and hit the school rush hour. Not like the UK one, said the grumpy old man, much healthier. Hundreds of kids on bike with lovely, silky, white uniforms. I survived all the hellos and smiles, did a few laps of somewhere I'll never find again, had a baguette with heaven knows what on and went for a siesta. I'm getting the hang of this siesta lark. Trung was going to pick me up on his motorbike at 17:00, but rang to change it to 16:00, which curtailed the siesta. It has been overcast all day, which was nice and now it has started spitting, but undetered we set of for a ferry across the Mekong to An Binh island. I was going to go over on the bike, but Trung offered his services and I didn't like to say no, even though I was a bit unsure about the language struggle. Off the ferry onto a short piece of road, then onto more of a pavement than a road, like this morning and we ended up at a mini zoo, park, resort kind of place, Vinh Sang. I had no idea this was the plan, but it was OK. Some peacocks and peahens, horses, crocodiles, that you can fish for, but really it means feed. Some ostriches that you can ride, a couple of bears and a few monkies crammed into cages. The grumpy old man would say "They wouldn't allow this back home", but this isn't back home. When we were passing the restaurant to the crocodiles, a young lass, Diep, came running out shouting hello and waving like crazy. She is a smashing lass and very excited to see such a good looking young man, but I never saw him pass. She works in the restaurant, but wandered around with us. She is very bubbly and it is infectious. Her face lights up when she smiles. She looks about 19, but is 22.
The rain kicked in heavy now, so we hovered around outside the restaurant and were eventually persuaded inside. Trung ordered some food, very nice squid and beef and I ordered a beer. The food is good and I was not surprised to find the karaoke in full swing. There was a lot of traditional singing, which I was not sure about to begin with, but it grew on me, especially when a lovely lass, Dung, pronounced Yum, got singing, she has a lovely mellow voice. Some classical music was played too and that was good. I'm not sure I would buy the traditional music. Perhaps if I understood Vietnamese as the songs tell stories. The guitar used is very highly strung, that can be a bit wearing. Anyway, after the music the guitarist came to join us, Lin. He is an old college buddy of Trung. Diep came over too, as she was done waiting on, she really is lovely and with Trung and Lin interpretting, she asked me to be her Dad. I tried to explain through Trung that it would not be easy, me being in England and her in Vietnam, but couldn't get the message across, so agreed. I now have an adopted daughter. She was chuffed to bits. It was very touching. I was embarrassingly chuffed. Lin was continually trying to get me to cough up dosh or presents for Diep and Dung, but Trung spotted it and put a stop to it, or seemed to. Lin was also trying to marry me off to Dung. If I was only 20 years younger. She seemed a little interested too, or perhaps that was just wishful thinking on my part. Lin then tried to match her up with our Gil, but I explained Rebecca would not be happy. Dung seems keen to leave Vietnam. I think she is still upset after her divorce. This trip is turning me into an agony aunt. Dung is a very beautiful, young lady, especially dressed in the traditional clothing. It is easy to see how blokes come to S.E. Asia and go home with a wife. I was a bit worried when Dung and Diep said I was handsome, but then I remembered they guessed Trung's age at 38 and he is 50. I think politeness is a local characteristic. Don't worry siblings, I'm not love struck....................... Yet.
On the return ferry, I was cornered into going to the resort, by Lin and Trung. I held out for only one night though. Tonight was a brilliant night, even with the electric off for about 3 hours, so it didn't seem like too bad an idea. It was like being with a few friends for a chat and I got the 3rd degree in a nice way. The rain started as we were leaving, so Dung issued us with complimentary capes, which were just the job.
When we left the guesthouse, earlier this evening, the receptionist told me the doors close at 23:00 and she was good to her word. We arrived at 23:10 and they were shut, but we managed to rouse the lad asleep behind them. Lucky break.