Us, it's us that's lazing. Not Mûi Ne-ans ... They work hard. There's a million fishing boats, heaps of kite surfing schools and some flash resorts along the coastal stretch. It's kinda like Vegas, but Asian, and coastal, and relaxed. Ok, that's probably tricky to imagine! Maybe photos will help!
Our favourite hangout has easily been Joe's Cafe, who make amazing pizza and other fine food, and serve it poolside. While we've been lying by the pool, our new waiter mate Tam (Tom) is a 17 year old local and been chatting with us about his dream to be a tour guide. He's a charismatic chap with a bright grin. We've been here the last three days, soaking up the warm sun, cooling off in the pool, and trying a few local drinks. It feels perfect. Yesterday the wind even turned the page of my book right on time!
Thanks Fleur, Alf, Noah and Matthias for the read by the pool, I learnt that 2 billion of the world's population regularly eat bugs as a source of protein. National Geographic said so!
As the afternoon breeze picks up, the colourful kite surfers have come out like a flock of dragonflies, darting and skimming the surface of the water. There's some seriously gnarly jumps going on too.
This is the holiday we dreamt about!
Last night we meandered to the local night market crammed with street food. Each stand makes one or two dishes, that's it. Swarming with locals, all at shoulder height to us or less, we played our treasure hunt game as usual ... Hunting for delicious looking food unlaced with meat, fish, octopus, crab, shrimp, or anything else that used to have a face. Finding delicious looking food is a piece of cake! But the meatless variety, not so easy! We are, after all, at a seaside fishing village.
Somehow Blandy let a friendly local take her by the arm and before we knew it we were sitting down on their plastic stools, trying our best sign language to say we are vegetarian. An older lady busied herself rustling something up behind her stand. Bry had managed to squeeze a 'no thank you' in, but Blandy was a bit too slow. Literally two minutes later, a very beautiful plate of ... something ... arrived, and was set down to be enjoyed. Bry cheekily said 'oh well Blandy, you're on ya own with this one!' and sat back to watch the show. Oh man. The chef whipped up a plate of her own and sat with us, and all energetically devoured her kai saying 'yum yum' and pointing to mine. Now, neither of us ever want to be rude, especially when it's someone else's dignity on the line. But here was the conundrum! Bry pointed to a little sign saying rice dumplings with meat. In the end Blandy grinned and ate everything else on the plate, leaving the rice dumplings. We paid promptly ($1.25) and said thanks... The garnish had been real yum!
Another place offered noodles and veggies, perfect. For another $1.25 we had a fine feast in our crowded little open air dining room. Later we found waffles and local fruit too! Happy times all round!
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