Multi Sport Day - Cycling, Kayaking and Shopping

Today we had a semi-rest day.  We woke up in a beautiful hotel in the quaint city of Hoi An.  Last night we went out for one of many Vietnamese dinners.  I had eel and Julie had goat.  Our guide bought and at an "embryo egg."  It is a duck egg that is fertilized and you eat the growing duckling before it is hatched.  Besides that and a few other things they eat (and they do eat everything) the food here is fantastic.  The availability of fresh vegetables and seafood is impressive.  Right from the farm to your table.  The fruit is varied and always perfectly ripe.

After breakfast, we rode about 5 miles to the kayak outfitter.  We headed out across the river in kayaks to a mangrove forest.  Along the way we saw fisherman getting the fish out of their nets, women harvesting coco palm fronds and an unexploded bomb from the war.  We have spent a lot of time watching people here work with food (farming, fishing, processing, cooking).  I guess it shows the importance of agriculture in the lives of the local people.

After the kayak ride, we had a lunch of the famous Banh mi,  which is a bagette with pate, pork and greens.  We rode back to the hotel and have the afternoon off.

Kayaking
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1681843882

Cycling back to hotel
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1682078699


As of this moment, Julie is out shopping and I am enjoying the air conditioned hotel room and waiting for happy hour.  I maxed out of shopping in the hot sun after and hour.

While I have the time, I do want to share a few funny things about our trip.  First of all, the name of our guide is Long.  On the first day, he said that we could call him LD, short for Long Dong.  Long for his first name and Dong because he loves money.  I am not kidding.

The second funny observation deals with going to the bathroom on the road while cycling.  LD looks for restrooms, that he calls "happy rooms."  However, in the often remote places we cycle, there are not any happy rooms, so he looks for a place in the bush that he calls..... wait for it..... a  "happy bush."

Finally, what do embryo eggs, booze with a dead snake in the bottom of the bottle, fried insects all have in common?  Well according to LD, they are good for the libido.  After telling us about what are invariably disgusting sounding foods (at least to me), he will end by saying "it is good for libido."

He does speak english very well and had a wonderful sense of humor.

Well, it is almost happy hour and Julie should be done with shopping soon.   It was a great Monday here, I hope yours will be too wherever you are.

The view from our hotel.  There is a rooster somewhere out there that
all of us would like to see on a dinner plate before he wakes us up
at 4:30 am again tomorrow

Julie out kayaking

Unexploded bomb.... yes, this was a telephoto shot

Fishermen getting their catch out of the nets.

Our happy group of kayakers. 

Julie and I under one of the unused fishing nets

I finally found some water buffalo on the way back to the hotel

Julie shopping.  Notice no bags so this was obviously near the start