March 27 to April 1 - In the Shade of the Breadfruit Tree

We are going for the beach holiday, here is our daily routine:
Waking up relatively early, bringing a cappuccino for my sweetheart to bed, heading to the beach, getting a sun umbrella, two loungers, and a bottle of water, doing a round of bellytabata and a bit of volleyball in the water. Then, lunch at the beach, followed by some sunbathing and reading, and then off to chill in the apartment and watch a movie. That's how we can handle it.

Once, I ride to Hanoi at half past six to withdraw money from the Vietnamese Bank, where you don’t pay fees, but that morning, I didn’t get any money from any bank, for whatever reason (later it worked again). But it was still nice to start the day together with the Vietnamese and meet water buffaloes.

Our man at the beach who rents us loungers every day and provides us with cold water is named Xuyên (pronounced roughly as Süen with a voiced S). A gentle creature with a stiff leg who warmly hugs us when we say goodbye.

Overall, I find the Vietnamese to be predominantly very friendly and not servile. And they have a sense of humor. Everywhere you are greeted with 'Madam, Massah!?' which means massage, but Vietnamese don’t know how to pronounce 'sh'. Once, I say, before we get approached, 'no massage', and there comes a prompt reply of 'why not?' followed by laughter.

Yes, we really enjoyed this country, which so many others have claimed for so long and is now so proud to belong to itself. If only it weren't so far away and if so many others didn't like it so much as well.