–August 10,

We awoke and went out to our balcony for coffee/hot chocolate. We could so get used to this: sipping our “javas” and watching the water in the lagoon and various fishing boats – although there were not as many this morning. It is 80 degrees, which is a bit warmer than my ideal, but well… WOW! The high today is only going to climb to 86 degrees, not much in varying of temperature. We went back in for breakfast of Muesli and milk/yogurt. The Muesli is a local brand but expensive for Vietnam prices. We will only get a today and half of a next breakfast from the whole bag.

We just hung out and enjoyed our place. For lunch we went to the only restaurant right near us, Meet n'eat – Homemade foods PQ. We sat and ordered: Pho with beef for 98,000 (98K, which is how they list pricing) Dong (this is $3.90); Smoked Country Baguette, which has smoked ham, edam cheese, sun-dried tomato, rocket lettuce, homemade “fruffle”(?), mayonnaise, and balsamic cream for 158K Dong ($6.29). So we had soup and a sandwich for just over $10. Both were good, not great. the Pho was not a s good as the day before, but the veggie garnish was included in that price. the sandwich, or Banh Mi was good crispy baguette, with great sauces, okay meat and a poor cheese. We then added a brownie and ice cream. Great! The brownie was more a custard-type brownie and the ice cream was avocado, which was surprisingly really good.

We went back to our place, a few yards only! Then we went for a swim in the pool. (We still haven't been to the beach here!) We got in our laps and exercise. There was another couple there, but they weren't necessarily swimming. Then we watched some You tube. We decided to go out on the scooter for a grocery run and some local wine. We passed the wine store and found a very local street vendor grilling some Quail, Chicken, and Pork Belly. We bought a whole Quail, which is not much: a Chicken leg, and a serving of Pork Belly with a crispy baguette, sauce and pickled greens as take away. The vendor guy found us amusing as he reheated our order.

Then we backtracked and found the local wine shop and local grocery store. We packed our bounty home and enjoyed an excellent supper! Watched sunset and fireworks later. Good times! Ain't we lucky we got 'em!

—August 11,

Jeff woke me at 0630. It was cloudy and supposed to rain… so we opted not to go to local Evangelical church. It takes us 30 minutes on the scooter and we are neither one interested in doing that in the rain! So I went back to sleep some. I'm finding I'm a 0700/0730-ish sleeper, no matter when I go to sleep 2130 or 0000! Jeff is awake from 0500- 0600 usually. Anyway, we had our morning ritual of “javas,” then breakfast. I had the last of the muesli w/ yogurt; Jeff had Vietnamese Beef Jerky (too sweet) and yogurt. Then we had some thin, crisp, coconut crackers with PB, Raspberry jam, and Nutella. It was eclectic but good. (It did not rain until just before lunchtime.) 

Then we just kind of “vegged.” We watched a church service from back home, some Olympics, some You tube. It was just a lackadaisical day! Lunch was a salad of bell peppers and cucumbers with roasted sesame sauce (we had bought) made into a vinaigrette that I whipped up from some stuffs here at our place when we arrived (oil, sugar, apple cider vinegar, and a Chinese – 'Hengshun mature vinegar'). Sauce turned out pretty good an bit too sweet, though – added salt and pepper, making it better. We also had more coconut crackers.

After lunch I took a nap! I so rarely do this but it was needed – hope I sleep better tonight. Jeff read a lot. We also watched more Olympics – USA is doing quite well! For Supper we decided to go back to the restaurant near us, Meet n' eat. We got an assortment of food: Oven Carrot & Pumpkin Soup (creamed carrots, pumpkin, and leeks) with garlic bread croutons; Khoai Tay Chien (homemade French fries); Rings onion tempura; and Rau Muong Xao Thit Bo ( Morning glory, beef, garlic, oyster sauce, black pepper) w/rice. All that food cost us 372,000 Dong ($14.82). We got it as take out, so while we waited we went to the little grocery store right next door an bought eggs and three baguettes for breakfasts.

Now we took this back to our condo – ate our supper, as we watched the sunset. Then we talked with my mother and her husband. I blogged as Jeff read more. Lastly we watched the fireworks and linked up with our church back home. Bed at 2330.