Ho Chi Lightning Fish

Well its been the month of the lightning storm. No rain mind you, just vast blinding tears through the sky after a days build up of heat. A couple of weeks ago I witnessed the biggest lightning storm I have ever seen. It was right above us and was constant. Every now and then a cracking bolt would lance the earth and blind my eyes as it rolled across the sky. Is there anything more awe inspiring, more powerful or blinding than lightning. It really makes you feel truly meek and perishable.  We have just been through a little mini heat wave. It was undies off and lots of dips in the ocean as temperatures went into the forties. Poor Jules would walk into the house-after a day of school like a little molten lava rock. Air con on, fan on, douse her with water and a nice cold drink and she was ready to brave the elements again. I am looking forward to seeing how the kiwis handle the heat straight out of winter.

I love the heat. I love never having to wear a sweat shirt, or wondering if it is going to rain. I have realized its not the rain I'm scared of its the wet and cold. Here if it rains you get wet then you dry out in a few minutes. The Vietnamese are like human barometers. I am often driving and they are on the side of the road putting on their raincoats in perfect blue sky weather. Five minutes later its pouring down rats and dogs.

Played my weekly soccer game last night and have my weekly sore legs today. I have realized I am no spring chicken anymore. I can hold my own with the 26 year olds here during the match but its the next day that I feel old. I don't want to stop playing but I am slowly accumulating niggles, sprains and pains. Could be about time I play goalie.

So we found a large fish in our pond. I call him Ho Chi Fish. We have been living here for a year and I had never once seen him. There are concerns it is actually a government spy or that it was planted by the neighbours to eat all my small fish, fatten him and then collect for eating. But it seems that this is where he lives. The landlord did clear a whole lot of pond weed recently so he has no where to hide now. I don't want to tell any of the neighbours otherwise he may well end up in a Vietnamese frying pan. I am hoping he will bred with our local yard rat that is about the same size as a small dog. I would like to see a ratfish.

Its children's day tomorrow. Lots of kids will be going nuts through the streets. Our street is being closed off and presents distributed. This last week there has been school holidays and I often get a gaggle of kids coming in the house to observe the weird foreign dude with his gadgets. The kids here are wide eyed and cute. They find us so interesting and even the parents point at us and tell their kids to wave and say hello. The little girl across the way is starting to learn english and yells out Hello, Xin Chao, Dam Biet, Goodbye every time we go out our gate. She is like a 2 year old watchdog. Families here are very close. Everyone has kids here in their mid twenties. Jules and I are often scolded for being too old without kids. The lady in the market last week got asked if she was pregnant (never sits well) When she said no. the woman pointed at me and said " too old" The women here are really baby making machines. They don't drink, smoke or eat fast food. They are preened to breed from an early age and they follow strong ideals about when this should happen and how their bodies should be kept. I think there are big changes coming in the next ten years with access to the internet and foreign TV channels.

A friend and I are currently starting up a new online tourist guide to Hoi An. www.inhoian.com. It is going to take a while but we found there was no attractive great functioning websites for Hoi An and with 2.8 million visitors each year to a place no bigger than Huntly, we decided there was a great opportunity. To begin with we are concentrating on functionality, appearance and optimization but further down the track we would like to make some money once we start getting a lot of visitors. There are many opportunities here if you have the patience and time to live here, learn about Da Nang as it grows rapidly. They are moulding this place into a huge city and in ten years I dare say I will not recognize it. With the growth comes good and bad things. Better infrastructure, rubbish collections are great but beach sky scrapers and resorts are not. It is however progress in a country that has been at war and stifled for 100 years so I hope they power forward grow, help their people without  destroying the beautiful surroundings. If history has any influence then I fear for this place.

So its Friday and happy hour in 6 hours so I must prepare. Its amazing how a two for one special still draws in the punters when beers are only a dollar. Everyone loves free drinks I guess.

Over and Out

Shann and Jules