Paul Alton MBA

Pictures are an issue with the current web editor and current bandwidth. Hopefully we can resolve those issues in late November and circle back.

October dawns for us in Edmonton, with a job at a turnaround a forty-five-minute drive from our daughter’s home. The job eats up most of the oxygen in my life for now, with Juanita, at least, getting much grandkids time.

At the point of this writing the job looks like it will last up to and, maybe a bit beyond, Thanksgiving (aka Columbus Day in warmer climes). In a perfect future this page will get updates as the month proceeds.

<Much Later> (Saturday, October 24^th)

No updates happened during the month. There’s something about working 6 days a week, ten hours a day with a healthy commute each way that sap my interest in putting words to screen and then posting them.

Life happened on Sundays. We celebrated Becky’s birthday after church on October 4^th. We all gathered in her bedroom where she is on bedrest expecting child six. After that Juanita and I went to use her birthday gift certificate at Boa & Hare. We arrived mid afternoon. There was on street parking available. We didn’t have to pay nine bucks to find out if their kitchen was open this Sunday. Pulled pork tacos with banana bread for dessert. Yum! The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend Juanita and I had our Thanksgiving meal at Swiss Chalet. We had their version of a turkey dinner with all the fixin’s including pumpkin pie. They substitute a quarter chicken for the turkey.

A little of life happened other days. One Saturday evening we all celebrated Odelia’s birthday.

As the turnaround wound down, lay-offs happened in stages. The survivors worked straight through from Thanksgiving Day to the end. Even though I worked that last Sunday, we managed to get out to eat. While picking up fixings for the last few lunches I had noticed that the Empire Grill had not closed permanently but merely moved to the other end of the strip mall. After a quick shower after work, we went there for butter chicken. The layout is better than the previous location and the food is just as good.

Wednesday, the twenty-first, was my last day of work. A few others worked Thursday. I got off at two, walked to the parking lot, changed out of work boots and signed the out of work board on the union web site. By three o’clock the car was loaded in Nick and Becky’s driveway, and we were on the road to Meadow Lake. We took turns driving, arriving after dark to a cold house which, being tiny, warmed quickly. We unloaded the car and left everything in a pile for tomorrow, that wonderful labour-saving invention. Tomorrow came soon enough.

Thursday morning Juanita drove me to the shop to pick up the truck with its new ball joints. She carried on to get some blood tests. I went  back home stopping on the way to get printouts of insurance and registration papers for what had been renewed online and by phone. I puttered briefly at the pile of stuff then went outside to dig potatoes and start at blowing leaves until it was time to take the car to town for winter tires. Then back for more leaf blowing.

Friday, we attacked the pile of stuff with more energy. By evening all the leaves were blown and the stuff had found it’s way to designated spots.

It’s Saturday.

We plan to get a key cut for the gate and finalize arrangements to get our driveway plowed before our return next spring. We don’t plan on heading south until January but the skid steer operator heads south in November. If we finish packing for the Vietnam trip today, we plan to go to Edmonton tomorrow.

Sunday – 25^th

We were up early for some last minute packing. It snowed yesterday after we barbequed lunch but before we replaced the BBQ cover.. We brought the cover inside to defrost in the bathtub overnight. First thing this morning we turned on the BBQ briefly to melt off the ice and dry before letting it cool to replace the cover. Also, we fired up the burn barrle to get rid of burnable trash.

I cut my hair and had a shower and got dressed for church. While I was showering, Juanita loaded up the car. We arrived at church as the song service was ending and got on the road after only a few brief visits at the end of the sermon. We skipped on the potluck, wanting to get to Edmonton with Eliana’s birthday gift before she left for the evening service. Success. Then we went out for a quick meal, some last minute errands before returning for an early bedtime.

Monday – 26th

I woke up hyper early. While Juanita slept I finished reading Suicidal Empathy by Gad Saad. I tried going back to bed for a while to work ever so slightly on resetting my bio clock. Didn’t happen. Jet lag here we come.

We tried checking in for tomorrow’s flights on line. Didn’t work. Need to verify passports in person to check in for international flights. Tried driving to airport and checking in there but no Alaska Airlines personnel at desk. The desk is manned for only one departure a day. Their web site lists some afternoon desk manning but that doesn’t make any sense with no departures, plus the United person that was at the desk said Alaska Airlines staff are only at the departures desk for their one daily departure.

Lunch was a bag of way too many Five Guys fries. Back at Becky’s I compressed stuff into vac bags in the carry-on bag and personal item.

Early to bed.

We are scheduled to fly out of Edmonton for Vietnam on Tuesday, the 27^th for a twelve-day tour of Vietnam. I will start by posting the planned daily events. Hopefully some text will magically appear below the planned daily stuff to relate the actual events that transpired. Photos may appear eventually, bandwidth and web editors permitting.

Here is the plan (cut and pasted from the Gate 1 Itinerary). We booked all the optional tours. They are part of our planned itinerary:

Depart for Vietnam. Fly from Edmonton to Seatle. Fly from Seatle to Seoul, Korea. Fly from Seoul to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It will be tomorrow in Vietnam before we leave Seatle.

The alarm dragged us out of slumber at Four? Eh? Em?

We began our ride to the airport being driven by son-in-law Nick at 4:30. We talked about being a good influence on family members and about work to pass the time on the brief trip, arriving at 4:50.

The desk is scheduled to open at 5:01 on flight days. There was already a longish line. There were baggage carts stacked high like those from scenes of refugees pushing overloaded handcarts fleeing before an approaching army.

An Alaska Airlines staffer singled us out as the carry-on only couple. He pulled us from the line to verify passports, check we had Vietnam visas and issue paper boarding passes for all of today’s flights.

After the usual indignities of security we took the MCP line through customs to wait at the gate for our flight. Our wait was comforted with Starbucks coffees and ham and cheese croissants. On the way back from the washroom the second time I thought there might be a less roundabout route. I followed a person through some double doors that looked like they would take me in the right direction. The doors closed behind me. I turned around to look. They were signed “Do Not Open. Emergency Alarm Will Sound.” I turned back around and scurried to catch up with the person I had followed. He led me to another door with a green override button to open it and let me escape with no unwanted drama.

The flight to Seatle left a little late. There was some Canadian paperwork that had to be completed before taxiing to the de-ice station. Winter is here.

On the flight I shared a curved illusion tract with a flight attendant. Soon another flight attendant appeared asking for a tract. And another. And another. Toward the end of the flight one shared that discussing the tracts had revealed they were all Christians. They hadn’t known it even though they worked together.

The pilots gained back time enroute to Seatle. We arrived a little late but had plenty of time to take several underground trains to the gate for our Korean Air flight to Seoul, Korea. A young woman assessing us as incompetent oldsters sheep dogged us to our gate. We didn’t need the help but played along with the charade. It reminded me of my shepherding an elderly South Asian couple to the gate for their Newark New Jersey flight in the same airport when I was returning from my mom’s hundredth birthday party seventeen years ago this week.

A family with several young children sat next to us in the waiting area. I threw out my standard line about there being two ways to travel: First class; or, with children. I mentioned how after being a parent that a crying child on an airplane gives me joy that it is not my kid that is crying. I shared a link to My Longest Day an article about a trip when our kids were in diapers.

The plane to Seoul boarded uneventfully. We managed to catch the cusp of the transition from boarding group two (others) and group three (us).

Early in the flight, before the first of two meals was served, certain passengers were sought out to be provided with special meals they had arranged in advance. I was reminded of a boss I had who logged many flights as a project manager. Out of boredom he took to ordering special meals including kosher and vegan. They were fresher and he got them first.

Arrive in Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon), the largest city in Vietnam. Transfer to your hotel and spend the balance of the day at leisure
Overnight: Ho Chi Minh

It is to laugh - “the balance of the day at leisure”.

Our schedule shows us arriving at the airport at 10:25 pm. Then there will be customs and immigration, hotel transfer and so on. Thirteen hours (or is it eleven hours?) out of sync with our biological clocks.

The alarm yesterday morning was at four am Mountain Daylight Time, Tuesday.

When we crossed the International Dateline on the way to Seoul we entered “tomorrow”.  My mother crossed the International Dateline on her way from Australia to Canada. Her twelve-year-old self and her thirteen-year-old sister were annoyed. Two Sundays in a row meant two days of subdued shipboard activities to honour the two sabbaths.

We arrived slightly behind schedule at Seoul, due to headwinds but had plenty of time to make it to the gate for our next flight even though having to pass through security on the way. They were urging people to check their carry-on bags.

By then the pain in my heel was making its presence known. It is worse after sitting or driving. It usually fades into the background after a bit of walking, but too much walking can incite it. I hobbled up to the confusion at the boarding gate. A staffer asked if we had ordered a wheelchair. I said no. She glanced at my boarding pass and curtly ordered me away to my rightful place it the distant reaches of boarding group three. She must have noticed my hobbling as we slunk away in that direction and called us back to be placed for pre-boarding.

The flight took off late after waiting for a delayed connecting passenger. The usual exemplary Korean Airlines service manifested itself on the way to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).

The plane landed late then had to wait for docking. We joined the throngs waiting to clear customs and immigration. Outside we found a person with a Gate One sign. We checked that he had our names on his phone and let him order a driver to take us to our hotel. A spacious Hyundai got us to the hotel at midnight, thirty-one hours after our alarm woke us in Edmonton. Neither of us had managed to sleep on the planes. With check in and all, bedtime was fifty-four minutes later.

The alarm was set for five am. About four hours later than bedtime.

Spend the morning at leisure or, join the optional half day tour to Cu Chi Tunnels. They were part of an underground tunnel network built by Viet Cong to control a largely rural area near Saigon. The Cu Chi network includes 125 miles of tunnels with many branches connecting to underground hideouts, weapon factories, hospitals, shelters, and other tunnels. In the afternoon, embark on a guided tour in Ho Chi Minh City, which includes the neo-Romanesque Notre Dame Cathedral, the Central Post Office with its French style architecture, the City Hall, and the magnificent Saigon Opera House. From here, visit lively Ben Thanh Market, where an unbelievable assortment of wares and crafts are sold under one roof. Continue to Dong Khoi Street, a major shopping thoroughfare in the center of the city. Early in the evening, attend an orientation meeting with your Tour Manager at approximately 5:30 PM, followed by dinner at a local restaurant
Optional: Half Day Cu Chi Tunnels (AM)
Overnight: Ho Chi Minh
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

I slept fitfully despite sleep deprivation.

I often use the successor podcast to coffee with Scott Adams to help me fall asleep. The droning narrative in the headphones built into my sleep mask is usually enough to break up any busy mind about tomorrow or yesterday. It did the trick tonight (this morning?). Until, there was a rambunctious clip in the middle that woke me back up. I then kept waking up with the conflict between the one am to five am local clock time and the noon to four pm body time.

At 4:30 I gave up and got up. I had a shower and started on the laundry of socks, underwear and shirt. The shirt and underwear are SCOTTeVEST, designed for quick dry after basin wash followed by wringing out, then wringing out in a towel. My socks wash and dry the same being from Tilley or competitors. If I go through the procedure early in the evening the clothes are wearable the next morning. I first heard of SCOTTeVEST when Rolf Potts travelled around the world without luggage.

I woke Juanita at the 5:30 alarm. We unpacked bags, got dressed.

Buffet breakfast at 6.

Back to the room.

In lobby at 7 for tunnel tour. On bus for an hour and forty-five-minute drive to a two hour tour of the Cu Chi tunnels. Here’s a link to a mid sixties propaganda video about the tunnels.

Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City  (formerly Saigon) is chaotic. I would not survive driving here. Scooters make up half the surface area of the vehicles on the road so maybe over two thirds of the number of vehicles. We are told the secret of a pedestrian getting across a street in traffic is to just keep walking. Don’t stop. Don’t make any sudden moves. The scooters will flow around you.

The drive to the tunnels starts in urban areas, then suburban, then rubber and banana plantations. Vietnam is the world’s second biggest exporter of latex after Brazil. On arrival, after a bathroom break the tour group reassembles to pass through the ticket line and inside the complex for a two-hour tour.

We are early. Our bus is one of only a few buses in the parking lot. By the time we are done touring the parking lot is crowded with buses, vans and cars. We overhear tour guides speaking not just English, but also Spanish, French and German.

The tunnels were built by the VC (Viet Cong). They started as connections between villages under the French and expanded well beyond the immediate area by the time the Viet Cong were fighting the Americans. Guerrillas could pop up, attack American forces and disappear.

The network eventually ran across the country from the Saigon River to the Cambodian border 160 km inland. It was used to smuggle weapons and hide from American and South Vietnamese forces. Also, to prepare food, clothing and footwear (sandals made from automobile tires, including some with the heel and toes worn backwards to confuse trackers.

Ventilation for the tunnels was provided through pipes made from bamboo. The ends were  hidden on mounds that looked like termite nests. The smoke from underground kitchen cooking fires was fed through water filled tunnels to stealthily disperse cooled smoke that hugged the ground.

There were underground field hospitals close to Saigon and convalescent hospital close to Cambodia. The US started carpet bombing which collapsed a lot of tunnels. The VC used metal from unexploded bombs to make many different styles of booby traps. There was a display of various booby traps and a park attendant demonstrating their action when triggered.

Another park attendant demonstrated how an tunnel entrance could be hidden under leaves. A few of our group tried the hiding themselves under the tunnel lid. Juanita tried. The video of her attempt is here.

The park had a 100 meter sample tunnel that quickly descended to about a five-meter depth. There were exits every 20 meters. Juanita and I climbed down, and stooped/crawled through the confines before exiting on the first available exit. Few of the tour group accepted the challenge. Of those who, all but one exited at the first chance. One person went the 100 meter distance. There was not enough room to stand. Someone my height, age and physical condition couldn’t stoop enough. I resorted to sliding on butt down the steepest stairs which had a step height of over 12 inches. I crawled the last ten meters to the first exit.

16,000 VC soldiers lived, worked and fought from these tunnels for years. 6,000 survived. US “tunnel rats” braved unknown conditions and booby traps to fight them on their own turf. I would not be mentally or physically equipped at any time in my life to do what either group had to do to function in this confined dangerous maze. 20 meters in controlled conditions with an encouraging tunnel guide was physically challenging and almost traumatic. Those tunnels went 8,000 times as far to the Cambodian border and Ho Chi Minh trail as our twenty meter sample. Not me.

After the tour and the bus trip back some people got off at the hotel. Most stayed on the bus to eat at the Pho Two Thousand made famous by Bill Clinton eating there while he was visiting Vietnam. We had noodle soup and spring rolls.

In the afternoon we went on a three hour city tour by bus and walking. The guide pointed out the US consulate building complex. This was the embassy before 1975. The embassy is now in Hanoi. CIA headquarters was where the famous last helicopter from Saigon photo shot occurred. We had time to explore the post office designed by Eiffel of Tower fame and saw from the cathedral from the square across the street. The cathedral is closed to public viewing during renovations. Juanita and I picked up some iced coffee and a chocolate dipped croissant for about six bucks at a Highland coffee shop and returned to the bus. The buying experience was chaotic. They are not selling efficiency of order execution. One hapless tour member saw the empty line and ordered not realizing there were twenty people waiting on the periphery with their pagers while their orders were being muddled through. He got a round of applause as he boarded the bus.

We got off the bus at a palace mostly famous for a photo of a VC tank crashing through the gates. The tank is on display. The gates have been restored. Then back onto the bus to return the hotel, freshen up and attend a 6:30 introduction session.

I was fading in and out as we all shared a bit about ourselves and past Gate One tour experience. We all walked a couple of blocks to a group dinner. Sitting there before dinner I was afraid I would throw up. Then the food and conversation distracted me. It was a good meal but I ate pickily.

We got back to hotel room about nine. I mentioned my nausea before dinner. Juanita said she had been feeling same. The laundry was done and we were in bed falling asleep by ten. I woke at about 2 am and sent email blog notes to myself as I lay in bed. Juanita woke up about three. I got up and starting turning the notes into narrative and posting that to the web site.

I had been timing my work based on the time in the corner of the laptop screen. It still thinks it is in Canada. When my phone alarm sounded at 5:30 local time the laptop clock was reading 4:30. I stopped keyboarding and had a shower. We went to breakfast. After breakfast I posted the writeup as it was and we headed for the tour de jour bus.

Today is at leisure to further explore the city on your own or, join the optional full day Mekong Delta River Tour. Today's journey into the Mekong Delta region will take you along the newly built highway, picturesque countryside, and seemingly endless paddy fields. Upon arrival at My Tho, you will board a private motor boat for a fascinating cruise along the river, observing the daily life of local people on the waterways. The tour includes a visit to a coconut factory, a handicraft workshop and a honey bee farm. You will be introduced to the daily life of the local people, learning about local fruit and plants as well as an opportunity to sample some tropical fruit in an orchard. The tour ends with lunch at a local restaurant by the riverbank
Optional: Full Day Mekong Delta River Tour
Overnight: Ho Chi Minh
Meals: Breakfast

Today’s tour went pretty much as billed. We rode the bus to the Mekong River delta through rice paddies. Some farms have elaborate small structures big enough to house a coffin of a relative or ancestor.

The tour manager talked about the Mekong River which starts in Tibet and flows through six countries before reaching the sea in Vietnam. He also talked about coffee in Vietnam. Vietnam is the second biggest exporter of coffee after Brazil. It grows mostly robusta coffee with a little arabica. It is usually served with condensed milk and sugar because robusta is very strong with a high caffeine content.

They grow three crops of rice a year compared to two in other areas of Vietnam. Vietnam is tied with Thailand for second biggest exporter of rice after India.

We arrived at an island by bus then took a boat from that island to another where we disembarked to walk though a fruit plantation while the local guide explained about the various tropical fruit we could see growing there.

At a small-scale coconut candy production business, the guide did a hands on talk about coconuts and making coconut candy. Then we ate samples and had an opportunity to buy coconut candy mixed with various other ingredients such as chocolate, banana and peanut. We sat at tables to be served tea sweetened with the farm’s honey and flavoured with cumquat. They served samples of fruit grown on site: jackfruit, mango, grapefruit and pineapple.

We climbed aboard canoes to be paddled down a narrow waterway enclosed by arches of water coconut trees. Getting out of the canoes, we walked through a village to a waterfront restaurant. They presented elephant fish, whole, mounted on a display rack before taking it back to the kitchen to be cut up and put into rolls of rice paper. The fish is called the elephant ear fish because it looks like an elephant ear while it swims through the water. We ate each course until we were all full. The courses didn’t stop just because we were full. They kept coming.

As eating tapered off, a thunderstorm pounded the restaurant with sheets of rain. When the storm moved away we boarded a boat to ride back to the waiting bus. The boat passed through a flotilla of cargo boats waiting for high tide to carry their cargoes of sand and gravel through a 1906 canal to Ho Chi Minh City.

I dozed a bit on the bus ride back. This is a free evening. Toward the end of the trip to the hotel the tour manager explained various meal options to us and explained how to ensure taxicab safety if we ventured outside the immediate area around the hotel.

It was about 4:30. We went to the room and crashed.

We woke about 10:30 and went for a walk through some nearby convenience stores and checked out the street food being served to people sitting at tables on the sidewalk in the next block. When I ran out of curved illusion tracts, we chose a ham and cheese Danish empanada type things in a 7-11, had then heated and ate them while we walked to the Circle K next door to our hotel. We bought ice cream treats and a can of iced Highland Ca Phe (coffee). Back the room we ate our ice cream, packed for tomorrow and showered.

Juanita went back to bed.

I stayed up to edit the unedited narrative from this morning, wrote out today and drank my can of Ca Phe Sua.

Depart Ho Chi Minh on your flight to Da Nang, one of Vietnam's major ports, situated on the coast of the South China Sea. Travel south to the picturesque ancient town of Hoi An, where people still wear the "ao dais," Vietnam's traditional dress. The ancient town of Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the most important trading port in Southeast Asia in the 15th century. Its ancient past is superbly preserved in an enchanting collection of temples, pagodas, shop houses, and magnificent private homes in the town's Old Quarter. The walking tour of this artistic jewel, with its century's old architecture, includes the gorgeous Phuoc Kien Pagoda, the 400-year-old bright-red Japanese Covered Bridge, and the Ancient House. Afterward, have dinner at a local restaurant
Overnight: Hoi An
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Still not adjusted to time zone change. I keyboarded until a little before four in the morning, when I went back to bed to sleep until the five o’clock alarm.

We got up, finished packing and set our bags in the hall outside our hotel room. They would be picked up and placed in the lobby with the rest of the tour group’s luggage. We travel with no check luggage - just a carry-on and a personal item. This airline weighs the carry-on and personal item together. Combined weight must be under ten kilograms. My carry-on is 10.1 kilos all by its lonesome. Plus, we are going to be waiting at the baggage carousel with the group. Might as well be waiting for our bags, too.

Went to desk to check out. A bellhop was sent to check the condition of our room and bring down our bags. We went to wait for the breakfast buffet to open. After breakfast we nipped into the restroom to brush our teeth. In addition to the normal soap and shampoo, hotels here provide disposable toothbrushes with a tiny pouch of toothpaste. Comes in handy when you give up your room before breakfast.

We took our time over breakfast because we had nothing to do until it was time to load onto the seven o’clock bus to the airport. At least that was our understanding. This tour wants you to personally verify your bags before they are loaded onto the bus. Note to selves, go to the lobby a little earlier to not be an inconvenience.

The bus got to the airport with plenty of time ahead of our flight to Danang. We all waited as our bags were unloaded on the sidewalk. Then tipped the bus driver from the last three days before following mother duck, I mean, tour manager, to the two check-in desks for our group.

Before we got off the bus we were each given a small bottle of water. Security here allows one small bottle of water. No problem. Their glass case of no-no’s at the entrance to security contained disposable lighters and packets of cigarettes. Security did send Juanita back ahead of the X-ray machine to go through a second time because her e-Reader was in her purse not the tray.

The seating area near our departure gate was crowded until an earlier flight departed. Then it thinned out. I handed out curved illusion tracts. Quite a few tracts were given to a group from India. They spoke help desk English and understood what I was asking when I asked, “which one is bigger?”. The tour manager had written out for me the phrase in Vietnamese, but I am butchering it. I frequently get the words wrong, the word order wrong and the tones wrong. Vietnamese, like Chinese, is tonal. The way the pitch changes in the same word will change the meaning. Maybe one in twenty understand me after repeated attempts. I can only improve.

One offshoot of the tracts is that we become besties with the Indian group. They share a tostada type thing with Juanita and me. Also, “biscuits”. Biscuit is UK and Indian English for what we call cookies in North America (Come to the dark side, they have cookies?). Finally, they shared a crumbly, soft, doughy version of granola calling it some sort of God food. Maybe called that because it had been offered to an idol. I hope not.

It was a pleasant flight to Danang. I had a window seat. Juanita was in the middle seat in the row behind me. We were both seated next to sisters of a set of three sisters and a husband from California. They were both listeners or good conversationalists, both characteristics being the same in practical terms.

When we checked our carry-on bags that we bought years ago at the Rio Grande Valley Outlet Mall in Texas we carefully tucked the handles in to their spots and zippered the covers closed to protect them.

Air Vietnam overcame our protective instincts. They managed to do what porters all over the world have failed to do over many years. They broke the handle off Juanita’s bag. I think I can repair it if we can retain the pieces until we return to Canada. Or maybe we will buy new Air Canada branded carry-ons. Air Canada has a standard carry-on size that is an inch shorter in length than most other airlines. It took a lot of shopping in Texas to find pieces that comply. Also, our current ones are soft sided, creating a grey zone if you overfill them. Maybe it is time to buy hard sided pieces to provide a clearer boundary.

The bus headed south with the ocean on the left as we left Danang. I thought we were going north first. Wrong. Doesn’t matter. I’m not driving. One of the reasons you take a package tour.

Hoi An is a pleasant village near the mouth of a river. There are lots of old buildings from when it was an important seaport in centuries past. That was before the river silted up. It was never a battle zone in Vietnam’s wars, so it is well preserved. There is influence from Chinese and Japanese traders and craftsmen. At some point Japan retreated into itself and the Japanese left, but their architecture stayed.

There is a bakery in town famous because some pop star I have never heard of (It’s reciprocal. He’s never heard of me.) described their sandwiches as “a symphony in a sandwich”. The tour guide has a bakery he thinks is better. He orders ahead. When we arrive at our hotel our sandwiches are waiting. A bit spicy, but wonderful hoagie type loaves loaded with tasty fillings.

We got our room key and went to the room. Only one? The second room key had already been placed in the holder at the door that turns on the lights and the air conditioning. The AC was set at 18 degrees and full fan. Nice. No need to wait for the room to cool down. We can wait in a cool room forever until our luggage is delivered, instead. When the luggage arrived, we took our laundry across street. Our basin wash, towel squeeze trick doesn’t work for the types of pants I like to wear. Since were having it done, anyway other stuff got thrown in, too. A luxury for just five bucks.

Then we vegged in our AC’ed room until it was time for the 3:30 walking tour through the old city. The tour took us through the highlights mentioned in the itinerary.

The ancient house was on the road along the riverfront. It has been there for hundreds of years. It served as the residence and warehouse of a trading family. The structure was built with rot resistant wood that had been submerged in water for ten years before being used in construction. It seems none the worse for wear for being submerged by regular floods from the river and typhons. They just take the furniture and contents to higher ground and come back when the waters recede.

Of course, it was a gift shop, too. In addition to the spiel about the history of the house, we were shown the operation of a self siphoning Pythagoras Cup. Only it was called a Confucius Cup. It self-drains all its contents if filled over 80%. Before that it holds the contents without loss. It was a lesson that sometimes if we are not satisfied with “enough” we can lose it all. For only eighteen US dollars we could have a reminder of this principal made by a secret process known only to this family.

The group was surveyed for their birth year. The presenter responded with the Chinese zodiac animal and your personality characteristics accrued by being born under that zodiac symbol. You could buy a medallion with the animal on one side and your characteristics on the other.

The walking tour ended at the temple by five. We were on our own to shop or explore until it was time to meet for dinner at Citronella, a restaurant near the Japanese covered bridge. We walked from the temple to the river handing out tracts. At the river, boats were getting ready to take people on evening river cruises. The boats were resplendent with lanterns.

We went back to hotel briefly then back for dinner. Good food. Good visit with someone we hadn’t spent time with before. Then back to the hotel by 7:30. It was time for sleep. I mostly slept through. No midnight blogging tonight.

And that was October.