After breakfast, Gherardo who lives in as a home stay worker at Haven, took Harper and I on a walk to the local waterfall. It was hot going, especially when we got away from the shore and started climbing the jungle trail. We kept a constant look-out for snakes and got the occasional scratch from the spiky undergrowth. Eventually we made it to the first rock pools and took a dip. The main topic of conversation was the spiders who shared the pool with us!
Just this short experience of the jungle in this part of the coast shows why the American soldiers never stood a chance against the Vietcong - short of destroying their whole environment, which of oourse they set out to do in the final stages of the war.
The walk back was an unfortunate reminder of how little the Vietnamese care for the environment. Household rubbish is strewn everywhere with plastic bags galore. There is no sense of sustainability as the country moves to develop as quickly as possible and make money out of what resources it has. It's nothing like the rampant pace of Chnia but 80 million Vietnamese squeezed into its deltas and coastal plains makes for very intensive land and water use.
For lunch we walked to the far end of our beach where there is a 'luxury' resort called Life Resort and Spa which serves lunch. We had some magnificent spring rolls, chicken crockpot with chillies and lemongrass, fried pancake (again) and some D'Arenburg Stump Jump red. Wow! But we ate too much!...and needed a rest. So we headed back down the beach, first swimming in the resort pool, then along beach and had an afternoon nap.
We filled in the rest of the day by catching up with domestics, more swimming and enjoying the company of our Haven hosts and guests. Mi, who does the cooking at Haven, prepared a sensational selection of dishes for our evening meal. Suffice it to say, we struggled to find room, but tried our best. After a few convivial drinks, we headed for the sack after another 'havenly' day.
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