A School Visit

Rosie had organised a visit for us to the village pre-school.  We visited the 'kinder' class of about 20 kids and gave them some gifts of textas and coloured pencils.  They were so excited to see us.  After they sang us a song, we said goodbye which consisted of a very chaotic shake of the hand and wave from each child as they mobbed us.

Rosie and Huw have been doing some great things with the school as it has very few resources and their play yard consists of a concrete square.  They helped decorate inside and built some play equipment for the kids on a recent project.  Even with some fans, we couldn't get over the stifling heat in the classroom.

From the school we headed to a new little shop/cafe in the village which Mi, Rosie's cook, has just recently started up.  The shop has handicrafts and a few furnishings and clothes, as well as serving some basic meals and drinks.  The biggest hit apparently has been the ice cream which the village kids love.  Lisa bought a few things to take home with us and then escaped to the beach with Harper.

I had other plans - hiking up the trail to Upper Bai Xep and beyond - to explore the closest mountain and get some photos at a new vantage point.  It was stinking hot and what breeze existed died away as soon as I got 100 meters back from the beach.  The trail was goat like in places.  My bike riding instincts told me it was over 20 degrees gradient in sections.  Before long I was sweating like a pig and was wondering whether I could stay hydrated long in these conditions.  As the trail lifted and the houses thinned out, only hillside orchards and garden tenders remained.

The view from the high ridge over the coast was magnificent.  I could see right down into the cove where Bia Xep was, north back to Quy Nhon City, away to the south and way out to sea to all the islands and ships.  A few times a local gardener passed me on a motorbike and stopped to stare and mumble a few incomprehensible things.  They kind of looked at disbelief at my camera and my overheated state, as if to say there must be some other reason I was wandering up there.  Eventually I reached a point where the trail narrowed further and a 'keep out' sign market a gate-like entry - or at least that's what I interpreted it to say from what Huw had warned me.  At that point I rested in the shade briefly, taking in the beautiful lemongrass scent in the air, and then turned tail and ran back down the mountain in about 10 minutes flat.  By the time I hit the village again after a bit of a walk, I was melting.  A quick stop at Mi's shop for a cold beer (never tasted better!) and a plunge into the ocean and that was that.

Meanwhile Lisa had organised an afternoon 'spa' treatment of massage, facial and body scrub.  Harper and I walked her up to Life Resort for lunch and then left her there to relax in the hands of the professionals. She was taken on a lovely jouney amongst the healing burees perched above trees with a view out to sea. When she came back, everybody joked about how they didn't recognize her, she looked so different.

And tonight was to be an early night for us because in the morning we were moving on.