Your son looks like shit

As far as traditions and customs go, this is my new favourite. In Vietnam, if you say a child is cute, this is very bad as they think that monsters will come and take that child away. So instead, you say they are ugly or look like shit etc, and the parents will be happy. Imagine in Australia when you see an ugly baby, but are compelled to smile and say they are beautiful. Under the new custom, you say "your baby looks like shit". No lies, no feelings hurt, and the monsters go childless.

Anyway, back to the day. You all know about breakfast. How good is noodle soup with lime juice and chilli? Do I say it tastes like shit, or is that just a child thing? It's delicious. The rest of the group thinks it's strange, but you have to try the local food. It's also good that everywhere has a designated egg station to cook them however you want.

To the bus for a 9am kick off. First stop some temples in the side of a mountain.  Some big steep steps were involved and a woman tried to help Annette up, not for kindness, but for cash. She was shooed away quickly. 

Meanwhile down at the start of the walk, one of the older guys was being massaged by 3 locals for 15 minutes before the Police made them leave. They did eventually get paid. Not as touristy as yesterday's temples and quite enjoyable. 

I have to be honest, I have forgotten the order of things, but once again lunch was too big and today's meat was kind of bouncy and tough. It's maybe the first time I haven't left bloated. I didn't even go back for more goat.

Despite being a communist country, the Catholics have infiltrated some areas and we visited a very old cathedral with a nun as our guide.

Before or after this we did a nice 1 hour boat trip through some nice scenery. We got a good rower who stopped for us to take pictures of bats and pigs. Did I mention that they were rowing with their feet?

On returning to the hotel, I jumped in the freezing pool for some laps, followed by 4km on the treadmill. Most of our group went to a restaurant that was reported to be excellent, but I had chips and a club sandwich and exercise which makes me a winner. Annette did do a Les Mills class whilst I swam and ran. She will be paying the price tomorrow.