Wednesday, August 12
I’m not going to lie… I’m a bit freaked out right now. After a wonderful start to my day with a cappuccino and land sighting from the front of the ship and a quick workout consisting of 78 pull-ups in about 7 minutes (impressive, aren’t I?), I grabbed some breakfast.
At the breakfast table where 8 of us were crammed in a space meant for 6, the discussion turned to dengue fever (also known as breakbone fever) and Ellie, who has contracted it twice described the excruciating ways in which it can kill you. Yes, there are mosquitoes in this part of the world whose bite can kill you.
Now thoroughly terrorized, I excused myself and quickly headed to see the onboard doctor. He talked me off the ledge and convinced that my chances are dying from a mosquito bite in Vietnam are quite slim. Nonetheless, I will be bathing in insect repellant before getting off the boat. I don’t have to hole up in my cabin for the next 50 days after all.
My dance partner from yesterday was at the same table. I ran into her last evening to work out some details of an excursion we’re going on tomorrow. Apparently, I’ve gone back in time to junior high school. It seems that the scuttlebutt on ship is that we are now a couple.
Now Renee is 20 or more years younger than me with a gorgeous smile and better personality. And normally, if it weren’t so funny, I might be a little hurt. As she recalled her conversation with the shipmate suggesting the she and I were hooking up, the look on her face of utter disgust was priceless. Never in my life have I been rejected in such a matter of fact manner.
It’s time for my mosquito repellant bath now.
The forecast is for a heat index of 109 Fahrenheit today. Thank you again to Ross for the electrolyte powder. Gonna need it…
On my way to the tender, I run into Kerry (not her real name… I’m making fun of her). Last night at dinner she stopped by my table to tell me my doppelganger was on the boat. Well, I haven’t seen anyone yet who looks much like me, but it’s possible I guess.
She sees me in the hallway near my cabin and stops and does a double take. She asks me my name. She’s not sure if I’m doppelganger 1 or 2. I answer “Fred”. Now she’s really confused thinking there are three of us on the boat who look alike. I keep up the pretense for a minute or two before I start to crack up. I don’t think that she thinks that I am as funny as I think I am.
The weatherman was wrong. The heat index is not 109. It’s 175. Stepping off the boat onto the tender was like stepping into a steam bath. The spa on the boat charges extra to use the sauna. Why bother? The tender is free.
I start talking with Jim and Kathie who I met when I first walked onto the ship in Singapore. Lovely people. They are sitting with Diane, who I had dinner with the other night. They graciously agree to let me tag along with them.
We order a Grab (think Uber) after being swarmed by locals trying to coax us into their vehicle or sell us a tour. The 15 or 20 minute ride costs about $2.86.
Our first stop is the Po Nagar Cham Towers.
Next stop: an ATM. A few minutes later, I am a millionaire twice over. I withdraw 2,000,000 Vietnamese Dong (the local currency). It’s actually worth about $78 US.
Now we’re hungry. We ask a local for a recommendation and directions.
The four of us find a little lunch spot. We’re the only ones there except the staff. Jim runs across the street to grab some beers from a little kiosk. The prices here are incredibly low! Food for all us… 97,000 dong ($3.72 US). 8 beers from across the street… 192,000 dong ($7.37 US). My super cool new hat… 100,000 dong ($3.84 US – I give her my 5 Euro note, the only cash on me at that time).
Back to the tender launch and we just miss it by a few minutes. Darn the luck… now we have about 45 minutes to kill with an air-conditioned spot nearby selling beers for the outrageous price of $2 each. We dig deep in our wallets and have another. After all, it’s 160 degrees by now.
Back on the ship, I take a nice cool shower to get all the sunscreen and insect repellant off of me. After a thorough examination of my body, no mosquito bites are detected. Whew!!!
I wish I had been so lucky with that bug bite in Singapore. Oh, yeah. I still need to post about Singapore.
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