Day 13 and 14

Day 13 - Administrative Day
So today was spent taking care of things that I needed to take care of, so not a lot of big stories today.

I actually had pho for breakfast today. It was pretty good, but since we're kind of inundated with pho in the states, it wasn't spectacular. However, this restaurant did throw in a raw egg. I can see how a fried egg might be cool, but the yolky stuff didn't work with pho.

Went to the dentist for a cleaning, picked up my suits, which look great, and then chilled. Jess's clothes were finished late, so to kill some time, we headed over to the third major temple on Water Mountain. We didn't actually go into the temple, since you have to go up a bajillion stairs. We stayed on the ground and visited one of Jess' auntie's relatives who was a stone sculpture. He and his family were so gracious that it was hard NOT to buy anything from them, AND they gave us wholesale prices. I thought it was hilarious that the moment they found that Jess was a relative from the states, they automatically pulled out the "good stuff" that they hid from the tourists and foreigners who came through (apparently, they sell foreigners overpriced stuff that aren't real jade or other stones).

These sculptures are incredibly talented. They make all of their pieces by hand, and the level of detail that goes into each statue is amazing. I don't know if everyone is really good like Jess' long lost uncle, but his pieces were fantastic.

For dinner, we took my uncle's family out for some pizza, since his oldest daughter was really curious. We went to a place called Mr. Pizza, where they serve all kinds of Italian food, so we also got chicken alfredo and lasagna with meat. They loved the chicken alfredo more than anything else. I don't think they're as into the pizza itself.

After dinner we walked around Da Nang for a bit in search of desserts. Along the way, we bought all of the girls stuffed animals...HUGE stuffed animals. Tuyet, the 4-year-old loved it. She was super happy and smiling.

We got to a milktea place and put in our orders, of course, we play speed. They LOVE speed here, and it's a team sport. Normally, you're only supposed to play it 1-on-1, but they all circle up around the table and start pulling cards from each other hands to play them or flipping cards to keep the game going.

They wanted to keep playing speed when we got home, but we were so tired we just went to bed. Jess said she was going to try actually get up with me to go to the beach. We'll see how that goes.

Day 14 - A day at the beach! Snorkeling and suntans
Jess didn't wake up. Wasn't surprised. She hasn't gotten up early for the beach since we first got to Da Nang. It's also not surprising because she's a beast when she goes shopping, and she won't rest until she gets home, where she passes out like Snorlax.

After another mi quang breakfast though, which was better than the first place, we were picked up by Da Nang Beach Tours for our day out. They took us to a smaller private beach and took us around the bay in Da Nang in a speed boat to show us some of the natural formations. We then went to an even smaller beach, where some bungalows had been built out of bamboo and where we had brunch. Brunch consisted of banh cuon, fruits, and Da Lat wine. The wine was like grape water.

Since this particular beach was pretty rocky, we didn't really swim. Instead, we skipped rocks and Jess looked for shells to take home. After brunch was done, we all loaded back into the boat and headed over to deeper waters, where we snorkeled. It was amazing, since I had never been snorkeling in waters that I couldn't stand in. There were coral reefs everywhere, and small fish were swimming in and out of the little nooks and crannies.

After snorkeling, we had lunch, which was provided by the tour folks in a restaurant back at the beach. We had chicken, grilled fish, bok choy, egg cakes, soup, and rice. The meal was okay, but the weird part was that the French table next to us kept staring at us. One of the women in that group then stands up, calls over the waitress, and starts walking her around our table pointing out the dishes that she wanted to order. Apparently, since the menu was all in Vietnamese, they had no idea how to order. Aside from being really awkward, I thought it was really rude, but we all felt kinda bad for them, so we didn't give them that hard of a time. We also laughed at each other because all of us developed very noticeable tan lines from spending a lot of time in the sun.

After lunch, Jess and I taught my cousins how to play bullshit. If you thought they loved speed, watch them play BS.

After such a busy day, I rested until we went over to my cousin's place for a homemade meal. My aunt made chicken salad, beef, and rice porridge. There was also some corned beef that my gramps brought from the states. We ate until we were full, and then we played BS. We didn't stay too long though, since the girls start school tomorrow.

When I got home, I visited my paternal grandmother one more time, since it was my last night here. We took pictures and made arrangements for them to come with us to the train station tomorrow to see us off.

Tomorrow we leave Da Nang and head to Tuy Hoa. I'll definitely miss my family here. They made Da Nang a lot of fun for me.