Well, we have another member of the team now ... Lee ... a great lady from Qld, who is working with BM at CHIA ... and is moving into Fawlty Towers with us next week ... which may be a little come down from the Hoi An Hotel (it has a pool) .... we have a little work to do on Lee's pushie to get it up to our standard (ie Horn, mirror and battery light) ... but she will get great for our team.
So we've just had two days off work, and head back in tomorrow ... and decided to make the most of it ... we need to start doing things, because our time is going so quickly. Booked a lantern making tour (on pushie) yesterday ... so off the three of us went at 9.00 am with our tour guide (forget his name now ... but it isn't Fee, Fi, Foe or Fum, cause they all work here) ... And, yes it was warm yesterday ... 100 metres down the road, and we were all dripping again ... and by the time we got to the village (which was quite close actually) .. we were feeling the heat .... the "factory" is open air, wouldn't quite make OH&S in any other country, but they welcomed us with open arms and lots of bits n pieces that we were supposed to organise, stretch, glue and form a lantern .... Was so much fun, I must have been the dunce of the class, because I got lots of help ... and it still looks horrible. We decided that we would go again another day and we would all get better with each new lantern, and that a big one would be easier than a little one. We asked the wages that were paid to the girls who were teaching us .... and converted, is $43 a month ... a MONTH .... and they work more than 5 days a week, more than 10 hours a day.
Not content with our lanterns, we asked if our guide could take us to a pottery making village. YES, he said ... It's 10.30 by now ... we didn't think ... AGAIN ... it's hot ... and getting hotter and we are on the pushies ... and the pottery village is on the other side of town .... Sometimes we are just completely daft .... We peddle past labourers putting up cement type walls ... and are informed that these ladies earn about $5 aussie / day ... which is quite good wage !! ??
So back down the lane we head, and there's a calf running wild on the path ....terror strikes our hearts ... which one of us is it going to take out ??? .... None of course, the cow owner brings it back under control by throwing a brick at it ... Well that worked ... Cow subdued ... we peddle past safely, but have hit so many pot holes that our tyres are now deflating fast and it's getting tougher to peddle ... then a truck comes down the lane, and we all have to head bush (it's smelly in the bush) .... but onwards and upwards .... finally get back to town ... have to go through town and out the other side ... and k's further to the pottery village ...
Tyres pumped up (1.000 dong each thank you .... about 8 cents) ... we travel faster, until the girl on the pushie in front of me loses her load of loilet paper ... thank god I saw it, and was able to weave through, didn't even have to take feet from pedals .... Finally get to village, with sore backsides, tongues hanging out of our heads like panting dogs ... and in we go .... mud floor, just a family living on the river bank .... in a hut / home with everyone from baby to gr-grandma there to welcome us .... gr-grannie decides to show off and show her pottery skills ... but has to get grand-daughter to kick start the pottery wheel..... I kid you not ... its round wood on the ground .... grannie sits on a stump of wood, with granddaughter keeping the wheel going - like a one footed running machine ... no electricity at all .... and grannie makes the most amazing little jars and bottles in no time at all.
Big Mumma's turn next - they all laugh, and produce a higher wooden stool for me. Cheryl tries to kick start the wheel, but it doesn't get past first gear. Eventually am proud of my little creation ( I remembered after all these years) .. so covered in mud ... grannie gives me a hug (kindred spirits) .. well she tries to hug me but her little arms don't quite reach all the way round me! Hmmm am i still putting on weight ???
So after the token purchases, we need Coke and ICE ... badly ... so take off behind our guide to the nearest "beer" umbrella on the side of the road, pull up our little plastic chairs (these ones had arms, and I'm having difficulty squeezing bum between arms) .. and guzzled down coke in about 10 seconds flat ....
Lee takes us to her hotel, and we fall into the pool to cool off ... our core temp is about 45 degrees by now ... and the little pool boy ... stands above and offers coctails ... YES please ... with ICE ... lovely couple of hours there ... but needing nanna naps badly by this stage .. and head home, thoroughly exhausted, sunburnt and have had a great old day .... Get home and take the thermometer from our room to the front verandah again ... and it goes from 20 degrees to 50 degrees again .... in about 5 minutes ....
Need to upload the sweaty photos of lantern making ... and will leave todays Danang visit to Miss Cheryl ........
5.54 pm Tuesday night - downstairs in Hotel ... still raining outside .... and its very pleasant at the moment ... and for the first time in many weeks, I am NOT perspiring, which is such a relief, and today, I have only worn one set of cothese, as opposed to the usual two or three .... thank goodness washing is cheap ... 10 000 dong / kilo (PS 15 300 dong to $1 AUD)
OK time for food ... love to all at home .... BM and Cheryl & Lee
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