We had a lazy start to the day. Jessie’s scrambled eggs are getting better and better so a leisurely breakfast was followed by an equally leisurely outing to the Nha Trang Oceanography Museum and Aquarium.
Jessie was not enthusiastic about visiting a “museum” much like her father complained about “rotten old ruins” as a boy. However, she was soon enthralled with many of the exhibits and, especially, with the aquarium.
The Museum is amongst the leading marine research institutions in South East Asia and has a substantial collection of marine species and Vietnam archipelago history.
The entrance hall has a virtually complete skeleton of a hump-back whale which was discovered in 1994, about 1.2 metres below the surface by some workmen digging.
The girls found the aquarium enthralling – lots of different species of fish and, the coup de grace, a tunnel where the fish swim all around you.
Afterwards, it was back to our “luxury” apartments for lunch and a swim. Even I emersed myself in one of the three pools.
It was Penny’s turn to choose our dinner eatery and she made an excellent choice – a vegan restaurant called Phyto. It was about a fifteen-minute walk from our apartments and it was absolutely first-class. A bit crowded, which is always a good sign, so we squeezed around a table for four and had a vegan feast. Delicious. And the gentle sàn bù along the beach after dinner was splendid. Sadly, no time to visit the Paradise Club.
A very lazy day, our last full day in Nha Trang. We all start our journeys home tomorrow so it was largely a matter of gathering our bits and pieces and trying to determine how far overweight we were. Not just us but our bags as well. Adam, Penny and the girls went swimming and we wandered around the neighbourhood supermarket – me looking for something to eat, Penny looking for some last-minute gifts for folks back home. I “think” we’re going to squeeze everything in and fingers crossed that our various travel arrangements work out smoothly. At least dinner for tonight is sorted – we’re at the Stockholm Bistro for an encore visit.
We were all up at 05.00 ready for our 07.00 taxi/minibus to the airport. Adam, Ava and the girls are heading back to Guangzhou and then, after an overnight in a hotel, the fast train to Liuzhou where Ava’s folks live. We’re heading back to Bangkok for an overnighter before our flight back to the UK via Doha the following afternoon.
Our flight to Bangkok was fine and we soon found our way to the Chillax Hotel in the Khao San district. It was very nice for an overnighter with an excellent pool on the roof with views all over the city. On her explorations Penny found the Olive Kitchen, probably the best Italian restaurant we’ve enjoyed so far. The salmon with homemade pesto was excellent. Back home to bed and a leisurely start to the next day as we commence our journey home.
Next time, one last day in Bangkok, a river cruise, more shopping and a long, long flight back to the UK.
We’ve had a bit of excitement this week which I suspect both Penny and I would have been happy to miss. On Thursday afternoon Penny suddenly developed some excruciating pain in her abdomen. The 999 operator took all our details and then said it would be at least an hour before an ambulance could turn up so we carefully and with some difficulty managed to get her into the car. A dash into Banbury A&E where they took her straight in. The diagnosis was a breach in her digestive system somewhere so they organised an ambulance to take her to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where they would open her up the following morning.
The surgery revealed a duodenal ulcer with a tiny breach. Thankfully, they were able to patch the leak using a bit of spare fat which happened to be floating about. She had a very rough few days, the roughest part of which was being without food or liquid from Thursday morning through until about Tuesday lunchtime! Sleeping was more or less out of the question due to the noisy discussions occurring more or less non-stop and the constant barrage of beeps and chirps from the various monitoring devices amongst her fellow inmates in the ward. I was able to get in to see her each afternoon thanks to our Nick and some of our lovely neighbours who took Daisy for her afternoon walks and gave her some dinner each day. I was finally able to secure her release on Wednesday late afternoon and we came back to marvellous Moreton Pinkney to a superb supper prepared by Nick.
So, like her anaphylactic episode with the wasp, another exciting adventure we could do without. She’s under strict orders not to do too much but, as you might imagine, good luck with that!
I ran across an article the other day listing fourteen novels which will change your world! Thinking, “Yes! I think the world could do with a bit of a change at the moment,” I glanced through the list to see which ones I had read and which ones I needed to look out for. I was pretty proud of myself for having read eleven of them. Looking forward to my world being changed when I finish the other three.
Finally, the weather has been, generally, pretty grand. Just a couple of cool, overcast days but mainly pretty decent with a goodly bit of sunshine. Penelope’s garden always looks good, but in the lovely weather it’s looking outstanding. Enjoy a few photos . . .
Finally, Happy Mother’s Day to those of you to whom it applies. What would we do without them?
And finally, finally, my sister Sallie has her birthday today – she’s just a bit older than me. Also, I need to wish our eldest, Ben, a Happy Birthday for yesterday. Many, many happy returns for the both of them.
Meanwhile, keep breathing, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg
Stunning garden – stunning photos. Thanks, Gregory.