…in my bit about the waterfall with no water. Well I guess it’s a raging torrent by now. The wet season doesn’t start till the beginning of June – but someone somewhere forgot to tell that to the powers that be. There was a huge storm overnight and another one late this afternoon which is still going on. I guess they’re used to it, but I do feel sorry for the squid fishermen that you can see in the distance – the lights from their little boats are twinkling in a line across the horizon like a diamond necklace. They don’t use nets here – just small boats and fishing lines. Not a lot of fun at any time being out there at night, but with lightning flashing about it’s my idea of hell. It has been really hot the last few days so I suppose this storm has been building up. Yesterday I moved here to the Thien Hai Son Hotel a couple of hundred metres nearer the town than the Seastar. It’s more of a resort hotel than the other place, but I treat myself to a bungalow on the beach. Apparently it’s a Government hotel and there are a collection of bungalows on the beach and in the gardens, with a normal five storey hotel block at the back. The bungalow (I have half of the little semi in the pic), is a bit tired inside and the furniture is "local" style, upright, heavily carved chairs with high gloss varnish. There are a series of heavily swagged yellow satiny curtains, but the bathroom at least has an enclosed shower - a pleasant change from most of the ones I've had here that are not enclosed and just flood the whole bathroom! Every bit of wood - and there's quite a lot - has been varnished to within an inch of its life! It's in a great location – apart from one downside – it appears to be next door to the hotel sewage treatment area. No real problem till the rain started and every so often there is the most ‘orrible whiff… But ignoring that it’s lovely to sit on the verandah looking over the narrow beach out to sea. The hotel has a few Westerner’s staying, but most guests are Asian – a mix of Vietnamese, Koreans and some Chinese. This clientele is reflected in the breakfast….. a huge buffet of various rice dishes and salted eggs, but one sad little toaster that takes about 5 mins to do your toast! I don’t know how many rooms there are but there seem to be quite a few, but in the day there’s no one around. There’s a huge, deserted pool in the middle of the grounds and the beach has loads of empty beach beds – a change from the Seastar where you had to be up early with your towel if you were to beat the German’s to it!
