Hoi An orphanage

Sunday evening after taking the kids bowling, we headed to An Bang beach for some cabana and cocktail time with Carrie (friend of Jen's from GVN back in the day).  We were joined by Mai and her older daughter Ginger and her nephew Bill (pronounced Bee-ew).  Bill's little brother was left at home, his name is Gates (pronounced Gee-etz).  Yes, that is correct.  Their American names are Bee-ew and Gee-etz...named after the Microsoft mogul for luck and prosperity.  Hilarious!  We then enjoyed a nice dinner with Mr Tuan and his family at GODA, a very lovely restaurant in Hoi An.  We sat outside and the kids ran around the lawn and we had a nice meal.

We covertly stayed in Carrie's hotel that night after cocktails at the beach and with dinner (no motorbike back to Da Nang).  In the morning we had lovely Vietnamese cafe sua dai and bahn mi opla at a little cafe in Hoi An, then headed to the Hoi An orphanage.  Carrie does a lot of work with this orphanage and has provided a lot of supplies to them, helped them purchase window shades to prevent the baby room from being >100 degrees, and diapers for the handicapped kids.  We played several games of Chutes and Ladders with a sweet kid in the physical therapy room and walked up and down stairs with another cutie with cerebral palsy practicing his mobility.  The physical therapist is a really neat guy and does amazing things with the kids.

After a few hours with the kids, we headed for a massage with Mai and Tam at the Hoi An Pacific Hotel and then lunch with Mai at her house.  It is customary for people to leave work in the middle of the day to go home for lunch and a nap...no wonder Jen loved it here!  We had an amazing meal of shrimp, fish, rice, and morning glory.  Mai even bought us a few cold beers!  Lunch managed to go until about 4pm, so Jen and I decided to call it a day and hopped on the motorbike back to Da Nang.  We sat on the roof of the apartments, did laundry, and watched the thunderstorm out over the water.  So relaxing.  Jen even chased down the Bon Bau guy when we heard his speaker from his bike cruising the neighborhood...but to no avail.  Turned out to be a different Vietnamese street snack...sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves.  That and a cold beer constituted our dinner and the laundry got done!  Quite productive by vacation standards!