Archived post from our February 2007 trip
Robert here. The internet connection is slow today, and I'm likely to get booted, so briefly and without pix . . .
It's Sunday afternoon. Up early again. After breakfast, I left Ilene to work and I hit the streets and ended up walking for about 4 1/2 hours. I headed west in the direction of the backpacker's ghetto and wandered through a lot of neighborhoods where I didn't see any other tourists for a long time. While I did that, the constant salesmanship let up -- no one was expecting me to walk by I guess -- but the motorbikes never cease. It's hard to describe much else that would sound interesting here, but every block of everyday life is something vivid and unexpected to me -- buidybuilder's gyms and tenament buildings and school buildings and gas stations and hardware stores and the way people carry everything on their motorbikes. It's all fascinating to observe.
Children of every age are taken as passangers on the motorbikes. They're adorable to see tucked into their parents' laps wearing their masks, but it makes me anxious to see. Today I saw one child about 3 years old who had fallen asleep that way while zipping down the street, his father extending his left arm to prop up the child's head.
In the touristy areas, I bought a few souvenirs. I got something really cool for my nephew Jake, but I'm not sure it will pass customs.
I booked a two-night trip for Ilene and me to Mui Ni beach -- Wed. to Fri. If for some reason you don't hear from us in the next couple days, it will probably be next Sat. before we are in touch.
