The day started with the Ideal Hotel breakfast buffet. No eggs for me today, but Vietnamese bread, fruit, and some tasty Vietnamese morsels such as banh xeo (A type of crepe made out of rice flour with turmeric, shrimps with shells on, slivers of fatty pork, sliced onions, and sometimes button mushrooms), spring rolls, and tofu, and coffee, tepid at best.

Mr. Tranh and a new driver for today showed up again at 8:30 this AM to start the day's adventure. There was supposed to be a Vietnamese woman from Hoi An, a travel agent, joining me, but the Intrepid Tour office in Hanoi made a big mistake and booked her at the Hotel Victoria in Hoi An instead of Hue. Seems as if the woman didn't even realize she was not in the right city - I would not want her for a travel agent. We headed out of Hue to the region of the Tam Giang lagoon, passing flooded rice fields and scattered burial site areas. As we neared the ocean sand dunes appeared which we drove next to, finally arriving in a small village. We turned off the road onto a lane (like a big bicycle path) and then left again onto a similar lane, drove over some drying fishing nets and then onto a dirt path to arrive at the last house. We passed a boat that sort of looked like a canoe lying on its side, made of metal. I was informed that boats like that were made from an unused bombs. After the usual shoe removal and donning of the sandals provided, we were greeted by the house with some warm green tea. After a bit of refreshing in very new and well kept bathroom facilities, the bicycles appeared.

(Mr. Tranh and five of his friends own the tour company. The home belongs to the family of one of the other business partners. The company has invested much money to upgrade the home's facilities and hope to use it in the future for a home stay.)

Mr. Tranh, the driver, and I got on our bicycles and set off through the village. The first stop was at the home of a woman to see how rice is threshed manually. The first step is to put it into this machine that separates the rice from its husk. This involves manually turning the grinder. I watched the woman (in her late 50's) do this effortlessly and then tried it myself. It required greater effort than would appear and I had great difficulty just getting one cycle completed. Then the rice is placed on a sifter to separate the grains from the husks. The husks are used to either feed the animals or burned and the ashes are used for fertilizer. Once this is done then the grains go into another machine where one pounds them with a thick piece of wood for polishing. This all is done manually for hours on end by the women and requires great effort. I left with tremendous respect for how hard this work is and that is added onto the responsibilities that never end with taking care of the home and family.

We then rode out toward the ocean and stopped at a new kindergarten that is being built. I planted a small sapling in the sand dunes provided by Mr. Tranh. It looked as if about ten had been planted before mine. I believe this is part of his company providing community support and engaging the customers.

We rode through area after area filled with tombs and referred to as the City of Ghosts by Mr. Tranh. Many of these are the tombs of parents of boat people. There are simple mounds of earth in a round concrete enclosure, unadorned - parents of boat people lost at sea. And there are elaborate sites, one reputed to have cost $70,000 - that have been constructed by boat people who have been successful abroad and have built these memorials to their deceased parents. This was just an amazing area and one of many such similar sites.e

We arrived at the beach which was strewn with litter washed up from the sea. The sea was somewhat rough and while I had the opportunity to go swimming, the whole scene was not very inviting so I passed. We returned to our host's home for lunch. I ate alone while the other men ate in the other room. It was a multicourse meal with typical Vietnamese dishes including fish, shrimp, spring rolls, and fruit. After lunch it was Vietnamese siesta time and I guess I took a little unplanned snooze on the bamboo lounge chair.

I had been given some information that I would be providing an English lesson in the afternoon and when I awoke the students had arrived - three 14 year old boys. They provided me with their book and the lesson to listen to a conversation in English. I took the task seriously and read aloud to them and then asked each to read back to me and helped them when necessary. We did the next lesson also. The stories had rather complex English words. After I attempted to engage them in conversation which was more difficult, athough they did better if I wrote the questions down. One of three was quite good with his English and seemed very bright and wants to be a doctor. The second boy was also good and wants to be teacher. The third did okaty, but seemed as if he did not work as hard as the others and when asked what he wants to be when he is older, his answer was "rich." I tried to explain the English term/concept that money does not grow on trees or fall from the sky which I think they got. We all did some photos after and they rode off on their bicycles.

Next we walked out to a fishing boat,. Mr. Tranh and I pnly donned life jackets. We climbed onto the boat and went out into the lagoon. Each fisherman has his area where he has fishing nets and fish traps set. We watched how the fish traps were checked and saw various fish, eels, and crabs get dumped into the bottom of the boat. Each fisherman goes out three times a day to check his sites. The fish are used by the family and, if there are enough, taken to the local market. Middlemen come to the local market to take fish back to Hue.

Once the fishing was completed we went back to the house, said our good-byes and departed for Hue. As it was only about 3:30 and I was a bit frustrated that the tour had omitted some key sites in Hue, in particular other tombs of the Emperors. I was able to negotiate with Mr. Tranh and after driving back to Hue we drove out of town the other way and visited what is supposed to be the best of the tombs, that of Emperor Minh Mang, a staunch follower of Confucianism with many wives, concubines and a small army of children. He designed his own tomb which is laid out in the shape of a person bathed in water, but three months after construction began he died. I am so glad I was able at least to visit this one. Mr. Tranh said most of the other tombs were not in a good state of repair, but I would have been happy to have visited those as well.

Back to Hue. I went to a restaurant next door to the hotel, walked around a bit, and then back to the hotel to end the evening.