I meet Tea and Sinh for breakfast. It is pouring down this morning and I have to break out the coat from my rucksack. As I start walking I get about 100m and my coat is soaked, the remaining water just runs off the bottom of my coat and on to my shorts. Brilliant. By the time I get to the hotel for breakfast I am like a drowned rat! I sit down anyway and the guys order me up some noodle dish, which was fantastic, with some coffee. The rain is still beating it down, partially flooding the outside area we are sitting in.
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In a brief gap in the rain Tea and I get our ponchos on and jump on her bike to head to the market. She takes me to a building within the market and tells me this is where the local people shop. So it's up on to the first floor where it is floor to ceiling with stuff. The walkway is barely large enough to let two people pass each other. Luckily having my Vietnamese guide ensures that I don't have to deal with women assaulting me. We check out a few places, when they don't have what I want they disappear somewhere and come back carrying big bags of shorts and start showing me. It is hard to get ones made of thin material, that is what I am looking for, something light. Eventually after much trying I get a pair I'm happy with, Tea negotiates a goo price for me and we are on our way. We walk through the food area and see plenty of stalls selling the same stuff, all beckoning us to come over and buy something. Tea drops me back to my hotel after some coffee and I relax and watch a bit of tv.
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I head out for dinner and pick a nice little spot by the river and order up some Vietnamese dumplings with a couple of local beers. Nice place to be sitting as the sun sets in the distance and day turns to night. I head out to one of the bars in the centre of old town. Of course there is a pool table, which gives me a good chance to get involved an meet people. I meet Dung and Long, two Vietnamese and Brad and Christina from Australia. We play doubles for most of the night and then Brad, Kristina and myself head to Why Not? three of us, on the back of a Moto! That was cosy! When we get to the bar the guys tell me they have no money, so I decide to sponsor them. I reckon you can always tell after meeting someone if they are good for it. Hopefully I won't be wrong. Some more killer before the bike ride home at 4. I can't wake they guy at the hotel tonight, so I have to climb over the fence and in the door. He wakes with a start. Scared out of his skin when he sees me, I show him my room key and he goes back to sleep, and I retreat to my room.
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Before I go to my room I have a look out over the balcony. I see what looks like a cat, but when It starts moving, it's clear it's not a cat. It's a rat. The largest rat I have ever seen. It doesn't even run, just lilts along, he knows he is a bad ass! Hopefully there are none in my hotel, as I count about 8 of the beasts.