fish market and more

Good morning!  As usual, I am out of bed early, and having checked morning messages and social media and such. I am turning to the blog before joining our hosts for breakfast.  More of Vietnam to come, but I wanted to mix in the current vacation.  So… yesterday!

Our goal yesterday was to visit a fish market south of here to find something for lunch.  After breakfast (and some time giving the dogs some love),

we set out south with J-J.  He drove us past the market and to a village called Samaesan so that we could have a little walk around.

The village isn’t a noteworthy one for tourism.  No shops filled with souvenirs lining the streets.  It’s simply a fishing village with a very light smattering of tourism (scuba excursions, a few holiday rentals).  J-J wanted us to see local life, so we strolled down from the temple where we parked, along a main road, wandered out on a pier, and headed over to another temple complex.  We stopped to take photos and grabbed some water at the end but otherwise just strolled and mildly peppered J-J with questions.

The market came next.  One on each side of the road.  J-J had a preference, but we went through both.  Squid is the big catch around here, but we saw plenty of crabs (too much work to cook and eat, so we didn’t buy any) and shrimp as well.  And then there were all the shellfish:  clams and cockles and scalloped and various sea snails in swirled or spiked shells.  I love seeing all of the market produce.  Scallops caught our eye first, lovely pink shells.  Vanda likes squid, so we bought three of those.  J-J prefers fish, so we also came home with a whole snapper.  A successful shop.

Lunch was all of that seafood plus some shrimp.  

Most of it went on the grill, but Vanda broiled the scallops.  The squid was chopped into pieces after being cooked, and we dipped them into a green sauce so replete with raw garlic that I am tasting it 18 hours later.  The fish and the scallops were my favourites, though.  We had a cheese board and a blueberry cake and two bottle of wine, and you had better believe that I needed a nap after all that.  Our hosts are so generous and wonderful, but Conrad and I will looking forward to the next part of the vacation when we can control our eating much more.

Post-nap, we headed all together to a couple of stores in Pattaya,  J-J and Vanda thought we might find postcards there, but no luck.  We did, however, buy some durian, and I will get to enjoy that stinky fruit this morning.  

Dinner was a huge steak grilled at home, and bedtime was early again.

Conrad and I shall pack this morning and say goodbye to this lovely home and our friends.  On to Chiang Mai!

visiting libraries in Vietnam, day two

Day two of visiting libraries in Vietnam was our easy day for libraries but a loooong day overall.  I’ve already posted about the travel to Ho Chi Minh City in the afternoon and evening last Wednesday.  The morning, though, was devoted to a meeting at the National Economic University in Hanoi

and the hosts led by Ms Bui Thi Sen, Director of the Information and Library Center.

I will definitely talk about the facility for this library, but first, I have to say that, after a first day of meetings where we were getting our sea legs, so to speak, this was an easier conversation.  Again, that’s not a reflection of the hosts on the first day by any stretch.  I think that on the second day our delegation was relaxing into how the conversations might go and feeling more comfortable with engaging.  We had a nice amount of time with the library team, and we managed to move beyond AI and into other topics.  If I remember correctly, it was with this meeting that we started experiencing more discussion of staff development, and I was glad for having Denelle with us so that we could draw on her expertise.

Now let’s talk about that facility.  My gosh, what a fantastic place.  That staircase!  Wow!  A well-used space, too.  

But what blew us away was the president’s room.  Used for special occasions and photo sessions, it was magnificent.  

Imagine having something like that in my library.  That would be something.  What a treat to visit the university and see their space, and how good to talk with our colleagues there.

From the university it was back to the hotel to retrieve luggage and the spouses, and then on to lunch.  Ah, lunch.  A weird place with a kind of cafe on the sixth floor along with six floors of shopping.  And they really encouraged the shopping!  I did buy two chocolate bars, and I can’t say that the one we’ve already eaten was all that good.  Ah well.  Nice views and decent pho, but something of a tourist trap.  I never did get the name of it.

Airport, flight, dinner, hotel.  A last day of library visits, this time in Ho Cho Minh City, was still to come.

a museum and more

Monday evening in Sattahip as I write this.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Although I will likely post this on Tuesday in Thailand, so perhaps belated happy Thanksgiving.  Conrad and I are relaxing in bed after dinner and before lights out, so what perfect time to check in.

I was up early as usual, before 6AM, and I headed out to the common room for hellos and coffee.  No one was around, however, and I eventually came back to our part of the villa to blog a while.  Conrad got up, we joined everyone for breakfast, and planned the day.  A boat trip was not to be, alas, due to the high tide and water conditions following the overnight storm.  That being the case, J-J took us to the Sanctuary of Truth Museum.  Resembling a Buddhist temple, it is a glorious structure, all of wood.  Beautifully carved, still in process, a challenge to maintain.  

The funny thing is that it is not actually a temple.  Maybe a place for contemplation, but it’s really a tourist attraction at heart, and we were mandated to wear helmets inside and for Conrad and J-J to don some pants because their shirts were disrespectfully short.

Just the same, though, we had time to wander and take shots after the obligatory guided tour group was done.  Better still, from the time we arrived to the time we finished the tour, skies were turning blue.  A fine morning for seeing it.

We were home by 1:00, in good time for Vanda to have a very satisfying lunch for us.  An assortment of things to fill betel leaf pouches and a pomelo and dried shrimp salad to start.  I think pomelo may be one of my new favourite things.  That and longkong, a very tasty fruit with a nice balance of sweet and sour.  Vanda also had a duck curry, rice, and vegetables saiteed with shrimp.  And wine!  A huge meal, a filling meal.

While we ate lunch, the rain came on along with thunder.  So much for an afternoon dip in the pool.  Conrad and I retested to our space and napped a goodly while instead.

We rejoined the others after 5, darkness coming on.  There was much discussion of dinner options before we settled on pizza at a nearby place in their town.  

Yes, we had non-Thai food.  The people here do like eating other cuisines, after all.  The pizza was fine, the salads were alright, the wine was decent.  It was a fine enough meal, and perhaps a welcome break from all of the SE Asian cuisine before we re-immerse ourselves in the days ahead.

Tomorrow promises more rain at times, and we think exploring markets will be in the works.  A last full day with our lovely hosts, and then on to the fourth stop on this trip.