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Other entries in Hoi An

Best. Connect. Four. Player. Ever.

Slept in again, since Miss Vy's doesn't run a cooking class today, and then went to the market to buy some cheap toys - some power ranger action figures and a fishing game - to take to the Hoi An Orphanage, where I spent the majority of my day hanging out with the kids there.  Almost all of the kids have some form of disability ("special needs") and were abandoned by their parents once they discovered the impairment.  I spent the majority of my time with an 11 year old boy named Tuan, who has cerebral palsy.  He doesn't have much control of his arms and legs, but he speaks perfect English, learned from school but also from hanging out with visiting tourists (mostly backpackers - there were six Australian girls there while I was there today).  Tuan has a fantastic personality and is really smart - we played three games of Connect Four (his favorite game) and he won twice and we tied once, and I was actually trying to win!  He was hilarious - after I would put a piece in that would result in his victory, he would say "Thank you" before putting his winning piece in the board.  The game is a good one for him because he can handle the pieces with his clenched fists ok - I imagine he would be excellent at chess if he had a board where the pieces wouldn't be easily knocked down.  He and the other kids loved the toys I brought, and we lined the action figures up and the kids took turns rolling a ball down the floor to knock them down.  I think when I get back to the states, I will send the orphanage a box of toys and stuff from the states for kids with disabilities - a lot of the stuff they have is either for really little kids or babies, even though there are 65 kids, many of which are older than 10.

When it was their meal time, I left and had lunch myself at the Cargo Club - just a slice of pizza and a mango fruit shake (smoothie), then walked around town taking photos, as it was the first sunny day in a while.  I "chartered" a boat for an hour - which means I paid about $2 US to have a woman drive me around the river in her boat, and enjoyed the weather and breeze and took more photos.  Got back and picked up the rest of my clothes and a few souveniers for friends and family, and then returned to the hotel to pack them up.  I took a bath, read some more of my book (The Quiet American), which I am really enjoying, and then played around on the internet for a bit checking sports scores and email and news.

For dinner, I went to a restaurant in town called Hong Phuc that makes a mean steamed snapper in banana leaf with lemongrass and garlic sauce, and then walked around town to see every shopowner setting out a little shrine with incense, fruit, candles, flowers, and other little things - I guess this happens on certain nights every month, and it was nice walking down streets that often smell like fish and petrol and instead smelling incense and lavender and chrysanthamum. 

Tomorrow, I fly back to Bangkok and then on the 20th, meet my group of fellow travelers as we embark on our camping and kayaking and rock climbing tour of southern Thailand - can't wait!

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