It rained overnight as forecast and the garden at Loc Phat Homestay & Villa is lush and fragrant. This is by far the most comfortable I’ve been since leaving home. Actually, including home! The room looks like something from a spa retreat, the breakfast was good and plentiful and all for $25 US. I also like the location which is mid-way between the beach and town.
Hoi An….I understand why previous visitors speak so highly of it. It is the most Western of any place I’ve visited to date, so it’s familiar, comfortable, completely geared toward tourists. But authentic Vietnam it is not. And while I am thrilled that it is easy, I am a wee bit disappointed. But hey, I’m drinking the best coffee I’ve had since leaving home and sitting outside in a green garden filled with red Chinese lanterns. 
The train trip from Phan Thiet outside of Mui Ne was a hoot. I shared my compartment with a Vietnamese woman who might have been about my age and also the female train porter who slept on the bunk above me. It appeared that she was on duty because she jumped up at one stop, put on her cap and rushed out to stand on the platform, looking official if a bit disheveled. But for the most part, she slept…
It appeared that she and the other lady knew each other. They sang songs together, shared food (and tried to feed me several times) and talked a lot. They did their best to include me but it was kinda useless, given my ten words of Vietnamese. The best part of all? I slept like a baby for ten hours. There’s nothing like the sounds and sway of a train clickety-clacking to put me back in baby land, no doubt inherited from my dear Dad.
The sun looks like it may make an appearance. Damn…