We spent the day wandering up and down the road past the resort. We never saw any real wildlife in Vietnam, but there were plenty of domestic animals to see and today was no exception, with all sorts of encounters along the roadside. It seemed that every animal had babies as well - baby chickens, piglets, puppies, kittens, buffalo calves.
The suspension bridge to the resort
Along the road we passed a tea factory. There were no workers when we were there, but two women invited us to sit down for tea. Ryan and I each tried a tiny cupful to be polite, but the Brit was in his element. Afterwards, we weren't really sure whether we were expected to pay for the drink, but looking questioningly at the women and asking "money?" only resulted in shaking heads. Given the complete lack of English in the village, we were expecting some kind of agitation or demand for payment as we walked away, but it never came.
Further along we also came across two women fishing in the river. At least, we think they were fishing - they were wearing gumboots and walking through the water, presumably stirring the bottom with their boots, and dragging nets behind. We later asked our guide what they were catching - the answer was "whatever gets in the net" (likely small fish and freshwater shrimp).
After lunch at the resort, we walked in the other direction towards a bigger town. We passed some women embroidering on the front porch of their house. On the return trip, the few items they had displayed outside had magically multiplied and they were clearly hoping for a sale. The Brit ended up bargaining for some embroidered purses for his grandkids (no mean feat with absolutely no common language between the them).
We also passed one slightly disconcerting sign directed towards tourists visiting local houses. It listed a number of rules, including instructions not to cook cat or dog meat in the stove, and not to bring snakes into the house.
Our tour included a complimentary herbal bath back at the resort, and despite reserving times at the beginning of the day, the three of us all ended up being scheduled for the same time-slot . We were lead into a steamy bathhouse which had several large half barrels sunk into the floor. These were filled with hot water strained through a concoction of herbs. It was like having a bath in a giant cup of tea, and I had to resist the temptation to have a taste. While we were soaking, there was a French family having massages - at one point I opened my eyes to be confronted by a topless middle-aged woman sitting upright directly across from me while she had her neck massaged. Needless to say, I closed them again rather quickly.
As we prepared to get out, the Brit got up first to have a cold rinse-off under the shower. He did the male thing of thinking he could figure out all the taps and dials without asking for help - this resulted in a spray of cold water shooting directly out over me in my tub (which happened to be the closest to the shower). The massage-girls were horrified and rushed over to shut off the water. I'm sure it only reinforced the Frenchies impression of us as uncultured cretins...
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