3. Market Routine and a Complimentary Hotel Room Shoot
Day 4
It has become already my morning routine – going to the market and stocking up on water, salad ingredients and delicious fresh tofu – definitely more delicious than the supermarket tofu I can buy in Australia. And a block of 100-150g is just 5000 Vietnamese Dong – that is around AUD $0.30. I felt brave today and negotiated with a couple of sellers leading in one case to a 25% price reduction for sweet mini bananas. I can truly say it was a success because my host let me know that even she doesn't get those bananas for the same price as I did. ;-)
The rest of the day was mainly editing the images from the night before and the ones I took of the hotel around noon to help my hosts getting better picture for social media and booking portals. I probably won't be able to take advantage of the free bicycle renting I was promised but that's okay – I am grateful that I have a skill set that enables me to help them out. They are so kind and hospitable. I sat down with the owner today on tiny kids stools around a kids table in the foyer and he encouraged me to eat a custard apple and after that another one and some fruit looking and tasting similar to lychee (edit: I figured it out: it is a fruit called longan). I only know my hosts for less than 4 days but we have already such a good connection and every time I come downstairs to leave the hotel I have a quick chat with one of them about something.
Every day there are 1-2 hours of light to medium rain, usually in the early afternoon. Today the rain shower was delayed but therefore it came with a bit of thunder and lightning. I didn't have to leave the hotel anymore so I didn't mind, closed the curtains and watched Netflix. I have a half year of travel, I don't need to be super productive 'round the clock. And that is actually a very relaxing thought.
