(Thursday, June 20)
We didn't hear a peep from the kids until 3:30, when Manimal came in to ask if it was morning because a rooster had crowed again and again and again and again. We told him the rooster was wrong, and we bought another hour of relative quiet and stillness. 

At 5 a.m., we were up and dressing for the beach. We got in a cab by 5:30 and headed to An Bang beach. Us and hundreds of locals. Apparently the locals like a sunrise swim. We believe many come for a morning swim and then head on to work.
It was a beautiful beach. Pretty calm waves, soft sand, and a long stretch with no hotels or anything, just small restaurants, each with their own set of chairs and umbrellas fronting the beach. Picturesque mountains in the distance. At a different time in life, Alli and I might have cozied up on one of those beach chairs and ordered Mai Tai's and pho all day. I don't know, maybe we could have still pulled that off. However, our daring and increasingly skilled swimmers meant that I felt like we needed to keep a close watch and even ideally be right beside them, especially until we knew just how calm the surf was.
By about 6:30 the locals were clearing out, and we had the beach nearly to ourselves.
Manimal found things to treasure lying on the ground all over SE Asia.

We had breakfast at a cafe nearby and then swam a little more.
We had various fresh juices throughout our time in Asia.
The tourists began arriving about 8 a.m. We came back about 10, rinsed off, and took a nap. 


When we got up we went straight to town. I had a 2 p.m. fitting that I headed to first, and Alli and kids met me at Yaly to provide feedback. 
From there, we walked to a late lunch in Old Town. We wandered through the market, bought hats for the kids and "personal fans". 
We took a rickshaw tour after walking around a while
After this, we had a riverside drink, 
Then we joined this group having dinner on the street
Just kidding, we only photographed them. We meandered a little more, had some free shrimp crackers:
And finally returned to our guest house to have our one dinner that was included. Cao Lau (thick rice noodles, pork, greens), more pho I believe, spring rolls, and rice.
We finally had time and wakefulness to do a little journaling
And it was off to bed again, looking forward to learning how to grow and harvest rice.