Typhoon Haiyan

Well we dodged a bullet.  Typhoon Haiyan, the biggest superstorm in recorded history blasted through the Phillippines destroying thousands of homes and lives and we were right in the firing line. The Vietnamese government mobilised 20,000 troops in readiness to cope with the expected damage when it crossed our shores, and the forecast was for it to still be a category 1 when it hit Hải Phòng. Katie and I bought candles, and I pulled out my torch in readiness for the inevitable blackout...

The staff padded and barricaded the big glass doors down in the foyer...

and we buckled down for the night... waiting...waiting...and all we got was a severe thunder storm in the wee small hours!  Next morning there was some wind damage - trees and signs blown over, but that's about all!

So blessed - The Philippines have been devastated with thousands of lives lost. Central Việt Nam copped more flooding (the third time in the last few months), but in spite of the satellite pictures showing the eye of the storm passing directly over us, it obviously downgraded much more quickly than predicted. We didn't even have a blackout!  Worried family and friends at home were very relieved when Katie reported in on facebook when we woke up this morning!

Everything had been shut down for the day in anticipation of a huge clean-up, so it was holiday mode for many people... We photographed these boys playing on the sand heaps down by the river, while the excavator operated close by.

Our trip to Tuyền and Tiến's home towns had been postponed, so Katie and I had a free day too. We were delighted when Thảo and Tiến dropped by for a visit...

Thảo returned to Hải Phòng, for she wants to live closer to her family. so now she is job hunting again, but she has interviews lined up. Tiến will graduate in a few months, then he'll be off to sea, so every time we get to spend with these dear friends is precious.

Later in the afternoon I got a call from Hiếu to say that he and Hải were coming over with gifts from their respective home towns!  Katie spotted them when they arrived, so she called down to Hiếu to "Look up!!" So he did  haha.

   

   

Two new taste sensations. I liked them both...Katie was a little dubious...

Hải tucked in, but Hiếu doesn't like either of these kinds of 'rice cakes'!

We enjoyed a hilarious session of Tenzi, then the guys took us out for fried rice at one of their favourite places...

 This version has the rice fried and the bits added rather than tossed through.

After dinner we rode round for a bit and ended up near the Cenotaph for a cool drink and sunflower seeds...

An infinitely better outcome for the-day-after-the-typhoon than it could have been...