It's windy in Mui Ne!

Yes, you read correctly, today it was very windy! A good steady blow, dying out somewhat around 2pm (still kite-able, though) and picking back up about 30 minutes later. Mike was on his 12m Helix and custom board, and I was on my 9m Shockwave with my Litewave 133 board. I counted about 40 kites at what seemed to be the busiest part of the day. People here spread out quite a bit, which is nice – you have plenty of room to feel comfortable out there. There seem to be lots of locals kiting and teaching as well, and everyone seems to have a good sense of where they are with respect to other kiters. The beach is quite long and wide enough in most places to safely launch/land. Today the water felt quite warm to me, but maybe that’s because I was workin’ so hard out there!

I had a great day out there – the wind direction is opposite to what it was in Bali, so now I get to practice starting out going the other direction. My first attempt today, it was like I’d done it a hundred times – I was rockin it! Mike was rockin it too, as usual. He’s the coolest. You should see him out there – ziggin and zaggin. We were out for about 4 hours – missed lunch, and got back right before the fresh catch was hauled out for display at Mango, a fantastic restaurant across the street from our home, Nam Khai. I went for a quick, 30-minute back and neck massage at the spa next door to our hotel, and then Mike and I headed over for a lovely dinner: we shared a snapper, rice, and 4 of the biggest prawns I’ve ever seen! Like mini lobsters they were! They make a tasty dipping sauce over here that I’ve never had, but it’s so simple. One part ground black pepper, one part lime juice, stir and dip your prawns! It turns out more like a paste than a sauce, but you can add lime to your liking of course…give it a try! It’s nice on the fish as well.

I can’t say it enough – I’m soooooo relieved that there are better vittles here this time around. Breakfast and lunch are about the same as last time – nothing to write home about, but for dinner, there are many more choices, most of which consist of fresh fish. If given the chance, I’d eat fresh fish for dinner most evenings. I’m so happy to have a happy tummy!

Note: speaking of food, there’s a great Italian & Vietnamese restaurant south of our hotel, on the same side of the street called Before and Now. They have a hand made tagliatelle that is quite nice, very light, and you can order it Arribiata if you like a little spice.

After returning to our room, we promptly got out the ice bags and iced down our backs…these things must be done, you see. Injury prevention people! Ok ok, so maybe we’re getting old….nah, just being pro-active with it.

In other news, we have a resident cat here at Nam Khai, whom I lovingly call Mowser (‘Maow-zer). He is really loving and snuggly and cute and adorable. However, he is also really annoying when you’re drenched in sweat and lying on your yoga mat outside your room while in the middle of a session. He rubbed against my leg and covered me with hair! Ick! He then laid right down in the middle of the mat as I was in Downward Facing Dog, and I almost flattened him when I went into Upward Facing Dog – he just wouldn’t MOVE. I got ready to head back inside after I finished my meditation, only to find the part of my mat that wasn’t covered by my towel had been shredded…little bits of rubber all over the place! F&@#ing cat! I immediately realized that I couldn’t be mad at the little furry beast – he was just doing what cats do. …I don’t think that cat realizes that he was one yoga class away from a boot in his ass. Funny that, yoga definitely helps me make more rational, appropriate decisions!

Speaking of animals, Yang, the girl we met while on the Fairy Spring and Red & White sand dune tour, had an awful animal story. She brought her small dog here with her from Saigon – she, too, has quit her job to be a beach bum like us. The dog is an indoor dog and somehow escaped her room, deciding to cross the road – maybe he was following the chicken? Anyway, someone ran over the dog, and a few seconds later someone else pulled up and picked the dog up, “you know, the people who eat dogs.” Eeek. What do you say to that?

Well, here we are 2 days later (just heard election results this morning! Happy news, Obama won, thank f$#k!), and more wind! Though, it was incredibly gusty. I took out the 7m Shockwave, only to be seriously under-powered, so back to the beach to grab the 9. The kite tumbled out of the sky, and that was all for me. One second there were huge gusts, and the next there was nothing at all! There were some folks out there on the water working it pretty hard – didn’t look like much fun to me. There were also some learners in the water, and I felt really sorry for them. It’s tough to learn in wind conditions like that. As Mike was ending his day after getting racked by his board, he ripped off one of his toenails on a rock on the seabed. The forecast looks good continually with the exception of 1 day this week, so we're stoked! Now to repair the toe (and ice our backs!)...life is good!!