Ode To A Small Stool I Found In My Toilet One Mid-Monsoon Morning

21 August - Woke up today and almost had a normal bowel movement - hurrah! It seems that Nifuroxazide is just what I needed - I can not more highly praise the benefits of a diet high in fibre from something nutrious (and delicious) like Lowans Honey Bran - once I get to a civilised country I shall be breaking all my fasts with the closest Canadian equivalent.
Went to the My Son ruins today with the hotel tour - got chummy with a Thijs and Sofea, a Belgian couple (he's originally Dutch) who I briefly met when I arrived in Hoi An. She's a very sweet schoolteacher type and he's a rather sinister looking Death Metal loving bruiser - a match made in heaven. We got on very well and had a great time at the ruins - our guide was very knowledgeable about the site, if only he had been about the English language, but we certainly got the gist. Saw some very nice ruins that were scattered throughout with craters from American bombs during the war (the guide was very gracious about it) - I have to say while it is tragic that signficant archaeological sites were damaged by the American ordinance one can certainly argue that this is the best place for a bomb to fall. Hardly anyone here and when a bomb falls on a pile of ruins what does it leave ... Another pile of ruins - only more so!
At the site we also saw a local Vietnamese music and dance show - the music was led by a dear little old man, who looked ninety but could have been anywhere from 60 up - who played a mean flute and was accompanied by a percussion group. He was doing a little dance and seemed very spry for his apparent age. This was followed by a beautiful Hindu inspired dance by three stunning local women and two comely lads - the background Muzak was kind of bizarre, a combination of mystic Hindu music and one of the backbeats that an old Sony keyboard used to churn out but the dancing was incredible - a particularly impressive impression of Shiva (or Vishnu, the one with many arms) by the ladies was a bit cliched but incredible to watch. Afterwards a wander around and a boat (with a very nice lunch) back to town.
Rode out to the beach afterwards on the worst bike i've ever had the misfortune to ride on - seat wobbling and too wide, pedals about to fall off and no brakes, but had a very pleasant time and met up with Bernard and Ana (the South African and the Pole from last night) - watched Bernard awkwardly try to seduce Ana for a while before leaving them to it and was hijacked by Thi ("Open your heart ... And your wallet") again - he was a very sweet little boy and we chatted for a bit and went for a swim later on near sunset when the foreigners left (no sun for tanning) and the beach became packed full of locals. Said my goodbye to Thi and a few others before heading back into town for a very nice 5 course meal (at the princely sum of about 5 Australian dollars) at a restaurant with Thijs and Sofea before having a few drinks at one of the local cafes. Very nice day - very nice town, but probably time to move on.