It has been raining in Bai Xep on Boxing Day and proper rain too. The kind that mixes the most tropical of stuff with British mizzle meaning that in a quick step out from undercover all brave / daft souls get soaked very quickly, especially twits who forget their waterproofs (for once not me, but Edwin, Trixie and Lexi.). Consequently we went to the cinema this afternoon.
The dash through Bai Xep to the booked taxi got all our feet thoroughly soaked and revealed a flaw in my waterproof. The run off rain had to drain away somewhere, that somewhere being my shorts and pants. Great. Dry top half though. So not all bad.
We booked seats at CGV Quy Nhon to watch Jumanji, the sort of remake / development of Robin Williams' 1996 game adventure. While the children enjoyed the silliness of the adventure I had a mixed reaction. I liked Jack Black's portrayal of a teenage popular girl trapped in a middle aged man's body and Karen Gillen's awkwardness as Martha had good moments. Probably the best moment was when Black was trying to coach Martha in the art of sassiness. However sandwiched in between scenes of characters explaining the plot, story and game rules to each other there were moments that can best be summed up as 2017 Positive Education Lessons. The intrepid foursome managed to find a stranded pilot whose main skill appeared to be making margaritas. Right on cue The Rock and Martha tasted the rather appealing looking cocktails and declared, in a very clean living, shunning of alchopops way, how much they disliked their first ever taste of alcohol. Earlier they had spent quite a while working out their teenage feelings for each other which well meaning form tutors having the irritation of teaching their charges about relationships might find a useful resource, but hardly entertainment. And then there were the music rip offs. Recycled samples from Star War, The Wizard of Oz and others cropped up at key moments to add atmosphere. Overall it was a bit of a dog's breakfast with occasional chuckle moments. Still a lot better than getting re-soaked in the rain.
After the film we stocked up on a couple of supermarket items including the very important item of Vietnamese coffee. The bog standard stuff is fabulous when drunk really hot with a generous pour of sweetened condensed milk and is particularly good when drunk at break time at school. My eyes were also taken by some really good looking thick, crispy baguettes so I made my way over to the bread section. In front of me at the thick, crispy baguette counter were a couple who appeared to want to examine each of the eight loaves on show. Hoping that the bottom of the pile was the least handled item I made to take that one and buy it as a snack for the kids and I. The couple clearly had other ideas and removed it from my grasp. I tried a second loaf instead. The result same thing occurred. Fearing a diplomatic episode I momentarily retreated before moving in for a final attempt to purchase one of the eight loaves. Before I could though the couple scooped up all the loaves in a deft and well practised manoeuvre and made for the cash desk. I was somewhat flabbergasted. Clearly seeing my confusion though another bread buyer came over to me and insisted that I take her baguette. I was now unsure what to do. Politely refuse and potentially offend or accept and smile. I pondered and did the latter, paying for the bread and coffee and beating a hasty retreat. The 7000 dong loaf (a bit less than 25p) was delicious.