9-1-2012 Ho Chi Minh- captain, drummer, and floating bartender

Such an interesting, fun day. We signed up for a tour of the 4 islands surrounding Nha Trang- the 3 of us, me, Thom, Julia, and Kathleen, and a couple that Kathleen knew. The tour ended up being us 5, about 30 Vietnamese men, and 2 men from the Czech Republic. From the minute we got on the bus we were laughing. It really hit me today that every situation can be made better with humor. Every situation should be embraced with a laugh. We could have been upset at the lack of English, upset at the large amount of Vietnamese men, mad that we couldn't interact in English, but a quick exchange of words, as Kathleen was handing out nuts like a soccer mom asking if anyone wanted any, commenting "we got a whole group of 'em right here". It was true. We were all a bunch of nuts. The Vietnamese men with their cameras all smiling at our group of ladies, us delirious from waking up and laughing at everything, we were all nutty. The whole group of us. And it turned into an amazing day of snorkeling, singing, dancing, lounging in the water, drinking, singing and dancing some more. The crew of our boat brought out guitars at one point, and a contraption made of PVC pipe, a few barrels, and cymbols to form a makeshift drum set for the captain. (a man who undisputedly resembled Ho Chi Minh). We were the only tour boat to get live music. At one point, we docked and they threw out foam rings- simplest little floating devices, for everyone on board to get in the water and relax. Hoch climbed into a littlw high chair type contraption and proclaimed himself "bartender" swrving wine that tasted a bit too much like whiskey. We were thirsty. And we werent complaining. The day couldn't have been better simply because of a shift in perspective. We had the best tour guides, amazing weather, incredible company. Irreplaceable pieces of the perfect day.