Last weekend, Eric and I were invited by friends to a cottage on a lake about 40 miles north of Hanoi. This lake is in a remote mountain area that is slowly being developed, starting with the infrastructure (eg. roads). Roads are always a good thing. There were 4 couples, including Eric and I, and three of the couples have children, all under the age of 12. The weren't very keen on being photographed, but I didn't try very hard to persuade them. In fact, most of the time, I forget to take pictures! The cottage has 3 rooms- 2 for sleeping and a kitchen area and a bathroom. During the day, the sleeping rooms are for playing games and at night the mats come out for sleeping. We ate all of our meals on the front porch. Basically, the three women (I tried to help but was just getting in the way) prepared breakfast, we ate, they cleaned up and then started to prepare lunch, we ate, they cleaned up, and then started to prepare dinner, we ate, they cleaned up----the question is, what were the men (and me) doing? Playing. We swam, fished, hiked, played with the kids, etc. I told Eric not to get used to this lifestyle. In all seriousness, I miss being in the kitchen, preparing meals and tidying up. As one of the women said to me, it's fun working together and chatting about life all day long-- plus, the men play with the kids and that gives us a rest. I get it--totally. So we had a great time.

After dinner (we ate all sorts of new things, including a kind of thick paste made from duck blood) we sat by a fire outside and roasted marshmallows that I had brought and sweet corn on sticks. A local caretaker of a chicken farm (about a mile from the cottage) stopped by and enjoyed the fire with everyone. Eric, of course, asked him if he could work for him on his chicken farm and, of course, he said "SURE! Can you fix my tractor?" If that's not an invitation, I don't know what is! Eric, being Eric, told him he would see him on Tuesday (2 days ago). Well, he attempted to drive his motorbike to the chicken farm but got lost and had to return home both days. Since he is not one to give up easily, he attempted it again this morning and YES, he made it! So Eric is now working on a chicken farm, out of cell phone range, so I guess I'll hear from him in a couple of days.

This is the lake we visited-nestled right in the mountains. You can buy a 20 acre lake front parcel for $2000. I hope Eric doesn't get any crazy ideas about purchasing property.

Now with Eric gone, I can really focus on some work! I have been inside for the past 2 days working away without taking one step outside- which is why Eric and I make a good team. So there you have it! For a more detailed description of his two failed attempts to reach the chicken farm, read his blog.