Video produced/edited by Savannah & Will

Heya, fellas, rise above the storm, and you will find the sunshine,

Let's celebrate William's cherished seventeenth birthday wishes.  What such a nice way to celebrate his birthday while in Vietnam!!  Anyway, this morning, we went to the Highland Cafe.  Before I explain what I ordered, why is Highlands Coffee famous in Vietnam?  Highlands Coffee has the ability to create a perfect blend of tradition and modernity, between Vietnamese coffee and Western coffee, resulting in it creating its own unique identity that no other brand can imitate.  Now, back to the point, I ordered a Cookie Cream Frozen coffee consisting of cookie, cream, and milk whipping, a Bahn mi made of chicken and cheese, and, of course, bread with cream stuffing.  I would rate these drinks/food 10 out of 10, without any QUESTION!!

After our breakfast, we waited for the van to arrive; there was a communication barrier between us and the tour guide, so we couldn't get in touch with our tour guide.  After a few minutes, a good thing happened as we broke through the barrier.  Then, we hopped into the van and zoomed to My Son's playground of gods.  It's called My Son, but we pronounce it differently; it should be called Me Sern. Ahh, see, you got it!  I am proud of ya!!  Let me take this opportunity to provide background information on My Son.  The Hindu religion originated in India, and Hindus have more than 3 million gods/deities.  During the 4th - 14th century, civilization grew bigger and bigger, it was known as My Son.  The King, Champa, was the one who spread his belief in Hinduism, and he and his followers built several temples spread across a 2km area (1.25 mi).  As explained earlier, we know that Hinduism has over 3 million gods and deities, but there are three main gods.  The three main gods are Brahma, known as the Creator and the Preserver, and Shiva, the Destroyer.  The King, Champa, built this temple, My Son, which focuses on Vishnu.  The Champa Kingdom was important because they were powerful enough to control the trading in that region, which specialized in spices and silk between China, India, Indonesia, and Persia.  King Champa's important phenomenon was in the politics and cultural history of the South East Asia.

The best part about this place was that it is a beautiful place to take a walk with dogs, since there is a good view of the mountain and skies as it was cloudy.  I took several pics of myself with the background of worn-out bricks behind, and the mountains covered with clouds, as you barely see the top of the mountains.

After the long hike, we took the ride to hitch a ride on the basket boat as it's not a narrow boat, a kayak, as it was literally half the sphere.  A funny thing happened when we reached the venue.  There was a man who worked there, and he took the spark of my side eye to inform me that he really wanted me to sit with him on the basket boat to take a tour of the Bay Mau coconut forest.  As I learned something about this river, it was important in the past for Vietnam, with the Bay Mau coconut forest as the base.  The forest provided protection as a shield for the village from the opposition during the French War.  During the tour, we stopped at a section of the river where there were performers who showed their skill by spinning the boats.  Each of us took the chance to take a ride on the basket boat that was "spinners."  I was worried about participating in that spinning because I was unsure if the guy and the basket boat will be able to take it as I am a big fella.  I was proven wrong as it went by as it did for others, however, I am not going to lie about this but it was a close call as I almost sunk into the river.  After that, we made another stop in the river to have a mini party with a big speaker bass music box.  Savannah was the first person who was willing to dance on the boat, and I was kinda surprised it's still floating.

After a long day at Champa Temple and the basket boat tour, we went to the street market to surprise William.  We have been working on this plan since we arrived in Vietnam.  We tried to find things that William wanted to get, as when we found the things that he wanted.  He wanted to get a dragon gold with the blue silk robe, and it was kinda tuff design.   We wrapped up for the night by stopping by an ice cream place to celebrate William's birthday, then we surprised him with a robe that he wanted.  He was speechless for a few seconds and I could see it meant a lot to him.  I am glad that we were able to do this for him, as he deserves it.

Sksk, that's all for the day, good night!

Theo