Got caught out in the rain THREE times today! At work all week Chad has been telling us a tropical storm was on the way in and it started raining last night whilst we were eating dinner (Japanese!! Salmon sushi, ebi tempura and okonomiyaki makes the best meal ever) so I got soaked riding over the Derry's after dinner for a drink or two with Alison and Calder (and some Germans) then it rained all night as far as I can tell. It was raining this morning but I dragged myself out in the rain to go to the gym as I figured if didn't go first thing in the morning I wouldn't go at all today.

The rain stopped later so I decided to go and find the fabled cross stitch shop in Hanoi so I have something to stop me fidgeting when watching my stack of DVDs. It's tucked away in a lane by the citadel area so round every corner there were soldiers with guns guarding army buildings but I found the place in the end and got some Vietnamese cross stitch - they're not bad actualy I guess. I then stopped in Bookworm on way back home and got some books - my punishment for buying books I don't need was to walk home in an absolute downpour that I would have missed if I'd gone straight home. I've just been out for dinner and when I came out of the place it was hammering down again and I'd left my wonderful poncho at home drying out after the afternoon soaking so I had nothing to keep me dry.

I now have various pairs of shoes and all sorts of clothes aroud the place drying after a tropical drenching. The rain is quite something!