We are in the midst of the dragon season at the moment.  The full moon, which will be Sunday 27th September, heralds the mid-Autumn festival, when dragons prowl the streets and have to be placated with gifts, usually money, sweets of snacks.

Each dragon comprises about 10 boys age 8-12.  They wear satin trousers, fringed to resemble scales.  The head, is inhabited by a boy standing upright, while the rest of the dragon, a further four, are bent double holding his waist and covered by the sort of train attached to the head.  Two more operate the large drum which is absolutely essential to announce the approach and performance of a kind of dance, of the dragon, and a further couple of boys push the cart which holds the drum.  There is also one costumed fellow who wears a pig mask.   I do not know what his role is.

If the dragon visits your house, that is good luck, but he usually appears at family members homes and also prowls the hotels, where the pickings are quite good from tourists.   As we have about 300 hotels and guest houses in Hoi An, there is no way even mutliple dragons can cover them all on one night, so they have been roving around for about 10 days now.   The gifts have to be put into the mouth of the dragon, and if you meet one in the street, it is wise to offer him a small donation.  Lots of small change needed this week.

They can be any colour, but red is most auspicious.  I have seen one of those, fringed in gold, plus a teenage one (bigger boys) in orange, several in yellow with red fringes, green and gold and blue and gold.  The drumming begins as soon as school kicks out and goes on until about 9pm.  Next week, the silence will sound loud!

Safely in Hoi An after 7 weeks swanning around the US.  Too many airports, since we live so far away and after Ho Chi Ming, Tokyo, LA, to finally reach Miami left me reeling for a while.  Thence to NY via Atlanta, then I was seriously fed up so we did the rest by road, hiring a car in New York and taking off for Tennessee, Alabama and finally Chicago.  All was fine until we had to do the Chicago, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh bit again.  Still, now recovered and have only the summer heat to contend with here.

Just before we left to go on holiday, the garden outside was cut right down.  It is now 2m high in weeds again but that is the tropics for you.

We finally caught up with Chappie, the last move Calvin was in.  Not my cup of tea, really but Calvin was clearly visible in several scenes, notably in the background while Hugh Jackman and Dev Patel had a flaming row.   It was an interesting take on the whole robot thing, but Science Fiction will never really appeal to me.

A couple more interesting food treats.  We went to a restaurant the other night and both ordered duck; mine was roast duck with vegetables and cashews and Calvin had a duck curry.  This is the Vietnamese version,  mild, and made with coconut milk.  As usual my mountain of beans, beansprouts bok choy and carrot atop noodles arrived with a surprisingly large amount of duck concealed at every chopstickful (there is usually just a couple of slim slices of meat) and the cashews were everywhere.  Calvin also found his curry jampacked with duck pieces and dinner was very satisfying, with a complimentary profiterole and iced tea for the princely sum of  $3 each,   On the way home we estimated that between us we had eaten the best part of an entire duck.

On another day, we were out at lunchtime and stopped for some simple  meat and noodles, which came with what was termed, in delightful Vietnamese English, a muntaint of crisps - freshly cut and fried for each client.   Fresh, hot potato crisps are excellent.

Later that same day (we estimated on our return that we had been wandering for some 6 hours in the heat), we stopped at a restaurant for an icecream, and I had what was possibly the best grenadilla icecream I shall ever eat (until my next visit to that restaurant)   Calvin had a similarly delicious mango coup in a stemmed glass.

 We are learning that here, as in every other expatriate community, there is a network which you have to plug into.  We have found the 'pub quiz' which operates on Wednesday evenings at the local Australian sportsbar.  It is general knowledge and operated by a Swiss guy whose English actually sounds Irish.   Anyway, we came second on our first try.  The deal at the bar is that one of the local beers is discounted by 50% for the night and pizzas are 2 for the price of one.  We may take part occasionally for the hell of it.

Similarly, on Sunday evenings at the beach, there is one restaurant/bar where the expats hang out and any musician who comes along and wants to play is welcome.   The first time was a bit noisy because there was a keyboard synthezer, two electronic guitars and a drummer, but last week there was a power cut, so there were two regular guitars, a singer and a harmonica.   Much more my style.  It begins about 5 p.m. and we leave around 9p.m.   This is not a late town (because most people have to start really early) and has closed down by 11p.m.

Interesting sidelight on wildlife attitudes.  I do not quite know what to make of it.   We met a man along our street (lane)  who was chivvying a rather handsome snake with a stick.   He was obviously not afraid of it, although one could not say the same about his dog, nor did he want to capture of kill it.  He simply wanted it off the street, so when he had manoeuvred it near a drain, it obliged and disappeared down it.   It was a lovely creature about 1.2m long in light grey green with a pinkish blush under the 'chin'. .
Either he is a devout Buddhist (do not kill) or knew it was harmless.   Very different from attitudes in Africa, at any rate.

Similarly, the other evening it rained and a toad took refuge under the 'carport' in our courtyard.  He was the size of a tennis ball (but then he had puffed himself up) and tiger's eye in colouration.  The landlord's daughter who was tending the plants at the time, found it amusing that we were interested in him at all.

I have decided that Hoi An water is possibly the softest in the world.  The tiniest amount of bodywash on my scrunchies is like having a bubble bath - it takes ten minutes to sluice off all the froth.   And one of those shampoo sachets which airlines hand out - that does two washes easily, so much lather does it make.

In addition, I think this must be one of the most pollution-free environments too.   With only mopeds, electric bikes and cycles on the street, there is no emission problem.  Each shop and business organises a kerbside fire, in a firebucket, every night as they close up, to dispose of the day's rubbish, and our dustbin is emptied with thrice weekly regularity and presumably sent off to burn somewhere.

Although chickens and dogs wander freely, at least in residential streets, I have never seen dog or chicken poo anywhere.  Pavements are swept each morning by the businesses they front, and the park is hosed each day.   You never see litter in the streets, even though vegetables are sold on the roadside.  Plastic bags are given out with gay abandon, but none blow in the breeze where you walk.
Most mysterious, and gratifying