As I was leaving the hotel for the beach, I met everyone coming back. It was too hot out there, they said, they were heading for the hotel pool.
I hadn't planned to swim at the beach but I do like walking on the shore. However, the pool looked really good...I think I mentioned that it's cooler than the ocean and doesn't have jellyfish... so I got in. It did feel really good on my sunburned feet.
I paddled around for about an hour with the group then went to shower and finish packing.
We loaded up and hit the road around noon. Mostly, it was just a road trip. One interesting thing along the was was the salt farms.
These were small paddy-like areas that were filled with sea water brought in from ocean by canals and pumped into the paddies with windmills. The water evaporates leaving the sea salt behind. The salt is collected into piles and then sold.
Lora said it was a World Bank project to foster economic development. The bank would loan money to small farmers to get them started and they would repay the loan with the profits. Lora said there were also shrimp farms started this way, too, but they haven't been as profitable. There's a lot more involved in producing a living thing than letting water evaporate.
We got to our hotel, conveniently located about 5 minutes' drive from the airport. Since we have to be there at 6:30 tomorrow morning, that's a Very Good Thing. Most of the kids wanted to go to a mall about 40 minutes from the hotel. I passed.
I repackaged the drum box for Virginia since I'd be checking it. Lora, Virginia and I had supper at the hotel restaurant and I tried to stay up late to begin the big time adjustment back 12 hours that would start with our flght to Hong Kong.
Tomorrow is going to be a very, very long day...about 37 or so hours. But at the end of it, I'll be Home!!!
