April 4

This morning I had the most extraordinary experience. Mr Chau and I stopped at a roadside cafe on our way out of Hoi An, and a small, yellow-beaked, jet black, evil little creature swooped at me the moment I took one step inside what was apparently his territory. It had very fast wings that enabled it to hover like a helicopter above me and then take diving sweeps towards my body and feet. Before I knew what was going on, my arms and legs were flailing as I spun around, kicked, squealed and screamed, until I landed back on the pavement, only to see the bird perching smugly on the cafe counter. Mr Chau was in fits of giggles while the cafe owner tried to shoo the bird away. They were both as bewildered as I was, and kept encouraging me to try again, but each time I did, I was defeated, and ended up walking away to find somewhere else to eat. Needless to say, I am a little more wary of birds these days than I used to be.