October 11, 2025
A day to explore on our own and the plan was to continue our motorbike adventures. There was a shop right next to the hotel that rented them but before we got to that we did our normal morning routine. Breakfast is now filled with Uno requests as the tournament heats up on our final full day. The boys both love the competition but I have a good lead at the moment.
After breakfast I went to the gym while Kayleen started home school. They read books together in our bed. At some point Lenny threatened to haunt Ollie to which he responded, “Technically I’m going to be dead first so you can’t haunt me!! I’ll die first and haunt YOU!” We swapped and I finished home school before we were ready to start our adventure.
We got our motorbikes but these were not Scoopys. They were basically the same thing but the storage under the seat was twice as big which was really nice. We headed back to DEMO Coffee for another lunch and I moved on to trying the coconut coffee which was amazing! It’s the best version of a coffee coolatta you can imagine. Frozen coconut ice shavings that are slightly sweetened with a little toasted coconut on top and a big shot of espresso to dump in. I will be getting these for the remainder of our time in SE Asia. The boys had hummus on sourdough toast and much to our surprise the bread was top notch. Probably the best bread we have had in Asia by far. Ollie ordered another round of hummus toast on his own after following the waitress into the kitchen.
When it was time to go the sun had cooked our motorbike seats but after having them in Bali Lenny is always on the lookout for this. He grabs any water bottle he can find and takes pride in his duty to cool off the seats. We were off to the tailor first to pick up our items. Our first long ride was uneventful and the phone holders where much better than in Bali. It made navigating a lot easier but Ollie was a bit sad to lose his navigator duties. He did eventually take over as DJ to change Spotify songs as we were driving.
We headed back to the hotel to drop off all our nice new linen clothes and cool off in the room briefly. The one thing left we wanted to do in Hoi An was ride in a coconut boat. The drive to get to the area where they all leave from was ~25 minutes away. Driving around is pretty enjoyable so we took off to a place that Kayleen found which was supposed to be a bit less overrun with people. When we arrived it was just that, we were there with one other couple. They had a small bar and restaurant along with an old pool table that Ollie was very interested in. We squeezed in one game where Lenny was on my team and we used the bridge on every shot. Lenny was happier to attempt running swings on the three swings that went out over the water into the coconut mangroves. Somehow, he came away without any serious injuries though he ignored Kayleen and I telling him to stop many times.
After we had the snacks and drinks that came with our coconut boat ride we set off. It was two of us in a boat with a captain who did the paddling. I was with Lenny and Kayleen with Ollie. We had seen videos of the boats spinning around very fast but were told that was on other boats out in the bay. As we ventured out to the bay through the winding mangroves the man paddling Kayleen and Ollie could not believe that Ollie and Lenny were boys. Throughout the trip we kept telling him that they were in fact boys. Once we reached the bay, they gave each boy a tiny fishing bowl with about 3 feet of string and a raw piece of chicken tied to the end. They told them it was to catch an alligator but really it was to maybe find a crab, neither of which arrived.
We got to the spinning coconut boats and the price was 100,000 VND (~4 USD) per person. Of course, I only had 167,000 VND left so was short about 1.50 USD. I was certain the guy would take both kids when he saw it was all I had but he stood firm. The first person in Asia who wouldn’t negotiate at all. I was so mad that I didn’t stop to get more money since both kids wanted to do it. Eventually Ollie told Lenny that he could go with the money we had. Ollie would sit it out but it was painful for him to even get the words out.
Lenny was willing to go at first but then was more scared. He said, “I’ll be nervous to go without Ollie.” So, I figured I would push him and asked, “You love him?” He quietly replied, “Yeah, he makes me feel safe from everything.” Probably the nicest thing he has ever said about his brother. Though I am sure he will tell him he is the worst brother ever again in the next few days.
The guys captaining our boats didn’t speak a ton of English but offered to do their own unsanctioned spinning ride with both kids for 150,000 VND. We agreed and switched around in the boats so the boys were together. It was very tame compared to the main spinning boats but the kids were happy enough. The videos show each as a comparison.
As we paddled back to get off the boats Kayleen and Ollie’s captain caught a glimpse of Ollie’s painted toes. He started laughing and saying “no boy, no boy, no boy.” Lenny stood up and yelled “we are boys” while grabbing his jellybeans through his shorts in protest. Once back Ollie wanted to keep playing pool but it was getting dark and we wanted to get back so headed out. A woman working at the restaurant asked how we would get back and was shocked when we told her we had gotten there on our own motorbikes with the kids.
As we drove back, we passed through Old Town and decided to stop for dinner. There was a Mexican place which is always a hit for our group so we went for it. Ollie was still scarred from the spinning coconut boat experience and asked the hostess, “do you take card or only cash?” She confirmed that either was OK and we all enjoyed our meal before it was time to head back to the hotel and go to bed.
