May 11–17
May 11
Woken early by barking again, rose at 9:40. Began building the site with GPT. Tried smoothie on Park Street; first banh mi place was closed, found a new one and ate in the park. Developed homepage on free Netlify hosting, linked to Ko-fi. Lunch at Oiseaux Street chicken spot. Productive session with homepage and about page set up. Evening gym: safety squat bar up to 100kg, power cleans fast and solid, Bulgarian split squats, deadlift variations, neutral pull-ups. Intense 45-minute workout. Dinner at pho place, then canal-side chicken rice. Continued site work, added image to about.html though email box not working.
May 12
Slept okay, rose at 11:20. Fixed email signup form and added favicon. Dropped laundry, smoothie and banh mi. Rainy afternoon, worked on site. Tried pancake place (closed), ate com ga. Finished first post with proverbs and mission statement. 30-minute mobility routine. Picked up laundry. Signed up for EmailOctopus, sent bulk emails (needs review). Dinner at favorite chicken spot, wings and partial breasts.
May 13
Woken early again. Café work: created GhostNomad logo. Built menu, resources, and destinations pages. Afternoon drizzle: fried egg noodles. Hostel work: fixed mobile site pages, drafted destinations. Solid productivity. Evening gym: bench press up to 90kg, rows up to 84kg, incline dumbbell presses, weighted pull-ups, one-arm push-ups, chest-supported rows. Empty gym, thunderstorm outside. Dinner: corner pho with quail eggs, pastry, seafood pancake. Added workout tracker to resources page.
May 14
Early barking again. Discussed Da Nang timing with GPT. Paid hostel, upgraded workout tracker. Smoothie and banh mi. Finished San Cristobal destination page. Lunch at Oiseaux Street chicken spot. John fixing washroom upstairs; worked on top floor, felt sleepy. Shower and nap. Built Gear page with affiliate links. Dinner at noodle shop, then tried corner takeout spot. Replaced favicon with .ico file, worked on Gear page. Ran SEO on main pages, three hours of site work.
May 15
Barking and alarms early. Café work on site. Tried to rest but couldn’t sleep. Decided to leave Da Lat. Built Medellín page. Bought ticket to Da Nang for next day. Smoothie and banh mi. Continued polishing Medellín page, made images pop. Afternoon combo meal at Oiseaux Street. Created GhostNomad expense tracker. Evening gym: squats, cleans, deadlifts, pull-ups, tib raises. Solid 50-minute workout. Paid hostel for half day. Dinner at favorite chicken spot, tipped extra, told them leaving for Da Nang. Finished expense tracker tool for resources page.
May 16
Barking again early. Rose at 9:40, last day at hostel. Generated new background for homepage, converted images to webp, added button linking to Ko-fi. Smoothie and banh mi. Background fix for pages. Mobility routine. Afternoon chicken rice at Oiseaux Street. Shower, rest. Checked out of hostel at 5pm. Walked to Futa, van pickup at 5:30, bus at 6pm. Food stop at 9:08, long break.
May 17
Sleep intermittent on bus. Arrived in Da Nang at 8am. Motorbike to theater, checked into hostel Ikigai. Walked along Han River to Vietmail, picked up credit cards sent from canada. Bought water, struggled with ATMs, eventually withdrew at HD Bank. Ate and organized at hostel. Moved email signup from home to about page. Checked in again mid-afternoon. Looked for better hostel, explored options. Bought café, street pork congee. Shower and nap. Evening walk around river, Michelin noodles, banh mi, Dragon Bridge. Tried to work on site but not productive. Later went out for pho. Built fitness main page and basics page. Dorm light issue resolved after shower.