Last Day in Vietnam

Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The night before last, we all went to a good Indian restaurant (above) on the main backpacker street, Bui Vien. As we were sitting there, I thought I recognized a couple that walked by. Later, just as Dylan and Kasumi had gotten into a cab, a British guy ran up to us. We had met him and his girlfriend at our hotel in Sapa in northern Vietnam and had also ran into them on the street in Hoi An. They had just finished eating in the same restaurant moments before we went in. Then they were sitting on the balcony overlooking the street at Stella, a restaurant and bar, when they saw us walk by, so he ran down to say hello. Small world on the tourist trail.

Yesterday we walked through the park between Pham Ngu Lao and Le Loi streets to get to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum. The translation of the park rules into English includes some oddities, like making sure you're not engaging in evil business like fortune-telling in the park.

 The museum wasn't all that interesting but on the lawn they did have the jet from which bombs were dropped onto the Presidential Palace by a renegade South Vietnamese pilot. He was ordered to drop bombs on approaching North Vietnamese troops near the end of the war. However, he was actually a North Vietnamese agent. When he took off, he flew over the palace and bombed it instead. He landed safely and was imprisoned but still lives in the city where he is a revered hero of the American war.
It was really hot and sunny again yesterday so we had a late lunch in the Vincom Centre, a big modern downtown shopping mall, which has great AC. Afterward we went over to Dylan and Kasumi's hotel to see the place. It's a nice modest hotel where their room, including breakfast and laundry, costs $350 a month.

 There are several terraces outdoors there, including this one on the roof.

 In every direction, all you can see is city. HCMC is huge.

Last night, after happy hour in our hotel room, we all went to Stella for dinner. Stella is a good restaurant and bar with pool tables and dart boards.

The 2nd floor terrace is a great place to watch all the action on the street.

As we walked down Bui Vien to the alley leading over to Pham Ngu Lao about 10 pm, we could see lots of tourists partying. Everybody sits right on the street on little plastic chairs and stools, drinking cheap beer. This is a typical Monday night, not really too busy.
Today we had a late breakfast at the rooftop restaurant and started packing for our trip home. We arranged to pay for an extra half day so we can delay checkout until 6 pm. We'll spend the afternoon staying cool in our room, resting up for the trip ahead. From the time we got up this morning until we get into our own beds at home will be over 50 hours, if all goes well, and 12 time zones. It's blazing hot out on the street and we've seen everything we want to see here. We don't mind just resting for the afternoon.
Dylan works this afternoon and then we'll all go out for dinner after checkout. We should taxi out to the airport by 9 pm. There, we'll say goodbye to Dylan and Kasumi. Our first flight leaves for Seoul at 11:40 pm. We arrive there at around 6 am local time and leave at 11 am for Chicago. Because of the time difference, we'll get to Chicago earlier than when we left, at 9:40 am tomorrow. Then our flight to Ottawa leaves at 2:40 pm and arrives at 5:36 pm. Anita's brother Tim, who is home for awhile, will be there to pick us up. He's already warned us by email to be prepared for reverse culture shock and we're sure he's right.
It will take a while to get accustomed to life in Canada again. It will be good to be home but there are a lot of things about southeast Asia that we'll miss. Travels with Anita will resume somewhere in the year ahead.