I HATE this part....Leaving...... BBCT to Quy Nhon to Saigon

4:30
Oops.   An e-mail from Korbach tells me in no uncertain terms that I should pay more attention to being SOBER when writing e-mails to friends.......lOl

5:00
Toi khong vui.  

The fact that I have to LEAVE here today feels like 10 mosquito bites on the knuckles of my fingers.  I can't get it out of my head and it's ANNOYING.

6:00
Time to check out The Wall that was built .....

The view from Chez Chris

7:00
No market breakfast today..... I haven't even packed yet.....  I'm avoiding leaving....

....because THIS (This is a new life for me.... and I'm feeling GOOD...Freedom is mine... and it's a new dawn, a new day...a new life for me...) will come to an end TODAY.

7:30

Toy da say roi !  But I've answered quite a few e-mails already.... some of which I might regret later when I'm sober again, LOL.

8:00

I wonder what German customs will say when B tries to import a suitcase full of these ....

9:30
I'm just about to LEAVE when Chau shows up with a lobster, LOL........  It's a good-bye present for me.  Of course,  now I have to stay until at least lunch hour ;-)

That gives me time to go for another cheap haircut by the shapely Viet coiffeur ;-)

When I come back, Mr. Lobster is giving the host family haircuts ....

 Chau might not be one of the prettiest Vietnamese men I have met, but he is definitely one of the sweetest and gentlest men I have EVER met !

11:30

The Last of the Valkyries does take pictures of the Lobster when we eat it (Chau takes it apart from us, exposes the morsels, and even peels the legs for us), I  exchange e-mail addresses with the Valkyrie, and after one week, I get the pictures ;-)

13:00

Good Bye is difficult.... it gets more difficult every time.... 

Even though offered by me, there are no good-bye hugs with the owners.....some people don't hug.... but by now I know them well enough not to take it personally......I just feel a little sorry for them.

13:45

It looks like rain on the last stretch of road to Quy Nhon, so I have an excuse for a lay-over at Life's a Beach....  a chance to say Hi to Tao and to top up my alcohol level

Rain DOES come down hard for the last 4 minutes of my ride to the hotel.   It's the usual spectacle of scooting Viets stopping abruptly under whatever cover they can find and putting on their Smurf outfits.

14:30

As usual, it takes me half an hour between entering the lobby and getting into my room. And I only manage so quickly because I interrupt the flowing conversation with "toi se di point-upstairs".

15:00

HOLY SHIT, in addition to A/C, fridge, water kettle, free breakfast, hot water in private bathroom, and balcony, my $10 per night room now has a human-sized work desk !

15:15

I don't need the scooter anymore.... might as well hand over the key!

17:30

WTF?

I can watch NetFlix but the internet does not connect to Canadian or German sites.   All I can see is the headlines:  three or four 6.6 magnitude earthquakes off Vancouver Island.... that would explain why Canadian sites aren't reachable.... broken undersea cables.

So I read about the earthquakes in the South China Morning Post, lOl....

19:00

The restaurant around the corner no longer has fries..... 

 Ga Cay will just have to do.... and it is Yummy.... I realize that I have NOT eaten enough protein in the last few weeks...

Ga Cay

I'm wolfing down the chicken ...

4:00

It's happening..... Every move I make takes me further away from home....6 hours until take-off !

7:00?

Shit!  No time to relax; must get ready again.... my taxi leaves in one hour.

And I realize WHY I always HATE leaving....... some people would consider staying HERE permanently a decadent frilly, quite justifiable because these people have their income & family at home and they spend MORE money coming here than they would if they stayedat home.   But for me it's the opposite.  I SAVE money whenever I come here....

7:50

In the lobby waiting for Mr. Hotel....... my taxi is supposed to leave in 25 minutes and I haven't paid for the scooter yet.....  there he is.... and gives me the scooter for 140k instead of 150k.... nice! Then it's time to look at pictures of my travels .....he tells me to create a BOOK, lOl.  We're so busy saying good-bye and taking selfies for his hotel's Facebook page  that I only realize when the private taxi is already moving that I don't have my PASSPORT with me....

My poor feet. 

  For SIX WEEKS they have been barefoot or only been wearing sandals...... my entire being rebels against putting on SOCKS for the flight  ....

but no choice..... bare feet in plastic sandals in coldish air without air circulation inevitably turn to stinky feet..... that is why Viets take their feet out of their sandals as soon as they sit down...

I'm sitting in the brand-new terminal building a whole hour before scheduled take-off and the plane just arrived .....  time for another beer?

9:30

WTF is THAT NOISE?.......

It's a Vietnam People's Air Force fighter jet taking off from the same runway that was used by B-52s just 50 years ago to bomb Vietnamese villages and cities.

9:50

After using the SPOTLESS bathroom and the FUTURISTIC smoking room.....

....in the brand-new Phu Cat terminal building, I'm waiting to board my flight to Ho Chi Minh..... plenty of time to look over the other people waiting at the gate....  A group of about 15 Austrians in a guided tour.... all dressed way too warmly....  and Vietnamese..... but they are OBVIOUSLY NOT from the villages and cities of Central Vietnam..... these are Saigonese..... and they wear expensive clothes, too much lipstick, and too much FAT around their midsections ..... SAD.

No sleep can be had during the flight.  No, it's not only the turbulence (seeing the wing tips on your plane FLAP up and down by meters is NO FUN)....

....but also the woman in the seat next to me who CONTINUOUSLY keeps changing her grip on her friggin purse, bumping me with her elbow every single time she re-grips.