Chuc mung nam moi ! or Two nights in Sai Gon and a return to Quy Nhon

Unfortunately it's the fireworks that wake me and NOT my alarm clock.... 

WTF?

It's 2019.   May you all be well and find time for adventures !

Yes, I know, my roof terrace wasn't exactly the perfect spot to watch the fireworks ;-)

Here are the same fireworks seen from a better vantage point:

Photographer: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsFDyWPhWmr/

4:00
The perfect time to call Grandma in Canada.... she is in a chipper mood, which is nice to hear ;-)


I should have known that I wouldn't sleep again after this, LOL.

But there are e-mail to write, sink laundry to hang, etc etc. 

Sitting on the roof terrace is such a relief.  GONE are the noises of tires and honks of angry car drivers.  They've been replaced by some weird mixture of music and voices...... People instead of people hidden in machines.... 

8:00
Someone somewhere in the world read a 2016 post on my blog... something to do with Vancouver and Ha Noi.... so I re-read it too.... 
And I'm SHOCKED.
   Things have changed SO MUCH for me in the last 2-3 years.  In that 2016 post I'm still surprised at how much I LONG to be in Vietnam.   Maybe that's why I could still stand to be in Vancouver then.   
But NOW, Vietnam has become HOME, its beauty and gentleness the new Status Quo, so any time away from it now only qualifies as a time of misery.
Cam on nhieu Viet Nam, for re-opening my eyes!

10:00

Slept & showered and it is time to hit the streets.... I need money & food !

When the second bank machine in a row also refuses to give me cash but tells me to contact my bank at home, I start sweating..... I barely have any Dongs left!  
Fortunately, the 3rd machine is gracious and spits out 3 million Dong ;-)

Coopmart is next, but unfortunately they don't have a gorgeous shirt (VND 289,000) in my size.

This time I take the rear exit, but find myself in the scooter parking lot with no way out!

I continue to walk into alleys I have never ventured in before, always maintaining the general direction to my hotel, and in an alley right off Bui Vien, an alley very few Westerners set foot in, I find it.  The thing Bourdain has been talking about.  The symphony in a baguette.  A banh mi cha lua with extra chili (The vendor raises her eyebrows when I say ot, cay and smiles; I smile because I learned the word for chili only yesterday in my Duolingo course ;-). 

The whole thing costs me VND 10,000 (US$ 0.43) and from the crunchy but soft baguette over the pate to the vegetables it is simply PERFECT !

Achieving contentment in life can be so fucking simple!  
Cam on nhieu Viet Nam!

I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow ;-)

13:00
Wow, time to get up and do stuff

A short visit to Huyen but it's same old same old.  Now she believes that she can read people's character by counting their wrinkles in the corner of their eyes. Or by how their eyebrows are formed..... 

14:00
Of course, Mr Bun Cha recognizes me again...   he instantly says "Long time!  You look much fatter now!". 

 The abuse I put up with for a good bowl of Bun Cha!

Visiting Huyen AGAIN is a mistake..... now she tries to demonstrate her knowledge of palm reading on my left hand..... for at least half an hour.... 

17:30
I'm shocked that I'm still awake but I can tell in my bones that it's 2:30 am in Vancouver, LOL.

18:30
I've survived another attempt at palm reading from Huyen.... but she has some interesting ideas about the human mind (Guardian spirits following us and liking us so much that they prevent competition is her reading, but the result of that is the same as what the one the human mind can do to it self ;-) 
I escape with my shirt still on my back (literally, she grabs the shirt to prevent people from leaving ;-) and head into Bui Vien.  Time to find somewhere different to eat.
I pass all the Girly Bars (nothing sadder than seeing a middle aged Westerner sitting on a bar stool at a high table with a pink neon sign behind him that reads GIRLS) and end up wandering into a side alley.   

This might do... Asian Kitchen.   

They have wine by the glass, their menu looks ok and the prices are reasonable.





First impressions:  

The place is exclusively frequented by tourists that speak English to the staff as if that was the most natural thing to do...

The restaurant really FILLS their wine glasses ;-)












The curry sauce is YUMMY (peanuts & coconut flavours) ..... 

.....but the shrimp have the dry texture of pre-cooked.   Too bad 
21:00
Wow, I'm acclimatizing quickly... going to bed this late on day 2 that is almost unheard of !

5:00
Enough sleep, I need to pack and leave early today.

obviously NOT awake yet....

I decide to leave a bit early to catch Chuong before he leaves for his school day.  There he is.... My Vietnamese seems to be understood.... but as I will find out when I get to the airport:  I forget to hand over my room key, LOL.

 It's drizzling a bit on the way to the bus station, but even that isn't enough to wipe the Vietnam smile off my face....

Yes, it's a mannequin.
But it's a motorized one!!!
She keeps moving that sign up and down 

I'm happy to see that sanity still semi-reigns in Sai Gon.  My 5000 VND bus airport bus is PACKED, also with tourists, while the 20000 VND bus to the same destination that drives right beside us only has one passenger.

I have time for a Banh Mi at the place hidden in the parkade in the domestic terminal.  "Mot banh mi cha lua va mot bia" I say and the Vietnamese woman at the counter actually answers in Vietnamese, LOL.  I didn't expect that.  Then she realizes that my tieng viet is very limited, switches to English, and even tries to assist in my efforts by saying the price of my order first in English and then with a meaningful facial expression again in Vietnamese.  

How could I NOT love being in this country?  

at Tan Son Nhat is is almost impossible to avoid those shuttle buses to the plane

The flight is OK, talking to 2 young Kiwi couples in the seats next to me provides some diversion.

They are going to Bai Xep (which was nice 2 years ago ;-( and I provide them with the tip to visit BBCT.   

The 50k VND Airport Bus

It must have been pouring like crazy here in the last few days..... The bus crosses bridges at pedestrian speed and the country side is inundated with only the SUPERGREEN tips of the rice plants showing.

My hopes of being able to walk to the hotel when I get to Quy Nhon are shattered by a DOWNPOUR.   But the taxi driver driving me the less than 1 km  is old school.  There is no meter visible in his cab but he only charges me 20k VND ;-)  Not bad for staying dry !

I drop my stuff off in my room and borrow a rain poncho to walk to the Post office and the supermarket.    I NEED to get that key back to Saigon!

There are glitches (HOW am I supposed to fill out a form that is in Vietnamese only?????) but the desk clerk helps and finally says twenty-three.  So I say Hai muoi ba?, which only gets me a confused look.  
She got her English numbers confused because an express envelope with the key to Saigon only costs 13,000 VND (muoi ba).

Back in the hotel, I notice that the 22 degree Celsius outside temperature triggers my cold-feet receptors.  LOL.  There is a reason why the Viets wear gloves and padded jackets.  But then it's much warmer here than the 4 degrees in Vancouver ;-)

I wake up a little later, shivering from COLD, the wind is rattling my windows and throws splashes of water against the glass.  

In my present state, I almost wish I hadn't accepted Mr. Hotel's dinner invitation..... is that a good enough reason to switch hotels, because the owners are too NICE ???

Thank you, gracious Hotel owners !

19:30

I am SO TIRED !  WHY?  I have no idea.... but then after 6 weeks of sloth, I am walking longer distances again, with heavy backpacks..... maybe that's it .... or maybe it's the simple fact that it's 4:30 am in Vancouver and jet lag is hitting home.

What a horrible night..... the blanket is so thin that I can see my hand through it and accordingly is NOT really warm enough..... I keep waking up with shivers.

But at 6:00 the weather outside seems more peaceful.  The windows are no longer rattling and my balcony is not being inundated by wet wind gusts.