Home, sweet home.....here I come ... YVR-TPE-SGN

19:30 (in Vancouver)

Good NAP !   I could sleep so much more BUT I have to get ready !

The KITES are coming with me !

20:30
Booking.com offers me my room in 4 weeks for $780 for 7 nights and the front desk can take $25 off that price..... I think I might just go to the cheaper hotel around the corner  for $130 less.... and they give me free cancellation until March 25!

I'm still drowsy.... but that's a good thing.... I should be able to sleep well in the plane ...

Kites & dark lavender Chucks and I'm ready to go ....

I look like shit (after only 8 days here) but please note the colour coordination of T-shirt, shirt, & SHOES !
































Make sure to study these faces of people on the SkyTrain......

.... fates worse than death.... is it any wonder I don't want to stay here?

22:00
AGAIN NO aisle seat?  China Airlines is starting to piss me off!  Maybe I should fly EVA Air next time?

Since I left most of my things in Vietnam, my backpacks are quite empty..... so I have room to buy some Indian Candy for Quang.... it's time I try to repay his constant hospitality !

22:30
NO, Fish & Chips before being cramped into a plane for 12 hours is NOT a good idea.... but I need something to eat.... 

23:15
I read this news while still at YVR: The Hanoi Summit ends prematurely..... Air Force One might cross our path on our way over there ....  and somewhere along the way.... NOT the LEAST sign of turbulence.... we get an announcement that we have to strap ourselves in for half an hour and NOT get up because of 'turbulence'......

Karma in Action again.  A married couple was split on the 2 seats on either side of me and asks me to change seats.... I get my aisle seat after all ;-)

I've watched Bohemian Rhapsody already on the flight 10 days ago...

... but I watch it again... and again .... it's just SO GOOD !

My plane is one of the earlier ones to reach the exchange hub Taipei...so the transfer concourse is still quite empty...

6:00
Even the nice Smoking Lounge is still unpopulated .....

... but 20 minutes later it has filled up and there is an American Trump voter sitting across me chatting up a Canadian.....  and singing all the BS praise of Trump.... it doesn't take long until the Canadian excuses himself.

6:45 in Taipei
The usual:  Boarding is delayed by 15 minutes .... and it looks like I got yet ANOTHER middle seat .... that's OK, I'm tired and it's only a 3 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh.

9:45 (Viet Nam Time)
FINALLY: touchdown in Saigon.... the excitement of being home is building ....

Again, only one of two positions of the respective immigration booths are occupied... which results in a 20 minute wait to present my passport...

The usual grin re-appears on my face as soon as I step out of the airport.   And as usual, my bus is sitting there, waiting for passengers willing to pay 5000 VND ;-)

There are two YOUNG American women on the bus. I have to tell them to get off the bus at my stop, otherwise they would have continued to God knows where..... they only have the name of their hostel.... I use Google Maps on my phone to find it (they don't have a working smartphone ).  It's close to my hotel, so I offer to walk most of the way with them and to give them directions.  "No, that's OK" is the answer...... They're fresh from the West.... Don't trust no one! is still ingrained in their minds.... so very different than Vietnamese...

My first stop is at the usual store..... a bottle of wine, yogurt, cigarettes.... Grandpa adds it all up but his total of 315k is Qua nhieu as I tell him.  He used the wrong price for the wine by accident.  206k is more like it ;-)

Huyen & her offer of com voi thit heo

My room isn't ready yet, so I hang out in Huyen's hotel for an hour ..... very entertaining and I exchange the warm bottle I just bought for a chilled bottle in her fridge and end up drinking half the bottle while chatting with her ;-)


















13:15
toi o phong cua toi!

14:30
A trip to Coop.mart.  

 Wine, chips & Qtips.... On the way back I see a market stand selling incense.... but there is no one there..... I ask the woman in the stand next to it "Oi!    Toi muon mua... point... Nguoi o dau?" The woman even understands me..... but apparently Sai Gon is changing because what I get back is a terse "I don't know" in English, LOL.


















15:30

I'll just have a BRIEF nap .....

19:00
A moment of HORROR when I wake up.   Didn't I set my ALARM CLOCK for 18:00? 
Bun Cha 145 closes in 60 minutes and I promised to bring Huyen a bowl.  I stumble into my clothes and hobble downstairs, grab a bowl, and wobble over to Bui Vien.

Since I've watched the movie Bohemian Rhapsody 3 times now... it is time to watch the 'original' ;-)

Strange that when this happened (I was 19 at the time) I found Queen music to be too flamboyant for my taste.....but ....  from my old age perspective:  We're all going to be DEAD soon.  So be as flamboyant as you can and Do NOT go gentle into that good night!

20:15
And now I do what I have been missing so much...... sit in the street, sharing my my bottle of wine .... and talk to Vietnamese people in Vietnamese & English..... GOD, I LOVE IT ;-)  All it took was  a relocation across the Big Pond.... and I am HAPPY again ....
...because I'm GROWING as a person again ......  Never forget: Stagnation is DEATH (or at least Old Age!)....

21:00
I just stripped and I'm about to hop into my bed when my room phone rings.... "Are you drinking alone in your room?" , Huyen asks..... and I reply Khong, toi rat met... toi di ngu... ngay mai gap lai !