It's Tuesday already?..... OMG.... that means ...... I'm going HOME !!! ..... YVR-SGN

3:30
Maybe getting up this early is a good thing?   I might be so exhausted tonight that I'll sleep through a lot of plane time ;-)


News to relive my fear that Vietnamese people will succumb to Western nonsense as tourism delivers more and more negative thinkers to that country.

The Vietnamese Central bank started producing COINS in 2003 (shown denominations roughly equivalent to US$ 1.00, 0.50, 0.25 today)... but the Vietnamese people simply refused to use them...I have NEVER EVER seen a Vietnamese coin! ..... so the bank stopped producing them in 2011.   

5:00
an e-mail from Lisa:

They FUCKING STARTED yesterday !!!!

I'm sitting at my computer with my arms and legs bouncing around almost uncontrollably ..... I'm shaking with excitement because I'm going HOME today..... 

8:00
I'm HUNGRY !!!  There is a Vietnamese restaurant below me so I could have a nice breakfast Pho, BUT the bloody market doesn't open until 9:00!  

Stay hungry!

9:00
The market is officially open, but the stalls are still setting up.... not many people come here for breakfast at 9 sharp.... because they're sitting in their offices downtown ;-)  

 Seeing the older slightly hunched over Asian woman running her stand gives me confidence in the food I will receive....

BLAND, even after adding hot sauce

alas, the food is LOUSY.... not the best start to today ;-(

9:45....what to do now ?.... visit Grandma NOW .... maybe NOT, it's POURING outside....

11:45
OK, at this rate I won't sleep at all in the plane, LOL.

GREY !

12:00
I'm biting the bullet and prepare to get wet...

The view from inside the bus at Lonsdale Quay Station...

There are stupid car drivers blocking the bus' path everywhere....  when the bus driver honks at the or makes eye contact, some of the creeps even roll down their car windows to shout at the bus driver...... TOO much negative energy in this city !


A last load of laundry, a Good Bye to Grandma, and a taxi back to Lonsdale Quay

I wake up just before my alarm clock goes off at 8pm....SHIT... too much sleep, I'll be awake in the plane !

20:30  I guess I better start packing, LOL.....  and a flood of realizations washes over me...... when I get off that second plane in 20 hours, I will be able to SPEAK Vietnamese again, instead of just practicing it on my laptop.....

sự thân thiện của nguoi Viet Nam cho phép tôi thay đổi

21:15 Enough reveling in happy thoughts.... I REALLY need to get ready here....

21:30 I am happily aware that THIS will be last time that I will be putting on SOCKS for a long time ;-)

22:10
On y va !

Lonsdale Quay is deserted.....   I can't resist taking pictures of downtown reflected in the harbour though.... even something ugly can be made to look nice....

23:45
I've got my boarding pass.... an aisle seat ;-)
YVR makes sure to disappoint again...... EVERYTHING is closed.... except Wendy's and the Currency Exchange ...  what a hopeless airport!  That means I get to wait 3 hours to get a glass of wine ;-(  How tres uncivilized!

0:15
Travelling for another 18 hours and crossing the date line I will miss an entire day.... so in order not to break my streak of practicing Vietnamese for 132 days in a row, I get another day done NOW.... not much else to do....


0:45
I'm hungry (but I REFUSE to buy food at Wendy's or Starbucks!) and TIRED ..... and it's COLD in the airport terminal..... miserable city!  but it's 36 Celsius in Saigon right now ;-)

1:05
LIFT bar still has people sitting in it.... and the Wait-to-be-Seated sign is still out... but my attempt of getting some wine is foiled by "We are closing now".
But at least China Airlines still provides its free stand with apple juice & coffee....

YVR - TPE...11 hours.....
 less travel time than FRA-YVR since the China Airlines plane manages to leave on time ;-)

5:00 Taiwan Time
I step out of the plane into the transfer tunnel ..... and my pores just OPEN to INHALE the air .... there is that WARM and MOIST air that I have been missing SO MUCH! ...... 10 minutes later I've made it into the nearest smoking lounge.....OH NO, my lighter is running on its last fumes....  I get the camera out to take a picture....

and the lens fogs up INSTANTLY !

5:30
I'm sitting in the food court right across from a place that serves Taiwan Beer.... but it's CLOSED.   TWO hours until the connecting flight takes off ...

5:55 
I have my beer.... first time ever drinking Taiwanese beer ....

.... and its slightly malty flavour is just FABULOUS.......

Sill a bit of a tan left after 7 weeks ;-)

Another first for me.... I get my minimum Vietnamese lesson done in the food court while sipping my beer........

.... but now it is time for another cigarette ... 

.....and then waiting at the gate.... 

..... the plane actually leaves right on time !

TPE - SGN  3 hours 

Getting my Visa stamped is surprisingly fast at half an hour... But then it takes another half hour to get the immigration stamp... And the worst part is that the line I switched from is literally moving twice as fast ...

It is pouring when I exit terminal building, so I take the 109 bus.... 

.... a shorter walking distance ... just in case it's pouring everywhere...

It's NOT raining anymore when I step out of the bus, but it feels like I'm stepping into a freshly watered greenhouse.... heat & humidity .....memories of when I was playing in Grandpa JJ's greenhouse when I was 10 ;-)  
The air surrounding me NO LONGER HURTS !

12:45 Vietnam Time
I'm sitting at the work desk in "My Room".... and after all the hectic and frustration today I finally clue in.... I AM HOME again..... and that instinct gets wholeheartedly confirmed by the first cigarette on the patio ....

.... and when I upload that picture and am surprised again by the FAST upload speeds here ;-)

A glass of white Dalat wine...... and while wine elsewhere does NOT have that effect.... I can FEEL all the anxiety simply draining away ....

Lisa sends pictures:

 It's HAPPENING !!!

Refill the phone with 400k Dong, walk to Coopmart for Nivea, more wine & sua chua (again the Viets find delight in my attempts at speaking tieng Viet ;-)..... individual drops of water start falling from the sky ......Bun Cha place.... OH NO it's CLOSED from May 4 to May 29.... the owner is there though supervising some renovations .....


It only starts POURING when I'm back in my room 

14:30

18:30

YES, it's dark here at this hour ;-)

Should I go out for dinner?   Or should I follow the motto I saw in my Vietnamese course?  An it hon; nghi nhieu hon!   Eat less, think more....!

20:30
I'm going to EAT...... I hear the voices of the usual Vietnamese suspects drinking on the street before I even leave the reception area...... I decide to eat just around the corner..... EEL in Curry Sauce ?  OH HELL YEAH.....BUT.... unfortunately they are OUT of that...... they suggest FROG in curry sauce...... OH HELL YEAH.... I'd eat cardboard in curry sauce, LOL..... 

125,000 VND for frog legs in vegetable noodle curry & a beer ... I'm HOME !

I start talking to the guy at the next table.... a Westerner who seems to speak FLUENT Vietnamese!...... A biologist from England who has lived here for 7 years... and sees the future of the world in the same dire colours as I see it....'nough said!

21:30
Coming back to the hotel..... Chuong is NOT there again... a bit of a SHOCK..... I already was told that Huyen is on holiday.... I was even wearing The Shirt (Chuong's shirt) in anticipation to meeting him....