Travel Time.... BBCT to Phu Cat to Sai Gon to .... Tokyo !

4:30
the excitement let's me wake early.... or was it those naps yesterday ?  But it matters NOT because it gives me a head start on the list of things I have to do today !


5:00

It's as if the today's sunrise is telling me not to leave ;-)

5:30
Shite.... in 3.5 hours I will be in a car already...... 

A last minute check.... I'm trying to travel with minimum luggage....do I have to pack my travel adapter?..... 

Nope.... 


Japanese power plugs look just like North-american ones... with a voltage of 100V..... something new learned .....







6:30
only 2.5 hours until departure ......  but I should sneak a swim in there.....

Chez Chris is taking shape ....

WHY am I leaving this ?????

....the neighbouring 'resorts' put in the effort of placing garbage receptacles on the beach..... the LAZY owner of my place couldn't be bothered (quelle surprise!)...... so I pick up garbage in the beach sections of other places .... He will never understand Karma .....

7:00
I haven't had breakfast (except for a half bottle of wine), I haven't packed, I haven't showered ......

7:45
I try to communicate to Tam (in Vietnamese, of course) that the scooter indicates that it needs an oil change, that I will be gone for 6 days, and could she please call the owners (I have the wrong number) to do that while I'm gone...... this conversation is NOT easy going... but I think (hope?) that in the end I have conveyed the message, LOL.

Finally time for breakfast.... last night's left-overs....

Tuna Salad for breakfast ;-)

8:30
It's happening..... I've delivered my sheets & towels to the washer.... I'm all packed except the laptop.... It's a mixture of feelings of being excited at the new adventure and the inner-dog-laziness of not wanting things to change.... That means it's HIGH TIME for a CHANGE !!!

8:55
Hop is already here.... DI !

I nap through most of the transfer ....

I don't like change..... this used to be GREEN rice fields only a month ago ....

The total ride time to the airport is 1:20 hours.... for 700k.... this time as advertised ;-)

Check in is QUICK even though the clerk can't find me in the computer because she doesn't read the universal spelling at the bottom of the passport page.... at least by now I know to tell them where to look.

There is an almost "Mr-Perfect" lookalike working as a security guard outside the terminal building..... and I realize something..... it's those eye brows that get me every time, LOL.

A maybe 6 year old FAT Vietnamese kid approaches me and stares at me.... I bid him Xin Chao..... and he screams at the top of his lungs  WHAT THE FUCK..... it's probably the only phrase he knows in English and even his nearby Dad has no idea what his son is shouting...... America.... PLEASE keep your fucked-up so-called freedom & liberty & social values to yourself .... 

10:45
One hour until scheduled lift-off... I'm sitting with a can of Ba Ba Ba beer in the waiting lounge.....

 .... and I'm wearing socks again to ward off foot odour from prolonged skin-to-plastic contact in my sandals..... NO, it does NOT feel right ....

My plane will be arriving 15 minutes late.... but at least I know about it in advance thanks to Flightaware....

UIH-SGN   55 minutes

paid VietJet food

Traffic at Tan Son Nhat is a nightmare..... all those bloody cars... the buses can't get through anymore ;-(

.... but that's what you get when you replace nimble scooters with space-hogging cars...... and the seats at the bus stop are GONE ...they were still there only 4 weeks ago!  This is NOT going in the right direction!


Huyen does her thing again...she grabs my room keys and runs ...... but I neither have the time nor the nerve for it today...

16:00

over the roofs of Sai Gon

NO, I can't veg out in my room all afternoon (even though I'll have to get up again in 8 hours to catch my plane...)... I've eaten enough... but I should take the opportunity to delight on a bowl of Bun Cha ;-)

I have Trang take a picture of me in The Shirt with a Namaste pose.... and I ask her to e-mail it to Chuong....and I beg her to ask him again for his shoe size, LOL.

The hotel has been taken over by RedDoorz .... and Huyen can't stop talking about it..... so I have to cut her off again... I'll probably get a pouting e-mail again later.

Bun Cha 145... the place is deserted... what happened?... but then it had been closed for one month for renovations ....

heaven in a bowl

....but it's still YUMMY ;-)

OMG, it's the usual crowd in front of my hotel... One-Eye asks me whether I have eaten already... he's such a darling.... Quoc just wants to drink again.... and ticket-woman jokingly wants to charge me money for fanning me in the stifling heat.... but I resist... NO more drink.... I have to catch an early flight!

20:00
that's only 6 hours until my alarm clock will blare ... I better sleep NOW...

2:00
Oh, I could sleep MUCH MORE today .....

There is an e-mail from Germany..... Mother attacked another woman in her dementia ward and used her fingernails on the woman's arm until she bled.... then she threatened to attack another resident with a fork..... back to the loony bin ...

2:45
Shit, I have to RUSH to get ready in time ......

My room phone rings at 3:30.... is the taxi already there or did the poor guy in the lobby have to set an alarm clock?

Good thing I'm packed already..... leave key and kettle, the poor new receptionist really looks tired ;-(

The taxi is not there yet... and the receptionist even waits until it arrives and makes sure I get in it.... toi noi "di ngu!"

At first I thought the cabby was a young guy, but it turns out she is a young lesbian..... lots of lively queer chatter on the way to the airport.....

4:00
I'm at the airport ahead of schedule....good thing, because check-in with Vietnamese Airlines takes 40 friggin minutes 

.... and then immigration takes another 20 minutes because they only open the additional booths when it's almost too late.

my ride at dawn

SGN-NRT... 6 hours

Not a very eventful flight... I nap at first.... my seat neighbour is high as a kite on something.... and WAKES me to show me the sight of Saigon sinking lower below us.... 

The highlight of the flight....Vietnam Airlines has the movie Song Lang available.... I watch it all.... and I LOVE the movie..... I manage not to cry to obviously.

Finally, the 6 hours are over..... a rather complicated immigration procedure... they still have paper customs & immigration forms in Japan...

Then: I step out of the terminal building...... Shite, this looks just like Vancouver... 

.... I light my first after-flight cigarette... and after two puffs there is someone telling me that I can NOT smoke here..... OMG.... THIS is WORSE than Vancouver, LOL.