Closer & Closer (Homer & homer?) mot ngay o SGN & SGN-UIH to BBCT

I'm WIDE awake again at 1 am, listening to Freddy Mercury at Live Aid again...... I'm drinking wine.....smoking in my underwear on the terrace (it's 26 degrees outside) ..... and all in all just I am FEELING FUCKING GOOD.   My friends & family can't quite understand what I have found here...... their guesses vary between  nice beaches & warm weather & cheap cost of living.... but those guesses don't even come close..... 
..... because what I have rediscovered in this country is my raison d'etre ! 

Cam on rat nhieu, Viet Nam !!


1:30 am..... bloody jet lag, lOl.

4:30
There is a tiny bit of a hang-over noticeable..... 

Is THAT The Moon over Saigon ? ;-)

Grandma does not answer?    She must be out with her Nurse getting pictures for her passport application .... let's try again in one hour ....
Still no answer 2 hours later..... a message to the Nurse Next Door doesn't get an answer either..... am I flying back to Vancouver tomorrow .....?  

Finally there is a message.... passport pictures.... plants... and dry cleaning... 

Grandma is being WELL taken care of!  Cam on rat nhieu, Jessica !

And Grandma is actually being appreciative towards Jessica in a material way .... which I am SO HAPPY to hear ... 

9:45 ....
WOW, this city is good for sleeping ;-)

Beauty EVERYWHERE !

By 11 I'm at Coop.mart again..... New swim trunks for $5?  Why not, the ones I've bought in Ha Noi 3 years ago are seriously worn out ;-)  Add some wine and I'm in the zone lOl.


12:15
A visit to Huyen to take her food order .... she is getting picky.... Bun Cha ain't good enough today .....she wants the thit bo wrapped in leaves ....

... and I'm glad I that I waited and did NOT bring up the topic of the tickets .... because that is not why I came here .... much better to let her remember ;-)

6th row seats ?  NOT bad ;-)

NO, it does NOT look very appealing but it is Heaven in a Bowl !

The alarm clock violently wakes me at 19:45...... I feel like I'm living in a CONSTANT state of JET LAG ....

I've been sitting and drinking wine with nhung nguoi ban cua toi three times now, so HOW could I NOT go down there again ?

I pay my bill with Chuong and show him the purple Chucks.   And WHAT does he do?  He gifts me a pair of fancy socks..... of course they don't fit, so I try to give them back so he can give them to someone who can wear them .... He tells me to keep them as a memento ..... My heart is in constant state of melting in this country !

Huyen posing ....

I buy some food from a passing old woman street vendor ... wrapped rice & coconut 

Go Holly GoLightly !

NO better way to combat jet lag than drinking in the streets ..... I make it up the stairs at 23:00.

1:30
a brief period wide awake ... time to learn some more Vietnamese...
an it hon, nghi nhieu hon (eat less, think more! LOL)

 5:30
Oh, I will miss this view in the morning ;-)

And the sounds ..... NO car noises....just a strange mixture of the distant hums of a/c units sprinkled with rooster calls coming from all directions.

7:00
My head feels dizzy ....  am I coming down with a flu?  Ideally I'd stay here another day & night but I have a flight to catch ....

These bus arrival boards were NOT HERE just 2 weeks ago ....

 .....and now they have been installed at the myriad of bus stops all over the city.....in Vietnamese AND English (!!!!)

 .... and they WORK  !  I no longer have to crane my neck to see the approaching bus early enough to jump up and wave for it to stop ;-)

But other things have not changed..... there is an unscheduled bus stop just before the airport.....

... a 5 minute stop while the blue-shirted ticket collector buys breakfast at a street stand ;-)

Viet Jet is not in form today...... First I have to dig the ticket number out of my laptop because for some reason they can't scan my passport into their system..... then they complain that the  9.6 kg of both my backpacks is too much and that I have to check in one bag AND pay 330k for it.   Not really a problem.... now I can wander the airport unencumbered by TWO lumpy backpacks ;-)

But the first trip is to b.delicieux in the parkade to get some yummy food into my stomach!

A longer than usual but fast-moving lineup at security... and I'm sitting in the terminal a full hour before the scheduled boarding time .... BORED !

Depending on how much sleep I get in the plane and the airport bus, I'm considering skipping the night in Quy Nhon and cruising to my beach already today..... we'll see how I feel in a few hours .....

I try to pass the gate of the VN/VJ shared flight and the woman sends me away to wait..... THEN I see that it's not a shared flight after  all..... they just put both Quy Nhon flights on the same gate but now I see that my flight is leaving from another gate ..... 

My flight is LATE.......   I can't sleep because of the screaming baby in the row behind me so I eat instead..... 

FINALLY out of the plane...... I have my luggage..... but WHERE is the airport bus?.... NO BUS TODAY.....    The taxi drivers are delirious with joy .... I am less enthused because I get to pay 500,000 for the taxi instead of 50,000 for the bus ;-(

Dong is demolishing his house !

5 bottles of wine from Coopmart?  That is not excessive considering there is no wine where I'm going !

I sleep for 3 hours so I only get to the beach when the sun is already setting...

On my way back to the hotel .... there is DONG sitting with half the street's population and lots of food at tables right there in the street.  He asks me to join them .... but somehow my head feels still sluggish so I decline..... Talking to people just doesn't work well if I'm not feeling well ...


19:00

What time is it?  
20:45 ????

It feels like it's morning .... but it's only 23:30
Well, at least I get my Vietnamese lessons done early in the day ...

2:30
maybe I get a short nap in there... but by 4:30 I am WIDE AWAKE..... I know that it's the anticipation of FINALLY returning HOME today and meeting people again, whom I have MISSED SO MUCH during the last 2 weeks..... Tin, Quang, Chau, Muoi, Lisa....

6:00
another empty wine bottle ..... but my Mojo is back and I can't wipe that GRIN off my face, LOL

Dong is out swimming but his wife helps me maneuver my scooter out of my kitchen.... I load it with wine and the luggage, pay, and I'm out of there by 7:00.   I run into wet Dong wearing his life preserver at the corner ..


I left early, so I might as well stop at Life's a Beach for breakfast!

Breakfast consists of Ban Xeo Chuoi & white whine

ban xeo chuoi

I end up talking to Karol from Berlin, who happens to be the owner of the bike I ran over when parking .....

I take the detour again...... it is SO worth it ;-)

and then I'm home ...

Tin is there

Bobby is there and wearing Kohl on his eyes....

All is good 

11:30
time to di boi !

I'm on my way to Quang's house to see whether Lisa is there...... I'm wearing my new shirt.... and Ti/n has to pipe up "Ao dep va quan dep!"..... Doesn't he realize what he is doing? LOL.  All I can say is Oh, STOP IT, LOL.

It's good to be back home .....

It get's even better when I find Quang & Lisa sitting in the living room.  GOOD people...GOOD Hugs.....  and I'm looking forward to spend a lot of time with them .... which is looking more and more likely given that we will be neighbours ;-)

In the news:   Police in British Columbia force people in a homeless camp to leave.   Leaves me speechless..... these people are ALREADY HOMELESS..... WHERE are they supposed to go?    
Indubitably the idea is to get them out of SIGHT & MIND of the 'moral & upright citizens' of Canada.
SHAME!

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 !