Vietnam - Epilogue

Today is our last day. We woke up on the train heading back to Saigon after a decentish sleep all things considered. They really didn't build these beds with Europeans in mind.

Once in Saigon, normallity resumed; the constant sound of motorcycle horns, the hot sticky weather and the constant pestering of street vendors. If there was a competition for who'd said "No thank you" the most, then we'd have won it this holiday.

Back at the hotel and the staff said that they'd missed us, apparently they'd forgotten we were away and got a little worried yesterday. It was good to see their smiling faces though :)

Today's mission is to get some legroom seats for the flight home, it's slightly longer than on the way out at a hefty 13 hours, and neither of us fancy that in economy.

We asked the hotel to call them up, but the airline said that we needed to visit the office, so we had a quick trip over there. After lots of keyboard tapping we were told that we couldn't reserve anything. We could buy another ticket for $850 though - I don't think so. So they just put a note against our names with our request and that we were tall and we'll try again at the airport.

One of the goals for this holiday that Sam gave us was to eat Pho. It's everywhere, and how Tim has avoided it this long is a miracle in itself. Sam informed us that it's pronouced "fur" so Tim ordered it and after repeating himself 3 times the woman corrected him that it's called Pho, I guess the clue is in the name. Anyway the Pho/Fur was good.

We've been trying to buy some keepsakes, but the city is oddly un-touristy. Sure you can buy sunglasses and a key ring, but that's about it. Oh unless you want a t-shirt with some cheesy phrase written on it. I think the Saigon tourist board need to get abroad more and tap into the market :)

We're just winding away the hours now, our flight isn't until midnight, and we're pretty much packed, so we're just finding things to do to pass the time.

Mark went for another massage, Tim couldn't face it as his ribs were still aching from his CIA operation.

We felt like an Indian for our last meal, Tim had seen a place called Ba Ba's which was also recommended, however, we couldn't find it again so went to some dodgy Indian instead where the woman had to borrow the menu to copy out our orders. The food was nice enough though.

We made it to the airport with all four wheels still on the taxi this time and managed to get good legroom seats again. Considering it was a 13½ hour flight, it wasn't too bad and we both managed to get some sleep. The same can't be said for our luggage though which apparently is still sat on the runway in Saigon as the crew forgot to put any of the planes cases on board!

Tim immediately checked the small print of his insurance for what compensation can be had, and got straight onto the internet to find his rights :)

Well that's it for this holiday, we had a great time and I hope you enjoyed reading. For those that we met on our travels and are reading this, thanks for making it special. Thanks for reading, see you next time.

Mark & Tim

Saying our goodbyes to the great staff at the hotel

Saying our goodbyes to the great staff at the hotel

Saying our goodbyes to the great staff at the hotel