Travel Diary

This would be an adventurous day, even for Vietnam. We checked out early, but left our bags there. The owner would store them for us since our flight was at night. I wasn’t sure what to take, but I did have my sweatshirt for sure, thinking that would be enough.

Spoiler: it wasn’t enough.

We then took a private bus to Han Noi to spend the day there. Unfortunately, the weather was not good that day. It was cold and often raining. I just didn’t have the clothing or body insulation for that, so I was fairly miserable most of the day. We explored some but then sat in coffee houses most of the afternoon. One was particularly nice as it was the second level of a building and had nice views and provided a relaxing retreat from the city. Had the weather been nicer, it would have been a great afternoon.

We did explore some and then it was time to head to the tailor shop to pick up our clothing. I just had the suit coat of course but the girls had other things to get. As for my coat, it was very nice. I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Good sewing, good fabric. It hopefully will last many years. I of course have to stay the same size, but that hasn’t been a problem in the last two decades. Thus, the reason my last suit coat still fits just fine.

We had one final meal in Han Noi, and that was pho of course. It was nice, although nothing beat the one on New Year’s Eve, or 2am the next morning I should say. Then our bus arrived and we headed back to Da Nang. It was a long ride it seemed. Finally, back in the city, we had a bit of confusion. We were supposed to pick up our stuff from the Airbnb, but our bags were not there. The owner said to come to his other place. Uh, okay. So when the other private bus arrived, we asked him if we could pay and take that detour. Okay, no problem, but it did take time and was going the wrong way.

At the new location, it took around 15 minutes to even find the location of our luggage. One person finally thought to use AirTags location finding, even though at that point, we located the flat and grabbed our things. Then back to the bus and we headed to the airport.

Again, this was domestic and at night, so very little crowds. It was relaxing once we were there on time, and had no immigration to deal with. We checked in, passed security and waited for our flight, grabbing a little food in the meantime.

Boarding was quick and we all had seats fairly close. The flight was only an hour long, so time passed rather fast. Soon, we were back in Saigon and exiting the airport. We had arranged for a private bus to take us to District 2 in the city. I suppose it would be a little silly to head all the way out there for me since I was leaving first thing in the morning, but the price was hardly anything to return to the airport, like $5 instead of about $100, which Seattle would have been.

At the Airbnb, it was a very large apartment building in a nice part of the city. In fact, I think it was a gated off area too. The check-in instructions were not the best, but perhaps something lost in translation. What was apparent in any language, however, was that the building was used quite frequently for men to have “special dates” there. Like the majority of people arriving at 11pm at night were there for that one line of work.

Even opening the front door was a task as it required moving a hidden panel aside to see a keypad. But after that, everything was gravy. I found my room and it had a nice large window to the city. I also got to take a nice long hot shower too. That was a treat. In 12 days, I only had maybe just three hot showers. Otherwise, it was lukewarm—at best! The pad also had a nice balcony and view, though mostly of other tall buildings. Pity to leave the place so soon, but my flight was bright and early the next morning. I said good night to friends, set three or four alarms and then dozed off.