It seems like just yesterday that we were dragging ourselves out of bed in Redmond and heading to Vancouver for our flight to Bali. Yet here we are, sitting in the Ho Chi Minh airport, waiting to board to go home. Where did the time go?

The feeling is bittersweet, as we miss family and friends, but staring out the hotel window one last time, the urge is strong to let the flight go without us. Life is simpler here, and while we live in bigger houses, drive nicer cars, and eat in fancier restaurants, maybe, just maybe, these cultures that have been around much longer than our own, know a few things we don’t.

The desire to try and fit in a day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels faded last night, so this morning we just slept in (some of us more than others), finally leaving the hotel around 10 am. We have worked up the courage to try another massage, and find one a few blocks away that seems worth a try. There are no short skirts (Ang and I agree to disagree on whether this is a feature or a flaw) and the price is right – $7 for 75 minutes.

What we don’t know is whether we are in for another round of the dry rub, so are pleasantly surprised early in when it actually turns our to be a pretty good massage, restoring my faith that there are good massages to be had anywhere in Asia. Once again, we also learn that foot massage really means full body massage. Now that I found a place that seems legit, if I had one more day, I’d have to try the full body massage to see what that includes that this one doesn’t (at the last place, I had a pretty good idea).

Most people here like to ask questions, and besides the common “where are you from?” and “how many children?”, a popular one is “where are you staying?”. The goal of course is to determine how much money you might have, and because we’re never prepared with the name of some run-down backpacker hotel, when the masseuse asks the question, “Sheraton” automatically pops out. This seems innocuous enough, until it comes time to pay and they tell us the tip is extra.

OK, my bad, so I dig into my pocket and come up with about $1.25 for each (which isn’t really that much, but for a $7 bill is getting close to 20%). To that we get “oh, in Vietnam, tip bigger”, and “we only get tips, no pay.” Sheraton indeed. Back into the pocket for a 100,000 dong note (about $6), which we tell them they need to spilt (50,000 each). The try to milk us for one more, but we draw the line there, and leave disappointed that what was really a good experience ended up so tainted.

For our last meal in Asia, we decide to treat ourselves a little and have the Sunday Brunch. Its not really much different than we would get at a nice hotel back home, but its a nice change and should mean we can enjoy the flight home and not have to worry about pushing old ladies out of the aisle to get to the lavatory.

The inevitable question is “how did this trip compare to others you have taken?” Unfortunately, there is no better answer to this than “they are all different”. For pure relaxation, Thailand and Indonesia are tops. Malaysia had the best food. China the most history. For me, Vietnam remains a bit of an enigma, as we saw enough to really only know that there is much more to see. Having been to both the big cities, if we come back, I’d spend time in the mountains at Sa Pa and Dalat, as well as in the Mekong Delta and on the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. Three weeks sounds like such a long time when we plan these trips, but on the ground, it is only ever enough time to scratch the surface.

Back to the grind tomorrow, and the countdown begins all over again. We have some thoughts for next year, but who knows where we’ll end up.

Our last full day in Vietnam today, and fortunately, the weather was quite nice despite the forecast for more rain. By the time we have checked in with the kids and are leaving the hotel (around 10 am), it is already getting hot. By noon, we both have a good case of the sweats, that sunscreen only makes worse.

We have no set destinations, so mostly wander around the 1st district, where our hotel is. There are some art galleries nearby, so we look a bit through those of course, but that budget is already stretched a little thin, so we come away empty handed (so far anyway).

Around lunch time, we find ourselves near Reunification Palace, where the first North Vietnamese tanks broke through the gates to mark the fall of Saigon. Apparently, everything has been left exactly as it was on that day in 1975, but we don’t get a chance to see inside as it’s closed until 1:00, and we’re not interested enough to stick around in the heat for an hour.

Fairly close by is the War Remnants Museum, so we figure we’ll give that a try. We haven’t gone out of our way to focus on the war sites while we’ve been here, but I think it would be interesting to see how the same events are interpreted from the Vietnamese perspective. This is not to be though either, as we arrive to find the museum is closed until 1:30.

Tired and overheated, we decide to just head back to the hotel for a break. I try to convince Ang to hire a motorbike taxi to take us, but she’s not up for riding sidesaddle, so we hoof it instead. The Chelsea – Barcelona game is on the TV, and while I don’t watch much soccer (little people being the exception), in an air conditioned room I find it pretty engaging.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We wandered the streets some more, and after walking a couple of miles looking for a restaurant for dinner, ended up about a half block from the hotel. The good news is that it is close to a bakery we found (and have hit a couple times already) so desert is only a few steps a way. We figured there would be more great bakeries like there were in China given the French influence, but they are actually few and far between.

Tomorrow evening we catch our flight back to Vancouver through Hong Kong, so are debating how best to spend it. There is a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels that takes about 5 hours that is on the list, but sleeping in and doing a whole lot of nothing by the pool is running a very close second. Its hard to believe that by this time tomorrow Vietnam will be behind us. We are able to see that the weather is good in Seattle, so at least there won’t be any big shocks to the system.

We’re definitely in the home stretch now, as today we pack up for Ho Chi Minh City. In some ways, we feel like it is the end of our vacation since the hustle of the big city will feel too much like our normal, hectic lives. Aside from getting to the airport, our only destination today is My Son, some ruins from the Cham civilization that are about an hour from town.

We take special care checking the room before we leave, as the hotel has made very clear it frowns on items making their way into guests luggage. From the card left in our room:

We are very sorry to stick the notice down, it is due to damages and lost facilities which may occur. To restrict further missing, The Management would like to offer some quoted prices that our Guests will be charged directly to your personal account for any cause of missing.

Below that is a list of items and the prices they charge, including $4 for the door mat. I can’t decide which surprises me more, that a mat in Vietnam costs $4, or that they have a problem with the ugly things going missing in the first place.

With a few hours to kill before out car leaves for the ruins, we head back into the Old Town one last time. Of course, our plan is to have a last lunch at the Friendship Restaurant, but rounding the corner, we are devastated to find it closed for the national holiday. We settle on a different place a few doors down, but its just not the same.

According to our guide book, the best time to visit My Son is early morning or in the late afternoon as that is when the fewest tour groups are there. Given that, we’re a little nervous heading out there just after lunch, but the plan is to leave from there directly to the airport in Da Nang so its the time that works best. The weather is overcast with showers again, so we hope that keeps things at least a little quieter.

What we find when we arrive though, is that the place is almost deserted. There are only a few cars in the parking lot and not a single bus. As we walk through the ruins, there are times when we feel absolutely alone, which makes the experience that much more enjoyable. It rains off and on which is a bit of a pain, but you can buy plastic ponchos everywhere, so we take two for a dollar.

The ruins themselves date back to the 7th century, and regarded as one of the most important Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia. They took a bit of a beating during the Vietnam war (apparently the area around the complex is still has unexploded ordnance), and the jungle claimed back a fair number after the Viet people defeated the Cham, but like the Citadel in Hue, work is slowly under way to restore the site.

Finished with Hoi An, we head to the airport for our final flight. We arrive quite early and fortunately are able to change our tickets for an earlier departure (without a single fee or service charge!). This gets us into Ho Chi Minh City around 7:00, so by the time we get to the hotel and check in, it is still early enough to get out and see a bit of the city.

We’ve been told that Ho Chi Minh City is like Hanoi on steroids, with bigger streets holding even more motorbikes. Around our hotel it seems pretty controlled though, not much different than any other big city like Vancouver or Singapore. Part of that may be the holiday, as many people would have returned to their towns and villages, so we’ll get a better idea tomorrow and Sunday.