Day 48 - Can't get out quick enough (Ho Chi Minh City to Chiang Mai)

After a little over 3 weeks, I’m finally out of Vietnam.

And it couldn’t come quick enough.

Yes, Vietnam, you wore out your welcome with me.

Too much “motorbike? motorbike?” and “you want sunglasses?” along with the coldness of the locals made me just chomp at the bit to get out of here.

The city I spent my last days at – Ho Chi Minh – was the worst. I could not walk down a block without a least 3 people ask if I wanted a motorbike ride.

Every.

Block.

Today I stood on a sidewalk eating a sandwich and within a 5 minute span I was approached by four different people asking if I wanted sunglasses.

Basically the feeling I take away from Vietnam is they only see dollar signs in us. Oh, the rich westerner – come give me your money!

Not that everything was bad about Vietnam.

Far from it.

I met some amazing people and ate some awesome food. I rode a motorbike for the first time and was deeply moved by a visit to the War Museum.

I visited temples, saw a water puppet show and rappelled down a waterfall!

And I had a taxi fight!

And a golden moment for Team Canada!

Yes, Vietnam was an adventure that I will soon not forget.

But now – it’s time to move on…

At noon I checked out of the hostel and went for a last lunch of pork, omelette and rice.

My first of two flights today didn’t leave until 6pm and I had arranged a ride to the airport for 3pm. I was now faced with a choice.

Hang out in the small lobby area of the hostel for a few hours or walk around the hot, muggy busy streets of downtown Ho Chi Minh City.

In the end, I opted for neither. Instead I changed my ride to the airport and got there at 1pm – a full 5 hours before my flight.

Unlike the hostel lobby and downtown HCMC – the airport was air conditioned and at that very moment all I wanted to do was get out of the city and into somewhere nice and cool.

So, I hung out in the airport for 5 hours.

In fact I actually almost missed my flight as for some reason I thought the boarding time was 6pm when, in fact, that was the departure time. I was just sitting in the departure area down the hall from my gate as 5:45 rolled around. For some reason I decided to check what time the flight left and that’s when I found out my mistake.

I hastily grabbed all my stuff and rushed down to my gate as the final boarding call was being announced.

Crazy that after waiting 5 hours for a flight that I almost missed it!

An hour and a half later as the sun went down I was in Thailand!

Bangkok!

For 2 hours…

I went through immigration without so much as a question, picked up my bag and then went straight to the domestic departure area.

I had one more flight to catch – to Chiang Mai.

And at 11pm I landed at my home for the next week or two.

After a short taxi ride (150 baht, $5) I arrived at Aoi Garden Home where I’ll stay 2 nights before going to play with elephants!!!

I checked in real quick, dropped my bag off and headed straight out to get something to eat.

Thankfully the streets seem easier to navigate and the instructions the man at the hostel gave me were actually really easy to follow.

Nice for a change.

I walked past a bunch of street food stands selling various mystery dishes. I finally stopped at one and had a fried pork and noodle dish for 40 baht ($1.35).