–September 3,

Happy Birthday to one of our nephews!!

We awoke and did our breakfast routine- Javas and Muesli and yogurt. I feel quite a bit better. Then we did our last load of laundry here. Tomorrow evening we leave Sunset Town and Phu Quoc.😢😭

We went to Tiem An Mami for lunch on the scooter. We had a Beef Pho and Stir-fried Beef Pho (the Beef Stew was not available. We ate heartily and said our goodbyes to them. I did ask and took a picture of the Mom(?)/cook and the Daughter(?)/waitress. I’m not sure if they understood we were leaving. But we enjoyed this restaurant a lot!

We left and went into An Thoi. We had to go to a pharmacy for refill of prescription meds. We also went to the wine shop and got a bottle of wine for tonight and a wine glass (to replace one Jeff had broke while washed dishes). Then we also filled up the scooter with petrol. As we were going back we stopped at a “prison” we had passed before.

It was a stand alone compound for POW’s and political prisoners during the Vietnam War, that were captured and kept here by the “American Puppet” military of then South Vietnam. The place was kind of set up like a movie set – a cross between Bridge Over the River Quai and Hogan’s Heroes. It was an enclosed, heavily fenced (with rows of large coiled barbed wire)area having some of the 500 buildings that “housed” up to 45,000 POWs. The buildings were slabs of cement flooring (originally dirt) with a corrugated metal walls and a roof, that had plywood for beds inside. We saw statues of men depicted ways of “life” at the prison camp: there were cages of barbed wire out in the elements and it was built so one could stand or sit only; there were also statues depicting torture methods, etc., etc. Placards described this all and told of tunnels built with like only 16(?) escaping. It was… sobering/interesting to see it all… it’s history with a propaganda spin. Because North Vietnam won, the country is communist. Anyway… We left and realized there had not been no entrance fee.

We made it back to our place and had supper – left over stir-fry (we had made) and a sausage sandwich with our bottle of wine. I also went to the Meet n’ eat and bought an order of fries, saying goodbye to Vi. I did a selfie with her, because she did not want me to take picture of just her! We ended the night watching our last night of fireworks –boohoo!

—September 4,

Today we got around with our Javas, and the last of our Muesli and yogurts. The weather outside was awful – a grand storm, blowing and hard driving rain. So it’s a “stay inside day”. We did a video call with Jeff’s sister and our B-I-L. 

Then we set about the task of packing our stuff and left a small number things. Redistributed – organized it all. We had lunch- the last of our bread with PB&J or PB&Nutella. We vacated our condo to the reception area around 1400. The weather has improved, it is just gray cloudy now. The scooter guy showed up around 1440 and took the scooter back. It was a no problem return. Jeff booked a Grab taxi. We arrived at the airport at 1500. We are 5.5 hours early! Crazy but we have nothing else to do. We were so early we could not check in yet! So we just chilled outside, it was actually coolish.

At 1830 we checked in and sent our bags🧳🧳 off. We are flying on Vietjet. Now we went through security and to the lounge. It was an underwhelming lounge. But they did have a decent bowl of Pho. For drinks there was only Pepsi products and beer. I had a 7up and water. I blogged and Jeff read. The flight was delayed until 2125 – 55 minutes late. So more hang out time in an airport – Yeah🤨🙄!

We finally boarded around 2100… at 2120. The plane backed up at 2143 and took off at 2152. We missed seeing the fireworks in the sky by 15-20 minutes. I was hoping with this delay we would see them again.😢! It was a quick flight – touched down 🛬at 2242. On bus to baggage claim— No immigration! Collected our bags and saw my name for the taxi at 2321. 2326 in taxi. 2340 @ our new place. Got checked in by security and 3rd floor to room. Semi unloaded and bed by 0010.

Welcome to Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)!!!