I got a wake up call at 5:30am this morning :). I was able to go back to bed and got up at 7:30am. I did my thing, went downstairs and my cousin got my a bowl of pho...yum! After breakfast, my parents stop by and picked me up. They took me the former Vietnamese President's home (equivalent to the white house) which is now just a tourist attraction. I did the tour for like an hr (see pix). We then got something to eat. The layout of the restaurant regarding to the preparation food is pretty cool. When you walked into the restaurant, the customers are seated in the middle and the food stations were surrounded on the outside. They have the noodle soup station ( pho, bun no hue...), the rice station, dessert station, banh xeo station...etc. It was a quick lunch then we headed home. So I'm just sitting here at the shop and watching my cousin's fam selling clothes. Man, they are working hard. Especially this time of year, holiday season, they get up sometime at 4am and work until 7pm-8pm. They barely take a lung break. She did say thing do slow down a little bit after the holidays. They do sell individual clothing items but they mostly sell in bulk.
It's 10pm an we just got back from didn't and walked around the town. Dinner was good, there was four of us and we tried another type of Lau (hot pot)..see pix. Oh earlier, my uncle took me for a spin during rush hour in Saigon. Man! That was madness, you have to experience itself but you have to ride on a moped. There were so many people on the road and so close that you sometime can see the other person's pores...ridiculous traffic!
Anyway, I can't believe tonight is my last night in Vietnam. What can I say about this trip? I don't know, I don't think a word can filling describe how I feel. I learned so much about my families, the cultural and about me. Everywhere I went the hospitality had been well beyond tremendous, all my relatives from Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang and Saigon were awesome. For the majority, I don't remember any of them but they treated me like one of their own and I'm grateful for that. I hope that one day I can return the favor.
It's 11pm and by this time tomorrow night I should be on a plane getting ready for take off. It's sad that my trip is coming to an end but at the same time i'm ready to go home to see my families and friends.
Anyway, goodbye Vietnam and i'll see you in a few years :).
The chroang is heading home!
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