Vietnam – Day 15 – Last day in HCMC

Today is my last day here and this will likely be my last blog entry for this trip. I will leave my droning philsophical insights and epiphanys for cocktail parties. So, be warned. Tomorrow I go to the airport at 9 am to catch my flight home.

So what would Erik do on his last day here? I went to the gym of course. After the gym I did a bit of local sightseeing. Downtown is really pretty and has some really high end hotels. There were also some holiday decorations for the year of the Pig. I love taking pictures of the variety of pig poses with “2019” and “Chúc mừng năm mới” (Happy New Year). I also love graffiti “art”. There is graffiti all over the city. Balloon words unintelligible to me. But there are a few pieces of art I took note of along the way. Today I caught another.

I also did a little more shopping. I don’t know how I will carry it all back home! So after I dropped it off at the hostel I went out.

By now it was a little after 5. I wasn’t hungry so I went to the park to people watch. The city is really amazing at dusk. Everything is energized. The cars and motorbikes buzz through the city lights on and horns blaring. The signs light up on all of the buildings: some steady and some pulse rythmically to the clubs that start to blast their music. People fill the parks sitting around on plastic chairs, playing badminton and shuttlecock, and eating. The bats come out to eat also. Dozens buzzing above and below the treeline but never as low as the shuttlecock. I sat there mesmerized, trying to capture the moment in a picture but resorted to a mediocre video.

Then I decided to walk around and capture the unique items out there. There are Circle K’s everywhere. In the active areas like this, corners have multistory restaurants, coffee houses, and bars. The sidewalk seating for all of the bars and restaurants faces out to see the spectacle of tourists walking around.

After being tugged at by multiple spa/massage girls I decided to call it a night.

See you in the States!