Friend Friends everywhere

Meet my friends Linda and Denny. I ran into them while having a late evening drink. They are on an adventurous trip through asia. I enjoyed very much, our conversation, and hope to see them again someday….. And can you guess where they are fron by their looks??????  Yep, you guessed it… Sweden!! A couple of sweedies you could say.

The young man os from the south of France. Also a very nice fellow. Damn my fading memory!! It seems I have to write down peoples names to remember therm. I think his name was Peter or Pierre. My appologies my friend. If you read this blog can you please remind me??

I arrived at the Cam Ranh airport terminal and was totally shocked! It was not the airport of old. One year ago it was totally different. The old terminal was just a small cement building with a few chairs, and a small shop to get a bowl of soup. Now? A beautiful, clean, and modern structure now stands in its place. While waiting to board I became engaged in a conversation with a man named Charles from the USA, and a nice young woman Nina from Austria if I remember correctly. We had a pleasant conversation while waiting for the aircraft to board. Charles and I arranged for seats together, and as luck would have it, Nina ended up in the seat beside us. We continued our conversation and remained together the three amigos until we were in downtown Saigon. We went our separate ways, Nina a woman with a mission in the shopping district, Charles, booking into his hotel, and me, just wandering the streets soaking in the exciting chaos that is Saigon. I finally went to my hotel and was overwhelmed by joy when the staff of saw and remembered who I am. They ran to me with hugs and joyful banter, commenting on the changes in my appearance. It seems everyone I interact here are very nice. This afternoon I will meet with Charles again. I think we will be seeing more of each other in the future. His plan is to like me, take an early retirement and live in NhaTrang. A very good decision I think.

The flight here has to be the scariest I have ever taken. I was sitting at the window just above the wing. On take off the plane rolled to the right and I eaw the wing tip come within a foot of hitting the ground. Oh my God!! I had visions running through my mind of a firey crash. Charles, who is very familiar with aircraft, made some comments about the lack of skill that Vietnamese pilots have. The Landing was just as bad. We hit the ground hard. Thankfully the aircraft was an airbus 320., a verry rugged bird. Hopefully I will not get the same pilot again.

Saigon is getting set for new year and the city is going wild. They are closing down streets in the downtown and making decorations. It seems the party in Vietnam has begun. I will ride the wave and have some fun. Now off to play……. Bye