Tan Loc/Back in HCMC

I should tell you that the Very Long Drive I had talked about was long because we drove down to Can Tho (4.5 hours) then continued on to Tan Loc which is a little island - we took one ferry to get to Can Tho and one more to get to Tan Loc - which was 2.5 hours away from Can Tho. And then we pretty much turn around and drove right back.. to Can Tho, thank goodness, not HCMC.

The next day, I headed back to HCMC by myself. This was a pretty rushed trip for me since I had to get back to work the next day :( I took a local bus back to HCMC, which dropped me at a terminal about 10 miles outside the city, then I had RUN RUN RUN! to get on an even-more-local bus - the sort of rickety bus that literally did not even stop for passengers to get on. It would just kind of slow down and good luck getting on!

I really only managed by the kindness of strangers who spoke a smattering of English and could understand my mangling of Vietnamese place names.

Back in HCMC, I had time to spare so I visited the Reunification Palace, which was awesome. A real trip. Think: Get Smart meets Austin Powers... except, I guess, if you think about the historical context, not very funny. The whole place is frozen in the swinging 70s, with upstairs meeting rooms filled with Chinoiserie, a game room (a game room!), and crazy basement military intelligence rooms. And the phones. The place was filled with retro phones. Loved it.