Vietnam 15 - Recovery

Somehow I woke without a hangover.... with the exception of a very tenuous stomach. Breakfast was rice porridge and fish, and I slowly forced down the porridge. I couldn't steel myself to eat the floppy guy staring up at me.

After that, I packed, showered, and.... killed time while being ignored. I laid on my futon and read an entire book, which luckily lasted me until dinner time. My stomach was mostly recovered and we had homecooked cuttlefish (Vietnam knows how to cook cephalopods - they've always been far closer to edible than rubbery) which got ink everywhere, and prawns (good, but I couldn't bring myself to eat all of the parts that are locally considered edible). I did decline a beer to guffaws from grandpa.

After dinner, it was time to go. Lou, Grandma, and I rode out to the airport, and waited in ridiculously slow lines to check in. Finally checked in, we headed back outside to say our final farewell to various friends and family-members (apparently this is traditional airport etiquette in Vietnam). I wished them the best, lied and said of course I'd be back, and slipped grandpa my remaining cash while commanding him to secrecy with a gesture.

Lou and I had separate flights to the our next airport, both leaving around midnight and arriving at 7:30am. It wasn't until I sat down (to my middle seat :/ ) and read "4:30 flight time remaining" that I realized I'd totally forgotten about timezones. And so I woke up 4 hours later, watching the sun rise over the land of the rising sun.