Last Day.

Sleep in today as we've got nowhere to go.  Finally realised that fried eggs were available at breakfast, you just had to ask for them. Everyone had eaten breakfast by the time Kyra had hauled herself out of bed and got to the restaurant.

Angela was packed and ready to go, but Kyra wanted to repack all our bags so only one would get searched by customs. Callum's, in fact.

After everything was packed, there was an expedition to the day markets. Christopher got yet another pair of shoes in shoe street, before entering the day markets. I lasted about 30 mins there before I had to leave. I was over the constant "you wanna buy xxx?" badgering from my "mates" after a sale with their "ozzy, ozzy, ozzies" sales banter. That and the fact it was very warm and humid. Kyra bought a new purse and a Budda statue. Ron also got a Budda as well so he can set up a shrine in the living room and get in touch with his spirituality.

Popped down the road for a vietnamese coffee and some macaroons, dumping the kids at the hotel for some movie time - we'd arranged to keep the Banning's room an extra couple of hours, so we didn't have to vacate it until 2pm.

For lunch we went back to Mon Hue as it was of known quality and we didn't want our last meal to be the foul one from last night. As before the food was excellent. One minor hiccup was Callum having a huey at the end of the meal.  Hopefully nothing major as we're getting on the plane soon. Managed to spin the meal out until 4pm when we needed to catch taxis to the airport.

We went around the table for our top highs and lows of the trip:

Kyra
Low: Thinking she was going to die at the side of the road to Sapa
High: Countryside and people

Ruby
Low: Getting food poisoning
High: Meeting the people

Callum
Low: Nha Trang hotel
High: The guns.

Christopher
Low: Perfumed pagoda
High: The whole of halong bay

Angela
Low: Disappointment with Nha trang.
High: Serenity of halong bay

Ron
Low: Nha Trang in all its aspects
High: Getting a better understanding of vietnamese culture and history

Jonah
Low: Russians at the mud baths
High: Kyaking in halong bay

Me
Low: The War Remnants Museum
High: The War Remnants Museum

For me the mud baths came a close second for a low.

Callum had a change of clothes when we got back to the hotel and we called for two taxis for a final blast through Saigon rush hour traffic to the airport.

There was a minor panic from the Williams's when it was confirmed that empty bullet shells were not allowed in your checked luggage. These were duly removed and disposed of.

Whilst everyone waited in front of a very noisy football game on the TV in the departure lounge, Angela and Kyra ran off for a final dong based shopping spree. Turns out you can't take duty free bought here through Singapore, which put a bit of a downer on things as the booze is extremely cheap here.

Set to board in 20 minutes, so here's a big goodbye to Vietnam and thanks for a fantastic holiday.

Next stop Singapore where we board a midnight flight back to Brisbane.

...

We had a frantic rush through Changi airport to get to our transfer terminal, which was about 2.5 km from our arrival gate. I love they way they subject you to the maximum possible opportunity to shop between gates. On this occasion Angela failed, but she did at least try.

There was much hilarity at Kyra and Ron's, wobbly, Kath and Kim style power walking to keep up with the sensible people on the travelators. We got to the gate with minutes to spare. Angela forgot to pick her backpack up after having it scanned and had to backtrack before boarding.

Another seven hours and we'll be back in sunny Brisbane.
...
I had a really peaceful night and managed to doze a couple of times. Apparently Callum was sick again on the floor of the toilet, which only goes to show the importance of a window seat, because I was unaware of that. Of course the down side is a cranky Kyra for the rest of the day, because she didn't get any sleep.

Once the plane started to awaken, which was about 7am Brisbane time, there was a whole new bout of vomiting from all of the kids. Even Jonah was feeling poorly, but he didn't actually chunder.

30 minutes now to landing and the official end of our holiday.

What a great adventure we've had and after everything the Williams and Banning families are still on friendly terms!

We now just have to remember that:
a) You can't just cross the street at any time and expect the traffic to go around you
b) You cannot bargain the price down in Woolworths
c) You can drink the tap water
d) You can safely eat lettuce
e) You will have to make your own dinner
f) You say thankyou not gha man
g) 20,000 is a lot of money
h) I don't have to be up to midnight blogging every night
i) drive on the left and remember your lane discipline
j) remember to use your seat belts

Looks a bit cloudy in Brisbane - we would have been able to see our house if it hadn't been so cloudy.

The holiday is officially over at 9.35 am. Boo!