The end of July.

My bus trip to Nha Trang was as uneventful as a trip on Highway 1 can be, I saw a bus crash. I hope everyone was O.K.. My weekend in Nha Trang was a bit weird. Denise was busy finishing up at school and getting ready for her motorbike trip. Becky had her sister coming to stay as well as getting ready for the trip with Denise. Alicia is getting ready to leave Vietnam in a few weeks and her boyfriend might be heading out sooner. I had realised that things were changing in Phan Thiet but I hadn't realised that they were shifting just as much in Nha Trang too. Denise is still in the same Saturday night groove, I wasn't feeling it this time. I had a good time but they seem to do the same things every weekend. Logically I know that's not the case, that they do get out of town some weekends but I don't see that because we all go out together when I'm there. I stayed four nights and came back on the Wednesday for my last ESL class. It went well and then before I knew it I was done. I wasn't ready to be done. As always when a big change is offing in my life I get scared and worried, regardless of that fact that I've done it all before and it's been fine. The next couple of days were filled with finishing up stuff around the house, closing my bank accounts and other errands. I sent a box home a few weeks ago so now I am just sorting out what I want to take with me and what I will discard. I took a bunch of stuff over to Daniel's, I think Anh got the most benefit from it as some of the things were birthday presents that I'd received. I met with Phuong, the owner of the house and paid my rent for my last half month. I was also ready to pay the bills as well, but she said that she didn't want me to pay, that it was not much and I shouldn't worry about it. That was so nice.On my last Friday in Phan Thiet I had dinner with Tim,Larissa, Jason and Valerie. The new owners of Novotel have kicked out the management company, Accor, so they are all leaving. I now feel as if I am in a race to leave Phan Thiet with a good chance to be the last out. Tim has a new job in Da Nang, Jason will go to a hotel in Hanoi and Valerie is returning to France. Carlo will leave on Monday, he goes to Bangkok first and then home to Holland until he finds a new job. In a strange twist Anna has a marketing job with the new owners of Novotel and will be coming to Phan Thiet as part of her new job. Life is strange sometimes. Dinner finished early and I ended up having beers with Dan, the high school teacher, and some of his friends on Bo Ke afterwards, then we went to karaoke. I ducked out and finished the night at Galaxy, which was fun. It was a much later night than I had expected. Saturday was the day of my goodbye dinner. I got to the restaurant early as Huong turned up 20 minutes early and they didn't have a table. Of course I freaked out. Ms.My was trying to help in a Vietnamese fashion but we just had to wait for a table to come free, which luckily it did quickly. I had a really good time and I think everyone else did too. It was nice, some people came early and when they left there seemed to be more to take their place until at the end there was a hard core of about ten of us. We then moved onto 7Up club, I had a good time. Better than my birthday I think, it certainly was cheaper! I had lunch at Novotel on Sunday and said goodbye to Carlo. I then went to karaoke at Kanu, it's where See, the security guard from Galaxy, works. I called Tan and Hoang, the P.E. teacher from APC to come. Little did I know that the two guys knew each other, they went to school together. Phan Thiet is truly a small place. Hoang hung out with me afterwards, but he doesn't speak much English which made it interesting. I spent the evening at home, it was a rainy night so I wasn't inclined to go out anyway. I had originally planned to leave Phan Thiet on the Monday but this was before Anna got her new job, we had talked about going to the Mekong Delta together. She texted me to say that she would be coming to Phan Thiet for a few days, so I decided to hang around. To be honest this was just an excuse to stay in Phan Thiet, I didn't want to leave and the chance to have one more beer there with Anna was irresistible. I thought I would see her on the Monday evening but it didn't work out. I ended up having a very sad "last" dinner at Tu Minh restaurant on Bo Ke. Tuesday morning I had Pho with Ms.My and had her call my landlady to ask if I could stay one more day, she said O.K., I went and rescheduled my bus to Saigon and I was good to go. I had coffee at Paradise cafe and then went to the Binh Minh cafe for coffee with Daniel and Anh. Since Anna left I've hung out with them a lot more, it's been really nice. They're a great couple. As it was my last day I had lunch at Sinbad in Mui Ne, just one more kebab.The afternoon was quiet, I met Blane for dinner at Bien Dong and said goodbye to Phuong, Blane was starting work at APC the next day. He'd had a nine hour bus ride from Nha Trang, hopefully that won't happen again, it's a painful journey as it is. After dinner we went to Be Hieu, the Oc restaurant, Anna met us there, followed by Tuan, Daniel and Anh. We also bumped into Mr. Thanh. It was a really great evening, it was the last night in Phan Thiet I should have had and I was totally right to stay to experience it. After everyone else left I went next door and had a beer with Mr. Thanh, he hadn't been able to make it to my goodbye dinner. Unfortunately he decided to follow me home, it was one of those times that I am so glad that I have a gate I can lock. On my last day I started with breakfast at the Binh Minh cafe and then met Xu from Novotel for coffee at a new cafe. What a great goodbye, a new beer place and a new cafe. I got home as quickly as possible as it was a miserable day, raining off and on. I finished packing and tried to make a dash to go and have lunch and managed to get soaked for my troubles. Also discovered that the kitchen leaks like a sieve,I was almost tempted to stay another day just so I didn't have to deal with moving my stuff in the rain but didn't want to stay and mop up the house. The rain did stop and I ran out and gave my bike to Tuan, the bicycle guy, he wasn't working due to the weather. Then I got my stuff together, Mr.Sang came to get the keys, called me a taxi and helped me get my gear out. The taxi dropped me off and I got straight on to the bus to Saigon. I was actually leaving. My time in Phan Thiet was over, I was leaving almost exactly two years to the day that I'd arrived. Super sad to leave and worried about my time in Saigon.