Leaving Vietnam and sending Carrie away on the Jetplane

Here's my last post with Carrie in it. We both flew back to Bangkok yesterday and she kept flying onward to Seoul then to Portland via Seattle. A long schedule. I was sad to see her go. She's such good company. So easy-going and nice to everyone. It was fun to have someone to try new foods and see the sights with and laugh and be sarcastic at the stupid things. I couldn't help it and cried when she left (and a little bit today too). (See Molly, you're normal!) I wished that I was going back to Portland too when she was flying away. There is something about home. I could just imagine hopping on the Max lightrail and whirring through the city. But she went through security and I stayed. I'm ok. It's good to know that I have emotions, right? I'd imagine that it is normal to have homesickness at some point and I sort of guessed beforehand that this would happen.

So now I am headed toward Laos. Today in Ayuthaya. Settling back into solo travels. It will take a few days to transition back. I plan to lay low for a while and make some more definitive plans for the next 6 weeks in Asia and all that follows.

Final Vietnam Pictures:

The alley to our second guesthouse in Vietnam which was much more authentically "Hanoi." We had a balcony and all.

I don't know why they stamp numbers on the buildings. I have to look it up.

Carrie and me at the cafe where Catherine Deneuve took her morning coffee while filming Indochine. Great coffee in a simple environment.

The power kept going out all over Hanoi on our last night there- we had dinner at this cute place called "Little Hanoi" and at the end (luckily we were finished with our food) the power went out. It was going out all over Hanoi. I guess it's not uncommon, but it was the first time it happened to us there.