The Road to 40 Day 268/365: Last Day Vibes

It was our last full day in Vietnam, and with our flight scheduled in the evening, we were able to make the most out of it.

Weekends usually start late for Che, as it’s the only time she gets to sleep in. I wanted to go out early so that I could have my favorite Korean soup restaurant, but I had a late night so I slept in as well.

Instead, we got up and got ready for brunch. Vino isn’t a huge fan of the soup that I liked, so I asked what he wanted. He asked for Korean or Pinoy barbecue. While I would love to get me some soup, I understand that both Che and Vino are not as huge fans of it as I was, so I thought we’d go with what he wants.

Che recommended Myeongdong Quan, a Korean BBQ restaurant that she thought was in the Michelin list since 2024. However, as we were walking, we realized it was Kobe, the Japanese teppanyaki restaurant, that was recognized.

Vino preferred the Korean one, so we had that. Luckily, they also offered the soup that I liked. It’s not the same as the one I usually order, but the soup had more flavor as it is compared to my favorite one which you have to add flavors you want by yourself.

For his part, Vino had a lot of the barbecue. He’s a pork guy when it comes to Korean BBQ, but for beef, he’d rather it be served as a steak for him.

We looked for a massage place nearby, because it’s one of our favorite things to do when we’re there. The massage quality is always great, and I’d take Vietnamese massage over Thai or Balinese any day.

Before heading back to the hotel, I told Che that we should try ear cleaning. We were in Japan town, so there’s a lot of seedy places. We had to find one that would be safe and would cater to both of us.

It was quite an experience for her. I couldn’t tell her how long it would be because the last time I had it done, I had other services like cucumber on my face, leg, arm, and back massage, and a head spa apart from the ear cleaning.

There were painful moments, but I feel like my ears got thoroughly cleaned. Che’s person kept looking at her and looking at me from the start. By the end of the session, she kept saying Che was so beautiful. It’s nice that she is getting lots of compliments, but now I feel a bit insulted by the looks that I was getting from that lady.

After our session, Che had to rush to her nails appointment. Vino and I decided to stop over at Zen, another favorite of ours. Che took her team there last Friday night, so she was fine not to join us.

It’s also our pre-flight meal, so it was good that Vino ate a lot. We didn’t have a room key so we had to get it from Che. After last minute preps, we just waited for her to come back so we can have a proper goodbye.

However, her nail session took longer than expected, so the best we could do was to have three stops on our Grab ride. Unfortunately, she had to stay inside the car when we reached the airport, otherwise, the driver would be fined for appearing to take a passenger at the departure area.

The immigration lines are not as long as before, but we still had a fast-track just to be sure. We didn’t have luggages to check-in so that we don’t have to wait when we arrived in SG.

In the plane, Vino ate a lot of his in-flight meal, which is a new thing for him as of late. Before, he would always be scared to eat in the plane for fear of vomiting. Now, he’s enjoying the meals, so I’m not worried about him getting hungry when we land.

The flight was an hour and a half, but because of the time difference, we came out at 11:30pm already. We had to wait for a car and travel for about 30 minutes.

I asked him to just brush his teeth and change his clothes, as we needed to sleep already so he could go to school tomorrow. He still watched a Mr. Beast challenge, but I told him we should turn it off so he could sleep.

He was very cooperative and was down within 5 minutes.

Tomorrow would be his first Monday in school after two weeks of being absent – one because of fatigue, and the other for being sick. I think he’s still tired, this time around, but he had a lot more rest than he did compared to our last trip, so the hope is he could get up early because he’s missed a lot of time in school already and it’s only February.