Second last day here, another sticky hot one. Johnnie turned up this morning fresh off the bus from Nha Trang. Ten hour trip at about 25 km an hour he said. Glad I came back here by plane, you're on holidays My Le said, take a plane. Good advice.
Met the smiley shoeshine boy who did my shoes and asked 120,000 gave him 100,000 which was way too much but I felt guilty mucking him around last time I was here. 
Got a cab to Reunification Palace, a Vinasun lookalike but a fake. The meter jumped up in increments of 20,000. I had been that route many times travelling to the dentist and I knew it should end up at 40,000 or so but this guys hyperactive meter stopped at 120,000. When I got out I tapped the meter and told him to get it fixed for what that was worth, which was absolutely nothing.
Bloody hot in the Palace which was swarming with visitors. The entrance fee is very low so ordinary Vietnamese can see it as well as tourists. Saw a few opulent rooms I had missed the first time.
  When the tank busted down the front gate in 1975 the last president Minh was in the palace to formally surrender and when the North Vietnamese general entered the palace Minh said  " I have been waiting all day to transfer power to you" To which the general replied " You have no power to hand over, it has crumbled". 
Only other item of interest was the map I posted earlier which tallied the troop numbers on the ground at one particular time. The Americans were listed as Hoa Ky which I found out means Washington not USA. Maybe Uc means Canberra not Australia.
Very sad to be leaving here tomorrow, goodbye all my friends My Le, Nhi, Mrs Minh the laundry lady, Mr River, Mister Mister, Mun, Ngoc, Khanh, Thanh, Smiley shoeshine boy, and many more whose names I heard once and forgot.
I hope I will come back early next year with my prawn lovin sister and her ever dependable husband Ron. The prawn shells will be flying left and right in Hoi An and elsewhere.