For me making friends with locals is hard, mostly because my lack of Vietnamese language skills and being retired I have limited access to locals in the work place. Though for me it is hard meeting expats as well, as most expats work here and make friends through their jobs.

If, at the end of my days, the sum of what I've taken exceeds the sum of what I've given, then I have lived in vain.

Also Ho Chi Minh City is broken up into districts so it's much like little cities within the city, in your home district folks take the time to smile and wave as you pass by or even try to have a little chat.

On my discharge, I had the challenge of putting my life back together but Vietnam stuck in the inner recesses of my mind.

My home address is a small apartment in Fair Oaks, California but I'm here in Ho Chi Minh City right now staying in a rented room and this is where I spend a good part of every year.

Thailand has good medical care and even though I haven't tried it, Singapore is said to have high quality care also.

Some 30 years later I found myself back here again [in Vietnam] on what was to be a short visit that lasted months, and since then I've been living my life with one foot in Ho Chi Minh City and the other in Fair Oaks, California.