Indochina gets into your blood and once you have a taste you'll find it's impossible to stay away.

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.

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

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.

For the most part Ho Chi Minh City is safe but like any large city you need to pay attention to what's going on around you.

Why Ho Chi Minh City? It is crowded, noisy, scruffy, crazy, but always interesting and things are happening all at a break neck speed.

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.