Horrible start, delicious finish! – Day 141 – Jan 21, 2026

I get up early and take a shower. Joe makes me toast and egg, and I’m off to the dentist by 8.30am. I’ve been trying to blame the “murring” in my left jaw as me just getting used to the new crown, but it’s time to get it checked out by a dentist we by now trust. I take a taxi to the dentist, and they lead me right upstairs. Did I tell you? This dentist office has THREE patient chairs in the same room! When the girls came in to have their loose teeth looked at, they sat side by side and it was perfect. When Téa came back on Sunday, there were two sisters in the neighbouring chair, one after the other. Today, I’m in the only chair facing the door when they give me the bad news.

My tooth that had the root canal treatment in Saigon is infected again. I’m told it needs another root canal. All the time and all the money I spent on fixing it in Saigon, and now I have to get it done again. The crown that the previous dentist made for me will be destroyed, and this dentist even says that a root canal at this point, after the initial treatment didn’t work, is only 50% likely to be successful.

So yeah, there I sit, crying in frustration, and I’m in the chair facing the door. There are other clients coming and going, and there’s staff milling around. I usually don’t cry at the dentist, but apparently I do when they tell me about root canals! I have requested a full face x-ray, because I’ve been in pain since early December. The first appointment was December 23rd, and it’s all been downhill since then. At this point, I just want them to look at everything and get the full picture, and fix whatever it is. So after an hour in the dentist chair discussing results and options, they send me to a partner x-ray lab to get the imaging done.

I laughingly ask the receptionist about motorbike taxis, should I take one? The taxi from the AirBnb to the dentist was 62.000VND, and a motorbike taxi would have been 25.000VND. The receptionist says I should try it, and tell the driver to drive carefully. After a beat, she says maybe not, because no matter how much you tell your driver to drive carefully, there is no controlling all the other drivers. She is so right… I decide to walk the 15 minutes between offices.

When I get to the x-ray facility, it looks like an empty shell and an office under construction. When I get taken into the back to where the x-ray is, it all looks professional and put together, but only in the one room. If you look up, you’d think it’s someone pranking you, and that the four walls are just props. The process itself is done in seconds, and before I leave the premises, the dentist has already sent me a copy of the image. I taxi home, all I want to do is nap.

But Joe has a headache. He takes two painkillers and goes to bed as soon as I get home. Téa and I go downstairs to buy something for lunch, and we end up going back to Pappa Roti. Their menu is diverse enough to satisfy everyone’s cravings today!

When we rented this AirBnb, we were told there was a pool we could use for a fee, and we’ve been wanting to try it, as we figure it’s the only place we can wear goggles and not come back covered in sand. Since the AirBnb listing was created, our building’s pool has shut down, and we now need to walk to the nearby hotel to swim. No problem, the girls and I want to leave Joe to get some rest, and so we pack up and head over to the hotel. It’s super windy today, more than usual, but it’s not a far walk, luckily.

The hotel lobby is ENORMOUS! It looks so beautiful, and I line up at the front desk to enquire about swimming. Once I’m at the front of the line, they tell me to go right on up to the 6th floor, the fee will be paid there.

The 6th floor opens up onto a beautiful rooftop terrace with a large swimming pool and several groups of tables and chairs. There is an obvious lack of care in that the glass tabletops are covered in drink stains, but I can see why. It’s freeeeeeeeezing up here, and the water is ridiculously cold. Back when I was young (ahem!) I would swim in ice cold mountain top lakes because “look, a lake, let’s go swimming!”, but I was always the only one getting in.

Maylin left Canada not really knowing how to swim, always wearing water wings, but with Téa’s patient instructions in the Bangkok Moevenpick’s swimming pool, and 5 weeks in the 9 pools in Hua Hin, she’s an expert swimmer who is confident in water. She swims and swims and swims, while Téa starts out with her legs in the water, sitting on the side, and then Téa wraps herself in a towel and sits on one of the empty sun loungers instead.

After Maylin gets out of the pool, we dry her off as best we can, and then we wrap her in all our towels. Our swimming pool fee included “pool towels”, size Canadian hand towel, but we got three of them, at least. I set the girls up with some YouTube entertainment, and order them hot fresh milk. They were hoping for hot chocolates, but if there is only coffee, tea or hot condensed milk on the menu, you ask for the fresh milk, hot. It’s delicious! Both girls drain their drinks, and it helps warm Maylin up from the inside.

We return to the AirBnb, where Joe is finally feeling better. After the girls finish their showers and get dressed for dinner, Joe says “let’s go to Poseidon”! Poseidon is that fancy seafood buffet at the Gold Coast mall that I though we were saving for a weekday lunch (cheaper) event, but tonight is actually the perfect day for it. I sure need a cheer-me-up!

While we’re in the taxi towards downtown, I finally hear back from the dentist. They were supposed to get back to me with a diagnosis, and they said I needed antibiotics, so I messaged them to follow up. Now the story has changed. I do not require another root canal, whatever is going on is part of the healing process, apparently. I am relieved, but also a bit concerned. They send me a photo of a prescription, and I need to pick up my meds on our way home from dinner.

We walk in to Poseidon, and the girls are immediately measured. Under 130cm, kid charge: Maylin. Over 130cm, adult. So three adults and one kid, unlimited food, 2,099,000VND or $110CAD. We add three drinks (the girls share a bottle of water and aren’t even able to finish it), and in the end we pay $117CAD. In cash. It feels so strange walking around with millions in my wallet, and I don’t think I’ll ever pay more than this 2,213,000 for a dinner. It’s not the affordable dinner Vietnam is known for, but it is an amazing seafood buffet:

We call it a night after I think about 2,5 hours at the buffet. There’s no time limit, if one wanted to, one could move in for the evening and eat for the full 4 hours they’re open.

When we get out of the taxi, Téa and I head to the market next door to pick up some breakfast staples, and then she takes the groceries upstairs to the others. I go next door to the pharmacy. After establishing that I don’t speak Russian and they should use English in their translation apps, the measures out my medication based on the picture on my phone. She warns me not to drink for the 5 days I take the meds, and sends me on my happy way. The pills come to 80,000VND or $4CA. There is no receipt, and if I wanted to I guess I could visit every pharmacy in the vicinity to get more pills. But who’d want extra antibiotics anyways?

We end our night as we so often do with some TV before bed. It’s been a long day for everyone, but I have to say, that was an amazing dinner and a great ending to a not so great beginning.