Part 6 - BKK - SGN + Ho Chi Minh + Singapore Airlines Senator Lounge
BKK - SGN in Lufthansa First Class (1 Hour Flight)
Other than perhaps a short Float Plane (Flying Beaver as we call them in BC) from Vancouver to Victoria BC this was probably my shortest flight ever. And at 1 hour probably one of the shortest First Class flights anywhere.
We were flying on a 747-400 and had the entire second floor to ourselves. This is the first time we've ever had an entire cabin to ourselves. It was the older seats 16 seats in 4 rows of 2x2 and we were each assigned 2 seats. There were 2 male flight attendants taking care of us.
Lufthansa LH 772 - Boeing 747-400 (744)
Lufthansa LH 772
We were served Macadamia nuts and Devaux Champagne before takeoff. Then a small "Snack". It's funny as they gave us a full size menu (About 11 inches) with only 1 paragraph of writing.
Here is a transcript of the menu:
SNACK Kalte Spezialitäten
Papaya and Carrot Salad, roasted Chicken Thigh with red Bell Pepper Salsa.
Grilled Paneer Cheese with grilled and marinated Mediterranean Vegetables.
Canapés, Potato Bharwan, Shrimp Patty with Tofu, Chicken Kebab.
Everything was delicious and fresh. Considering it was such a short flight I was surprised to get such a nice snack.
The purser came by to introduce herself, she was very nice. She explained that they would be staying in Ho Chi Minh for 4 hours then turnaround to Bangkok and stay the night there. The male flight attendant later added that the reason they stay in Ho Chi Minh for so long is that this flight alternates every other day (FRA-BKK-SGN and FRA-BKK-MNL) and that since the BKK-MNL is much longer and since they need to depart BKK at the same time everyday they just stay in SGN longer.
A view of Ho Chi Minh as we were landing
Immigration took a long time, we had our "Landing Visa Letter" from
www.hotels-in-vietnam.com , our information form, 2 pictures each and $25 each for the visa. We waited in line at the "Visa on Arrival" queue for about 20 minutes, handed in our forms, pictures and passports and waited until they called our name. It took another hour or so and we were called over to the window to pay the $25 each and pickup our passports with the visa stickers inside. After we left immigration we went straight to customs (We were only traveling with Carry On baggage). They X-Rayed our bags and no one said anything. After leaving the customs' area we would a bank machine, took out $2,500,000 in local currency ($125 US) and made our way outside.
We tried to find the best taxi option (as we heard you can easily get overcharged) and we made 1 mistake, we asked about how much it would cost in advance. The "Taxi Clerk" said $10 US and that's what it cost. I think the fare should have been around $6 US and there was a meter but I'm not sure how to read it. It was something like : 695 000 123 456 and at the bottom 2.50
Ho Chi Minh is a fascinating city, I've never seen so many scooters and motorcycles anywhere. I would say there are 5X more than Bangkok and they honk 10X as much. We made it to the hotel then went for a walk. The concierge mentioned that we should make sure our belongings are not in plain sight. (I.E. Camera and handbags should be hidden). She also mentioned not to eat the street food as it was not hygienic. I'm usually quite adventurous when it comes to food but since we are only 1/2 through our trip I didn't want to take a chance and get sick so I followed her advice.
Ho Chi Minh - Street near our hotel
Ho Chi Minh - National Theater (A.K.A. Opera House)
Ho Chi Minh - View from our Hotel Room
Ho Chi Minh - Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
Ho Chi Minh - Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
We went to the Bangkok markets, wow what an adventure. They had a lot of Polo and Lacoste shirts. I suspect they were all fakes (as opposed to factory seconds) as the Lacoste and Polo shirts were exactly the same (Same colors, same collars, same cut) except for the logos. The prices ranged from $5 USD to $20 USD for 1 shirt.
We saw some really nice North Face bags, anything from a small fanny pack to a large 100 Liter backpack. I'm not an expert but the zippers and fabric didn't seem to be of high quality. A large 100 L + 20 L (There's a small 20L backpack zippered into a large 100L backpack and there was also a small fanny pack attached) sold for about 40 USD until you start walking away from the stall and then the price dropped to 25 USD.
There were about 100 stalls with very similar merchandise (Trinkets, Clothes and Bags). The merchants weren't too aggressive, they did invite you to see their wares but weren't too pushy.
On the way back we witnessed a "Bag Snatching"; it was very sad. I didn't see the culprit but my wife noticed that there were 2 suspicious guys sitting on a scooter, ready to go with their lights off.
They took off at full speed and the passenger on the back grabbed a "Satchel" from an unsuspecting Asian tourist (I think he was either Japanese or Korean) It all happened so fast that by the time anyone realized what had happened the crooks were already 1 block away blended in a pack of scooters.
The victim didn’t seem have been physically hurt but he was certainly stunned. I hope he will be ok and that he didn’t lose anything he can’t replace.
We spent the next morning walking around another market, it was crowded and hot but we had an amazing time. We bought a few Burberry polo shirts for about $8 each and I saw very beautiful chess sets (I suspect Hand Made) for about $30. Our suitcases are already full so I had to pass on these.
We heard a lady mentioning how she had her Hermes handbag stolen at the market and the street coconut vendor short changed me (I paid $20 US for 2 Coconuts as he gave me 10,000 notes instead of 100,000) I tried to argue but then all of a sudden he didn't speak English anymore.
Ho Chi Minh - If you buy a coconut from this guy use the exact change ;-)
We went for a short swim at the hotel and it was time to go again.
Ho Chi Minh - Rooftop pool at our hotel with a glass wall
We took a $7 cab to the airport, the Thai check-in counter only opened 2.5 hours before the flight and there were no self-checkin machines so we had to wait. The airport was not busy at all and we were able to find somewhere comfortable to sit.
Immigration, Customs and Security were a breeze, we tried to go to the "Priority" line for X-Rays and we were sent back (The agent didn't even look at our boarding pass, she just pointed us back to the line).
We made our way to the "CIP Rose Lounge", a contract lounge used by many airlines. We found some comfortable seats near the windows. The lounge food and drink were not very nice. It seems like all the refrigerators were broken (everything was room temperature or just slightly above). The Self-Serve Pho was nice, they had chicken, smoked chicken or beef balls and all the proper garnishes. The sandwiches were not good at all, the bread was a bit dry and the tiny bit of salad and ham were soggy.
And now back to Bangkok....
__________________