Day One - Vietnam - Good morning Vietnam!

We are enjoying a wonderful breakfast of Pho and fruit. Can't wait to get out on the street.

Martha's Comments

Breakfast at the Paradise Saigon Boutique Hotel was an experience each day.  In addition to it being a rooftop restaurant with a view of the city, the breakfast was a buffet of Asian and Western food, often in improbable combinations.  Fried rice, noodles and vegetables, dim sum, fried potatoes, baked beans, duck, pork, soup, etc.  Then there was the dessert table - a whole table of fruit and pastries.  Dragon fruit, guava, watermelon, mango, passion fruit, fresh yogurt, croissants, etc.  And the coffee!  The coffee was so good (and so strong).  The first day I had three small cups, and my legs were shaking!  And also -- I developed a taste for passion fruit juice.  The breakfast experience is definitely one that won't be repeated soon, unfortunately.

Fried rice, potatoes,  beef broccoli and passion fruit juice

View from the rooftop restaurant

Mmmm. coffee!

Fried rice, fried noodles and dim sum

The room at the Paradise was awesome, too.  We got a view of the city, and it came equipped with a minibar with $2 beers and $4 cognac.  Typical of what we found in the hotels, you needed to put your key in a slot by the door in order for the lights and electricity to work in the room.  We were welcomed with fresh fruit, and bottled water was provided daily for free.  More bottled water was in the minibar for $1 each.

One of the more expensive places we stayed, it cost us $75 a night, once taxes and fees were added in.  That included the free buffet breakfast.  Massages at their spa cost $14 to $22 an hour, depending on the service you chose. 

Vital Statistics

Date - Friday, September 18

High Temperature - 91 degrees, Heat Factor 101 degrees

Miles Walked - 3.4 miles

Gas station

It looks like ants...constant motion.

The view from our window this morning

7:30 am Vietnam time.

Last Leg - Flying on my Birthday

September 17th

We arrived in Hong Kong on schedule. We boarded the plane to HCMC on schedule. But we waited on the tarmac for an hour and twenty minutes. We were waiting for the flight crew to sort through three different screw ups.

First, there were three passengers aboard that ended up being on the wrong plane. They were bound for Taiwan and boarded our plane bound for Vietnam instead. So they and their luggage were deplaned.

Second, we were informed that the ground crew put way too much fuel aboard our aircraft which in turn made the aircraft to heavy to fly. We were at capacity. So, in addition to the three were that  were removed previously, they to go to asked for five more volunteers to deplane.

Third, after we ditched five more we were still heavy so they removed some freight. But evidently we were still borderline heavy as we ate up a really good portion of the runway.

With all of that, we ended up being more than an hour and a half late for departure. As pilots do, he got on the intercom and indicated that we'd only be one half hour late because we were "traveling at a high rate of speed."

Anyway, we hope to be only slightly late after all that. The landing should be interesting. More on that later when I have Wi-Fi.

We arrived in Saigon at 12:28 local after being awake for nearly a day and a half.  Visa and passport checks went rather slowly but smoothly. The streets still have prime at cafes and bars at 02:00.Next on the agenda is sleep.

Martha's Notes

Oh my goodness.  We were stuck in an airplane with PEOPLE.  Lots and lots of people.  My barriers immediately went up and I worked hard to not pick up on anyone's vibrations (good, bad or otherwise).  

People watching was interesting.  Seated behind Chuck were two women that were dressed in pink.  My immediate gut reaction was "Mary Kay" reps.  As I listened, I realized that they were both in the medical field. I could not immediately tell if they were nurses, doctors, or something else.

The feeding schedule on a long international flight is interesting.  

Vital Statistics

Date - Thursday, September 17

Temperature when we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City - 80 degrees

Total Hours on Airplanes-about 24 hours

Total Miles Traveled (St Louis to Ho Chi Minh) - 9,758 miles

Total Travel Time, including layovers - about 29 hours

It was bound to happen

Sitting on the tarmac in Hong Kong,  waiting to take off.  They over fueled the plane and it was too heavy,  so they got volunteers to take tomorrow morning's flight.   Now they are recalculating.   We are already 30 min overdue taking off.