It was early to bed and a short night when we got the wake-up call from the front desk. We left the hotel at 3:30 for the short ride to HCMC Airport where we departed at 6:00 a.m. for Hong Kong. We lucked out and got in business class on a newly reconfigured 747-400 with business class now having seats that flatten down to 180 degrees as in first class with each seat having a 17-inch screen in front of each person. In a little over two hours we arrived in Hong Kong where the city was obscured by a thick haze. Hong Kong’s airport is new and very modern as are the new airports in Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai.
After a two-hour wait in HK we were called to board our flight to SFO. Unfortunately we were assigned two seats on row 60, at the very rear end of the 747, but luckily the plane narrows at this end and we had two seats on the right side with four in the middle and two more on the left side. The twelve-hour flight was o.k. but sitting at this end, the plane is noisy and it vibrates in rough air. With lavatories directly behind our row, we were subjected to a lot of conversation where people congregated to visit and in some cases, to exercise. The upside of having to sit in that area was the flight did not cost us anything.
Again this year we had two days of our anniversary as we did last year coming back from Thailand, thanks to crossing the International Date Line.
Shirley met us at SFO and we dropped her off at her home and drove on down to Los Gatos and spent the evening and night at Eldon’s house. Eldon has a visitor, David Goss who is an American friend that lives and teaches English in Hanoi, Vietnam. We shared our Vietnam pictures and saw Eldon and Carolyn’s pictures of their recent trip to Europe and the Mediterranean.
At 4:00 a.m. the next morning we left Los Gatos and drove the 10 hours back to Havasu and spent the next two days decompressing and getting over jet lag.
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Vietnam, even without getting very far from Ho Chi Minh. Our original plan was to go directly to HCMC and then going north as far as Da Nang and Hue but that plan was cancelled when we were forced to go through Tokyo and Bangkok on our way to Vietnam. As usual we did enjoy spending two days and nights in Bangkok and got to ride in a Vietnam Airways plane to HCMC in the daytime where we saw the great Mekong Delta from the air.
To anyone interested in seeing a developing Communist country where tourism is welcomed and prices are still reasonable we would recommend Vietnam. At no time did we feel uncomfortable or unsafe as people there are friendly, like Americans and make you feel at ease. Of course it is a shock when you first arrive and find yourself in the midst of four million motorbikes that congest the streets and highways. Vietnam has a population of 80,000,000 people; HCMC has 8,500,000 people and 4,000,000 motorbikes.
After a two-hour wait in HK we were called to board our flight to SFO. Unfortunately we were assigned two seats on row 60, at the very rear end of the 747, but luckily the plane narrows at this end and we had two seats on the right side with four in the middle and two more on the left side. The twelve-hour flight was o.k. but sitting at this end, the plane is noisy and it vibrates in rough air. With lavatories directly behind our row, we were subjected to a lot of conversation where people congregated to visit and in some cases, to exercise. The upside of having to sit in that area was the flight did not cost us anything.
Again this year we had two days of our anniversary as we did last year coming back from Thailand, thanks to crossing the International Date Line.
Shirley met us at SFO and we dropped her off at her home and drove on down to Los Gatos and spent the evening and night at Eldon’s house. Eldon has a visitor, David Goss who is an American friend that lives and teaches English in Hanoi, Vietnam. We shared our Vietnam pictures and saw Eldon and Carolyn’s pictures of their recent trip to Europe and the Mediterranean.
At 4:00 a.m. the next morning we left Los Gatos and drove the 10 hours back to Havasu and spent the next two days decompressing and getting over jet lag.
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Vietnam, even without getting very far from Ho Chi Minh. Our original plan was to go directly to HCMC and then going north as far as Da Nang and Hue but that plan was cancelled when we were forced to go through Tokyo and Bangkok on our way to Vietnam. As usual we did enjoy spending two days and nights in Bangkok and got to ride in a Vietnam Airways plane to HCMC in the daytime where we saw the great Mekong Delta from the air.
To anyone interested in seeing a developing Communist country where tourism is welcomed and prices are still reasonable we would recommend Vietnam. At no time did we feel uncomfortable or unsafe as people there are friendly, like Americans and make you feel at ease. Of course it is a shock when you first arrive and find yourself in the midst of four million motorbikes that congest the streets and highways. Vietnam has a population of 80,000,000 people; HCMC has 8,500,000 people and 4,000,000 motorbikes.
1 comment:
Hey just wanted to let you know Virginia is in the hospital and scheduled for surgery on Monday. Both seem to be ok. I ask daddy if he needed me there and he said no. I'll keep you posted. Have a great time. Love Donna
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