Sorry but the beer is shite

Up early again as we have another flight to catch.  Malaysian again, to Ho Chi Minh City.  No big plan this time, a little one so instead of all 5 of us sitting together Mum and Dad had the pleasure of Nate's company and Tony and I sat behind.  We had an early breaky at Delifrance - croissant based of course.


The flight to HCM was only 90 minutes which I always find odd for an international flight.  When I think of international flights I always think long and drawn out.  We got served a brunch box which had an omelet and other little goodies in it, including a cadbury choc Id never heard of before - Gold.  I tried to find a picture of them but alas no luck (Ill take a photo later lol).  The landing for this flgith was almost the exact opposite - the plane actually bounced on the runway and we seriously thought we were in trouble.  It felt like it was going to roll over.  But, it didnt and we were happy to get off of it :-).

HCM airport is like pretty much all others these days - lots of steel and glass.  What made this one different is that we a) cleared it in about 10 minutes which must be a record of some sort, and b) the people waiting to meet you are all outside.  Outside in the heat with the other 1000's of people waiting to meet their loved ones too.  Bangkok airport is bsier and yet Ive never seen a crowd like there was there today.  I think Tony captured a bit of it.

I was very please that I had booked the hotel minivan as there was no way we could have safely found a taxi to deliver us to the Windsor Plaza Hotel.  The ride to the hotel was as expected, took about an hour and was filled with many near misses with the various vehicles we crossed paths with - mostly motorbikes of course.  Weve never seen so many motorbikes, it really is a sight to behold.



The hotel is beautiful, old style elegant. 

We upgraded to Executive rooms for the free minbar and free afternoon snacks and alcohol (theres more to it of course, but they are the highlights  hehe).  We spent the afternoon resting, and swiming and snacking and then had dinner downstairs at this amazing buffet.  We were able to sample lots of vietnamese food, and some not so asian (ie I tried snail!!).

Oh yeh the title of this post came from Tony's assessment of their beer - "333"  He only had one this arvie but I doubt he will be going back for more. 

We have lift off

Finally the day has come.  It kinda felt like holidays would never arrive, but in reality we really only started planning the trip after Christmas last year, so not really long at all.

The five of us pretty much had little sleep last night - Tony and I were awake at 5am, mentally repacking our suitcases and filling out that last minute checklist.  My morning thereafter included a quick trip to TTP to sort out the third and final Christmas lay by.

I managed to catch up with Greg briefly to check how the doggies went - well I'm guessing because they got upgraded to the laundry in case they got cold outside...

Our pickup arrived at 11am on the dot.  We always use Come cruisen as it takes the hassle out of getting to the airport.

Don and Anna met us at the airport to get a sneak preview of the check in process (in prep for the 15th when they lift off for Thailand).  Of course book in did not go well, an issue with paperwork were guessing although they wouldn't say what.

We left on schedule and although service isn't what it used to be the Malaysian flight to KLIA wasn't too bad.  Dinner was served at about 4.30 and we chose the chicken - curry this time.  Mixed feelings about that, Dad and Tony enjoyed it, me, not so much.  Mum had lamb and I think that would have been a better choice.  Supper was a Chicken "Pie", which in fact was more like a sausage roll.

The landing was probably the smoothest ever, so gentle that it was well after landing that I actually realised the tires were on the tarmac.  I think we were on time, just as well as we had opted to avoid customs/immigration and stay at the Airside Hotel.  The advantage of that meant we could have been in bed 20 minutes after disembarking and no queuing with the masses.  The hotel was a bit daggy, but the bed was comfy, the room was dark and quiet and the view was awesome - the planes in parking bays C3 - C5 were right outside our window.