Travels - 01. – 02.10.2016
The journey has begun! I am so excited to be heading out to a place that I haven’t been before and that will be different to the places I have already visited.
I was so relieved that I had the whole day of Saturday to pack and get my apartment ready to leave, as my flight only headed out in the evening. Who am I kidding – my three flights...
So off I went to the airport. I keep on forgetting that the Wiesn is a national state treasure and that hoards of people travel to and from it. (Also using the sbahn to the airport unfortunately... Standing with 15 kg on your back for 45 minutes isn’t that appealing but oh well.)
Checking in was easy, apart from having to declare my luggage as bulky luggage, as I hadn’t wrapped it in plastic and the strips and ties were dangling from the bag. I was also grateful for having left 3 hours before my flight would leave, as checking in, going to get my passport cleared and then going through security took forever.
Nevertheless, I got my window seat, the stewardess came around with a menu and I thought to myself that I actually preferred Etihad to Emirates judging the interior and the onflight service. (For example with my headphones I also received flight socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, an eyemask and earplugs!) When it comes to onflight entertainment however, Etihad wasn’t as well equipped as Emirates concerning new films and releases. I didnt mind too much as it was late and sleep was what my body wanted.
The dinner at 01:00 at night was a bit strange but hey, better than nothing. I chose the beef tagine with wilted spinach and couscous with chickpeas. I left the spinach be and just concentrated on the beef and couscous, which were fine. Having eaten dinner before I left didn’t leave much room for anything else, but once again blissful sleep came around the corner.
We landed in Abu Dhabi in the morning. It is always impressive landing in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, since you literally land in a dessert. Abu Dhabi more so than Dubai I believe.
The transfer to the other gate went smoothly and I didn’t really have much time before I boarded the plane. Getting your handluggage checked again and then a quick brushing of the teeth and bathroom break was all i really had time for.
Off we went, this time in daylight. I was looking forward to the breakfast, intrigued as to what the menu would be on this next flight to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. It was a mixture of omelette, banana chocolate cake and chicken congee and I went with the latter. A chicken congee I learnt is a mixture between a chicken soup and a chicken frikasse. It was too bad, especially with the ginger and the spring onion.
During this second flight I sat next to a lovely student from Nürnberg travelling to Vietnam to visit his family. Of course I wrote down my Things to Eat in Vietnam Bucketlist, and listened contently as to all the information he could give me. Then it was time for Finding Dory and a documentary on Pelé. Even though it was light the whole time I dozed off again and awoke when we were already ascending. Oddly enough now it was dark however.
I started to get nervous the first time after this second flight, because what the lovely woman at the desk at Etihad had told me was that I had to completely got through the passport controls, get my entire luggage, leave the airport and check back in again, all within 2 hours. Since i didn’t know the airport of Saigon / Ho Chi Minh city, this task was a little daunting. Getting through the passport control was my first challenge. Germans don’t really need a visa to get into Vietnam, they just need to show a ticket or something similar telling the authorities when they are leaving the country again. Since I will be doing that by car / foot in Cambodia, this was slightly harder to convey. I somehow managed, showing him my Cambodian Visa, the Intrepid Voucher and any other documents I could find, and he let me through anyway.
My luggage turned up to and then I was ready to step outside. I had already contemplated exchanging money here in Ho Chi Minh, but I was afraid my time window wouldn’t allow me „wasting time“ at this airport possibly even missing my flight to Hanoi. After having been sent to the wrong airport (They have an international and a domestic one) I eventually managed to find the right airport and check in. Then I made my way quickly through security, not realising how much time I had in spare. Unfortunately this meant missing the next chance to exchange money.
This meant that I only had dollars, and no fast food restaurant would give me any food as they were expecting Dongs and not Dollars. I could have paid by credit card but I decided not to and not waste fees etc. on small amounts of money. I waited about 2 hours for the gate to open and boarding to commence, but luckily the free wifi kept me occupied.
We then all boarded the plane – definitely nothing special and the last 2 hours in a plane started.
We were served a wonderful „sandwich“, which I must say I watched in disbelief until my hunger got the best of me and I eventually ate this sandwich with a meat spread and some weird chutney. I didn’t even attempt desert.
Eventually we landed and it was already 12:00 at night. This meant that no more exchange offices were working and the only place I could get Dongs for the taxi ride was going to a still functioning ATM and withdrawing large amounts of money. Large amounts in the sense, that all money in Vietnam adds another .000 to the sum. So it is never 50 DONG but always 50.000,00 DONG.
I found a taxi driver and after much discussion that we were going to put on the meter and not just barter for the taxi drive we took the motorway towards the hotel. Apart from ignoring lanes etc. alltogether, this taxi driver had a little screen in the middle of his car which he used to place Vietnamese music (at least I think it was Vietnamese) with a music video of half naked girls. I got a little uncomfortable but I think it was his revenge for the whole meter discussion. I am sorry you can’t really see in this photo but I had to stay subtle as to not disgruntle the taxi driver.
The Hotel is great, the people were lovely and friendly and I was handed my room key straight away. It was a little odd however, that the staff responsible for the night shift and security i guess, had their bed set up next to the hotel reception. After fixing the air conditioning in my room I was already ready for bed and tucked in excited for the next day!
