My son and I bid farewell to the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel after our three-night stay in Bangkok and took the hotel car to the Suvarnabhumi Airport for our onward journey to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (formerly known as Saigon). It was a short 22-minute ride to the airport on that Saturday morning (with no traffic) and there were only a few people ahead of us at the Thai Airways Royal Silk Class dedicated check-in facilities. After receiving our boarding passes, we quickly passed through fast-track security and then immigration clearance, both of which couldn’t have been any easier. I always leave some time in my schedule to check out the airline lounges, and this trip was no different, so we headed directly to the Royal Silk Lounge. This is the airline’s flagship business class lounge in Bangkok. We received an invitation to the lounge at check-in but it’s also accessible to Star Alliance Gold Members and is open from 5:00a until 2:00a to accommodate early morning arrivals and the long-haul European departures normally scheduled close to the midnight hour or later.
I’ve had the opportunity to visit the airline’s First Class Lounge in Bangkok and would give it rave reviews. Unfortunately, their business class lounge doesn’t fare nearly as well in my opinion. It consisted of one main room with groups of leather chairs and side tables on either side of a long walkway. While there were plenty of seats, this lounge lacked any natural light, giving off somewhat of a claustrophobic vibe. To be fair, seating was ample and the lounge did have a business center. Nearly all of the cubicles there were equipped with computers although I believe most travelers today would prefer to work on their own laptops. Several buffet areas contained pretty basic offerings, including soft drinks, coffee, assorted finger sandwiches and a small variety of quiche. There was a hot buffet area serving Pad Thai, fried rice, several salads, any number of noodles as well as a coconut and a shrimp soup. Wine and spirits were self-service located in a separate area near the entrance. Tickets for Wi-fi were distributed on request at Reception and each session lasted for 90 minutes. Business Class travelers were also given access to the Royal Orchid Spa and had a choice of either a 30-minute neck and shoulder massage or a 30-minute foot massage. Hats off to Thai Airways as I know of no other airline offering such generous massage treatments to their premium passengers! It’s no wonder Skytrax has consistently named it “The World’s Best Airline Spa Facility.”
Our departure gate was a short walk from the lounge. Boarding was delayed for about 10 minutes but soon began with Business Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold Members There was only one jet bridge and everyone boarded the A330-300 through Door 2L. After presenting our boarding passes to the friendly flight attendant, we turned left towards the front cabin and found our two middle seats in Row 12. (These seats were actually in the second row of the cabin but the row numbers began with Row 11.) There were 36 seats with 6 rows in a 2-2-2 layout. The cabin was configured with Thai’s old “angled flat” Business Class seats which, while not lie-flat, were much better than the typical First Class seat found aboard US domestic carriers and more than adequate for this journey of about 90 minutes. The seats offered 20” of width and a generous 58” of pitch. Each seat was equipped with a 15” in-flight entertainment monitor, seat massage and lumbar support, foot rest, universal power outlet and a small privacy divider to provide some separation between passengers if desired.
We had no sooner settled into our seats when a flight attendant stopped by to offer us our choice of water or orange juice as well as a hot towel. Several minutes later, another cabin crew member distributed amenity kits, menus, local and international newspapers and Thai Airways branded, standard over-ear headphones. The Borghese amenity kit was a thoughtful touch on such a short journey and it contained all the usual products one might expect, including ear plugs, eye shades, socks, comb, a dental kit and small bottles of Borghese-branded lotion and lip balm. Upon reaching cruising altitude and once the seatbelt sign was turned off, the flight attendants quickly took drink orders and served peanuts with our selections. The printed menu handed out was attractive but surprisingly uninspiring since we were not given any choices. We were served Chicken and Polemo Salad to start followed by Cooked Ham with mixed vegetables and fried rice for the main course and a Young Coconut with coconut cream for dessert.
None of it was very tasty but it didn’t matter because the friendliness of the flight attendants made up for the food’s lack of flavor. They all spoke English fluently and their every exchange was accompanied by a warm smile. Even on this short flight, they walked the cabin frequently and made sure all their passengers were happy. After lunch, I occupied myself for the remainder of the flight by exploring the in-flight entertainment system. It contained a good selection of movies, TV shows, music and a moving map. Unfortunately, you couldn’t watch a movie without watching a commercial and that was rather annoying. However, it wasn’t long before flight attendants were preparing the cabin for landing and we soon touched down mid-afternoon at the Tan Son That International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.
US citizens are required to have a Visa to enter Vietnam and we were given the option of applying for one through the Embassy or choosing the Visa on Arrival service. I thought the latter would be easier for us. After completing the online application forms and paying the processing fees, we were emailed our Approval Letters. Copies of those letters were forwarded on our behalf to Vietnam Immigration checkpoints at each of the country’s 3 international airports in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and DaNang. (Be advised that online visa approval only applies to air travelers and those arriving by land or sea must apply for their visas through the Vietnam Embassy.) On arrival, the immigration officers had our documents ready and were able to issue our entry visa quickly and expeditiously. So, what went wrong? Well, what we didn’t count on was the very long line of people waiting for their Visas on Arrival. We waited over one and a half hours before seeing one of the officers and then had to pay a $25 visa stamping fee. This was payable only in US dollars or Vietnamese dong and be forewarned, there are no ATM machines within the customs area. Once the officer affixed the visas to our passports and stamped them, we proceeded to immigration and were finally on our way into town. In retrospect, I would have applied for the visas through their Embassy in Washington, DC which would have cost a little more but saved us quite a bit of time. But it turned out, that securing our visas wasn't the only time consuming part of that visit.
While it was less than a 5-mile trip from the airport to the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers, traffic in the capital city resulted in our drive taking considerably longer than the 10 to 15 minutes we expected. Ho Chi Minh City runs on scooters. There are hundreds of them and they’re everywhere. Nearly all local residents use one and those who don’t own or aren’t renting one, can always flag down a scooter-taxi and zoom off to their destination. Traffic stops when the light is red at a major crossing but there are no lights for left or right turns and traffic never stops for those anyway. So, we saw several streams of two and four-wheelers trying to turn at the same time in different directions and managing to do so every time without hitting one another. While we were looking on in amazement waiting for an accident to happen, it seems the locals are constantly on alert to avoid any mishaps. It was harrowing and I knew right away I would never attempt to drive in that city. We were very thankful to arrive at the hotel safe and sound and in one piece. I’ll tell you all about our interesting visit to Vietnam’s capital city in a future post.
Until next time…stay safe.
I trust that the city visit will make up for the transit challenges and will look forward to the next post...