Travellers’surprise: Saigon Tatra

Week One Saigon

Away I flew; up the coast of BC, over Anchorage (just like last year), and then across the Bering Strait and down across Russian, Korea, past Japan and finally, finally landing at Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3, the second largest air terminal in the world (Dubai has the largest) and third largest (area covered) building in the world.

Although I was flying to Ho Chi Minh City I had to leave Terminal 3 and go to the domestic terminal as my next flight landed first in Nanning. I had to get my passport stamped for my brief China stay, clear a couple of security gates (where they dumped the water I had purchased at the Victoria Airport) and take a short train ride to the other terminal. Once there I discovered there was no place to change currency. Unless I used an ATM, or credit card, I was without funds. Luckily I wasn’t starving and I filled my water bottle at a water station. Not the best tasting water but it’d do. After a 4 hour wait I boarded a bus to the plane waiting out on the tarmac. A plane with next to no legroom for a tall person. I did manage to nod off a bit but in a couple of hours we landed in Nanning. Off the plane, through yet another security gate, where my passport was again stamped and then back onto the plane after a short wait. On the last leg I managed to get a whole section of seats for myself when I offered my seat to a young woman so she could sit by her mother. No sleep though. At about 2am, local time, we landed in Ho Chi Minh City. I rocketed off the plane, got my bag, cleared Customs and was almost first person out of the terminal to the taxi stand. I caught one of our a cab for a quick ride through almost deserted streets (sucking in the tropical air through the taxi window) to my hotel where I had a shower and hit the hay by 3:30. No long sleep for me though: I was up at 7:30, in time for breakfast.

Nice to hear something new about a Vietnamese Tatra weput on TW back in 2008 http://www.tatraworld.nl/2008/12/31/south-east-asias-sole-t87-during-a-rare-outing/

Away I flew; up the coast of BC, over Anchorage (just like last year), and then across the Bering Strait and down across Russian, Korea, past Japan and finally, finally landing at Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3, the second largest air terminal in the world (Dubai has the largest) and third largest (area covered) building in the world.

Although I was flying to Ho Chi Minh City I had to leave Terminal 3 and go to the domestic terminal as my next flight landed first in Nanning. I had to get my passport stamped for my brief China stay, clear a couple of security gates (where they dumped the water I had purchased at the Victoria Airport) and take a short train ride to the other terminal. Once there I discovered there was no place to change currency. Unless I used an ATM, or credit card, I was without funds. Luckily I wasn’t starving and I filled my water bottle at a water station. Not the best tasting water but it’d do. After a 4 hour wait I boarded a bus to the plane waiting out on the tarmac. A plane with next to no legroom for a tall person. I did manage to nod off a bit but in a couple of hours we landed in Nanning. Off the plane, through yet another security gate, where my passport was again stamped and then back onto the plane after a short wait. On the last leg I managed to get a whole section of seats for myself when I offered my seat to a young woman so she could sit by her mother. No sleep though. At about 2am, local time, we landed in Ho Chi Minh City. I rocketed off the plane, got my bag, cleared Customs and was almost first person out of the terminal to the taxi stand. I caught one of our a cab for a quick ride through almost deserted streets (sucking in the tropical air through the taxi window) to my hotel where I had a shower and hit the hay by 3:30. No long sleep for me though: I was up at 7:30, in time for breakfast.