September 17–19, Seattle to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
A lot has been happening over the past few months. We said goodbye to my dad, celebrated Tynor and Mallory getting married, started adjusting to me being a new retiree, and did a quick road trip with Melody’s sister Celeste to Yakima and Spokane. Mere hours after Celeste left for the airport to return to New York, we were there ourselves beginning a trip to Vietnam that would last for over three weeks.
September 17
Our flight was a red-eye to Taipei, Taiwan, where we would connect to Ho Chi Minh City. We knew that we normally don’t sleep as much as we should when flying through the night, but we did several things to try to help. For a few days we shifted our sleep time by an hour until the night before our 1 AM flight we stayed up until that same time. It did make us feel pretty tired during the day but at least we were functional.
We knew that there might be slowdowns for the light rail train going to the airport, so we allowed plenty of extra time. As it ended up, we had no delays and timed things so we went by T-Mobile Park during the game so those crowds weren’t an issue.
By the time we boarded the plane, we were pretty tired. The crew announced that food would be served soon and again a couple of hours before landing. Melody had fallen asleep but woke up enough for me to ask if she wanted me to wake her when food was available, which she did. Each of us slept for several hours, with large blocks interspersed with quick naps and dozing, which we considered a win. It was a long ride of thirteen hours, which meant that with the time change, we boarded at 1 AM on the 18th and landed in Taipei at 4 AM on the 19th.
September 19
The Taipei airport was very quiet during the wee hours, with even the information booth not open until 6 AM. We landed just a skybridge away from our connecting flight, so we went over to check it out. With almost a couple of hours to kill, we walked around a bit, taking a look at the art installations and other amenities. At one point I noticed that the luggage carts were free, so I grabbed one which made it easier for us to wander through the terminal.
Several duty-free stores were open, but most everything else was closed. We did see a butterfly garden which included a large sculpture of an orchid with a butterfly to the side. Right next to that were three prayer rooms for different religions.
As our departure time neared, we made our way back to the gate and were soon aboard. The flight was three hours, which was long enough for a round of meal service. After that, both of us ended up sleeping quite a bit but woke in time to see Vietnam come into view as we approached the airport.
Our first task was to find Immigration, which wasn’t too bad. It did take a little time to be sure that we were going to join the right line. Of course, it was by far the longest line, which is usually a good sign. There were several agents at stations with lines behind each one. We picked a line and started waiting, noticing that the lines to either side of us were going faster. It seemed the agent for our line was being much more thorough in verifying everything looked right, although, by the time we got up there, he seemed to be moving at a good clip. There was one couple who opted to stand one in each line, then when one line was faster, the wife slipped over to join her husband. An agent quickly appeared to tell her that she was cutting into the line and that she would need to return behind us. She wasn’t happy but figured the smart move was to just comply.
After going through Immigration, we got some cash from an ATM and then went outside to find our ride. Since we were doing a tour (even though we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City a few days before it starts) the tour company arranged a a ride for us to the hotel. There were many, many people with signs, and none of them were for us. Just as we were wondering if we would need to call the tour company, I saw a sign with our names on it. On the drive to the hotel, the driver was pleasantly chatty, pointing out things of interest, as well as telling us that we lucked out with the weather (rain the day before, let alone the typhoon which came through a week or two earlier).
Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City is quite different than in most cities in the States. There are plenty of cars, sure, but there are many more scooters and motorcycles. For the most part lane markers are adhered to, but it’s not unusual to see a block of half a dozen or more scooters taking up the same space as one car would have. They also flow back and forth much more fluidly and aren’t afraid to pop up onto the sidewalk to get around traffic. This sounds like a nightmare for pedestrians, but the trick seems to be to find a path through the cars and scooters, and then start walking without hesitation. The vehicles will wave around you, and before you know it, you’re on the other side.
When we got there, we knew we were a bit early to check in at the hotel, but they did have a room available for us, so we were able to quickly go to the room and start unpacking. One interesting thing about the room is there’s a slot meant for the room key. Once you remove the key, all the power in the room goes out after a few seconds. I guess that’s meant to help when guests forget to turn out the lights.
The first order of business was to get some lunch. Since we had had what felt like extra meals on the flights, we didn’t feel the need for anything big. We had found a banh mi place that looked good, so set out on foot to find it. That was our first foray into traffic as pedestrians but we did survive. We found the restaurant and very quickly got and ate a couple of sandwiches.
We decided to then go to the Emperor Jade Pagoda. It was built in the early 20th century and was built to worship Buddha. I only have pictures of the exterior since they requested that no photos be taken inside.
Since we were close to the canal, we started walking along the path next to it. We were on the south side and walked towards the east, crossing a pedestrian bridge. We returned west on the north side, but it looked like we would need to go quite a distance to cross one of the automotive bridges, we went back to the pedestrian bridge to get back to the south side.
Before heading back to the hotel, we walked a bit through the park across the street, Le Van Tam Park. As we walked through it, some cloud cover started to form and a breeze started up which made things feel quite a bit cooler. Even so, we went back to our room to cool off even more.
It wasn’t long before we thought we should get some dinner, so we went around the corner to get pho from a small shop. It was quite tasty and came with more variety of fixings than we normally see.
Having fed ourselves, we went back to the room one more time, feeling like we would have no trouble falling asleep after all of that travel.
