Oh poo!

[munitalP]

More images...


Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum


Gravity issues at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum as well


Kids playing


Homeless cooking


Man fishing

 

[ozmille]

Love the TR and nice pictures, Vietnam is now high on the list

I was surprised that there were no PJ’s available for the flight. I am aware it is a daytime flight, but some people prefer to sleep, so when asking for PJ’s and you are told none available – it makes you question logic. I asked another FA a little later into the flight to go and raid the F cupboards and find my wife a set of PJ’s, this FA willingly obliged however came back with greys! So much for none onboard.

I got the same reply on our flight to SIN at Christmas and eventhough a FA promised to have a look he never came back to me. When I asked the crew why they turned off the lights on a daytime flight so people could go to sleep but didn't provide PJs I got a blank stare and no reply. On the other hand in August I did get a PJ to SIN on a day flight.

The service on QF was reasonable till the shift change. It quickly deteriorated to a point that when I wanted a cold drink, I just got up instead if paging as this seemed to be pretty much ignored and rudely interrupted the flight attendants in the galley talking about this and that. I got the look once from one of the FAs but bit my tongue and gave him a million dollar smile at the same time telling him I would be back for a G&T soon instead of the copious amount of water that I had drunk during the flight!

After the following shift change, the attitude in the cabin was refreshed and it became a happy place again... hot and cold service and there wouldn’t be an attendant I would nominate for a smiley badge let alone a service award on this flight.

I am currently writing my complaint email to QF on the horrendous service we had on QF24 on Thursday. Am on my second rewrite at the moment cutting all the emotional bits out. To be honest this flight has seriously dented my view of the QF service.

 

[Ric]

Great TR! Photos of Hanoi brings back good memories. Must make a trip back there sooner rather than later!!

 

[Mattg]

The Museum was boring without substance. I would have been pretty unhappy paying more than the couple of dollars entrance fee. It’s a modern take on modern Vietnam with focus lost on modern art pieces rather than historic items and fact.

A child growing up in Vietnam would struggle to understand the bigger picture of the American War and how it was more a civil war with international help on both sides rather than an invasion by the US. I see the need for a less biased report here to keep the memory alive and hopefully avoid the same thing in the future – but unfortunately in Vietnam, the aggressor was the USA, all atrocities committed were by the USA and the imperialist dog was beaten back by the glorious Viet Cong forces – a sad explanation of the war offered by the Ho Chi Minh museum.

We left the museum rather disgusted and meandered off through the grounds in search of the mausoleum – at least this would be factual. Sadly the mausoleum was in lock down so we never got a close look.

Great trip report so far! I would have to agree about the museum though - it had absolutely no substance and presented a very biased and idealistic view of Vietnam. And seriously, some of the artwork made no sense - how does a giant model of a wonky table and chairs have anything to do with Ho Chi Minh or the history of Vietnam?!

 

[JohnK]

Very nice trip report!

It would appear you were in Hong Kong on 25 December, Hong Kong airtrain and HKG airport on the morning of 26 December and in Bangkok on 31 December? It is a shame and a long story I could not be in Hua Hin between 2 - 4 January.

 

[munitalP]

Dec 29[SUP]th
[/SUP]
Today was the day to visit Ha Long Bay (bucket list item) – woot!

I had found through trip adviser a company www.darianculbert.com came very highly recommended [caveat – I don’t often believe TA at all!], but after searching and emailing other companies (oz_mark and I) Darian seemed to be the only company who answered questions correctly and seemed to offer a good service, so we threw a hand ball at him – take us to Ha Long Bay from the Hilton, put us on a Junk with an older crowd rather than a party boat, then we will stay an extra night in Ha Long Bay, you don’t need to worry about that part, then pick us up and take us to HAN to be in time for an early afternoon flight – can you do it? He said yes, so today was the tester to see if our money was well spent as he was far from the cheapest around.

We met in the exec lounge for breakfast then went to settle the bill. I have been doing the cash only thing on this trip to cut down on credit card transaction fees, possible credit card fraud etc – so I had lots of USD with me and the next time I holiday, I will be doing the same, it worked out really well without hassle. I sat down with the exec lounge lady to pay up and she said that because I was such a handsome and great guy, the Hilton had decided to give me a 20% discount. I’m unsure why oz_mark got the 20% discount as well though… (lol)

Nice touch Hilton, thank you very much! I might add though, I advance purchased my room around 4 months earlier locking in what I thought was a good rate (and it was), however, with the 50% off link on AFF, I could have paid the same for a very large suite – win some and lose some.

I also made up the bit about handsome and great guy.

We were picked up on the early side of the suggested pick up time window and put into a really nicely appointed van with a friendly driver and 2 other people. We picked up 1 more couple from a hotel close by then spent the next 3.5 hours driving out to the bay. This was the first time driving in the country (Viet Nam) for me, I had been driven all around Ha Noi previously day in and day out and previously stated in a trip report the driving was madness. I take that statement back. Driving in country Viet Nam is madness – in fact, it is less driving but more 3.5 hours of continuous near death experiences – not for the faint hearted and if I had to drive myself, I think I would have a nervous breakdown!

The last time I was as scared in a car, the car I was in was 5 meters underwater upside down with me in the back of a 2 door… Nah, I wasn’t that scared but even still, seeing heavy trucks coming head on and swerving into their lane just meters away from you does conjure up images of broken bones, blood and guts everywhere! To be honest, I think it took at least an hour for the nerves to calm down with the driving then just sit back and try to relax. The others sitting behind us didn’t have quite the same view of the oncoming traffic so the ride wasn’t quite as bad.

Skip forward around 3.5 hours we arrived at Ha Long bay and were met by our tour guide (Happy Buddha) and were told to hurry up and wait. This seemed to be the standard MO for a number of tour boats, a lot of people milling around and luggage stacked all over the place. We assured ourselves that they did this daily so we hoped they knew what they were doing, but it did seem a little chaotic at the time.

Soon we were in a transfer boat being taken out to an Indochina Junk for an overnight tour of Ha Long Bay (at least part of it anyway). The boat / ship / junk (whatever) was well appointed, we had a water level room – I think there were around 18 rooms / cabins on the boat on 2 levels – not too big and not too small. Our room had a large ensuite, a large bed with large windows that once the drapes were pulled back offered awesome views. Our tour guide called everyone to the restaurant then explained what would be happening over the next 24 hours.

Meals – excellent selection of food, well prepared and I enjoyed every meal (included in cost)
Room – OK, I don’t know what to expect on a boat, the only other boat I have slept on is a friends 42’ game boat, and I always sleep on te fly bridge – so compared to that – pretty good
Activities – very mainstream, at one point it seemed you could walk across the Junks moored in a bay without getting your feet wet!

All in all – I enjoyed myself and was very happy with the choice of cruise.

Be warned – 2 weeks later and I am still sick – I think I have Giardia (a water born virus) which I believe I may have caught on the boat – I ended up brushing my teeth with the tap water as the bottled water had run out – I saw a doctor yesterday and have a drug that will fix it – it’s not nice… Take the usual precautions and you will be ok though, and if you run out of bottled water – have stink breath for the day!

Dec 30[SUP]th
[/SUP]
The tour ended in pretty much the same way as it began, organised chaos, however this time we walked 200 meters down from the Junk Dock / Terminal / Quay to the Novotel which looked out over the bay. The Novotel although feeling its age was quite nice and the room size was more than impressive for a Executive Room (booked). After getting ourselves organised, we went for a wander around Ha Long Bay township – an interesting little town that I guess caters less for tourists than one would imagine as few would bother staying after a cruise and be straight back to Ha Noi by bus, so things usually off limits were [sadly] on display such as freshly killed dog. I have mixed feelings about the eating of dog – I look at it from a practical point of view – it keeps people from starving and keeps the number of stray dogs off the streets and beaches, but I cannot conceive why the dog needs tortured to death.

Anyway, we found a seafood restaurant for lunch – it cam with the approval of a couple of Europeans yelling down from the restaurant floor – an open air area, that the seafood was so fresh we would be stupid not to eat there! So with that endorsement, how could we refuse? We had steamboat/hotpot and yes the seafood was fresh – in fact the prawns were still alive! An awesome lunch with a couple of beers for around the same cost as a McDonalds happy meal each. We ate there again for dinner – don’t order chicken if the sound of a chicken being dispatched disturbs you…

Dec 31[SUP]st
[/SUP]
Our driver picked us up again at the designated time – this tour organiser gets a double thumbs up from me and delivered us to HAN around 4 hours later.
We all checked in for a VN J flight from HAN to BKK then wandered upstairs to the scary-team lounge and waited for our flight. By this time I was starting to pop Imodium as I was feeling a bit crook. The flight was painless and again VN showed up anything we have to offer down under for a regional service – their business product was good – efficient and meals more than enjoyable. Soon the A321 was pulling up to the gate at BKK where due to the alignment of several planets and stars, we managed to be through immigration and being met by the Hilton greeter in little over 15 minutes from alighting the aircraft to hitting the humidity – that was awesome!

The greeter helped us to get prepaid sim cards and soon we were heading toward the Hilton in Bangkok.

Here's a timelapse of Ha Long Bay taken from the Novotel - you will get the feel of how important a waterway it is. Background music - Karl Maddison.


Junk





Our boats twin that shadowed us


Oh beautiful Ha Long Bay - shame about the freighters in the background


Oh beautiful Ha Long Bay

 

[munitalP]

Oh beautiful Ha Long Bay

 

[munitalP]

Oh beautiful Ha Long Bay











Thank you Mr Cannon for making some pretty awesome lenses that let so much light in you don't need a flash!

 

[k_sheep]

Great report! Sounds like you've crammed a lot in.

ps giardia is a parasite, not virus

 

[amaroo]

Dec 29[SUP]th
[/SUP]

Be warned – 2 weeks later and I am still sick – I think I have Giardia which I believe I may have caught on the boat – I ended up brushing my teeth with the tap water as the bottled water had run out – I saw a doctor yesterday and have a drug that will fix it – it’s not nice… Take the usual precautions and you will be ok though, and if you run out of bottled water – have stink breath for the day!

Ok, now I get the title

 

[oz_mark]

We met in the exec lounge for breakfast then went to settle the bill. I have been doing the cash only thing on this trip to cut down on credit card transaction fees, possible credit card fraud etc – so I had lots of USD with me and the next time I holiday, I will be doing the same, it worked out really well without hassle. I sat down with the exec lounge lady to pay up and she said that because I was such a handsome and great guy, the Hilton had decided to give me a 20% discount. I’m unsure why oz_mark got the 20% discount as well though… (lol)

How long did your nose just grow? :mrgreen:

I don't know why you got the discount, but 20% off F&B was part of the 'Treasured Moments' room rate I booked!

Nice touch Hilton, thank you very much! I might add though, I advance purchased my room around 4 months earlier locking in what I thought was a good rate (and it was), however, with the 50% off link on AFF, I could have paid the same for a very large suite – win some and loose some.

grrr :mrgreen:

 

[Keith009]

Hmm we both blissfully used tap water to brush our teeth. :/

Since coming back from VN I've had conjunctivitis and now a cold. None of the symptoms of giardia though so hopefully unrrelated.

Thx for the entertaining trip report with great pics as always.

 

[Bundy Bear]

View attachment 12551
Gravity issues at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum as well

Thanks for the trip report with photos; I don't think those 2 would make the finals of any Jetstar Star jump competition.

 

[RWJ777]

Ha Long Bay is magnificent. I spent 24 hours there and wished I could have spent another 24. VN is a wondrous country. Can't wait to go back although +1 is not keen!

 

[kezsco]

One word of caution - don't swim in the bay. 7 years ago was there (stayed overnight on a junk) and we were given a half hour opportunity to swim if we wanted to. I did - in the thick greenish water. 24 hours later in Sapa (mountainous, slightly isolated region of Vietnam) I was sick. The sickest I have ever been in my life (no exaggeration). My wife (was only my girlfriend back then) didn't swim and she was fine. She thought I was going to die. The doctor that visited the hotel we were staying at didn't look too happy about my condition either.

48 hours in a bed - no memory of half of it - body temperature above 40 for long periods - and couldn't hold anything in. And no body strength. I remember trying to rush to the bathroom and made is as far as the floor next to the bed (because I couldn't stand). Anyway - a few days later talking to others who visited the bay. Seemed like everyone who swam there had some issue.

Good news - knew my wife was a keeper. She stayed by my side changing the cool wet towels on my body for two days and cleaned up the mess I made...

 

[Keith009]

We swam in the bay and we were fine. Or maybe what I'm having now is a consequence. :S The OH is still ok though.

 

[RB]

I also swam in the bay & at the beach in 2000 with no problems. I may not have if I had googled "sharks in Halong Bay" prior to our visit!

 

[RB]

Didn't mean to distract from your report in my previous post. Great report, I found the Hospital Caves that you have seemed to have visited magnificent-we got a great older tour guide there & his singing echoed everywhere

 

[munitalP]

I thought I would share this photo - it is one of the best photos I have taken and will join my wall of fame in a frame at home. Comments?

View attachment 12645

 

[oz_mark]

See, the visit to the mausoleum wasn't a complete waste!

I can comment that the copyright message seems to have picked up some local grammar and spelling in Vietnam