Vietnam & Singapore - Jan/Feb 2012

[NDiddy]

Hi guys,

After taking great pleasure in viewing the fantastic TR's that other people have posted, I thought that I would like to share a trip I'm about to undertake so that others can be more informed and entertained.

Leaving for a 3ish week honeymoon tomorrow early morning on the following itin:

MEL -> KUL on Emirates in J
KUL -> HAN on MH in Y
HAN -> DAD on Vietnam airlines in Y
DAD -> NHA on Vietnam airlines in Y
NHA -> SAI on Vietnam airlines in J
SAI -> SIN on J* in Y
SIN -> MEL on SQ in J

I'll also post on the hotels we'll be staying in on our journey to add more info for anyone considering those hotels.

Tonight starts off with a free limo pickup courtesy of EK. Will update throughout the trip when I can

Does anyone know what kind of car EK send when you book a J fare?

 

[amaroo]

Can't help with the car-sorry.

Looks like you are going to have a very nice HM.......enjoy

 

[NDiddy]

Can't help with the car-sorry.

Pleased to report that the car was a BMW 7 series 2010 Fantastic service, great driver and a speedy journey to Melb Airport from the SE suburbs.Sitting in KL airport at the moment waiting to board the plane for Hanoi. Will post pics once I've settled in. J on Emirates 777-300ER rocked!!!

 

[NDiddy]

Ok back in the hotel in Hanoi after a couple of nights spent on Halong Bay. Mrs Diddy is packing at the moment for our impending flight tomorrow to Danang so I have a few minutes to start the TR to date.

The day started with shuttling a number of Canucks to Melbourne airport who had lingered a couple of days after the wedding. In fact the Mrs reminded me that 7 trips to the airport were done in 10 days. Anyway I digress...

The complimentary limo pickup (thank you once again Emirates) arrived about 10 mins early from the scheduled 11.30pm pickup time. We were all ready to go and I was not going to say no to more time in the lounge. As mentioned in my previous post the car was a BMW 7 series 2010 (ironically the same car I used for the wedding). Really lovely automobile with more leg room than any Y flight I've been on (see photos from my MH flight to HAN). I didnt take any photo at pickup as the street was dark but here are a couple of shots at the airport.

Not sure how to do a single post with the pics in chronological order rather than appearing at the end so will post individually.

 

[NDiddy]

After a quick shake of the hand with Paul the driver we promptly made our way to check in. It was about 12.30 am at this stage and the Y line was already about 50 passengers deep. What a great feeling to stride past the queue and make our way to the Bus/First check in lines. Lovely lady quickly check us in and wished us congratulations on the recent nuptials. Total time about 5 mins (with a lot of chit chat along the way).


With check in complete and express pass in hand we make our way to immigration (only to find no one in line so will be saving that beauty for later trips). Mrs had to check out some of the beauty products but before too long we were making our way to the Emirates lounge and boy was it great. Not a soul in there except for the staff so we had full run of the place. Lovely lady said she would announce the boarding so with that in mind it was time for some well deserved champagne (Moet and the ladies favourite Veuve Clicquot)

Edit: Sorry guys cant seem to figure out this inline attachment thing. Will try again tomorrow when in Hoi An. Fingers crossed for a Tet J upgrade

 

[spudseamus]

on the edge of my seat !!

 

[amaroo]

Enjoy Hoi An - we've been their twice and love it.

Can also feel the sands of China Beach between the toes

 

[NDiddy]

Ok got a spare few minutes while the Mrs. sorts out the spa treatment for the next 4 days :O

Still can't work this out so will post individual photos per post.

Lounge as you enter and turn to the left:

 

[NDiddy]

As mentioned before the lounge was completely deserted or so I thought until the boarding announcement was made. Regardless it felt lik we had the whole place to ourselves and it was really quite enjoyable.

Deserted lounge:



Business Centre:

 

[NDiddy]

Moet & Cheese Platter:



Couldn't help but take this photo - Would love to be on the big lady someday:



Round 2 and subsequent rounds - Veuve Clicquot:

 

[NDiddy]

Our ride to KL:



At about 3:00 am the boarding announcement was made and both Diddy's although a bit bleary eyed and exhausted from the wedding festivities began to slowly finish of the last of the Vueve and Creme Brulee'. As we're packing up lo and behold Sheikh Gotmymushstuckuphisarse comes out of nowhere. Must have been hiding in the dining room we figure.

We slowly make our way to the gate and thankfully there are no lines and we walk straight onto the gangplank. As we are about to turn right, the Sheikh starts yelling about the first class gang plank not being opened, to which the Toll Dnata lady instructed him to use the Bus/Eco one. Let me tell you "oil" was spilling out of his ears. Not happy with the 2 min wait with the remaining Y passengers boarding, the Sheikh pushes through the line (women and children included) and storms his way on the plane. Had to share this story as we had a good laugh about it.

Anyway as I said about a 2 min line up to get on board and we were seated in 7A and 7B. Do note that 7A does have a misaligned window which does not impact the view from 7B. It was also a mini cabin of 2 rows in a 2 3 2 config.

The seat:



I should have taken a better photo of the seat as I believe this photo does not do it justice. In a pod setup, the seat was very wide and if you ever get the chance to go on J on the 300ER just set the massage function to "wave". Divine!

Leg room was more than ample as well with shoe storage in the middle:



Trying to give the photo some perspective - legs stretched out and still not touching the pod in front (I'm about 178 cm):



Huge screen:

 

[NDiddy]

Amenity kit for the blokes was pretty awesome but for the ladies it was quite disappointing according to the wife:

For Homme included the following:
Eye Mask (on my head at the time of the photo)
Socks (in use at the time of the photo)
Toothbrush
Toothpaste and not the little pissy amount you normally get - 25g
Schick Extreme 3 Razor
Comb/Brush
Napkins/Tissues
Gillette Foamy Regular Foam 56g
Rexona for Men Absolute Protection - Power - 25ml Roll on
BVLGARI Eau de Colgone 5ml
BVLGARI Body Lotion 30ml
BVLGARI After Shave Emulsion 30ml
And of course the Sheikh approved manly toiletries bag

By my reckoning and limited J experience a damn good kit (sorry for the blurry photo but we were going through some minor turbulence):



For the ladies:

Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Comb
Tissue pack
Emirates branded makeup mirror
BVLGARI Refreshing towel
BVLGARI Unscented nourishing hand cream 30ml
BVGLARI eau de parfume 5ml
BVLGARI Unscented nourishing face emulsion
All packaged in an elegant Emirates branded toiletries bag and approved by 9/10 Sheikhs wives.



I think the Mrs was disappointed that her BVLGARI did not come in a gift set box like the blokes but I wasn't going to be pedantic with her at 4 in the morning.

 

[NDiddy]

Probably the most disappointing aspect of the flight. Did not bother with the Light bites as we filled up in the lounge and we ready for a snooze as soon as the plane took off but I have attached some (blurry) photos of the menu. We were flying over Mount Shakethewholeplane over Indonesia when I was trying to take the shots but hopefully they provide some insight:

Front Page:



Drinks page:



Light Bites Menu:



For breakfast I decided to have the Spanish Omelette but unfortunately it was far from desirable. If given the choice again I think the buttermilk pancakes would be the way to go.

Pre hideous omelette arrival:



And with said hideous omelette:

 

[NDiddy]

However Emirates more than made up for the breakfast by presenting the Diddy's with this little bewdy accompanied with Moet (champagne breakfast anyone):



And just like Homer Simpsons quote in his High School Year book - "I can't believe I/We ate the whole thing"

They even took a happy snap of us enjoying the cake/champagne. Marvelous!

Flight details:

EK 409 MEL to KUL
Scheduled departure 3.40am - Actual departure: 3:45am
Scheduled arrival 8:25am - Actual arrival 8:20am

Far be it from me to even attempt to assign a Hayden Happiness score that we've all grown accustomed to on here but I thought it was an amazing experience with wonderful service. Would happily fly EK again!!

Will leave it here for now as my "alone" time is up and although the next couple of flights haven't been as spectacular, the hotels and locations have been. We have a relaxing 4 days in Hoi An so I will get some more opportunities to update this thread over the next few days.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Hey great TR.

Look forward to more!

Some of your photos didn't come out, invalid attachment?

 

[NDiddy]

Hey great TR.

Look forward to more!

Some of your photos didn't come out, invalid attachment?

Hmmm not sure why that happened. They all looked fine last night and I uploaded them the same way. Mods can you help me out?

Just got back from a self walking tour of Hoi An. Beautiful and made even more memorable by the TET preparations going on in town. Its pretty damn hot so going to cruise to the pool/beach and should have some time this arvo to update some more of the trip.

 

[NDiddy]

Quick update before we head into town for dinner. Apologies again but i have NFI why the attachments are coming up invalid but have requested mod help so hopefully they will be resolved soon.

Landing in KL after a very refreshing flight I forgot that we were in KLIA and not LCCT where I had been a frequent visitor over the last couple of years. What a welcome relief!!

Since we were on a MH flight to HAN at 1.45pm we had about 5 hours to kill. Nothing really exciting to report about the airport and I really didnt bother pulling out the camera so onto the flight.

Bought the tickets super cheap around $60 incl taxes for one way per person. I was well aware that this was a "non upgradeable" ticket but I was surprised that MH wouldn't allow us to pay for an upgrade either. May be this is not new but I am surprised by any airline refusing to part travelers with their well earned with any duress. Nevertheless a 3.5 hour flight in Y shouldn't be too bad.

Got assigned seats 22B and 22C - flight was pretty full with only a smattering a free seats towards the rear of the plane.

The leg room:



Although there wasn't much knee room, the leg room under the seat was fine:

 

[NDiddy]

No individual screens but they did show Footlose (the recent remake) and tbh it just made the flight worse.

Couple of shots of plane from the seat with the horrible acting on the screens for everyone's displeasure:

 

[NDiddy]

Now the meal service was one of the more humorous conversations I've had with the flight attendant, which went something along these lines:

FA: We have chicken curry or chicken noodle
ND: Ok well at least there is a choice - what about a vegetarian option? (tongue firmly in cheek)
FA: Mumble mumble ticket chicken curry?
ND: Sure sounds good, I'll just eat around the chicken
FA: Thank you.

Anywho - the Chicken curry wasn't half bad and Mrs Diddy had the chicken noodle.

Chicken Curry:





Chicken Noodle:



Pretty unimpressive and unusually long flight but fit for purpose. Probably wouldn't take the MH option again but at the time they were cheaper than Jetstar and VN so the choice was pretty simple.

Flight details:

MH 756 KUL -> HAN
Scheduled Departure 13:45 Actual Departure 14:00
Scheduled Arrival 16:10 Actual Arrival 16:15

What really peeved me off about this flight were the passengers. It was a few days before TET and it was plain (pardon the pun) to see that most people were excited about getting home. However nothing ever really prepares you for 100 seat belts unfastening as soon as the wheels were down and people getting up and trying to open overhead lockers while the reverse thrusts are still roaring.

To the FA's credit they did march up and down the plane (once it slowed down) and informed everyone calmly but sternly to sit down and not turn on their mobile phones. I must have done about 3 dozen AirAsia legs and I thought the passengers were bad with AA but they were angels compared to this mob.

More unimpressive than the flight was HAN airport itself. They had 6 flights arrive within 50 minutes of each other and only 6 immigration officers and 2 baggage carousels. There is 2 hours of my life I wish I could get back but anyway we were happy to end the ordeal and were even more pleased to see the hotel car waiting for us as soon as we left the baggage claim area.

That's it for the moment. More to come after dinner/tomorrow afternoon.

 

[NDiddy]

OK finally worked out what might be causing the invalid attachments and hopefully all should be "valid" now