* one night in ho chi minh *
life down under is great - gorgeous weather, great food, pavlova, chilled out life - but after 2 weeks i was missing my cat way too much. so i was glad to go home, even if i wasn't really looking forward to the heat.
but because we were cheap and dirt broke, we flew vietnam air to australia instead of qantas or cathay, as most others did. and man, did we get what we paid for.
our return flight from sydney to hong kong had a 3-hour layover in ho chi minh city, but the flight from sydney was delayed about 4 hours, and so we ended up missing our connecting flight to hk. the whole process could only be described as excruciating pain, since none of the VA staff could give us any answers or clear directions about what was happening. we finally got put up at a hotel for the night and caught a flight the next morning, arriving in HK at about 2pm.
problem is, i had a prenatal appointment at tsan yuk at 3:30 (and because it's a public hospital, all appointments are computer generated for you and you have no choice in dates or flexibility), we had to go straight from the airport to the hospital. i think it was an act of God that we actually made it just in time :)
in ho chi minh city, it took the airline AGES to process about 20 people who had to stay overnight, and by the time we got the hotel (called 'first hotel') all we had time for was a quick dinner and then to bed, because we had to leave at 8am the next morning to catch our flight.
we did, however, manage to squeeze in a foot massage at the airport before we boarded our flight. that foot massage was the best thing about flying vietnam air. for $18usd, you really get the star treatment: warm neck and eye pillows, 30 minute massage including hot rocks, and they even help you put your socks back on! you don't get that with cathay!
anyway, i'm so glad to be home, and mojo seems to be happy we're home too. now i gotta figure out what to do with myself for the next 6 months....
life down under is great - gorgeous weather, great food, pavlova, chilled out life - but after 2 weeks i was missing my cat way too much. so i was glad to go home, even if i wasn't really looking forward to the heat.
but because we were cheap and dirt broke, we flew vietnam air to australia instead of qantas or cathay, as most others did. and man, did we get what we paid for.
our return flight from sydney to hong kong had a 3-hour layover in ho chi minh city, but the flight from sydney was delayed about 4 hours, and so we ended up missing our connecting flight to hk. the whole process could only be described as excruciating pain, since none of the VA staff could give us any answers or clear directions about what was happening. we finally got put up at a hotel for the night and caught a flight the next morning, arriving in HK at about 2pm.
problem is, i had a prenatal appointment at tsan yuk at 3:30 (and because it's a public hospital, all appointments are computer generated for you and you have no choice in dates or flexibility), we had to go straight from the airport to the hospital. i think it was an act of God that we actually made it just in time :)
in ho chi minh city, it took the airline AGES to process about 20 people who had to stay overnight, and by the time we got the hotel (called 'first hotel') all we had time for was a quick dinner and then to bed, because we had to leave at 8am the next morning to catch our flight.
we did, however, manage to squeeze in a foot massage at the airport before we boarded our flight. that foot massage was the best thing about flying vietnam air. for $18usd, you really get the star treatment: warm neck and eye pillows, 30 minute massage including hot rocks, and they even help you put your socks back on! you don't get that with cathay!
anyway, i'm so glad to be home, and mojo seems to be happy we're home too. now i gotta figure out what to do with myself for the next 6 months....
posted by jana* at 9:48 AM
