Our transport picked us up on time at 8.45am to take us to Hanoi Airport for our flight to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon). He pulled up in front of International departures and after we explained we were on a domestic flight, he promptly loaded us back into the bus and reversed all of the way back to domestic departures against the traffic.
Once inside the terminal, check in was straight forward and we headed off to the departure lounge with little delay, and found a cafe to have a cup of coffee while we waited for our departure. We are still coming to grips with Vietnamese coffee.
The flight with Vietnamese Airlines was very good, lots of legroom in economy, and the in flight meals at least as good as we get at home.
Disembarkation involved a convoluted long walk through the Saigon Terminal till we go to the baggage claim area, and after a short wait we were outside looking for our guide/transport. No-one was holding up signs bearing our names so we went in search of our contact, Mike went one way and I went the other. Eventually I spotted him sitting down talking to his mates with the sign on his lap. Indochina Tours have not scored a lot of points so far on transport.
The weather is fine, and hot, 34 C, with high humidity, much more like the weather we had been expecting.
We arrived at the Hotel Caravelle at around 2 pm, and had to wait about 30 mins whilst they found us rooms, which turned out to very nice, but more in the tradition of a 5 star Western hotel you would find anywhere, rather than the last few places we stayed, which had more charm.
Hotel Caravelle
View from our Room
First impressions of Saigon are that it is a much larger and more vibrant city than Hanoi. Hanoi is more like Canberra, where Saigon is more like Sydney by comparison.
Afternoon tea before we venture out on the streets
We had the rest of the afternoon free to explore the area around the Hotel, which is right in the centre of the old French district and is endowed with beautiful old buildings with French Architecture. The first thing we noticed was that the traffic is a lot more orderly, and crossing the road as not nearly as hazardous as it was in Hanoi.
The Opera House is opposite our Hotel
Our Hotel is in the Old French area of town, with nice streetscapes and lots of old buildings
Notre Dame Cathedral built by the French in the 1880's
There was a discount promotion for a Pizza Restaurant
But bikes are still useful for other things
At 6pm we meet up in the Saigon Bar with Mike and Joy for a pre dinner drink. The bar is an open air bar on the 9th floor of the hotel, with good views of the city.
Mike trying tio get his camera to behave
View from the bar
At 7pm we met our guide from Indochina tours who will take us out to dinner and outline the program for the next 2 days.
He was in the foyer, on time, and were joined by two women of our vintage, or a bit older who were cousins and doing a bit of an extended trip including a river cruise in Europe. They will be joining our boat trip up the Mekong.
After introductions and a quick briefing, we headed down the road to a local restaurant and had an excellent meal of local Vietnamese food, which was included in our package.
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