Seoul to Saigon

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Okay... so I failed to actually write anything during the entire trip on this blog. But I did capture 1,700 photographs, write notes, pick up flyers, brochures, highlight pages in the guidebook and bypass food-poisoning (see Philippines trip). We did manage to go from a non-existent itinerary to sketching out a possible plan of attack starting in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon or HCMC.

The tentative plan was drawn up to start with a day in HCMC, then head by Open-Tour bus to Mu Nei spending a couple of days in the cozy coastal town. Take the Open-Tour bus to Dalat for canyoning and relaxing in the highlands. Followed by a trip down to Nha Trang to get in our kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving. Fly up to Da Nang then reach Hue (pronounced ~ Way) to see the Citadel and check out some of the Vietnam War relics such as the Vinh Moc Tunnels, DMZ and Camp Carroll. Traveling down to the French inspired town of Hoi An. Visit the Cham ruins, My Son, locate a tailor having garments handmade then return to HCMC before departing back to South Korea.

We opted out of the Mekong Delta because its currently in the midst of "rainy season" and outside of maybe catching a floating market it didn't appeal to either of us. We budgeted
200,000 to 400,000 dong ($10 to $20 USD) per day/per person for food and entertainment. Unless we were involved in extra curricular activities such as scuba diving, kayaking, canyoning, tours, moped rentals, etc.

Waking up four hours after going to bed was bit of a hassle. Thankfully the plan was to grab the first bus head into Hapjeong Station, grab the subway to Honggik University, jump onto the Korail Airport Express train arriving at the airport on time to check-in, eat breakfast and climb on board.

Looking out the windows I said, "we really need to wait for the bus downstairs in the rain not up here if we want to actually catch the 2200." "That makes sense," Shauna replied. "Let's go then, shall we," I replied grabbing my back turning off lights pushing her through the door. That's when the amount of yesterday's storm poured down the windows outside. We looked at each other, unlocked the door, grabbed our umbrellas and headed for the bus stop.

Waiting in the rain, at the bus stop, at 5:55am is not what I had in mind. But then again we had plenty of time (so I thought). I didn't calculate the driver not showing up until 6:35am. Nor did I calculate when the driver did finally show up that he'd actually be sensible in his driving skills. Nearly an hour later we arrived at Hapjeong Station. Making our way to Honggik to catch the Airport train. Another hour later we arrived at the airport running through the hallways to reach Asiana Airlines. We checked-in 45 minutes before the plane was to board.

Ironically, I never travel with checked-luggage and it paid off this time. Had we had checked bags we would have missed our flight. But they let us on handing us our boarding passes. We ran for security. Cleared security, used the bathroom, found currency exchange. Both of us exchanging 150,000 won for 2,550,000 dong and 150,000 won for $135 USD. Speed walking down the hallway we heard the call for our flight to begin boarding. Stopping just before the gate to purchase a Caribou coffee.

Smiling we handed the agent our boarding passes and walked down the corridor to our seats on the Asiana Airlines flight 736. Smiling we pulled out our books, iPods and sat down in seat 21A next to the window. Snapped a couple of pictures and began sipping our coffee. After a 45-minute delay on the tarmac watching other flights take off in front of us we were finally off the ground heading for Vietnam.

By 10:10am, we were served rice and vegetables with fish or chicken, a side salad and fruit. "Would you like wine or beer with that?" The stewardess asked. "Sure... I'll have a beer," I replied. "Me too. Two beers please," Shauna added. She smiled walked away and handed over the beer to us. We looked at each other. Bit into our food and began our trip. Sipping on a beer at 10:00 in the morning, I nearly spat it out onto the seat in front of me. I just couldn't do it. Or maybe it was this beer? OB. The Original German Beer. It stated. Fine barley. Nice hops. I laughed. "Do you want my can as well?" "No thank you. One is enough."

Finishing up what I could on my plate, I sat back and played a bit of Battleship, Blackjack and read my book. Shauna was deep in concentration over a couple of movies. Pushing the seat back I closed my eyes for a few minutes. Awaking to the jerking shuffle of the plane. I stood walking around stretching my legs as the entire plane's interior lights were shut off.

Three and a half hours later we began our decent into HCMC... Opening up the window shade I shot a couple of photographs of the winding rivers snaking through the buildings below. Slowly we made our way down to the tarmac. The plane slowing to a rolling halt on the asphalt before taxing across the airport pulling into the gate announcing our arrival in HCMC.

Our next mission, finding the taxi driver to take us to The Spring Hotel in District 1.

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Photos

Airport train
Crossing the Han river in the rain

On board
Rain drops surrounding ICN airport

Asiana Brunch
Asiana Airlines serves rice, veggies, fish, salad, fruit & Beer at 10:10am