Blogs from Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 12

After putting in a few hours or work the first full day I met up with the Regional Director for Southeast Asia for a drink at the hotel bar before our other colleague joined us for dinner. Oddly enough we ended up at a Lebanese place complete with belly dancers and blaring music. It was an outdoor-ish restaurant, which was the style of many restaurants here, a semi-enclosed garden/patio-style place. It had fans blowing but it was still above 90 degrees at at 8:30pm so it wasn't exactly comfortable. We had a bottle of red, some assorted meze, and a mixed grill - all really good, but the meat portion took probably 45 minutes to arrive. I was still somewhat jet-lagged and had also been up since 4am, so once dinner was done I was ready ... read more

PHU MY, VIETNAM - 26th March Vietnam's seaside resort is the gateway to the city of Ho Chin Minh formerly known as and still called in most circles Saigon. Saigon is located on the river near the Mekong Delta, it was formerly in French hands and became known as the "Paris of the East" with many fine examples of French colonial architecture. It's now about 90 minutes from the port to the city thanks to a new motorway which keeps the hordes of motorbikes at bay, so it was a quick trip into the city with the first port of call being the Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral. The General Post Office with its huge picture of Ho Chi Minh was built at a similar time as the Cathedral (1870's). The Cathedral is a ... read more

9.00a.m. kick off at hotel to drive to Danang Airport...1hr...which gave us two hours to check in etc..to be told when we arrived that our flight would be delayed by another 2 hours, so now a 4 hr wait...not impressed but the time did go fairly quickly. Ended up getting to Sofitel Saigon at 5.00p.m. so there was a day just gone travelling. What a day to spend our 36th wedding anniversary...can only get better from hereon. The hotel is just lovely and we were just in time to freshen up and hit the Club Lounge from 6.00p.m. with two hours of free drinks and nibbles...what a happy hour...incredible array of wines and spirits! Then taxi to La Villa for the most amazing meal and wine we have had in a long time. We chose one ... read more

Not too early flight from Melbourne 10.30a.m., 8 1/2 hr flight, first international flight with Vietnam Airlines (last time we flew from Bali and on Malaysian) and were impressed, their service was great, food very good and plenty of leg room. Arrived Ho Chi Minh 4.10p.m. (7.10p.m home). 36 degrees hot hot hot!! Aircraft out in the middle of the paddock, bused to terminal but exit was pretty smooth and our little driver was waiting for us from the Beautiful 3 Hotel...took a cheapy for the first 2 nights before flying up for our luxury escape near Danang to the Angsana Resort at Lang Co. Beautiful 3 hotel..quite impressed for a $45 a night price tag for the two of us including buffet breaky...excellent! Very clean and everything you need and it is situated in the ... read more

Sitting in a noodle bar when we received the fabulous news! God Bless you darling Clementine! Oh my darling ........!!!!! X X Love Aunty Lisa & Uncle Michael xx... read more