SEA2019: Journey and arrival to HCMC

A long plane trip is always exhausting. Long hours sitting, either at some airport terminal (where you can stand up and walk around a bit) or in a cramped plane (where you also can, but much less so, and you are encouraged not to).

The logistics of boarding a plane of the size of an A380 always amaze me. Passengers arranged by class and section in the plane, several fingers and many helpful staff manage to accommodate our plane in less time and with less hassle than when you take (suffer) a short-haul low cost flight.

Five films, four meals, several short naps, about an hour circling Dubai Airport because of weather conditions (sand storms may be?) followed by a desperate obstacle run to catch our next plane, and lots of boredom later, we reach Ho Chi Min City.

Immigration bureaucracy always deserve a chapter on the side. Somehow, we manage to get our passports validated and our visas printed on them, and we are off to get our luggage, out taxi and our hotel room.

After some half an hour of Vietnamese traffic, the hotel happens to be around the corner of what looks like Pub Central. Fortunately we find a very pleasant bar with tables outside to finally eat something that does not come in a plastic tray and has been cooked hours in advance.  Unfortunately, as soon as we start eating, the rain starts pouring down. After so many hours caged in terminals and plains, we actually enjoy it immensely, to the puzzlement of our waiter, who tries repeatedly to move us to a table inside or at least to one less exposed to the weather.