Last leg of flights to Vietnam:

Made it back from Kowloon with time to spare, got my carry on bag back from the Left Luggage place, slid through security once again and started looking for the gate to board my 2:15 flight on Vietnam Airlines to Saigon.

Vietnam Airlines is growing, it used to be the last leg into Vietnam was shown on your ticket as aboard Vietnam Airlines but in fact it was in name only. While in fact the original carrier supplied the flight, but on this one I boarded an actual Vietnam Airlines piece of equipment.

I've flown Vietnam Airlines numerous times and they are better than a few years ago but I'm not comfortable flying them, even with free beer. It's nothing specific, but it's how the details are handled by the flight crew, they get things a little botched up. For example on this flight, they did a sloppy job on the pre flight safety presentation, food was OK but the fruit and salad were dried out as if it had sitting out too long. So being the worrier I am, I'm left to wondering what other details were glossed over or missed that I'm not aware of. Another thing is on this flight as with other Vietnam Airways flights I have flown, it seems the the plane was filled with very unfriendly people. OK, I know the airline can't stop booking tickets to the unfriendly folk but their cabin staff should be able to modify this though the cabin attendants seem to be taking directions from the Vietnamese passengers. No matter my feelings we arrived on time at 4:15 pm, and my bags were waiting for me on the carousel. So what do I really have to really grumble about.

Vietnamese immigrations is very efficient now a days, long gone is the need to slip a fiver into your passport for speedy entry. Customs is hassle free also but some Vietnamese are very impatient and will cut in front of you or pull your bag aside and push theirs through. After clearing customs, you walk trough a seemingly deserted terminal until you get to the open terminal exit and on the outside of this opening you see a semicircle of people packed 10 or 20 deep, then a layer of taxi cab drivers and sundry other folk their for who knows what. I always stand looking at this for a moment, catch myself and step into the mass, always smiles as the crowd make way for me and my luggage. As I stepping out into the crowd and as the hot, humid air washed over Gia My and Van materialized and stuffed me into a taxi they had already staked out.

Off to SE Asia once again:
As I finely get on my way I'm reminded of the skipper who never makes way from port, awaiting the right conditions to sail off. I've been making these trips to SE Asia for years but as my age increases the harder it gets to leave the comforts of home. In thinking about this I came to better understand the hold a familiar place can have as with the harbor locked sailor. So after many excuses and false starts, the time had come to just get on with it or surrender to endless afternoons of Oprah. Never an Oprah fan I pushed into the crowded summer travel season. Gave up on waiting for air fare deals, tossed my fate to a travel agent and had her book me a ticket to Saigon with an open return. Convinced friends in Saigon to help in finding me a new place to rent a room in the city center, district 1. They came through again, a dandy little guest house, offering me a nice sized room at a reasonable price with a 24/7 dsl Internet connection, cable TV, frig, balcony and best of all my laundry (even iron my boxers) done.

My son Ian drove me out to the Sacramento airport to catch a United Express/Skywest, 45 minute flight to San Francisco. Some might scoff at the extravagance of flying such a short distance but beats the heck out of driving the traffic chocked Hwy 80. Anyway, I couldn't talk anyone into driving me to San Francisco International so really didn't have much of a choice. Of note - their was the bummer of a 6 hour wait at San Francisco for the Cathy flight to Hong Kong.


Once my Cathay flight arrived at Hong Kong International their was another bummer of a layover of 7 hours before heading on to Saigon. What do you do with long lay overs? San Francisco was a no brainier, eat dinner, watch people and let the adrenalin carry me along but on arrival in Hong Kong I needed a bit more. 13 plus hours in a plane even if you did as I did and finagled an upgrade to business, will suck the adrenalin out the best day dreamers.

At 7:30, armed with my visa application, completed on the plane, I easily pass through immigrations and customs, that is after an interminable wait in one of those lines that seem to snake on and on for ever. I quickly located the Left Luggage and checked my carry on. For reference its located to your right after entering the terminal from customs and the going rate for a single piece of luggage is $50.00 (hk) for up to 24 hours. Then walk across the terminal lobby and ante up $90.00 HK dollars for my train ticket and waited to board the next Airport Express Train to Kowloon, trains leave every 12 minutes or something like that, so its a short wait even if you just missed a train. An important point for us brain dead, marathon travelers using the train is a true no brainier. They only go in two directions, one to downtown Hong Kong and other direction back, making only three stops on the way from the airport - Tsing Yi, Kowloon and downtown Hong Kong, which is about about 20 minutes and the reverse to return. They are very modern, high tech and high speed trains, offering a very peaceful ride. With even a quite car where no cell phones are allowed, and all are squeaky clean with loads of room and comfy seats to watch the country side pass by.

Obtaining a VietNamese visa:
Applying for a VietNamese visa is pretty straight forward deal. Go to the VietNamese Consulate San Francisco and down load the visa application (PDF form). You can also obtain a visa through the embassy in Washington DC Send the completed application along with a passport size photo, check, your passport and a postage paid / return envelope to the embassy.

The standard tourist visa is good for up to 30 days and a single entry and exit. The different visa's time limits and prices change from time to time so it's a good idea to check with an embassy to see whats up before you apply. From my experiences it seems the types of visa's availability and there costs sometimes vary from one consular office to the next. So if you get information from one office and decide to apply at another, double check your original information. In general a 30 and 90 day tourist visa are available. along with a 6 month work visa. The embassy's request you should allow two weeks for processing and for an extra fee a 2 days express service is available. Just for reference the visa I am on now took less than a week to obtain. Called the San Francisco Embassy on Monday about what was needed for a via, mailed my photo, application, passport, check and a return express mail envelope that afternoon. On that Friday my passport with the visa inside arrived in the mail.

If your traveling through SE Asia and Bangkok is your start point visa's are available directly from the embassy or through one of the many travel agents around town. I have heard that visa's are cheaper in Bangkok than in the US. I use Bangkok as an example but visa's are available from any embassy in any country and also through travel agents. A word of caution - if your using an agent, make sure of their reliability before surrendering your passport for a visa.

Another little know deal is that If you have a travel agent in Saigon they can set up a visa on arrival at Tan Son Nhat but this must be set up in advance.

One more important point is that the date on your visa is the date your visa starts, so if you arrive 10 days after this date on a 30 day visa you now have a 20 day visa.

Visa's for Vietnam are a real pain but the trouble is well worth it, Vietnam is wonderful place.