After arriving from Hanoi, this is my first time landing into
Tan Sot Nhat airport in the domestic terminal. It is a very different experience from the international terminal. You have to fight for the taxis with the locals. I purchased a taxi voucher which was slightly more expensive than regular fare but it does get you some priority to getting an actual taxi. You just have to flag the taxi guy down and they will make sure you get on.
Checked into the
Le Meridien Saigon and it has a very bright but modern decor. The staff was very gracious. You can tell they wanted everything to go well during their soft opening period. I think the official grand opening is the following month. I was upgraded to a grand suite facing the industrial river. Although not immediately appealing, it was cool to see Vietnamese naval boats docked from the room. I was left a welcoming tray of fresh fruit and a personal walk through of the room and amenities.
The next day, I enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Very French inspired, I enjoyed the French toast and banh mi. The pho was not as tasty as in Hanoi, I would recommend the beef over chicken. I spent the day in meetings and the afternoon with my relatives. I had dinner at Quan An Ngon on 138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City 70000, Vietnam. My colleague ordered the Bo Ngon but I had warned of the poor beef quality in Vietnam. I opted for a rice dish of pork chop and rice and dessert of mochi balls.
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| Le Meridien Ho Chi Minh Buffet dessert selection |
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| Le Meridien Ho Chi Minh pastry selection |
The next day, I grabbed a very early breakfast. I had the same foods except there was shrimp curry and I sampled the ice cream with my crepe. The vanilla ice cream is not as creamy as in the U.S. I would try other flavors next time.
Afterwards, jetted out to the airport to start my trip home. I was pleasantly surprised in being assigned first class on Jetstar. Since I wasn't sure what was included, I did not ask for any drinks on the plane but I think it would have been complimentary. I had three layovers - Hanoi and Haneda and San Francisco and stayed in the lounge at each layover. In Hanoi, I had to transfer to the international terminal. It took me some time to figure out that the transfer buses were in the next section of the domestic terminal. Since I was traveling on ANA, the airport lounge catered to most of the major carriers. It was very big and open. The food was serviceable but I was intrigued by the snacks. I tried some Poca branded chips (it looks as if it is the Frito-Lay name in Vietnam) and Goute crackers.
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| International Lounge |
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| Tasty snacks from the lounge |
At
Haneda Airport, I went back to the same lounge. I later found out my gate changed and I would have opted to visit the other lounge location to see if it was different. Either way, I was happy to nosh on curry rice and udon.
At San Francisco, I was able to change my return flight to an earlier scheduled flight which meant my stay inside the United Club was short. Since I lost my first class seat to go home two hours earlier, I bought a pastrami sandwich and fruit tart and opera cake from
Klein's Deli. I bought a shrimp burrito from Urban Tortilla for a late night dinner. The food was surprisingly good. For $30, one would hope they can figure out how to make good tasting food at the airport.
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