Leaving Thailand for Vietnam...

Bangkok, Day 45

Ok, so I've jumped a few blog days, but that's because I was 'no well' and we didn't really do anything of interest.

We had a very quiet New Year's Eve - I in bed and R in the living room, and then to the other bedroom. My dripometer nose had stopped, but I was still keeping my distance from R (because I didn't want him to catch my bug - heavens above, can you imagine??).

I tried to stay awake for the bells but fell asleep, only to be woken when the fireworks started going off and R popped into the bedroom to wish me a Happy New Year.

New Year's day was also very quiet. I was feeling a lot better by now but still keeping a respectful distance from R. Also as we're due to leave our Home Exchange apartment on the 2nd, it's the usual routine of starting to get things organised and packed, so we both got on with that.

Of course the last few days has totally ruined my phone step pedometer stats and I was doing so well too....

So this morning, we said our final goodbye to Neko. We won't miss him waking us up at 7 am for his food or him jumping up as soon as we move towards the kitchen (because he wants more food), but we will miss his funny little ways as he could be very, very adorable... granted he was usually looking for food from us but it all worked out fine, we all got on and there were no real issues or fall outs that the water spray bottle couldn't resolve. I just pray he has actually lost some weight and that his owners see a visible difference in him (however slight), as it was hard work at times not giving in to his requests for more food, and us having to stick to the strict food limit he was allowed per the day.

After cleaning the apartment, saying cheerio to Neko, dropping off some Scottish shortbread with the lovely little security guard for the building, we got into our Grab Taxi and set off for the hotel.

Dusit Princess

As I mentioned in a previous post, I made an error with my accommodation dates, so we needed an extra night before our next flight and trip stop. So we booked a hotel nearer to the airport but within reach of a shopping mall. The Dusit Princess is a lovely hotel, and from the minute we arrived (which was earlier than our check-in), they were brilliant. A porter took our bags from the taxi before we were even out of the taxi. Another concierge directed us to the Reception. The Reception staff were so friendly and helpful. They advised that our room was not yet ready, but advised it would be ready in about 30 minutes (still quite a bit earlier than the normal 2 pm check-in) and that we could have some lunch in the restaurant or visit the mall if we wished until then. We had a quick look around and decided to just read our books in the lounge area, and we had practically just sat down when the concierge arrived with 2 glasses of a delicious, cold, sweet plum juice for us. It was awesome and a real change from a cat demanding more food and attention constantly.

The Facilities

The facilities are great but sadly we are not going to have enough time to fully enjoy them due to our short stay here.

The Room

The room itself is absolutely beautiful. I think some people say it's a little dated in the reviews, but it's total luxury to us! I forgot to take some photos but you can see the Delux room on the website - it was really lovely. I think it cost about £70 with breakfast included.

More Shopping Mall Madness

After dumping our stuff and a quick refresh, we are out and heading to the nearby mall. Seacon Square is another absolutely massive and modern shopping complex.

Funnily enough, R was talking to our darling daughter this evening and he said to her, "If you said - let's go and spend 5 HOURS at Silverburn or Braehead shopping centre, what do you think I would say?". Well, I can tell you right now, R's response would be a big fat "on yer bike - get bent". But here at the malls in Bangkok, he LOVES them!!! I mean, I love them too, and it's not even as if we actually go into that many of the actual shops - we just love wandering all over them and seeing all the cool layouts and stuff they have in them. Of course, they are usually lovely and cool, and they have great food courts, so that probably helps too!

We had originally planned to have a wee look in this mall, get something to eat, head back to the hotel and then go to a nearby night market in the evening but after spending 5 HOURS walking about the mall we were in no fit state to go anyway else later, other than shower and bed!

R also found two new favourite stores (both Japanese) and probably aimed more for kids and teenage girls, but Moshi Moshi was his favourite, and I pretty much had to drag him out of there.

This mall also had loads of specialist coffee training centres and coffee shops as well as an art gallery, a games arcade, a kids indoor theme park (with a kids version rollercoaster and other theme thrill rides), a Karaoke place of booths (so strange!), a Christmas type market thing going on. It was just awesome!

For lunch, we both had a Japanese Katsu curry and rice dish which was very tasty, and we also shared a Japanese starter dish. Then later when we needed a wee rest break, we shared a banana, honey and chocolate roti but it was no where near as good as the little stand lady from Thonglor (which seems a lifetime away now).

All in all, we have to say this was a great shopping mall, and I think it can be reached using the yellow BTS line too.

Breakfast

We set our alarm for 6.30 am the next morning, so we could have breakfast and then get a taxi to the airport for our 11.20 flight. Breakfast was fantastic - a great choice and I even had some coconut and mango ice cream (for breakfast!!!), just to annoy our kids - I know I'm a bit evil at times! :)

Suvarnabhumi Airport

The taxi took about 20 minutes to get us to the airport from the hotel but we arrived in plenty of time and it was an easy transfer through security control and customs. I do love their biometric system. We had checked in and downloaded our boarding cards to our phones, so it was easy to show the code to get through the gates and then you look into the face camera for it to check your face ID.

Once we were through to the departures, we had a little walk around the shops, and then before we knew it, our flight was boarding. Not sure why, but we were instructed to go to the crew member and let them know we were travelling together. It seemed a little odd, and I wasn't sure if it was because we hadn't checked in any luggage or because of our UK passports, etc. However, the airline staff member asked to see our onward flight for leaving the country again. I presented her our flight details, and she seemed satisfied with these and typed some stuff into her computer. It all seemed a little strange, even though we had heard of this being done when entering Thailand, I guess Vietnam also do it (to make sure you are not planning to stay longer than you are permitted!).

The Flight

Then we were on our way to Ho Chi Minh City (the city previously known as Saigon) in Vietnam. We flew with Vietnam Airlines which I think is one of the cheap airlines, so we were really surprised to get some food and drinks served during the 1hr and a half flight. It was nothing great but it passed the time.

Getting from the Airport to our Accommodation

Once we arrived, we were shuttled to the main building, and we waited there for quite some time to get through immigration. Vietnam is not quite as sophisticated as Thailand, and there were no automatic gates or biometrics, so everything had to be done manually, and I think we ended up in the slowest line, too!

Eventually we were through and we were due to be picked up by a taxi that I had arranged via the hotel. The place was mobbed, and we had lots of taxi and tour guides trying to engage and offer us stuff, for which we politely declined. We'd gone around the place about 3 times (spent about 25 minutes searching) and there was no sign of our driver.

At this point, R decided to activate the Vietnam eSim that he'd bought the night before, so that we could then order a Grab taxi to the hotel. We could see that a Grab would cost us about £3, and this is when I learned my first lesson of being "scammed" by the Hotel's "offer" for the taxi service (to avoid us being scammed at the airport). Their taxi was costing us almost £16! Just as we were about to order a Grab, finally our driver had arrived and was displaying my name and the hotel. So we just took this taxi, but we decided that we'd be using Grab in the future.

The ride from the airport was quite something else! I have never seen driving like it before in my life. It's like a complete free-for-all with motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks just weaving all over the place and pretty much doing as they like, all whilst incessantly sounding their horns. It was complete mayhem as far as I was concerned, but somehow it seemed to work, and we arrived at our accommodation about 25 minutes after leaving the airport. The time from getting off the plane and into the apartment was 2 hours!

Our Apartment

We'd booked a self contained (one bedroom) serviced suite apartment for our stay in HCMC through Booking.com as we reckoned this would suit us best. Celine Living is located in District 3 of HCMC and I'd read previously that this is quite a good area to stay in.

All the staff were very nice and helpful from the minute we arrived, and the apartment is fine, but we quickly discovered several issues that were not quite so good. The biggest one was that the free high-speed Wi-Fi was unsecured! This was not good, and it concerned us a lot.

The kitchen utilities and supplies were more basic than I expected. I mean we have 2 cups, to wine glasses, 2 glasses, 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 knives, 2 forks, a pot, but no cooking utensils (not that we were planning on cooking, but that's not the point!). There were some free complimentary drinks in the fridge, which was a nice touch.

The shower is an over the bath one and because of the tilted shape and height of it, it's not the best for short arses like me. I guess that's why there is a step stool and a handrail in the bathroom. I shall just need to be very careful getting into and out of the shower.

First Impressions

So our first impressions of HCMC were not off to the greatest of starts, shall we say, and that was before we ventured out to get a few supplies and items for dinner and breakfast. Talk about taking your life in your hands trying to cross the road! We eventually found a few grocery-type shops and bought some supplies that would do us to start with. R was already complaining that he missed Thailand at this point and I'm sure he was questioning the wisdom of coming here.... but I did have to remind him that we are on an adventure and we do need to accept that we will be out of our comfort zone at times as we experience new places!

Back at the apartment and he had decided to set up his eSim data as a hotspot for our Wi-Fi requirements. We also have a VPN on our devices, so between both of these things, our Wi-Fi should be secure. I do a little research of things we can do tomorrow but I'm not happy about the Wi-Fi issue and I don't want to eat into his daily data allowance, so we decide as it's been a full on and early day, to get some rest and hopefully we will be in a better frame of mind (& mood) tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Bangkok, Thailand &

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

3 January 2025