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Ho Chi Minh city » TravelDiary

We're finally here Part 2

 11:57:53.2030000 | 10.20.2010

We left New Haven at 9am on Wed for our flight out of JFK and finally touched down at midnight Friday morning in Ho Chi Minh City (about 11am Thurs New Haven time). The most memorable part of the trip was the fact that we forgot to reserve seats in advance so by the time we checked in the plane was packed and the only seats left for me and Kelly were center seats in different rows crammed between two other passengers. The leg room in economy class is bad enough but we both also had metal mechanical boxes under the seats in front of us further limiting our ability to stretch our legs. After 13 hours in that position I practically had to be pried from my seat. And after a 1-1/2 hour layover in Tokyo, we re-boarded for another 6 hour connecting flight to Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon.

The passport control lines were long as usual and baggage claim was chaos but we finally made it thru to our taxi. The heat & humidity hit us in the face like a wet towel the minute we emerged from the terminal - 95 degrees and probably 90 percent humidity - there's no question we're in the tropics now! The center of town is only a short 15 minutes ride from the airport and in spite of the late hour we still caught our first glimpse of the countless motorbikes weaving in & out of traffic that we'd been warned about. Tomorrow morning we'll be up early for breakfast before we depart for our tour of the city and visit to the Mekong Delta. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have more exciting news - and photos - to report on.


City Hall - Ho Chi Minh City


Vinh Nghiem Pagoda - Ho Chi Minh City


Barbara & Kelly pose woth Ho Chi Minh himself


Wires, Wires, Everywhere - did you ever see so many wires???



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