Cảm ơn an adventure in Vietnam

[anat0l]

Cảm ơn an adventure in Vietnam


​

Vietnam has always been on my list of places to go, though for some reason I never made the effort in earnest to go for it. Maybe it was the visa requirements and processes. Maybe it was a bit of reservation trying to navigate chaotic cities with the language barrier, and danger of being scammed or overcharged. Maybe it was finding good flights in, out and around the country (or other transport for that matter).

As Easter 2024 school holidays approached, my natural fever to travel kicked in, but where to go? Not uncharacteristically, I had left it to quite late to decide, and everyone and their dog had probably got in with the good deals already, including nearly all the reward seats. I was talking this over with Mum one night and mentioned that I hadn't been to Vietnam, and then she also went on to mention that April is a good time to visit.

All of the sudden, the idea had so much merit. But I only had just over a week to decide and then organise the trip. Vietnam was a long country, and the school holidays were a mere two weeks. Could a reasonable trip of Vietnam be done?

Hint: In this trip report, you can click on the aircraft registrations to be redirected to information on Airfleets.net. For aircraft that have names, clicking on the name will redirect you to Wikipedia on that name.

 

[anat0l]

Prologue

If you'd like to skip the boring details of me disbursing how my brain worked in organising this all last minute, go to the next post, please.

Applying for a Vietnamese visa was considerably easier than before thanks to the e-Visa system, which purports to only take 3 business days after payment. But visas may ask for all sorts of information about travel - flight numbers, accommodation details, itineraries, etc.. I had to be ready, which means I basically had to book everything there and then. It was an all-in effort.

The following all pretty much happened within 1-2 days.

Flights

Having left it until a week out from the school holidays, I thought I might have been completely done for in terms of flights. Only the most expensive seats would be left if I paid in cash, if there were any at all. Then, there'd be no reward seats.

With not much hope, I fired up seats.aero to see if there could be anything I could find. At the same time, I consulted Matrix ITA for some hints on fares. The situation was not as bad as I had thought, though merely I had moved from totally impossible to rather hopeless. All cash fares were quite expensive, with one exception - JQ from MEL or SYD to SGN. A further check on Jetstar's site revealed that even Business (not Business Max) fares were quite reasonable in both directions. But do I dare fly JQ?

Hesitant, I looked over on the award seats, where seats.aero hinted at some limited options scattered around various dates, having also checked every international gateway in Australia. Could forget about J or F options, let alone W... it was all Y, Y, and more Y. One outbound option perked up: MH from SYD to SGN, with overnight flight followed by a long layover with the flight to SGN in the afternoon. The only other options were JQ awards or an EK MEL-SIN followed by another booking to get to SGN. The timing of the MH flights may not be great, but it seemed the most reasonable and was near the start of the holidays. A search on QF yielded an option that integrated a BNE-SYD flight earlier in the day to enable me to meet the ex-SYD option, so that was booked.

As for the inbound, that was even more difficult. Once again, JQ could be an option via cash or rewards, but the lingering question is, "do I dare...". A little further search found a SQ option that was also available via Velocity, so booked in, and that was my ticket home.

Tours and Accommodation

Having not been to Vietnam before and not feeling to psyched about having to take care of school affairs and organising the accommodation and travel for about 10 days, my mind immediately thought about joining a tour. I jumped onto Viator and started looking around, and settled on a 7-day tour which covers both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. You can sometimes try and infer how much of an operation the tour company is by reading how they describe the itinerary, but this outfit looked rather unassuming. Nevertheless, the reviews were good, they allowed singles to book a place, transfers to and from the airport were included and the price was quite modest compared to other tours of the same length. Free cancellation a day before commencement was enough for me to push my mind out of hesitation and book the tour. At least that knocked out a week's of accommodation out of my mind, too!

I had set the tour to start a day after I arrived in HCMC, as I was trying to think of how to account for a delay in processing my visa. Turns out this was not necessary, but in any case, I needed to book my own night of accommodation after arriving in SGN. A very reasonable rate for a room at a Holiday Inn close to the airport was booked, which should work nicely with my IHG Platinum status. I was surprised the rate was as low as it was given that it might have gone through the roof if it were a popular time to visit Vietnam! While there was an Accor property right at the airport, the photos of the ibis didn't look appealing (maybe because I stayed in so many ibis properties during my December trip).

There were a few more days in Vietnam that I hadn't accounted for, but I hoped I could just book those later.

Visa

Now for the scary bit. Fortunately, most visas don't need to be applied by sending a passport to the consulate, as Vietnam's e-Visa system makes it unnecessary. Unfortunately, even with best case, an e-Visa requires 3 business days of processing.

I applied for and paid the fee of my e-Visa on a Tuesday. I was to fly out on the Saturday. I was cutting it down to the wire.

There are several non-government agencies that will take care of the process of applying for a visa for you. Some are convinced that many travellers fill in the e-Visa application incorrectly and unwittingly delay the processing of their visa. Many will take a not so modest fee and expedite the process for you. In extreme cases and with the right amount of money, a Vietnamese visa could be yours within 4 hours.

I was very much relying on the 3 business day timeframe. Everyone I had talked to seemed excited about my Vietnam trip, though I also admitted I was holding out hope that my visa would arrive in time!

Good Friday came. That was the 3rd or 4th business day, depending on how one counts. No visa in the morning. I give credit to my tour company contact, who reached out via Whatsapp to let me know the schedule and so on for my tour. She also bugged me about providing my pickup details in HCMC so their booked transport could take me to my 1st night hotel on the tour schedule. I admitted to her that I was not sure if I had to cancel or postpone, because my e-Visa hadn't come through yet.

She offered to expedite my application, for a fee of USD 60. (For those not in the know, the e-Visa fee is USD 25). I had no idea if this was a scam or if this was one of those "we'll try, but no promises" situations. I left it until about 2 pm that day and checked again - no visa. Upon a final prompting from the tour company that the expediting option was about to sail by (they had to lodge before 12 pm Vietnam time), I bit the bullet and provided the information to rush my visa.

Many hours later, around 6 or 7 pm Vietnam time, I had my e-Visa. Phew! This trip was happening.....

 

[anat0l]

Saturday 30 March

Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a procrastinator-packer, and until I was buoyed with some joy after confirming the receipt of my e-Visa, the packing was proceeding at a glacial pace. Speaking of glacial, I was at least relieved that winter clothing should be predominantly unnecessary on this trip, so the overall packing process was pretty simple.

The harder part was probably ensuring all my medical stuff was organised. Thankfully, the travel battery for my CPAP was still showing a healthy amount of charge, and equally thankfully MH - unlike partner QF - doesn't require a medical clearance form to use it on board. I had no idea whether my heart medication was on any kind of restricted lists in Vietnam, but just to make sure, I reduced all medication amounts down to my trip length plus about 5 spare days, then repacked them into original packaging (which was bulky, but no choice).

At least I didn't have to get up at 2.30 or 3.30 am in the morning to make my flights, as I normally would! A more normal wake up time to look forward to a midday-ish flight was definitely much more comfortable, especially since the previous night did not yield much sleep at all.

With a recent drop to QF SG, there wasn't a whole lot to look forward to in the guise of the BNE D QP, but an early trip to the airport was probably wise given the Easter holidays had just started. Turns out this was not such a bad idea, as the Premium line for International Connections was decently long when I arrived. OK, so maybe that means there were about half a dozen people in front, but each of us takes so long to process (and there were a decent number of families). It's a shame that International Connections can't be processed at the Premium Entry facility, but so be it - checked in, bags tagged all the way to SGN, changed my first flight seat to an exit row, visa was checked, and then off to Premium Entry to get into the lounge.

Getting into the QP was fairly easy, with not much traffic at all. Guess most of the crowd that wanted to start the holiday immediately either left on Good Friday or early in the morning. Easter was clearly in the lounge:


Hoppy are those bunnies who get their eggs, for they shall be the spirit of Easter - sorry for the Bible reference

There were several promotional staff around, handing out Easter eggs, dressed as the Easter bunny giving out free hugs and photos, and handing out children's entertainment packs. I got a couple for my niece and nephew, each containing bunny ears, a colouring book and colouring pencils:


Children's Easter packs in handy zip-close pouches

The food was in the transition period between breakfast and lunch, so there were still some basic breakfast items like cereals and yoghurt available, but slowly some more all-day food made it onto the buffet. I wasn't guessing it would be a shade on anything in the J Lounge, but it'd be enough for most people.


Turkey, rocket and cranberry jam on baguette - quite delicious, even if basic

I spent much of the lounge time doing some last minute organising, like contacting all my banks to advise them of my travel (and thank goodness you can often do this now without needing to call someone) as well as ensuring I had enough funds in my debit cards once I arrived in Vietnam. I wanted to print out my e-Visa - as is frequently advised - but the QP lounge printer wasn't working. With boarding being called, I had to abandon the idea and head to the gate.


My aircraft at the gate, ready to go to Sydney

FLIGHT: Qantas Airways QF529 Brisbane (BNE D) - Sydney (SYD T3)
Scheduled: 1215 - 1450
Aircraft: VH-VYB "Cape Otway" Boeing 737-800
Class: Economy
Seat: 13C

I was lucky to be one of the first to board, so finding my seat at the exit row was fairly quick. Both my backpack and CPAP had to go up in to the overhead before getting settled into my exit row seat.

I know this is stupid, but since I had flown all J in my December trip (and quite a few times before that), having to fly back in Y again felt a bit out of place. Nevertheless, we are lucky to be able to travel, so even in Y, that is all that matters!


Plenty of legroom in the exit row


You are sitting at an overwing exit - this vision means you are leaving on vacation soon

Like so many BNE-SYD flights that I've had, we got under way and taxiied to the main runway before taking off into the skies and our sights set on Sydney.

The timing of this flight designated it as Lunch or at least some kind of meal rather than refreshment. These days, I don't know if meals in Y are distinguished in any way or form (except for perhaps "breakfast" and "all day"). At least this item was tasty; suffice to say, the flavour combinations they come up for these sandwiches are usually very good. It's just limited in quantity.


Finger sandwiches and a cold beverage of choice

An extra treat came today in the form of chocolate koalas:


Choccie Koala - sure beats an egg

We were held up a little bit on approach to SYD, but otherwise we landed on the main runway (interesting for a change) with an easy roll up to Gate 10 at T3.

I now had a good 7 hours or so until my MH flight to KUL. Given my bags had already been checked all the way and I also had BPs for all sectors, I could head to T1 and just chill in the lounge.

But where's the fun in that?

 

[I love to travel]

Did you know in the end whether it was the expedited visa prcoess that worked or whether it was just processed in the queue?

 

[AIRwin]

I now had a good 7 hours or so until my MH flight to KUL. Given my bags had already been checked all the way and I also had BPs for all sectors, I could head to T1 and just chill in the lounge.

But where's the fun in that?

Status run within a transit?!

 

[anat0l]

Did you know in the end whether it was the expedited visa prcoess that worked or whether it was just processed in the queue?

No. For all I know (and I don't), you may be right in that I might have received my visa that day without needing to expedite it.

I was getting scared at around 2 pm Brisbane time (11 am Vietnam) when the e-Visa portal still said it was being processed. And then if I wanted to expedite, I had to provide my information to my tour contact before 12 pm Vietnam time, otherwise it would be too late. So I gambled USD 60.

 

[anat0l]

Status run within a transit?!

LOL I wish. No real good status runs available ex-SYD (except international ones), especially at the prices at that time and booked close to travel date.

 

[anat0l]

Even though heading to T1 to chill in the lounges would have been the easiest thing to do, I had some other ideas in mind. Sure, if there was a F Lounge to tempt me, that might have been a much easier decision to make, even for a 7 hour transit. But... there was no F Lounge to access.

Besides, I had to get my e-Visa printed out, and needed some new jeans, as I was virtually down to the pair I was wearing and it looks like it was about to go (for those of you who are rather portly like me, you know which part of the jeans tends to wear down first...). Sure, I could get jeans in Vietnam, but I'd either need to make sure I find enough time to get them tailored, or have a hard time finding jeans for me (portly person, prefer standard fit over "skinny" jeans which seem more common in Vietnam).

So I headed into Sydney city. Yeah, I hear you all say, what an expensive side trip thanks to the train, but if you have things to do and don't have great lounges to chill in, you make your own fun, even if it costs more. I ended up printing my e-Visa out at an Officeworks, then heading to Just Jeans at Broadway to pick up a couple of pairs. Yes, I was trusting that MH were not going to be too strict on carry-on allowance; isn't it funny how some of us pack our cabin baggage perfectly, except when we actually need extra room for stuff we acquire while in transit?

Between Town Hall to Broadway and back to Central, I certainly got my 10k steps that day and then easily some more. 1800h was rolling around so time to head back to the airport. The nice thing once I got to T1 is that there was no need to check-in as that had already been all done in Brisbane, which is just as well as MH might have just been setting up then and not ready to check-in (i.e. 3 hours before departure rule).


Seems appropriately adorned...

Although I was dreading that I'd be in for some wait as I didn't have Express entry this time, there was no worries at all, as there were minimal people at the e-gates and security. I do wonder sometimes just how effective Express path really is.

Having now got airside at T1, it was time to find a lounge, especially to get a cool drink after all that meandering in Sydney. The only problem was... which one to settle into? I actually had quite a few options, surprisingly. So what does nearly any travel geek do in this situation? Well, try them all!

American Express Centurion Lounge

Don't let the name fool you. You don't need the heavy metal card to gain entry here - basically any American Express charge or credit card, except for Gold and entry level, will give you access to this lounge. In many cases, the lower level eligible cards are limited to two entries per year (cf. unlimited for cards like the Platinum charge card), but I had to give it a go.

This lounge is located in the C gate complex of T1, viz. gates 50-63. Compared to the QF precinct and where my flight was departing, this was considerably far away, at least in relative T1 terms. A smattering of moving walkways made the walk a bit faster (though not too oddly enough, there are walkways from A/B gates to C gates, but not the other way around). Having been quite accustomed to visiting the QF lounge soon after exiting the Duty Free, I had not thought about what the public areas of T1 airside looked like. I thought the C gate area was rather well appointed, with nice waiting areas, albeit full of people with nary a seat free. The Centurion lounge is a bit hidden, being situated downstairs from the main passenger level.


Entrance to The Centurion lounge in Sydney T1

The receptionist gave a warm greeting as I verified my eligibility and handed over my American Express Platinum Reserve card. I noticed in the corner of my eye that Plaza Premium was involved in running this lounge. You had to feel a little bit of reservation about this.


From reception to the lounge proper, featuring a green wall and artwork

The lounge had an overall wood and darker tone with illumination feel to it. Very corporate lounge feel to it, which matches Amex's image as a business or corporate service. I guess most modern workplaces and lounges these days are going towards this look. There was a variety of seating around the lounge, but it wasn't a big lounge by any means. I can see this lounge easily overflowing at busier times.


Various seating available in The Centurion lounge


Refreshment station (including a postmix soft drink machine outside of this shot) for your basic drink and snack needs...


...otherwise a full service bar, including barista coffee and coughtails, is also available.

There was a separate, roped off area specifically for Centurion card holders. It was not actively monitored and the slatted wood panelling around the area made it feel a bit like a fishbowl (if a fishbowl could be made of slatted wood without the water flowing out of it), but otherwise it was just a cordoned area for them. Not sure if those who are in this area specifically get table service.


This area is for Centurion card holders only

The lounge has a limited view of aircraft operations; most of the "view" is the arrival passenger flow from the C gates as the passageway towards immigration wrapped around the windowed areas of the lounge.

Naturally, there was also a dining area with buffet.


The Centurion lounge dining area

The buffet is modest but adequate. On offer were a bread rolls, soup, a salad station, cheese, cake and a few hot dishes, mainly from Asia, and rice. You can easily make a decent meal from what was available... except maybe a nice dessert. There seems to be an implication that a chef's station is available, but I couldn't make out what the details were.


The Centurion lounge buffet

There is a shower available in the lounge, which can be booked by inquiring at the bar - yeah, makes intuitive sense, but so there. It was fine and clean, with Appelles amenities provided and decent shower pressure. The main design decision that was rather odd was that they didn't provide much of a shelf in the shower. You had to bring the shampoo and soap bottles into the shower so you could use them, but the shelf had room for only one bottle.


Shower room in The Centurion lounge

 

[anat0l]

Skyteam Lounge

The next one was a bit of a surprise. After leaving The Centurion lounge, I started on my way back to the A/B gate complex for the next lounge, the Plaza Premium Lounge, located near gates 25-26. This is just off one of the arms leading from the big central food court with the famous two-level McDonald's and First Nations flags hanging from the ceiling.


Central food court complex in A/B gate area, featuring First Nations flags

Having access to Plaza Premium seems odd in the grand scheme of things. Yes, I have a limited Priority Pass membership which gives me two complimentary entries per year, but as it turns out MH has an agreement with the lounge to admit its Business and elite members, seemingly including oneworld elites as well. I suppose it's a better option than sending them all to the QF J Lounge.


Entrance to the Plaza Premium Lounge in Sydney T1

At reception, they had a look at my boarding pass and advised me that I had access to the Skyteam Lounge next door. I was puzzled by this as this seemed completely against logic and the rules. But I was reassured that this was the arrangement, plus, "It's better than this lounge," said the receptionist.

Well, that was the end of the tour for the Plaza Premium. I thanked the receptionist and off I traipsed to the next lounge...


Entrance to the Skyteam Lounge in Sydney T1

The Skyteam lounge recently had a facelift within a few years, significantly improving the look and feel of the lounge. Noticeably, it is also managed by Plaza Premium, which means I guess I knew exactly what I was in for food-wise at least.

The receptionist took my MH boarding pass and processed it without missing a beat. At least this means they were well informed of the variation in arrangements. So soon enough, I was able to take the stairs down (yes, down, another bunker lounge) into the Skyteam lounge.


A welcome by any other language would sound just as warm...

The lounge had a more modern Asian corporate feel to it, with much more natural, blue and green tones, which added a greater sense of calm to the space. It was more spacious than The Centurion lounge, but the seating looked much the same in numbers.


This roundel area is a calming central hub in the main seating area of the lounge


More seating options, including various chairs for different levels of relaxation and purpose

Some additional areas compared to The Centurion could be found to suit business travellers.


Conversation booths for taking phone calls


Working desks, or "business stations"

Food options were expectedly much the same as The Centurion, and indeed I would expect similar in Plaza Premium's own lounge one level up and next door. The only difference was some of the food tended to be wrapped in plastic here.


Tea, coffee and snacking station


Pastry servery along the wall in the distance...

 

[anat0l]

...featuring pizza, amongst a bevy of bread rolls


Beverages and cold foods, including salads


Hot servery, including the same hot dishes as in The Centurion lounge, as well as a chef's station, which again was not in use at this time of the day


Bar to cater for all tastes, including barista coffee

The lounge did have windows which looked out to the A gates.


View from the Skyteam Lounge towards the A gates


The lounge views afforded an upclose and personal look at this behemoth


A plebian's view of the playground of the gods

Showers are also available in this lounge, with inquiries to be made at the reception (i.e. back up the stairs). Unfortunately, there was quite a queue for the showers and my boarding time was somewhat coming up soon, so I had to abandon my place in the queue and soon head out back to the terminal.

I had just made enough time to make a quick visit to the QF Business Lounge. No photos - I'm sure we've seen enough of them. It was relatively quiet for that time of night, even with a good handful of flights still to go. The staff had already packed up one of the buffets, leaving only one remaining open. The only hot dish on offer was some sort of Szechuan style stir-fried stew (both meat and vegetarian styles) with rice. Not much to go on, but I suppose they weren't intent on keeping everything up at around 2200h.

Soon, it was time for me to head to the gate to board my MH flight. The flight was located in the B gates, or what I like to call the "neck".


The MH bird flying us to KUL tonight

 

[drron]

There were some very Corporate looking people at the Centurion Bar.

 

[Flyfrequently]

On board with you @anat0l keen to hear how your tour went.

 

[anat0l]

FLIGHT: Malaysia Airlines MH140 Sydney (SYD T1) - Kuala Lumpur International (KLIA) (KUL T1)
Scheduled: 2210 - 0350+1
Aircraft: 9M-MTO Airbus A330-300
Class: Economy
Seat: 14D

In case you misread that, no you didn't - the scheduled arrival of this flight was 3.50 am in KUL. Ouch . Suffice to say, though, any later departure than that in order to have a more sane arrival time would be impossible due to Sydney's curfew.

The boarding gate was a bit of chaos. Many people were stood up and in a "line" ready to board, but even though there were supposed to be clear markings of general and premium boarding lines, there hadn't been adequate infrastructure (e.g. tapes) to separate them. It seems awkward to push in and know which line was which, but somehow I managed to find out where the premium boarding line was and we proceeded.

When I got to the desk, the supervisor was called over and I was asked to move aside and present my visa. I pulled out my printed visa and the supervisor tapped away. Eventually I was given new boarding passes printed by MH, and then allowed to board.


MH Y cabin on the A330-300

The MH Y seats are comfortable enough. The legroom is fairly good for a person of height 175 cm. I used to remember that MH Y had very generous legroom, sometimes 32" or 33". But that was well and truly over 10-12 years ago by now.


Legroom in MH Y seat

At each seat was a blanket and a pillow in a disposable pillow case. A far cry from pillows as I know them from flying in J or F; this was probably more like a pin cushion . The IFE was on a small screen by today's standards, which could be operated with a remote control (located just below the screen) or touch. Overall, the IFE was a bit touch and go for my flight. Luckily for me, I don't care much for the IFE except perhaps the flight information.


The rest of my row, showing the IFE screens and controls


IFE was mostly a no-go for me on this flight

Boarding was completed surprisingly quickly. I know that everyone should be in a rush so we can get out before curfew, but I was still surprised how quickly it proceeded. Noticeably, we had many families with babies board, so I suspect some of us might struggle to sleep during this flight (including said infants).

Luckily for me, there was only one other passenger in my 4-seat block when the doors closed, and I could see she was eyeing off the spare double seats just across the aisle from her. Looks like I get a bench to sleep tonight!

With a fairly orderly boarding complete and doors closed, and with no further shenanigans between us and SYD ATC, we soon took our place in the queue to take off on the main runway.

It was not clear what the food service expectations were for this flight. No menus were handed out; no announcements were made and the IFE didn't have the menus either. After the seat belt sign was switched off, the crew scrambled into action, but it wasn't clear what they were scrambling over, particularly as there was a bunch of back and forthing by some of them.

The food service after take off took a while to... well, take off... and it started with a choice of cup beverages. Orange juice, apple juice and water were offered to all passengers to start with; nothing else until later.


Can you say "starter drinks"?

It took a very long time from the first drinks for any food to be delivered, maybe not helped by in part there being turbulence. MH don't necessarily stop service during turbulence (although serving of hot drinks is immediately suspended), but when it gets bad enough they will retreat and take their seats. The first food serving turns out to be a small hot sandwich. Some people flying QF might recognise the warm ciabatta. The same 10-12 years ago that I recall MH's Y seats with the generous leg room, I also recall that this service was a cold chicken roll (served wrapped up in a plastic).

With no hot drinks due to turbulence, I settled for an apple juice to go alongside the ciabatta. Coke No Sugar is my normal go-to non-alcoholic drink (besides water), which is common since I am heeling off alcohol to a large degree after getting my heart fixed, however they were curiously serving it from a can (cf. normal Coke and Sprite from bottles).


Warm honey & mustard chicken ciabatta sandwich with an apple juice


A tasty if but small and rather artificial looking sandwich

After finishing the service, I managed to get up to use a bathroom to clean my teeth and change into some QF J PJs that I had packed. Then I got settled in for as much sleep as I could: CPAP and battery out on a table, roll up the armrests in my row, then lay out to sleep, bench style. It was as comfy as it could get in Y!

Although it was hard to get started, I managed to sleep quite a bit until breakfast.

It may have been weird to be eating breakfast at about 0200ish arrival time (or basically 0400ish Sydney time), but there we go. Everyone got the same breakfast - no options (except dietaries). It may have been a standard hot breakfast, but wow it tasted so cheap. Powdered eggs that you could sense the powder, virtually steamed hash browns that tasted like wet cardboard. I guess the chipolata was OK, but naturally highly processed. The fresh fruit consisted of the workhorse of any catered fruit platter - melons.


MH Y breakfast, with a standard hot selection, croissant, melons, yoghurt and a muesli bar


Scrambled eggs, mushrooms, wilted tomato or capsicum, chipolata and hash browns. Tasted really cheap. Like really, really cheap.

It was soon time for us to start descent into KUL. I got changed back into civvies and put away everything. Overall, it was my first Y longhaul in absolutely ages (seriously, it feels like months or years since I have flown Y longhaul). However, at least on this MH flight, it wasn't all that bad at all. It definitely helped that I got to sleep on a bench, as I suspect my backside would get sore sleeping in my seat for a while (as I much later found out).

 

[anat0l]

Sunday 31 March

One interesting thing that was new to me was near the end of the flight before landing, the MH crew assumed positions at the front of each cabin. A PA then came on thanking everyone for flying Malaysia Airlines and hope that they enjoyed the Malaysian Hospitality (a play on their IATA code, MH). Each crew member then bowed reverently with their hand touching their right shoulder.

At least there was no Malaysia Tourism video with cheesy song playing at full volume before landing!

On docking into gate at the KUL T1 satellite, I guess it should come to no surprise that several passengers, particularly those in Y, were hit in their bleary eyes with the full brightness from KLIA's terminal white lights. The terminal was as quite as a mouse, with next to no retailers open.

Now I had about 10 hours of transit. Of course, I could have just stayed in the Golden Lounge the whole time, especially since there are nap areas, but like Sydney, I had other plans. But first...

Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge at KUL T1 Satellite

...it was off to the lounge for a bit of a nap and a freshen up. It was, after all, merely 0420h or so in the morning.

The Golden Lounge at the T1 Satellite is divided into two main areas: one side is for Business and oneworld Sapphire members (like me), while the other side is for Business Suite and oneworld Emerald members. I hadn't visited the Business/Sapphire side of the lounge since they had renovated it. It definitely looked like it had more character compared to the older lounge that used to be there.


Business/OWS side of the Golden Lounge at the KUL T1 Satellite, featuring multiple seating areas and two cooking stations...


...including this station and seating area that was set up to be a somewhat upscale version of a Peranakan dining scene.


The main central cooking area, where chefs prepare food to be placed on the buffet stations around the island, as well as a chef's station and barista station

There was no shortage of food available, ranging from hot to cold selections, and in the morning, of course many pastries, cereals and baked items. The drinks selection was much more limited. I was surprised there was no guava juice or anything else apart from orange juice, apple juice and infused water. Soft drinks were limited to Coke, Coke No Sugar and Sprite. Alcoholic drinks had to be obtained at the Sports Bar area, near the entry to the lounge.

But I wasn't too interested in eating just right now. First priority was to get a nap. There are nap areas with a limited number of recliner loungers near the rear of the lounge. Luckily one was free, so I settled in for a little kip. The nap area is not completely dark nor sound proof, and that's besides the people snoring in the area, so light sleepers are advised to take an eye mask and ear plugs or noise cancelling earbuds (but don't forget to set an alarm - no wake up calls, here).


Part of the nap area in the lounge. Of course I did not take this with the lights turned up, as the area was relatively dark. The camera and night mode took care of this.

Once I woke up, I enquired about a shower. Showers are located within each of the toilet complexes and there can be a queue for them. I had to get in line for one, whereupon I was given a buzzer. While waiting for my shower, I headed out to the Peranakan station for hopefully some tasty noodles.


Noodle bowls available at the Peranakan station, including Asam Laksa, fish ball noodle soup and a vegan noodle soup of mostly mushrooms

It may not look like much, but the asam laksa was very tasty, with a deep and flavourful stock. Some pieces of fish or even meat would have been nice, but for a quick, near instant meal, it was very good.


Asam Laksa, served with a fish-based broth, fresh onions, pineapple, mint and coughquat. Sour, spicy and savoury.

Not long after, my buzzer shook so I headed back to the shower attendant to collect a packet of towels.

The shower rooms in the lounge are a bit compact, but everything is in there - sufficiently sized shower with good pressure (and hot water, in case any of you were curious), a toilet, basin and sufficient space to hang clothes. One small gripe is that the seals on the shower area may not have been the best, because I could see a bit of water seeping out from under the shower compartment towards the rest of the room after I had finished my shower.


Shower in the Golden Lounge (Satellite)


Vanity basin

One small thing that might put some people off - the doors to the shower rooms are this wooden louvered style. Obviously this is supposed to be a nod to the architecture in Malaysia of louvered windows. Those who are concerned about their privacy should be reassured that the louvers point downwards. In other words, if someone really wanted to have a peek, they would have to be look up the door rather than merely through it.


Louvered doors to the shower rooms

My plan after having a shower was to check out a bit of Kuala Lumpur before returning to the airport to catch my flight in the afternoon. I mentioned this to the lounge reception and she very helpfully mentioned that I could use the lockers near the reception to store most of my items so I didn't have to carry them into the city. After thanking her for her advice and storing my belongings away, I proceeded to the shuttle station at gate C5 to ride back to the main terminal building. Higher status and class of service passengers can avail themselves to a more exclusive chauffeur transfer, located at the lobby to where the Aerotrain used to be, but at least for the rest of us, there was no shortage of shuttles lining up to transport passengers back and forth. At some times of the day, cups of refreshing tea were available for passengers to drink before they took the shuttle.

At the MTB, I discovered that I could use the ePassport channel, but it actually required registration first (i.e. you register your arrival details before you use the channel). A few passengers and myself found this out, so here we all were using the airport's wifi and filling out the registration details. It took a while with the flaky reception, but I eventually showed the helpful staff that I had registered, and they confirmed, allowing me to use the ePassport gates.

It might have been quicker just to use the standard passport line in this instance, plus I would have gained a stamp (or "chop", as they say in Chinese-Malaysian English or Singlish) in my passport. Oh well.

 

[anat0l]

You might be thinking - KLIA and KL are pretty far apart. What kind of crazy was I thinking doing a quick turn around the city before my flight to SGN?

While getting into KL is no short distance, apparently 10 hour layover quick trips in the city were not unheard of on the Internet. In fact, some people found that they had enough time to go to the famous Batu Caves, consume a quick meal, then get back to the airport in time. While that did seem attractive, what was working against me was: (a) transport from the airport to city didn't start until about 5 am, (b) I still want to be back at the airport with at least 2ish hours to spare, to account for boarding time and to ensure I can still visit the lounge and retrieve my belongings, and finally (c) although a ride on the KLIA Ekspres was nothing compared to, say, the Narita Express, it was still a considerable ride and wasn't as frequent as one thinks.

That all said and done, I thought about another of KL's other attractions - the Petronas Towers. At one time dubbed as "Malaysia's two middle fingers", at the time they were constructed, a feat of engineering and marvel, before being eclipsed by a slew of other impressive towers. But the only way to appreciate how they look was not to necessarily climb the towers, but find somewhere to view them at their most impressive. Hence, KL Tower was looking like a better idea. Both were fairly central and close to public transport (according to the train/metro map), so off we go...

...straight from landside arrivals to the KLIA Ekspres. A smooth half-hour ride to KL Sentral later, with the help of the tourism office, I managed to get to the KL Monorail, the terminus which is located in the NU Sentral shopping mall. The monorail rolling stock isn't all that big - I could see the small carriage becoming extremely and uncomfortably crowded at peak times. Maybe luckily then, services ran at least every 10 minutes.


KL Monorail waiting at KL Sentral terminus (near NUSentral mall)


Inside the monorail carriage - it isn't very big, with more room for advertising than seating

The monorail is a nice relaxing way to see parts of inner city KL, which is a bit different in looks and density to how many Western capitals tend to look and feel. A bit of an issue set in as to where I was supposed to get off to then go to KL Tower. The map seemed to imply the closest stop was Bukit Nanas, where I was also advised that at the correct stop, there was a connecting shuttle bus to go to the tower. Once I got off at that station, there were signs directing me to "KL Tower" out of the station, but this turned out to be a bit of a pickle.

Now, I had made a rookie mistake and not downloaded the offline Google Maps for KL before I went out, so I had no sense of direction. I found a bus stop that seemed to imply it was an area shuttle, though it contained little information about frequency, and it seemed to imply that the shuttle to KL Tower was a stop on a loop, except that the loop was travelling in the wrong direction (so I'd eventually get to KL Tower, but it'd be the long way). A quick scout on the other side of the street didn't seem to reveal a corresponding shuttle stop in the opposite direction. So now I was really stuck.

I ended up wandering to the nearby Renaissance Hotel and asking the bell captain and a taxi driver how to get to KL Tower. It wasn't far, but it was very hilly! With much persistence despite the weather (not too blistering, thankfully), I managed to climb the hill and the long driveway up to KL Tower.


KL Tower, or Menara KL, is the seventh tallest tower in the world



Up close of the underside of Menara KL, which features a restaurant and observation deck. Du'h.

Despite being a Sunday when many people have a rest day, there weren't huge queues for purchasing a ticket or riding up the tower. Once at the Sky Deck (that's the outside "observation deck"), there were no shortage of customers there, with many queuing up for the photos in the clear floor Sky Boxes (extra cost). The view from the top is amazing, further helped that there wasn't a lot of smog that KL can be known for (or sometimes attributable to Sumatran forest fires).


Petronas Twin Towers from Menara KL. Would be more impressive at night, but no time for that.




More views from the Menara KL Sky Deck

 

[anat0l]

Various views around the Menara KL. I wish I had noted what some of the prominent buildings are. If anyone can identify some, please let me know.

Despite having taken in the sights in the city centre from above, I felt I wasn't going to be satisfied until I could see the Petronas Towers up close. I had to get there.

Normally, a long but leisurely walk could be taken from KL Tower to the Petronas Towers, but I was running out of time. Luckily, KL Tower had free wifi available, so I decided to call a Grab. It's always a bit hairy trying to meet a pre-arranged transport once you go out of a wifi area and have no more live updates, but luckily it all worked out, even if the Grab was a couple of minutes late. My driver was very friendly, spoke great English (as do a reasonably high number of Malaysians who live in KL) and dropped me off at an appropriate place quite near the base of the Petronas Towers.

Once at the base, although it may not be anything compared to being a few floors up, the towers were still a sight to be beheld.




Petronas Twin Towers, viewed from the forecourt




Area around the Petronas Towers forecourt

Once I had soaked in the beauty of the towers, it was time to head back to the airport, for time was starting to run short. And once again, I find myself in a pickle. With no maps, I had to work out how to get back to KL Sentral. I saw there was a shopping mall nearby - the Suria KLCC - and I was strongly thinking about simply jumping into the next taxi so I could get to KL Sentral, maybe even KLIA for that matter. Never mind the queue of people already ahead of me and wondering whether the traffic would make it hell to get to KL Sentral. Fortunately, I asked at an information desk inside Suria KLCC, and they advised me that Ampang metro station was actually an easy walk through Suria, and the line was connected to KL Sentral. Without delay I was through the shopping mall, into the station and on the next train to KL Sentral, to be followed by a quick pace through back to the KLIA Ekspres and soon on the next train back to the airport.

 

[anat0l]

The nice part about being able to use the ePassport channel for outbound immigration is that it's a real time saver. Even if you fly First or Business Class and have access to the dedicated counters, the lines for immigration can be painfully long.

I got back to KLIA and airside with just over an hour to spare until scheduled boarding. Just as well, as that gave me enough time to get back to the Golden Lounge at the satellite to pick up my belongings from the lockers, before having to head back to the MTB, because, as with most Asia regional flights, my flight was leaving from a G or H gate.






The distinctive rainforest in the airport at the KLIA 1 Satellite Building

Before I left the Golden Lounge at the Satellite, I decided to head inside to have a look at the various dishes on offer since the buffet should have clearly changed over to an all-day offering. Indeed, the main buffet had moved over to other kinds of hot dishes on offer, replacing breakfast dishes like eggs and sausages. The chef's station offering had changed from omelettes on order to pasta dishes instead.


Chef's Station food cooked to order. In the morning, omelettes are prepared. For the rest of the day, it's pasta.

Intrigued, I requested a fettuccini aglio olio, i.e. garlic and oil. Normally quite a simple but delicious combination, sometimes set with a bit of chilli. The Golden Lounge's take on the dish was significantly different to what I thought, featuring meat and vegetables, and generally a thicker, more emulsified sauce (thanks to plenty of cheese) compared to what I had imagined.


The Golden Lounge's take on aglio olio, with fettuccini

Once I had polished off the pasta, I went back down to the shuttles - the third time riding them today - to head to my gate at the MTB for my flight to SGN.

What was unusual about the gate was that it had two aerobridges attached to the door/pier. Hence, the one gate was used to board two flights. KUL has the final security screening at the gate before you are held in a waiting area, and with two flights (even if only 737s) worth of passengers in it, it still got rather crowded. To compound matters more, even though I had rushed because I was coming up to the start of boarding time and thought I was late, in fact our flight was delayed.


Our aircraft to SGN coming into parking position

Our flight ended up commencing boarding about half an hour late, boarding at the same time as the other flight at the same gate, thus adding a bit to all the confusion. But at least we were finally off to Vietnam!

 

[anat0l]

FLIGHT: Malaysia Airlines MH758 Kuala Lumpur International (KLIA) (KUL T1) - Ho Chi Minh City Tan Son Nhat (SGN T2)
Scheduled: 1430 - 1540
Aircraft: 9M-MXV Boeing 737-800
Class: Economy
Seat: 7A


MH 738 Y seats from the back...


...and from the front. The thin leather seat doesn't seem all that comfortable at first glance.

Boarding proceeded rather quickly once the process started. The MH Y cabin seats don't seem all that comfortable as they were so thin, like seats at a bus station. Fortunately the flight wasn't going to be all that long.


Leg room in MH 738 Y seat

We piled on quickly and were soon on our way. I can't say we had made up any time, but at least it seemed there was no hesitation from any operations to go once we were ready to go.

We got a wave from the ground crew as we left the terminal, something I had never seen anywhere except for in Japan.


Ground crew waving goodbye to us as we leave the terminal

Taxi and takeoff took place in next to no time, and we were on our way to Vietnam. The length of this flight is comparable to that of BNE/MEL, and although it was scheduled in the afternoon, we were served something that was basically lunch or dinner. No menus were offered, but we were informed of the options - fish or chicken. I went for the Nonya-style fish. I can't quite remember, but I suspect the chicken option was either curry or nasi lemak.


MH Y meal on regional flights...


...featuring the main dish of Nonya-style fish, served with rice and vegetables...


...served alongside a packaged marble cake and fruit.

The main dish was pretty good, as far as plane food goes. At least the sauce tasted good, being Nonya-style, even from a bottle, it's a bit hard to go wrong. The sauce was flavourful so that it could go nicely with the rice served with the dish (and there was no shortage of rice compared to the protein). The marble cake I had seen on so many MH Y trip reports and Youtube video reports, which I suspect MH must have a huge stock of and has a shelf life measured in years. It was dry - took a bite and that was enough for me.

It was a fairly uneventful flight overall, save for the odd bit of turbulence, suspending the serving of hot drinks (but not the food service overall). A couple of hours luckily flew by and we soon touched down in Saigon, and hence the real start of the Vietnamese adventure.

 

[I love to travel]

Great use of your time in KL. I love the KLCC area.