Singapore and Indochina

[NSun]

OK, time to have a crack at another trip report. I have been to Asia (both the South East and North East) over a dozen times, not counting India but have never written about it. So I thought I'd recap a recent trip I took earlier this month. I visited a total of 5 countries in less than a week: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia. Some would prefer to just visit one of them and stay a whole week at a decent hotel, but I get bored easily. This trip was chaotic in many unexpected ways, some of which were through my own stupidity, others through circumstances beyond my control...but in the end, I got home safe and sound, returning with another two pages of passport stamps and had a good time.

For context, the idea around this trip was finding a rare J award seat on QF24 so booked that in March during a DSC offer. Vietnam and Cambodia had been two countries I hadn't been to and so I wanted to visit them. Then it was a case of figuring out how to get there. I decided to book a Y award seat to Singapore but via Perth, so I would get a break in between the flights, check out the international J lounge and to see some of rural WA. Seemed the perfect plan...until the day before. I booked QF643 SYD-PER and normally the inbound flight is the red eye. For some unknown reason, despite having a 7pm SYD-PER A330 flight over as well as one out of Melbourne, they held that A330 there until 6am and had QF72 from Singapore do the red eye. So it was delayed until 2am due to that alone and only took off at 3.30am Perth time. So had to be rebooked on a direct flight, on QF291 - the Finnair flight. More on that in a tick, but first, tradition calls - the Sydney F lounge. I had the same food I had on a visit just two weeks prior before going to Wellington.

So here she is - OH-LTR. She's been going back and forth between Sydney and Singapore for just over a month now. It is a win-win for both Qantas and Finnair in theory as Qantas is short of planes and Finnair needed more utility from their A330s in light of being unable to use Russian airspace. For passengers, I can only speak in economy but I enjoyed the flight. It was weird to step on board, but I found the seats quite comfortable and the airplane quite fresh for one that was 15 years old. I managed to snag a bulkhead seat in the middle of the front row and with one of only two spare seats on the plane next to me.





I'm not a fan of having the screens so high up that the whole cabin can see what you're watching. I ended up sitting next to a guy who was in a group of 20 people going up to Singapore for a corporate cheerleading competition. They had Australian hoodies, gold coloured carry on bags and all.



I skipped lunch but had a butter chicken pastry as a pre-arrival snack. 10/10.



We ended up leaving an hour late and made up no time in air. No explanation was given, but it seems the aircraft got towed all the way back to the domestic terminal and over again. Not sure why it couldn't have been parked near General Holmes Drive, there was space. At Singapore, Australians can use the e-gates now and so it only took a couple of minutes to get to the Jewel. Far cry from last time when it took 40 minutes to get out, in August 2022 (not even accounting for the extra hour we had to spend on the plane for a purportedly sick passenger).

 

[NSun]

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Clarke Quay once more. It isn't that conveniently located so far as the metro is concerned with the closest station 2 blocks away and on one line that isn't integrated well with the rest of the network. However, it did the job for one night.



It has a decent rooftop pool that I looked at pre-dawn before it opened. And there's a good view too.






I went on a morning run to Marina Bay Sands and back. I tragically found the Merlion was covered up for some reason (purportedly repairs). There was a smaller one, but it wasn't the same.

 

[NSun]

So I had a 5pm flight to Ho Chi Minh City on VietJet from T4 at Changi. I thought I could fit in a quick trip to Johor Bahru - a city right on the other side of the border with Malaysia. This was some adventure. It was an hour and 2 trains to Woodlands station, then a 15 minute wait for a bus to the checkpoint. The Singapore exit itself was fast because of the e-gates, but then a 10 minute wait for a bus across the bridge and a 30 minute wait at immigration on the Malaysian side. I was asked for my return ticket and I said I was going just for the day. They then asked for my ticket out of Singapore and when I did so (showed my ticket), I was asked if I could make it. My word was taken and I was stamped into Malaysia. I only spent about an hour or so before going back. Thankfully, no wait at the Malaysian exit was it was only 12pm by then, no wait for the bus back, no wait at Singapore immigration, no wait for the bus back to Woodlands, then a train straight to Changi. I have done Johor Bahru twice before this time and bought quite a lot of stuff before. One thing to be aware of is you may be charged Singaporean GST on the goods if the total value is above SG$100, although I've never gone over that.

Anyway, some pics. The bulk of the train ride to Woodlands is above ground and you see quite a fair bit of Singapore you wouldn't otherwise see.







The Johor Bahru mall is enormous and has a lot of shops. Unfortunately, most shops don't take Western cards despite taking some electronic payments like Alipay and Grab. So cash it has had to be.



And beyond the mall, Johor Bahru is a city in its own right. Back in 2019, I actually went to Kuala Lumpur via a flight out of the airport, so I got to see more of the city then.



Here's the 'bridge' between Singapore and Johor Bahru from the Malaysian side. As you can see from the far right of the pic, driving will likely take up quite a long time. Buses have their own lane, but you may be crammed in like sardines dependant on the time of the day. It is possible to walk as I saw a handful of people doing it.

 

[NSun]

Anyway, it was about this time I got a call from Vietnam. I had no idea why anyone would be calling me - maybe the hotel, but not sure why they'd need to call me. I thought I had a Cu Chi Tunnels tour booked for tomorrow, but it was today and they were at the reception waiting for me. I couldn't believe I could have booked it a wrong day so argued with them for about 30 seconds then hung up. Only to check the 'Grab Your Guide' app and find out I was in the wrong. At least it was only A$35 or so, but I have made fewer stupider errors in my life so I was really embarrassed. As I'll get to, I didn't rebook the tour, but decided to visit the in-town war museum instead. And I got to see the surrounding Cu Chi area on the way to Phnom Penh anyway, so other than the A$35 down the drain, little harm done.

So, I had a 5pm VietJet flight out of T4. This was my first time flying out of T4 and well...I had bad first impressions because it is very badly connected with the rest of the airport, it took me 15 minutes to find this transfer bus, then took another 15 minutes to get there (including 10 minutes waiting for passengers). But that issue aside, I didn't think it was that bad. I prefer having security after check in rather than at each gate, and there was no queue. And check out what S$10 gets you to eat at one particular Japanese place.








Our aircraft, a 6-year old A321.



Not looking at any airline in particular, but this isn't something you'd see in all airline magazines. The crew smiled, something that costs nothing but can make such a difference to the passenger experience. The experience was soured by a 25 minute taxi, the fact that they don't even offer complimentary water and tight legroom (I'm only 5 foot 10).





Ah well, survived and landed into Vietnam.



Immigration took about 30 minutes - it seemed there were a lot of connecting passengers who thought they had to enter the country and did, although perhaps didn't need to. I did see quite a few Australian passports around. Caught a Grab to my hotel for ~A$7 and knew I'd made the right decision to come based on the drive there. It was raining heavily, hence no pics from the ride, but saw so many restaurants, retailers and things to do.

I stayed at a hotel called the Lotus Saigon that lay about 30 minutes walk from downtown. I paid 2.9m Vietnamese dong for 2 nights, less than A$200 a night. Terrific value for money in my book.



I liked the full set of light controls right by my bedside and that I had a full balcony with ~270 degree views.






One thing to be aware of is that the noise never completely stops, even at 4am. I am a heavy sleeper (at least when I've been up for 16 hours) so could still sleep, but lighter sleepers might have problems. I went to bed within half an hour, not before working out what to do that was 'Vietnam War' related - I settled on a nearby museum. I also realised at this time I had forgotten to pack extra T-shirts (again), so would have to go to the markets to buy some more.

 

[NSun]

To minimise jetlag, I woke up at 2.30am and planned the day ahead. The sun finally came up about 5.30am and I went on a 2-hour walk downtown and back.

















Got to love those power poles that are barely 3m off the ground and so intertwined, just like in Thailand.



I had a real difficulty adjusting to using the roads. Not just because they drive on the wrong side of the road, but because green lights for pedestrians aren't always respected. You sometimes need to have the guts to just walk and hold out your hand as if to gesture other bikes to stop.

 

[NSun]

To do something 'Vietnam War' related, I went to the War Remnants Museum that was only a few blocks away from my place and cost 40k dong, about A$2.50.

There was quite a lot to see there, with some reconstructed helicopters, military prisons and replica weapons. Australia was acknowledged, but not in the way I think our government at the time would have wanted. Essentially, anti-war protestors were viewed as heroes.




A taste of everything else I saw at the museum













All that was outside. On the inside, it is a three-story building with various exhibits.

 

[NSun]

The Museum continued.

 

[NSun]

So from there, it was off to the Ben Thanh markets.








I needed to buy a couple of shirts. So I withdrew 200k dong and then just got a couple of Nike T-shirts for 60k dong - or so I thought. Unfortunately, I handed the person too much and only found out when I sat down to eat at a stall. So long story short, I had to have a lady escort me to a nearby stall to pay by card and pay an extra 10k dong than I otherwise would have.

Anyway, back to the hotel and had a swim at the rooftop pool which I had to myself. I saw from many of my friends' Instagram stories that it was a hot day in Sydney and everyone was flocking to Bondi. I was content with where I was right there and then.

 

[James Pipe]

Interesting travelogue… Some pictures of Vietnam look hazy. Is it due to pollution?

 

[XWu]

You were very lucky with your short day trip to Johor Bahru, they weren’t joking when they asked you if you think you are going to make it back for your flight at Changi. Heard a few Aussie expats working in JB missing their flights on some days even when they gave themselves 6 hours to cross that causeway (not including getting to the JB immigration complex) to catch the evening QF flights to Sydney. Taking public bus to avoid the car traffic doesn’t work very well when the causeway jam packed.

Changi T4 was deliberately a PITA for connectivity with the rest of the Changi air hub, only linked by bus shuttle both land and air side (different service of course) whereas the land side T1,2,3 (not 4) is connected by skytrain. I suppose that’s what being a terminal for budget airlines is all about. Must have given Jetstar and Jetstar Asia some sweetener to shut them up when Changi made them move there. Not great if you are flying QF and planning to stay in the Qantas ecosystem using Jetstar Asia (3K) to connect to Asian destinations.

mostly tourists in that Ben Thanh markets photo; I know it’s a tourist trap but still…

 

[NSun]

Interesting travelogue… Some pictures of Vietnam look hazy. Is it due to pollution?

It is possible although I couldn't sense pollution in the same way I have in China in the past. I put it down to humidity.

 

[NSun]

Good morning Vietnam. Today it was off to Phnom Penh on a 7-hour bus.





There are lots of bus operators, I chose with Giant Ibis that I heard was more expensive, but more reliable. I paid US$36 and got a seat at the front with leg rest support as well as onboard personnel to take care of the passport paperwork for us. We also got a free bottle of water and 'snack' in the form of a croissant.














After 2 and a half hours, we reached the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

 

[NSun]

We had to get off the bus and go through immigration. All our passports were done in bulk, but we had to hang around to wait for everyone to get done. Our bus drove through the checkpoint, then we got back on board for 2 minutes, to some sort of duty-free area that had a mini-restaurant. I opted for a chicken sandwich. For the price I paid, US$3, I don't have a right to complain.



Afterwards back on the bus for another 2 minutes, only to get out wait around once more for all our passports to be stamped. Then on to Phnom Penh, which would take another 3 hours. It was a fascinating drive, right on the border there were several casinos.



Afterwards, it ranged between small towns dominated by markets and some rural areas with farm houses. It seemed every town had at least one shop with temple roofs as well as at least 3 signs for the Cambodian 'People's Party'.









And here we are in Phnom Penh.






They say that first impressions count, but so do last ones. Instead of being taken to the terminal, we just got dropped off at a random location. To be fair, we were given a reason, for some parade. It was only an issue for me because the bus wifi stopped working at this point and had to turn on roaming to find my hotel - which luckily was only a few blocks away.

 

[NSun]

This was literally where we were dropped off.



Took about 15 minutes walk to get to the hotel - the Orussey One Hotel.





As someone of Yugoslav descent, I probably should've been proud to see a street named after it, although I know it probably wasn't for the right reasons.



My hotel was in the middle of some market area. I actually walked past my hotel and missed it, only to walk back.





And here's the view from my room.





For the price I paid A$61, I shouldn't complain at all. I was relieved to be saving money after the past couple of trips to the US. The only gripe was that I had to have a shower 'sitting down' because the knob that transferred the water from the lower pipe to the shower head was broken and the lower shower head was like a lower tap. Ah well, at least there was a rooftop pool, which I'll get to shortly.

 

[NSun]

I made a sobering visit to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. I thought seeing films like La Vita e Bella and Schindler's List in school were tough. I was indeed wrong. Don't get me wrong, those were great films - but they were more about the good people than the bad people. When you see cabinets full of skulls, you see the torture instruments, you hear the sobering statistic that of 20,000 or so people that came through there only 7 survived...





But of those 7 survivors, I was fortunate enough to meet two of them. I didn't take pictures of them but shook their hands. They were Bou Meng and Chum Mey, they were only kept alive because of their artistic and mechanical skills respectively. They survived, but of course so many did not. Hundreds of thousands died during the Khmer Rogue regime.

It costs US$5 for entry, cash only, and for an extra US$5 or so you get one of those audio guides. You are free to walk through it and experience it on your own terms.

 

[NSun]

I then walked to the Independence Monument and back to the hotel. Little did I know when I booked, but it was the 'Water Festival', so it was a very busy precinct.









I then went back to the hotel and swam in the rooftop pool. And I had a good view of the fireworks.

 

[NSun]

So, last day of the trip. Plan was fly Phnom Penh to Bangkok, spend a few hours exploring the city, then catch QF24 home. Woke up at 2.30am local time (6.30am Sydney time) and attended to some matters back home, then went downstairs to order a Grab at 4am for the 6.30am flight.

It was early indeed, there was no one manning the desk...although there was someone asleep on a nearby couch. Oh, and there was someone waiting right outside the door with a taxi. I decided to use Grab but he didn't understand I wouldn't use him until the Grab showed up outside the door and went right into it. Was only about A$8.



I got there early as I didn't want to miss the flight and had no idea what to expect. The building was open, but the check-in desks weren't just unstaffed, but blacked out.





Check-in opened at 5am and it was quick to check in and clear immigration. Land side was a ghost town too, but gradually came to life as we got closer to the flight.







Our aircraft, a Bangkok Airways A320 for the quick hop to Thailand's capital.







I somehow wound up with a whole room to myself with a flight only 25% full. Seats were old, but consequently well padded. Leg room was only OK and I'm only 5'10.

 

[NSun]

It was quite a scenic flight.







This was our breakfast. It was 'OK'.



Coming into Bangkok. My first time there since June 2019 and only second time ever.











Immigration only took about 10 minutes, got another stamp and wasn't asked a single question. One thing I saw but didn't manage to get photos of was an old Thai A380 that clearly had not been touched since 2020 and its paint was fading.

 

[NSun]

It was 8am and I had about 7 hours to explore Bangkok. There was only a 5 minute wait at immigration and wasn't asked a single question in spite of having so many stamps in a short period of time. I decided to take the metro downtown. It seems to be a cost of 5 Thai Baht per stop as I went 7 stops to Makassan and it was 35 baht. 1 AUD is worth about 23 baht, if I recall correctly. Unfortunatly, the metro machine only takes cash and Bangkok ATMs charge very high withdrawal fees.

The metro ride was quite pleasant...for about 5 minutes until commuters started getting on and we were crammed in like sardines. At least I still had a seat with good window views.







Last time I stayed in Bangkok I stayed at the Mercure Makkasan and I therefore couldn't think of anywhere else to get off but there. The hotel itself was comfortable, only problem was that you had to walk 5 minutes along a road with no footpath but an open sewer. Thankfully, I avoided it this time and walked South for a while. I think the new few photos just sum up the city perfectly.







It was great to see traffic on the proper side of the road once again and I liked the timers at pedestrian crossings. I also liked how much street food there was. I didn't like how many touts there were on the busy streets, it was even worse than in India earlier this year.

 

[NSun]

By 10am or so (or 2pm AEDT/my body clock) I was getting hungry. By this time I had made it to the Icosiam mall. There was a great food court in the basement where I got a delicious chicken disk and a Coke. I forget the price but it was less than A$10.



After that, I just wandered around the rest of the mall. It reminded me of the IFC in Hong Kong overall. I liked that one floor had a mock Northern Hemisphere Christmas market.