Vietnam & Singapore - Jan/Feb 2012

[NDiddy]

A short 20 min cab ride to the hotel and we were at the Intercontinental Asiana in Saigon. If the Sheraton greeted you like a long lost relative then the Intercontinental's greeting was like that of a child returning home. In general the warmth and hospitality of the Vietnamese people has been nothing short of exemplary! A lovely greeting with 3 staff was followed with a swift ride up to the Club lounge for a club room check in.

Check in was quick and even though we arrived at 9.30 they were only too happy to make a room available for us and upon recollecting that it was our honeymoon promptly gave us a corner room on the 15th floor with lovely views of the Mekong.

Room although smaller than the Sheraton was quite spacious and adequate. Staff were the best we had experienced on our trip and I would highly recommend this hotel if you can't afford/get a room at the Park Hyatt. Pics really don't do the room justice but it was really lovely:

Entrance:

2012-01-29 19.45.52 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Room:

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View from the Club Lounge:

2012-01-30 06.09.50 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

2012-01-30 06.09.54 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Beverage List:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75510823@N07/6788894733/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75510823@N07/6788889747/

Honeymoon treats:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75510823@N07/6788848299/in/photostream

Lounge

Lounge was finally up to the standards of the Traders in KL. Heaps of room with lovely food and beverage options and the most attentive staff to date on this trip. "Do yourself a favour" (get well soon Molly) and book this hotel if you are in Ho Chi Minh. Location is terrific only 2 blocks away from the Notre Dame cathedral and the iconic Ho Chi Minh Post office.

Make sure you visit the War Remnants museum whilst here. Although slightly one-sided (in fairness it probably reasonable) it was one of the most fascinating museums I have ever been too. Within walking distance from the hotel.

Restaurant recommendations:
You must try Pho 24 for delicious Pho done a variety of ways and washed down with a beer.

Another great dining option is Huong Lai - This restaurant hires orphaned children to work in the dining area and many have gone on to get hospitality work in high end hotels and restaurants. The clay pot with chicken/rice is my hot tip

Couple of days was spent shopping and doing walking tours (a must!) but I really felt that this was the most relaxing hotel apart from the Victoria in Hoi An that we have stayed in on this trip.

2 days later and its off to Singapore with J* (sigh*) and a stay at the Conrad Centennial...

 

[NDiddy]

Unfortunately it was hard to pass up a $50 per person flight from SAI - SIN as opposed to the $400++ that other airlines had wanted so we decided to wing it J*.

Web check in showed a completely full flight and the only available seats were 30 D & C :O seriously wtf? But Mrs Diddy (god bless her) persisted and somehow managed to get 2B & C. At least you can recline these seats.

Within check in done and check out being done on @ 6AM we made our way to the airport.

Vinasun taxi was 120,000VND including tip and we left at 6.45 and arrived at 7.05AM, only to be greeted with a humongous line at the J* counters even for web check in/priority check in:

2012-01-30 07.11.05 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lining up to check in completion took around 30 mins so make sure you give yourself time if you decide on this carrier. Funnily enough the Tiger Airways flight departing 20 mins later had a much smaller line (just an observation).

After check in we wanted to change out money and here is an interesting tip if you so feel inclined to help a couple of VN ticketing sisters out. The VN ticketing office and 2 bank exchange bureau's are right next to each other. They effectively all charge the same exchange rate but we decided to give the VN ticketing office our hard earned Dong so that they could get rid off the SGD that passengers had used to pay for their tickets. 2,499,999 was about $150SGD but with 3% comm they all ended up being $145 in your pocket.

The Flight

The less said about this flight the better but it was what you would expect for J* Asia. Seats were OK although worn but pitch is quite tight. Thankfully for an 1.55hr flight it was bearable:

Slightly cramped (and that's my own water bottle):

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Dirty tray table (only noticed as I had to fill out the SIN immi card):

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As I said the less said about this flight the better. You get what you pay for and we were just happy to arrive in Terminal 1 with the lovely Singapore waiting for us.

Well ladies and gents of AFF, that's it from me tonight. Off to the Marina Bay Sands for a spot of BlackJack as the Mrs is keen on a very romantic (read expensive) degustation dinner tomorrow night (location undecided but there is a shortlist) so am going to see if I can soften the blow Wish me luck and the last bit of the TR will be the club experience at the Conrad and J on SQ to MEL. What a way to end an amazing trip.

Edit: Woot 100+ posts - This is the Moet talking Flows all day at the Conrad!

 

[albatross710]

Wish me luck and the last bit of the TR will be the club experience at the Conrad and J on SQ to MEL. What a way to end an amazing trip.

Thanks for the TR. Certainly helps ease us back home into the working life.

I hope the Conrad teddy makes it into your photos!

 

[NDiddy]

Thanks for the TR. Certainly helps ease us back home into the working life.

I hope the Conrad teddy makes it into your photos!

You sir know you conrad. I have said pics and will put them up most likely tomorrow.

Meanwhile I have a small treat for you guys. We've managed to score a reservation at Jaan restaurant in the swissotel on the 70th floor. I've wanted to try this place out for long time and it's a special treat for the wife for our last night on our honeymoon. Cant wait!!

Will post the review in this thread.

 

[sergeyvzn]

Great report!

Very interesting to read - I'm going to Vietnam in 2 weeks time doing a similar routine (Hanoi -Halong Bay hue - Hoi An - Saigon - Con Dao island) flying VN in J so it was helpful to find out what's in store for me

have a great time in Singapore!

 

[hummel]

Great report!

Very interesting to read - I'm going to Vietnam in 2 weeks time doing a similar routine (Hanoi -Halong Bay hue - Hoi An - Saigon - Con Dao island) flying VN in J so it was helpful to find out what's in store for me

have a great time in Singapore!

Check out the J lounge in Hue and post pictures! I had a Hue-Hanoi flight delayed by 5hrs once... that lounge was my sanctuary! If you could call it a lounge :-|

 

[sergeyvzn]

Check out the J lounge in Hue and post pictures! I had a Hue-Hanoi flight delayed by 5hrs once... that lounge was my sanctuary! If you could call it a lounge :-|

Yes sir, will do

 

[NDiddy]

Well unfortunately this is our last day in Singapore/on the honeymoon. It's quite sad really, we've had an incredible journey, got a chance to finally relax after the wedding but as all good trips go, this one went way too fast.

J* flight into Singapore arrived at Terminal 1 which was nice and we had a quick walk through immigration and unbelievably our bags were one of the first out. Turn around time from disembarkation to Taxi Rank was no more than 20 mins

Taxi to the Conrad was just under $20SGD and we were warmly greeted by the staff at the door and had a small entourage accompany us to the Club Lounge check in.

Check in

Would have been quicker if the booking was under my name as my request to credit my HHonors required a fair bit of manual intervention to the original booking. Still no matter, all done in about 10 mins and we were given a corner suite which had a great view of the bay/pan pac and of course the Sing Flyer:

Room 2726

Very nice room with a large 46" LCD Sony Bravia TV. I must question the position of the TV though as there is no way to watch it while in bed without having to lie on your side and look over your partner. Still loved the room and the service of this hotel is really top notch. Always being addressed as Sir/Maam/Madam and they practically fall over themselves trying to help you do anything you need for your stay.

Pics:

Entrance - 2012-01-30 13.06.26 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lovely big bathroom on the left as you enter - 2012-01-30 13.06.37 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Bed:
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Views:

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Iconic Pan Pac pool - 2012-01-30 13.05.57 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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And just for albatross Conrad teddies and complimentary honeymoon wine:
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Only good things to say about this hotel. It does seem to cater for predominantly bus type folks and a slightly older (50+) category. We were the youngest ones in the lounge but it created a very refined and peaceful atmosphere.

Onto the lounge...

 

[NDiddy]

This will be my last post till we get to the Silver Kris lounge later tonight.

Club Lounge

Very refined and elegant. Great views with plenty of dining space as well as couches to relax. Service here was exemplary, probably the best I've ever experienced in a hotel lounge. Staff knew the drinks order pretty much after our second visit and the food and beverage selection is immense and very tasty. The one gripe I have is that during coughtail hour the Singapore Sling is not free and most definitely chargeable :/

Still with free drinks all day and evening you would be really hard pressed to fault this place. I stayed at the Royal Plaza on Scotts on my last trip to SIN and the Conrad blows it right out of the water.

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Would I stay here again? Absolutely, although I do want to try the Pan Pac, Naumi and Marina Bay Sands. You won't go wrong booking this place, close to a lot of the touristy stuff but then again nothing is really far or hard to get to in SIN.

All right guys I have an hour to go get ready so I must be off. Hopefully I'll jump back on in Changi to review the amazing night we had at Jaan restaurant and of course I will post some pics from the J lounge as well.

 

[NDiddy]

Well we made it to the Silver Kris Lounge after some shopping in Changi including a Burberry stop :S

Ended up buying a bottle of Blue Label that I've been wanting to try for years so I have that to look forward to at the gate along with a lovely Johnnie Walker embossed leather bag.

The internet connection in the lounge is absolutely woeful and can't seem to connect to the more reliable free wireless cnxn @ Changi. I'll keep this post to the Jaan experience as the uploads to flickr are just taking too long.

Jaan Restaurant @ The Swissotel

There are 2 restaurants that I've always wanted to try in Singapore, Jaan and Restaurant Andre'. Both were fully booked unfortunately but there were 2 cancellations @ Jaan which made the choice easy. In fact it was my preference on this trip predominantly due to the location and the view of Singapore. I was also keen to see what young chef Julian Royer has managed to create at Jaan since taking over.

Booking was for 7:00pm and it's interesting to note that the restaurant is only open for 7 - 10pm for dinner and a similar time frame for lunch. Make sure you book/reserve a table to avoid disappointment.

We decided on the 7 course degustation with wine pairing and we were not disappointed. Here is the menu:

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The dish of the menu had to be the sea bass. I'm not a real seafood person but ZOMFG it was just amazing. The pigeon breast won a lot of votes and Mrs Diddy almost fell out of her chair when the cheese platter (9 varieties) arrived at our table.

I won't bore you with a run down of all the plates but I would like to say that this was in my top 3 restaurants I've had the pleasure of dining in. The food was immaculate although I did notice that chef Julian has a strong liking to mushrooms so be warned if you're not a fan you may not enjoy it as much. 2 of the courses came with perigord truffles which was just amazing.

To our delight our mention of the honeymoon during the reservation did not go unnoticed with the chef as not only did he come out to greet us personally (which he did not do for the other tables to our surprise) but there were 2 complimentary desserts (pics attached) that he prepared for us in anticipation of our reservation.

The conversation was just lovely where we talked about his history and his knowledge of the Melbourne food scene (I get the distinct impression he's very keen to work in Melb). He commented on Vue de Monde which I had the pleasure of dining at courtesy of a surprise birthday dinner by Mrs Diddy. All in all it was an amazing experience with incredible food and terrific wines to match.

The Sommelier was a very young but knowledgeable French lad who will actually be in Aus visiting the Heathcote and Margaret River areas. His wine selection was just perfect with a terrific balance of very complex tastes/unassuming wine that matched the food brilliantly.

Ok no more jibber jabber onto some pics:

The views:

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Complimentary spicy pineapple dessert dresses with blackpepper (truly amazing taste sensation):

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Cheese platter (all French cheeses):

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Dessert with some crazy smokey thing that resembled dry ice:

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Complimentary congratulatory cake (divine!!):

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If you are a foody or even if you're not you must try this place. Andre' may have got this to No.39 of the top 100 restaurants and after a disasterous 5 months with a Swedish chef of inconsistent quality, Julian really has cemented Jaan into the must eats in Singapore.

Total cost came to just under 1K SGD for 2 x 7 course degustation, mineral water, 2 x Dom 2002 vintage including the 10% gov tax and 7% service charge. Well worth the money and an experience the Diddy's will always hold dear to our hearts. Mrs was touched by the warmth of the chef and a very jovial and experienced British restaurant manager.

Well guys it has been really fun updating this trip on AFF as we've gone along. The memories are fresh and I hope I have provided some insight into the various locations/carriers or at the very least made you enjoy reading about the journey as we've enjoyed experiencing it.

I will do a final update on the Silver Kris Lounge and SQ227 SIN -> MEL J class in seats 17A & C on the top deck of the 744 (first time ever). Back to what I ear is a sunny Melb which should make the transition a little easier

 

[amaroo]

Bravo. You must have taken some serious time out during your HM in posting this wonderful TR.

It looks & reads like you had a trip of a lifetime - very many good wishers & a safe journey home

I'm off to book a trip to Vietnam:mrgreen:

 

[NDiddy]

Bravo. You must have taken some serious time out during your HM in posting this wonderful TR.

It looks & reads like you had a trip of a lifetime - very many good wishers & a safe journey home

I'm off to book a trip to Vietnam:mrgreen:

Thanks amaroo - The good part was there was some alone time when the Mrs was shopping/snoozing that allowed me to update this as I went along. Made it much easier to recall the info as well but the pics helped jog the memory.

Thanks very much for your kind words and let me know if you need any info re Vietnam when you go on your trip (if you were serious)

 

[NDiddy]

J Check in & Silver Kris Lounge

Quick seamless check out from the Conrad and we we off in a taxi to Terminal 3 for our flight back home. Surprisingly not much traffic in Sin for 5.30pm on a Thursday so we were @ the airport in about 20 mins.

Taxi driver was very knowledgeable and informed as that there is a completely separate J/F class check in in Changi. Is this new cause I haven't noticed it. Anyway for those interested just rock up to gate 5 and you'll be larry laughing at the 10 or so counters to check in J/F passengers.

Check in was a tad slow as the lady seemed to be confused that we had separate PNR's but all in all 10 mins and boarding passes with 17A & C on them.

Check In Area:

2012-02-01 17.53.14 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Straight off to immigration which was very quick and we headed to do some shopping before heading off to the lounge.

The lounge is "hidden" somewhat if you take the first set of escalators upstairs. Keep walking past all the lounges including the gold and then its a right and left until you see it at the end. The second set of escalators takes you straight there.

Lounge Entrance:

2012-02-01 20.39.47 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The lounge is easily the best I've been in. Terrific staff, calming ambience and of course it's huge. Plenty of seats/couches/tables. Now it might have been the timing as there were 3 aus flights leaving at the same time 21:15 and a NZ flight about 30 mins before that but the lounge was about 60 - 70% full on the J side. You didn't feel like there were a lot of people though but as you're walking through you really do notice.

Found a nice 2 seater half way to the bar and we settled in for a couple of hours. I mentioned in my previous post that the internet cnxn of the lounge was woeful. Easy enough to connect but browsing/uploading was horrendous - probably a few people downloading some movies/what not for the flight. It was adequate for gmail but even getting AFF to load was coughbersome.

Extensive food and beverage options so I settled for a Tatachilla (I was craving some red) but moved onto the scotch soon after.

Overall I loved this lounge and if there had been less people I would have held it in even higher regard. Also (and I'm sure all the astute SQ FF already know this but) there are no announcements for upcoming flights so be mindful of the time and the fact that you need to clear security at the gate and collect duty free right from the check in gate.

Some pics:

Interweb area (probably better than the wireless) - 2012-02-01 20.39.28 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Sitting Areas:
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2012-02-01 20.38.48 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

F&B:
2012-02-01 19.40.35 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
2012-02-01 19.40.44 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
2012-02-01 20.38.33 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[NDiddy]

Well the final leg of the trip - SQ227 SIN -> MEL J class seats 17A & C on the upper deck.

We left the lounge at 20:45PM and arrived at the gate which was thankfully right next to the lounge. Security was quick enough but boy were there are lot of people on this flight. The Y line ambled and meandered through 2 gates but thankfully I was able to spot the J/F line and once we were able to excuse our way through we were met at the line by the duty free peeps and quickly made our way on board.

Up the stairs (for the first time ever) and we made our way to our seats:

2012-02-01 20.52.09 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

It was a really full flight, all but 2 J seats were empty in the downstairs cabin, the top cabin was completely full.

Flight was delayed quite significantly due to ATC directions and from what the captain said there was a few planes behind us:

Scheduled departure 21:15
Actual departure 22:05

Scheduled arrival 07:50
Actual arrival 08:00

17A&C and J&K are def the ones to be in on the top cabin. You can almost touch the seats in front of you in the order seats but as you can see you'll have no such problems in row 17:

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Finally got to see TinTin - 2012-02-02 00.03.29 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Some examples of the angled lie flat seat seats 17 J&K:

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2012-02-01 23.34.46 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

While we waited we settled into a couple of serves of the Champagne which was a Henriot Brut Souverain. Quite a nice drop for an interesting blend:

2012-02-01 21.05.08 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

When we finally took off, I have to say I was quite impressed with how quite the cabin was and how intimate the whole setup was given that it was full. Prior to take off we were asked about what drinks we would like and we ordered the obligatory Slings:

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Got nuts? 2012-02-01 22.22.47 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lavatory:

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Awful slippers Slippers and Eye Mask but they did the job. However no ammenities kit. Seriously?:

2012-02-01 22.11.47 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Brilliant Noise Cancelling Sennheiser earphones:

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And now its time for dinner which for me was the best part of the flight. Firstly the menu, I've photographed the entire thing for your viewing pleasure and it was great to see Mat Moran as a chef that contributed. Sorry about some of the blurriness but again the dreaded Indonesian flight path resulted in a few bumps. Menu was a "Year of the Dragon" themed affair:

2012-02-01 20.58.30 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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2012-02-01 20.59.06 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Matt is second from the left.

2012-02-01 21.00.10 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

2012-02-01 20.59.56 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Lunch Menu

2012-02-01 20.59.47 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - The very disappointing breakfast menu

2012-02-01 20.59.25 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Dinner Menu

2012-02-01 21.00.31 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Start of Wine menu

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2012-02-01 21.02.54 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Coffee

2012-02-01 21.03.15 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! - Tea

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First course - New Years Prosperity Salad - delicious:

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Second course - I chose the beef with a beetroot butter (divine) which was very tasty and highly recommended:

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The Mrs had the salmon which was equally delicious:

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Third course was the Tiramisu ice cream:

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And continuing the Jaan cheese journey:

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And to finish it all, a lovely Brazilian Santos coffee:

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Managed to sleep for about 4 hours and woke up about an hour an 10 minutes before Melbourne and was served the continental breakfast which was rubbish. Thank goodness for dinner:

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So overall I would give the flight a 7.5 out of 10 and if given the choice I would choose the Emirates J product over the Sin one but I realise that this is comparing apples with oranges. The SIN product was OK but just lacked a bit in the seat.

Arrival into Melbourne was about 10mins late but we were able to speed through immi and customs.

Well guys thats it. It's been a fun trip and it has been great to be able to contribute to a fantastic AFF community. Thank you for all your kind words,wishes and the PM's you guys have sent. I hope this has been helpful in some way and I am more than happy to help with any questions/PM's you guys have.

All the best and hopefully at the end of the year I'll be able to post a TR about a F class trip the Mrs and I are going to take to celebrate Xmas/NY/1st year anniversary

 

[lmere12]

Thinking of going to Vietnam this year, really enjoyed your TR ! Very helpful ..

Leaving on the 11th, visiting HKG, Hoi an, Hanoi and Halong Bay. Booked on Indochina sails which goes a different route to most. Hoi an we are in between the town and the beach, old quarter for Hanoi. Really looking forward to it and writing my own trip report. CNS - HKG - SGN - DAD - HAN - SIN - SYD - CNS all in J
using CX & SIA (A380 back to Syd and I'm stoked)

 

[Mattg]

I enjoyed reading that, thanks for posting. I went to VN earlier this month and found Vietnam Airlines generally very good. Earlier this week I flew back on VN781 HAN-SGN-MEL. The Han-Sgn leg was on a 777 an very comfortable. However, the long leg to Melbourne was on an extremely uncomfortable A330. Unfortunately I have no status with VN and was squashed in the back of Y between 2 people. It was very uncomfortable and I couldn't sleep. The legroom was also very poor. I would recommend VN but don't do long haul with them on the A330!

 

[NDiddy]

Thanks lmere12 and Mattg. Had a lot of fun on the trip and it was enjoyable to jot down the journey as I went along.

Cant wait to see the TR on your TR lmere12 should be a great read