Thanh Pho Hi Chi Minh Tan Son Nhat International Airport – Singapore Changi Budget Terminal
Tiger Airways
Airbus A320-200 (9V-TAC)
TR 329
Seat 20F/29A
1410 – 1700H
Duration: 1hr 50min



It was the end of another AMAZING holiday in Vietnam. I was glad Hanoi was included in the itinerary because it allowed me to compare the 2 key cities of this country. HCMC has always been considered as the financial heartbeat and faster paced of the 2.

On my previous trip, I was seduced by the old world charm of HCMC but having been to Hanoi, my preference has tipped in favor of the latter. Hanoi is older, more peaceful and laid back with her narrow streets and beautiful lakes. HCMC on the other hand, now seems like a large metropolis with no law and order teeming with traffic inter-weaving at cross sections with no regards for traffic lights or pedestrian crossings. The capitalistic nature of the southerners is also very unmistakable with them being pushier at the markets compared to their northern cousins.

Mark my words; I will be back as I would love to see the Northern Highlands where the Sapa Tribe reside, plus Da Lat, Da Nang, Hue etc… God, I am so in love with Vietnam now!

15th December, 2007

Since our flight departed in the afternoon, we all got up REALLY early and made one last soiree to Ben Thanh Market. Our hotel is situated at Pham Ngu Loc which is really within walking distance to many places, including the market where we did the bulk of our shopping.

We arrived in Vietnam with one luggage per couple six days ago. Now we had 18 bags for check in among us and not counting the ones we planned to carry on as cabin baggage. It was surely comical as we tried to strategize how not to pay for overweight charges as we packed and unpacked… and repeated the whole process again at the hotel lobby before the airport transfer arrived.

Tan Son Nhat International Terminal




A bit of history, when the de-militarized parallel was breached during the Vietnam war, Tan Son Nhat Airport was the scene of some intense bombings which cut Saigon off from the rest of the world. I am glad to leave that macabre section of memory in the past.

Currently, a small (by international standards) but ultra-modern terminal greets international passengers as they drive up the ramp. A spanking new terminal that only opened in September 2007. HCMC is sorely in need of a new airport and I understand that this one that was recently completed is only an interim solution. The city is preparing for a newer and bigger one to be opened in 2015, Long Thanh International Airport located 50km northeast of the city. I hope they will have a highway linking the two locations, knowing how chaotic traffic in this city can get.



A glimpse at the old international terminal which is now solely for domestic use.



Like the old international airport, only ticketed passengers are allowed into the building. I guess this is to ensure that the interior do not get too crowded. I think we were the only flight to be checked in because as soon as we walked into terminal, it was SILENCE, pure SILENCE that greeted us. I am sure that VN had some flight departing so somewhere but their check in counters were nowhere to be seen. The whole environment was just so Stepfordly sterile.





Tiger Airways was using Row H that afternoon and we headed in that direction to check our bags in. True enough, my partner and I were 6kgs over-weight. However, the helpful check in agent assured us that we could spread the weight out among the 8 of us and she would decide only after the final total tally how much the weight was. Luckily, all of us scraped by 2kgs below the limit in total.




AIRSIDE

I could not help thinking how much this airport looked like KLIA. The tarmac yielded nothing exciting except for a Uni Air MD 90 that was destined for Kaoshiung. There were a few token VN A320s going back and forth from the domestic terminal next door but what I REALLY wanted to see were their 777s and A330s. I think they look fantastic in VN’s colors.





There were some restaurants and shops on the upper levels of airside but curiously the latter was closed. Additional shops are located on the same level as passport control for those people who want to pay for overpriced conical farmers hats and t-shirts.

1315H: 9V-TAC gently touched down and taxied to Gate 18 to unload a plane full of merry holiday makers. As I sat in the boarding lounge, how I wished I was part of that group. I could tell that a large part of the lounge felt the same way looking at how many people were sulking away. Or was it the bad ramen that was served at Ajisen?




I do not want to go home. I DO NOT WANT TO GO HOME!

1350H: As we sat there and awaited our turn to board the flight home to reality, an announcement was made for all to get on board.


Garuda decided to fly properly today and this 737-300 arrived safely from Jakarta via Singapore…


I was seriously hoping the flight would be cancelled at this point. Wouldn’t mind an extra night to have a steaming bowl of pho at the market!


Boarding scene. Azlan in action as he happily bends over to answer a query.

Once again, they had a male cabin crew as part of then team. Azlan happily showed us his pearlies and warmly welcomed us on board, together with Sue - the leader for this flight. An additional 2 Tiger Girls - Farida and Debbie, were positioned further down the aisle to assist us with our shopping bags… oops, I meant cabin luggage.



With all our tired holiday asses nicely settled into our seats, there was nothing left to do but close and arm the doors. Hmm… Looked like we were early. Instead of breaking out into a song and dance routine, the crew decided to have the aircraft pushed back 5 mins early at 1405H.

I totally ignored the safety demo because you see them one, you see them all. Instead, I preferred to stare out of the window and said my long and painful goodbye to this awesome country. We taxied towards Runway 07R and along the way passed by some rather interesting aircraft bunkers. A vision then whisked passed my head of bewildered South Vietnamese soldiers in 1975 running for cover around these very bunkers as bombs rained down from the sky.



“Cabin crew, take off stations, please!”


An overview of SGN with the old terminal at the top right hand of the photo.

1417H: There was no waiting at the marshalling point as we took off immediately as soon as we entered the runway. This northerly departure would afford passengers on the starboard side of the aircraft (Me, yay!…) a fantastic view of this gigantic metropolis as we made several right turns to align ourselves with our southerly endeavor towards SIN.


The meandering Saigon River with Ho Chi Minh City straddling around it.


Leaving the coast of Vietnam via the Mekong Delta.

We finally settled into our flightpath at FL 350. After the seatbelt signs were extinguished, the food carts made an appearance. Since we skipped lunch earlier, my partner and I decided it was time to eat. He had a “gourmet” croissant with coke while I ordered the Korean seafood noodles with orange juice. Sounds good? Wait till you see the photos…


So what do you think… is it “gourmet” enough?


Ok, ok… My Korean seafood noodles was really just instant cup noodles.

We had no SGD with us and we made the mistake of leaving HCMC with our pocket full of dongs. Since Tiger could not accept dongs for payment, I dug into the recesses of my wallet and found 200 Thai Baht so I paid with that instead.


Examples of some tired holiday asses… A sign of an awesome trip, perhaps?

Since this flight was only 2 hours, it was tolerable with having no entertainment. As the flight progressed, we slowly ate our food and the sandwich was surprisingly rather tasty, but for SGD 7.00 I thought the price was rather steep. And honestly, I felt there was nothing “gourmet” about it.



1515H: The lights in the cabin were dimmed to allow us some shut eye time.



With nothing else to do, I moved to 29A to see if there was anything interesting outside the window. We coasted into Peninsular Malaysia and no sooner after that the cockpit came on to update us about the progress of the flight. The weather in Singapore was apparently terrible and was soaked in a torrential downpour. Oh how I want to be back in Hanoi!

1530H: The first signs of descend were felt.


Hello Bintan… Over Indonesian airspace positioning ourselves for an approach for 20L.

The flight started to get moderately turbulent as we flew into thick clouds that covered the madness beneath it. The flightpath chosen was one that would take us to the south towards Indonesia before making a u-turn back up north. There was a reason why I chose to plonk myself at 20A just so I could have a view of the city as we approached.
The bitter sweet feeling of watching the island of Singapore appear outside my window is pretty indescribable. On one hand I was glad to be home because I needed to breathe fresh air again, but I hated the thought of my holiday coming to an end.


Really crappy weather.




Tiger-land! Grrrrrr…

1554H: Touch down Runway 20L. Full reverse thrust and Tiger gave us a welcome home to a rain soaked and drizzly Changi Airport. 10 mins later, we came to a stop at the Budget Terminal and local time was now 1705H.




Check-in: 9/10…
Just when I had given up all hope of customer service in Vietnam, this lady at the check in counter saved the day. Very friendly and every ready with an answer to queries.

Boarding: 9/10…
Very quick, in fact so quick that we pushed back early.

In-flight service: 9/10…
Tiger has won me back with these 2 flights. It is a good idea to include male cabin crew to give the entire team a more balanced outlook. Somehow, I find that these “queenie” male cabin crew actually provide better service than their female counterparts!

Arrival: 10/10…
All Singaporean passport holders are now required to use those scanning booths for passport clearance. This makes a very efficient process and the crowd is facilitated in no time. Baggage was churning around the reclaim carousel within 5 mins.

Overall: 92.5%...
A very pleasant end to our holiday was this awesome flight with Tiger. The crew seemed full of joy and sincerely enjoyed their work. After my last few budget flights, I find myself being slowly accustomed to this mode of traveling. Who would have ever thought? That me, who said I would swear off LCCs – would be singing their praises now? Life has a funny way of presenting itself sometimes.

Other pictures of Ho Chi Minh City and the countryside…


Reunification Palace. Yes we had our fun but the tour of the palace kinda made the mood rather somber again.


The future of Vietnam lies in their hands.


Try crossing this road!


A little trip to the Mekong Delta is a must. Very interesting to see the villages that dot the river and how the dwellers live.


The deadline for all motorcyclist to get their hands on helmets was 2359H on 14 December 2007.


So the next day, a sea of colorful helmets flowed like a flood.


Sometimes venturing into some strange looking market can yield some delicious food.


I felt like I was going through an episode of Discovery Travel and Living Channel at every turn.



Thank you so much for reading. The other 2 earlier parts can be found here...
Part One, Tiger Airways SIN-HAN
Part Two, Pacific Airlines HAN-SGN domestic flight