Doha —Ho Chi Minh city Qatar Airways QR974 Flight Report / Vietnam arrival
- London — Doha Qatar Airways QR16 Flight Report
- Exploring Doha, Qatar — 1
- Exploring Doha, Qatar 2 — Expo 2023
- Exploring Doha, Qatar 3 — Souq Waqif
- Exploring Doha, Qatar 4 — Doha Port, National Museum of Qatar
Qatar Airways’ check-in process was all automatic in London Heathrow, but back in its own hub I had to be checked by the front desk agent (perhaps for checking visa?)
“Is Taiwan a country?”
“Yes, we have our own government and sovereignty”
“Can I go visit? Is it dangerous?”
“For sure! It is extremely safe. Welcome anytime.”
After the security, I finally saw the iconic yellow teddy bear face to face. Doha Airport (or Hamad International Airport, to avoid confusion) was like a huge shopping mall, one of the most fancy airports I have been to. It only has a single terminal, so all the restaurants and stores were centered like in a busy department store.
There was even a Hamleys, the famous British toy store that I just visited in London a couple of days a go. And here they sold — — the Doha yellow teddy bear.
But I didn’t have much time to spare. There was a final task for me to complete in Qatar — getting Wiew a Starbucks mug. According to Google map there should be 2 Starbucks around, but I had no luck even after asking for directions multiple times. It took me a while to find one of them hidden in a corner. It turned out to be one of the most relaxing Starbucks I’ve visited all over the world, with only a couple of of travelers having coffee and using their laptops. It felt like an airport lounge.
Now here comes the real airport lounge I had access thanks to Priority Pass. The long line outside immediately felt like a university dining hall at 6pm when starving students desperately craved for food. The lounge was entirely full inside as well, and I was already fortunate enough to secure seat with an Indian dude (why does it always end up like this?)
The food in lounge was actually good (based on my standard at least). I had plates after plates of tomato pasta with cilantro. This lounge was actually better than the huge lounge in Istanbul, where it was not only overcrowded but also short of food. Unfortunately there weren’t enough sockets in the lounge, so I had to charge with my own portable power.
The lounge was ridiculously crowded, to the point that we were able to win a 5-star raid on Pokemon Go. Imagine this! It took 8 people to win this raid, but it took only seconds to gather all the people! (I highly suspect the Indian dude sitting in front of me was one of us). It’s like we were in freaking downtown Tokyo.
Qatar is known to have the rare region-limited Pokemon Tropius. I did see Tropius once on my radar, but it was slightly too far from the lounge to spawn on my map. I ended up leaving Qatar without one.
I probably should have just sit in Starbucks. It felt a lot more like a lounge than the real lounge….and it probably had Tropius too.
I walked around the airport a little bit more before going to the gate, hoping to spot another Tropius with no luck.
Waiting at the gate for boarding. Meanwhile Netanyahu was still moving his troops into Gaza Strip.
I always find it amusing that we need to walk pass the business class to our seats in the back, as if it were to mock us “see where you could have been? Instead you were at the back!” The amenity kit was the same as the previous flight’s (good that nothing was leaking inside the bag this time).
I was way too tired to watch any movie, but it still bothered me that my touch screen wasn’t working properly (really shouldn’t happen on a “top” airline). Whenever I tried to scroll down, it automatically played the first movie on the list. Sometimes it jumped randomly even when I wasn’t touching anything. Alas… I was way too tired to complain and just trying to get some rest, after all.
A meal was served but I was way too tired to eat anything (after all those pastas in the lounge), so I didn’t take it. But still having no luck to sleep, as the guy behind me asked me to have my seat less reclined during the meal (never heard such an odd request, but I didn’t mind). However I was too exhausted to even have strength to put my seat upright. A flight attendant ended up do it for me.
Both legs of Qatar Airways I’ve taken were the most brutal 7–8hr red-eye flight. Longer ones I would have extended period to sleep; shorter ones I could sleep earlier of later; the 7–8hr red-eye flight, however, barely offered any sleep time considering the take-off, landing, 2 meal servings and drink services, during which I would be awake anyway.
It was 7am when we arrived at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Another day — as if the night didn’t exist at all. First time entering the country of Vietnam (#32). Entering immigration with e-visa, I was asked to show the boarding pass (first time an immigration officer at entry point asked to see so.) The officers wore old-fashion 70s style uniforms. Most of them didn’t smile or display any emotion on their faces, but the process was smooth in general.
Wiew’s flight would arrive from Taipei in an hour, so I needed to find a place to rest for now. There were no restaurants and stores at the arrival area. To enter the departure hall, one had to leave the terminal first and reentered from the other side. I found a pho place at the corner, calculating the conversion rate to make sure the price was reasonable, and sit down to enjoy the authentic Vietnamese meal. After the meal there was still time for me to review some basic Vietnamese greetings, numbers, and other basic vocabularies and tone pronunciations, before taking a brief nap on the table.
When I woke up, I saw a well-rested fat guy who apparently just had several glasses of wine in Taipei’s lounge record a video of me sleeping. Wiew had arrived! We exchanged some money before exiting the terminal.
On our Grab ride to the hotel, I kept bothering Wiew with historical and linguistic trivias about Vietnam that he couldn’t care less about. Tan Son Nhat Airport, Ho chi Minh City’s airport, is located not far from its downtown. Unlike many other airports, the road to downtown from Tan Son Nhat was within densely populated area all the time. On the way I was amused to see many political propaganda that gave a vibe of North Korea or China during the Cultural Revolution, which reminded me repeatedly that however well developed and industrialized this city looked, its name was Ho Chi Minh City, not Saigon.
Saigon always has a soft spot in my heart after I learned and researched about the history of the Vietnam War. “Last Days in Vietnam” was probably the best documentary I’ve every watched in my life, showing the despair and struggle of individual people, and their fates history landed upon them. In the Bay Area, where I live, there is sizable Vietnamese diaspora originated from South Vietnam who even to this day fly the yellow flag with three red stripes, and mourn the “Black April,” the month when their motherland fell in 1975.
Having both “Call to the Citizens” and “Liberate the South” playing in my head, we arrived at District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, the heart of South Vietnam. Streets in downtown area of Vietnam’s biggest city were not as wide as we thought.
Wiew, a veteran in the game of points and miles, obtained IHG’s Diamond and Ambassador status using some loopholes; thus we got to stay in Saigon’s InterContinental hotel with a pretty affordable price. The hotel staff was also kind enough to offer us early check in, even offering us complimentary drinks in its cafe during the short time they prepared for our room. InterContinental was right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, which had been under construction for several years, and seemed to need a few more to finish.
The laundry bag I got from my hotel in London broke into 2 pieces after shower. It had served it purpose.
We also briefly checked out the hotel’s gym and pool, which Wiew had plans to try at night. Around noon, we went out to explore the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon.
