February 14-16, Flying to SE Asia

Happy Valentine’s Day! Our journey to Southeast Asia began with a $15 taxi ride to Napa’s Evans Bus Terminal. The taxi picked us up at 3:45 PM. We were all organized for our trip with a few last-minute exceptions: our fence at the side of our house partially collapsed just this morning, and our gardener of many years had decided to go AWOL. We performed some last-minute repairs to the fence – we would have to deal with these issues upon our return.

The bus to San Francisco airport had only four passengers this late afternoon, and traffic was heavy but not unexpected. We arrived at the airport about 6:30 PM after a 4:30 PM departure. The sky was clear of clouds, and it was a lovely evening. It seems we will continue our “no rain” February for the foreseeable future here in the Bay Area.

The check-in counter for Korean Airline (KAL) was not scheduled to open until 8:10 PM, so we had plenty of time to visit the restaurant, Potrero Hill, in the food court for our dinner of grilled chicken sandwiches – actually not too bad. Then, we were first in line for check-in for our “Prestige Class” fare, equivalent to business class. A nice young man named Andre checked us in, but then we needed to speak with the duty manager to address an issue with our return flight. The return leg from Bangkok, Thailand, to Seoul, South Korea, was only booked into economy class, while all of our other legs were business – don’t know why that happened, something to do with Delta, where we had purchased our tickets originally. The manager was exceedingly nice and processed the upgrade with no trouble OR added expense. We then proceeded to TSA pre-check security, which had no one in line and then on to the Air France KLM Lounge, which was also affiliated with KAL. The lounge was not too impressive, but it was okay. We left early for our flight check-in after enjoying some white wine. Boarding began at 11:00 PM, and there were a lot of people wearing face masks. The coronavirus is threatening China, and there is of course concern regarding its potential spread worldwide. Once on board we saw that the entire flight crew were masked.

The flight itself was wonderful! We each had small cubicle-like seats with lots of privacy and a really roomy fold flat seat.   

For dinner we each ordered the Korean dish bibimbap, which we surely ate incorrectly! Then we settled down to sleep at about 2:00 AM.  Rob slept about two hours, and Roy slept about five.  For breakfast on the plane, we each had omelets and then arrived in Seoul at about 5:00 AM local time. For a 12 ½ hour flight, the time really went quickly! Then we had about a two-hour layover in Seoul Inchon Airport (nicest airport ever!). Here is a photo:

 

We spent our layover in the KAL Prestige Lounge before boarding the flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. Our flight was delayed by some snowy weather in Seoul, which required de-icing the plane. This flight was relatively empty, only eight passengers in Prestige class (could have been as many as fifty, maybe).

Landing in Hanoi, we were then whisked through security by our unnamed Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) representative and then handed off to another representative who would take us to our hotel by car and driver. He was very nice and provided some good information: “sin chao” means hello and “cam un” means thank you. Vietnamese is a tonal language, which is difficult. Arriving at the hotel, we were taken up to the top floor lounge for a glass of champagne and room check-in. Our room was one floor down, number 676. We were escorted to our room by about 1:30 PM by our “butler,” Chu Vinh Hiep. The hotel, the Sofitel Legend Metropole, is an historic property. It was built in the French colonial style in 1901. Jane Fonda stayed here during her controversial visit to Hanoi in 1972.

Feeling fairly well rested and eager to take advantage of our afternoon, we immediately commenced on a short walk in central Hanoi and its old town as had been recommended to us by the hotel staff. Immediately we took note of the impressive Hanoi Opera House, practically across the square from our hotel. 

We then walked to Hoan Kiem (or “Sword”) Lake and then to a small island, called Jade Island, in the lake where there is the Temple of the Jade Mountain ("Ngoc Son") that can be toured (for the price of admission). 

Farther south in the lake is another landmark called the Turtle Tower, which cannot be accessed, just viewed from the shore. 

North of the lake is the old town, which consists of many narrow streets crowded with motorbikes. In addition, the sidewalks serve a parking lots for the motorbikes which makes traveling by foot a challenge. The motorbikes don’t obey any traffic rules, and in fact there may not even be any traffic rules! 

As we walked around, we could see that each street had its own specialty product for sale. We passed streets for shoes, food, children’s clothing and even undergarments.

Very crowded with people even though it was a Sunday, and most of the stores were closed. We also took note of the coffee shops, which were open, with their tiny tables and chairs in front! 

As we walked back to the hotel on the other side of the lake, we saw the Hanoi city hall, as known as the headquarters of the People’s Committee of Hanoi. The weather today was in the 60s and mostly overcast. As we neared our hotel, we could see it was situated amid a high-end shopping area (designer stores, etc.).

Back at the hotel, we returned to the seventh-floor lounge at 5:30 PM for a complimentary happy hour, where we chose not to eat too much but just enjoy a glass of Spanish chardonnay before dinner. Dinner was at the hotel’s Vietnamese restaurant called Spices Garden. We ate early at 6:00 PM, feeling the effects of jet lag and were only one of two tables seated. As a result, we received lots of attention from the staff. We followed the recommendations of the staff and began with spring rolls (both fresh and fried), then had chicken in the clay pot and a dish called pork “bun cho” with noodles. Bun Cho would seem to be a specialty of Hanoi, as we would later see it advertised on many menus. 

The food was good, although a little heavy, but surprisingly bland. Also, there were not many vegetables really. We ate our food with a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand’s Craggy Range winery. Then we retired to our room for an 8:00 PM bedtime.