Dachiri
11-16-2009, 03:11 PM
Well, I survived the first part of the trip...
I got almost no sleep the night before our flights out as I had a packed evening of other business and a bit of packing and cleaning to finish up. I wasn't feeling particularly comfortable waiting in National until I saw one of my co-workers, who I had forgotten was on the same flight as me to Chicago. That made me feel much better and the flight was smooth and uneventful. Got to Chicago, met up with my other 2 co-workers (while I'm only with one other person, there's another team here as well who was on the same flights as us), hit up the lounge (how I do love business class), and got settled in for a pre-flight mimosa. I was still feeling a bit nervous, but that went away as we sat on the runway for a good bit of time before taking off. The flight to Shanghai was uneventful, as well, though I didn't sleep as much as I had hoped.
We had a lovely evening in Shanghai, and I took a walk from my hotel down to Renmin Square in the morning before departing for the airport for our flight to Yichang. We flew Shanghai Airlines again. The co-worker who is with me has been to Asia something like 15 or 16 times, and he said it was the best Chinese airline he's flown. I was quite impressed with them when we flew them from Hong Kong to Shanghai last November, and they again exceeded my expectations.
Then the real fun began. After spending the night in Yichang, the company picked us up for the drive to their factory's location. Apparently guard rails are as optional as following traffic laws in China, and we endured a treacherous 4 hour drive through the mountains staring down cliffs and driving in the wrong lane into blind corners. :shakehead 5 days of work, and our car service is 3 hours late to pick us up to travel to Wuhan, which should be a 6 or 7 hour trek. :shakehead:shakehead Then, as we are *almost* out of the mountains (we took a different route that DID feature guard rails, thankfully), we run into a HUGE traffic jam caused by a major accident. Again, due to Chinese drivers' inability to follow laws, what should have been an hour delay at the most turned into a 6 hour delay, and we made it to our hotel at 3:45 AM, after 13 hours! :shakehead:shakehead:shakehead Quite the Friday the 13th.
So we arrive at the Wuhan airport for our flight to Hong Kong on Saturday morning. I think I got a few pictures of it, but I can't remember at this point. Very tiny, very disorganized. The flight was China Southern and it was significantly less comfortable than Shanghai Airlines. The seats had so little leg room I was squished, and did I mention my co-worker is 6'1? Not a long flight and not too bad, a little turbulence. Chinese airlines don't seem to care as much about passenger comfort, so the takeoffs and landings are much faster, the ascents and descents much steeper, and they don't do anything to get out of turb unless it's really bad. All in all, though, nothing notable.
After a lovely 5 hours in the Hong Kong airport - I'm not joking, I LOVE the Hong Kong airport - we board our Vietnam Airlines flight to Hanoi. WOW! I have NEVER felt a takeoff and ascent like that!!! We BLASTED out of the airport, ascended steeply and quickly, leveled off just as quickly, AND REPEAT to altitude. I've NEVER felt pressed so hard into my seat. They also turned off the seatbelt sign before we were all the way up, so I got up to use the restroom, made it halfway back, and we started another one of those crazy ascents. My knees almost buckled. Finally we get to Hanoi and we come SCREAMING onto the runway and SLAM on the brakes at the end of the runway. But I survived and I'm sure it was perfectly safe, just a little less comfortable than your typical Western airline.
Despite the lack of sleep, my coworker and I headed out to do some shopping, where I got some nice pearls dirt cheap, and had a wonderful dinner at the Intercontinental. The next morning, we headed to the airport for out 1:10 PM flight to Can Tho, get there, and the flight has been moved UP to 12:10...I think we arrived at the airport at 11:30...YIKES! So I didn't get any pictures of the Hanoi airport. But we made it onto the flight. The takeoff and ascent were not as impressive as our previous day's flight, but the landing was about the same. Can Tho has only 1 runway and, my understanding is, only 2 daily flights (1 in, 1 out). So they just stop the plane on the runway, we use the stairs out, and they bus us over to the terminal. TINY is all I have to say. I do have some pictures of this one.
So from that point we meet our car service (after waiting an hour in 90 degree heat since our flight was moved up) and begin the drive to Ca Mau. Vietnamese people apparently see the value in following traffic laws to some extent, so the trip was not bad or scary (also flat...no more mountains for me for a while). We stopped at a roadside restaurant for dinner on the way, which featured lizards climbing all over the walls and cats and chickens roaming freely amongst the diners. :mg: Our hotel is hilarious and has Christmas lights everywhere. I will definitely get some pictures of THAT!
And the big news...one more flight added to our itinerary. We are flying Thursday morning from Ca Mau to Ho Chi Minh City. It's one a Fockker (sp?) turboprop, which should be fun. :::Brave Face:::
I got almost no sleep the night before our flights out as I had a packed evening of other business and a bit of packing and cleaning to finish up. I wasn't feeling particularly comfortable waiting in National until I saw one of my co-workers, who I had forgotten was on the same flight as me to Chicago. That made me feel much better and the flight was smooth and uneventful. Got to Chicago, met up with my other 2 co-workers (while I'm only with one other person, there's another team here as well who was on the same flights as us), hit up the lounge (how I do love business class), and got settled in for a pre-flight mimosa. I was still feeling a bit nervous, but that went away as we sat on the runway for a good bit of time before taking off. The flight to Shanghai was uneventful, as well, though I didn't sleep as much as I had hoped.
We had a lovely evening in Shanghai, and I took a walk from my hotel down to Renmin Square in the morning before departing for the airport for our flight to Yichang. We flew Shanghai Airlines again. The co-worker who is with me has been to Asia something like 15 or 16 times, and he said it was the best Chinese airline he's flown. I was quite impressed with them when we flew them from Hong Kong to Shanghai last November, and they again exceeded my expectations.
Then the real fun began. After spending the night in Yichang, the company picked us up for the drive to their factory's location. Apparently guard rails are as optional as following traffic laws in China, and we endured a treacherous 4 hour drive through the mountains staring down cliffs and driving in the wrong lane into blind corners. :shakehead 5 days of work, and our car service is 3 hours late to pick us up to travel to Wuhan, which should be a 6 or 7 hour trek. :shakehead:shakehead Then, as we are *almost* out of the mountains (we took a different route that DID feature guard rails, thankfully), we run into a HUGE traffic jam caused by a major accident. Again, due to Chinese drivers' inability to follow laws, what should have been an hour delay at the most turned into a 6 hour delay, and we made it to our hotel at 3:45 AM, after 13 hours! :shakehead:shakehead:shakehead Quite the Friday the 13th.
So we arrive at the Wuhan airport for our flight to Hong Kong on Saturday morning. I think I got a few pictures of it, but I can't remember at this point. Very tiny, very disorganized. The flight was China Southern and it was significantly less comfortable than Shanghai Airlines. The seats had so little leg room I was squished, and did I mention my co-worker is 6'1? Not a long flight and not too bad, a little turbulence. Chinese airlines don't seem to care as much about passenger comfort, so the takeoffs and landings are much faster, the ascents and descents much steeper, and they don't do anything to get out of turb unless it's really bad. All in all, though, nothing notable.
After a lovely 5 hours in the Hong Kong airport - I'm not joking, I LOVE the Hong Kong airport - we board our Vietnam Airlines flight to Hanoi. WOW! I have NEVER felt a takeoff and ascent like that!!! We BLASTED out of the airport, ascended steeply and quickly, leveled off just as quickly, AND REPEAT to altitude. I've NEVER felt pressed so hard into my seat. They also turned off the seatbelt sign before we were all the way up, so I got up to use the restroom, made it halfway back, and we started another one of those crazy ascents. My knees almost buckled. Finally we get to Hanoi and we come SCREAMING onto the runway and SLAM on the brakes at the end of the runway. But I survived and I'm sure it was perfectly safe, just a little less comfortable than your typical Western airline.
Despite the lack of sleep, my coworker and I headed out to do some shopping, where I got some nice pearls dirt cheap, and had a wonderful dinner at the Intercontinental. The next morning, we headed to the airport for out 1:10 PM flight to Can Tho, get there, and the flight has been moved UP to 12:10...I think we arrived at the airport at 11:30...YIKES! So I didn't get any pictures of the Hanoi airport. But we made it onto the flight. The takeoff and ascent were not as impressive as our previous day's flight, but the landing was about the same. Can Tho has only 1 runway and, my understanding is, only 2 daily flights (1 in, 1 out). So they just stop the plane on the runway, we use the stairs out, and they bus us over to the terminal. TINY is all I have to say. I do have some pictures of this one.
So from that point we meet our car service (after waiting an hour in 90 degree heat since our flight was moved up) and begin the drive to Ca Mau. Vietnamese people apparently see the value in following traffic laws to some extent, so the trip was not bad or scary (also flat...no more mountains for me for a while). We stopped at a roadside restaurant for dinner on the way, which featured lizards climbing all over the walls and cats and chickens roaming freely amongst the diners. :mg: Our hotel is hilarious and has Christmas lights everywhere. I will definitely get some pictures of THAT!
And the big news...one more flight added to our itinerary. We are flying Thursday morning from Ca Mau to Ho Chi Minh City. It's one a Fockker (sp?) turboprop, which should be fun. :::Brave Face:::