GOOD MORNING VIETNAMMMMMM!

Saturday morning we wake up an hour early, exhausted from previous the two-day flight but ready for a full day of sightseeing in Ho Chi Min City and the environs.  The previous day (two days?) escaped us in a haze of airports and turbulence.  I didn’t sleep much the night before we flew out, which I would soon learn to regret.  Providence to Chicago; easy as pie.  Then we get on that nasty leg of the journey, Chicago to Hong Kong, which is the 3rd longest flight in the world weighing in at 18 hours on a bad day and 15 hours on a good one (we got lucky).  The route that we took actually took us straight up from Chicago and over the northern polar icecap.  We never left the day; we just took a shortcut over the top of the world and caught up with it.  Coming down from the pole through Russian airspace (an experience not possible 50 years ago) we were quoting MIG intercept commands and reminiscing of Yuri Gagnon.  We eventually made it out of Siberian air and into China, ending peacefully in Hong Kong after what I can only describe as the most grueling flight experience I have ever had.  The total transit time from Providence to HCMC was around 25 hours, including layovers.  The Hong Kong layover was impressive though, and was a welcome break after the longest leg of our journey.  The airport is the gateway to Asia from the Americas and most of Europe.  Hence, it was massive in size and filled with all sorts of flashy duty free and Asian designer shops.  Attempts to sleep during the long leg of the flight were mostly unsuccessful, with an hour being grabbed here or there.  I was almost hallucinating with exhaustion by the time I reached Vietnam Customs, which had they required me to say anything more expressive then a head nod or a grunt, could have gone very badly indeed.  Nothing did happen though and we walked outside to a waiting van from our hotel.  Passing through the many districts of HCMC on the way to our hotel was a surreal experience.  Sleep deprivation, neon signs and wave upon wave of motorbikes all conspired against my sanity.  Half of the buildings we saw were dilapidated structures with sheet metal being pinned to poured concrete.  The other half were beautifully ornate structures, either housing Catholic or Buddhist places of worship or selling shoes and second-rate audio equipment for ‘extra cheap cheap!’ After check-in and baggage handling, sleep was slow to come inside our wonderfully air-conditioned hotel rooms.  Residual vertigo from being on the planes for so long kept Gary and myself from getting truly restful sleep.  The alarm went off nice and early (extra early!) and here we are, starting day one in Vietnam.