Floods Vietnam November 2009 from tv news, Dien An village Khanh Hoa 2010

 

Air Asia - a deeply disappointing experience

Nga, An, and I flew on the  inaugural flight from Saigon to Adelaide, Australia via Kuala Lumpur.  A major problem in booking was that the line continuously timed out and dropped off, so that it took me over five hours to book three tickets.

In Kuala Lumpur, we received a gift of a draw string bag and flip flops, and on arrival in Adelaide we received small samples of South Australian products, such as Berenberg jam, from the airline. Our food on the short Saigon to Kuala Lumpur leg was tasty and the cabin staff were very polite and helpful.

The AirAsia transit lounge in KL was large and busy, with rather hard chairs not designed to sit on for a five hour stop over. The toilets stank and the one shower in the men's toilet had only cold water, no shower rose, and nowhere to hang my clothes. So I could only wash and not shower. This is unsatisfactory, especially for a Muslim country whose Muslimin are supposed to clean themselves before prayers five times a day.

What was called "Thai green curry" served on the Kuala Lumper to Adelaide leg was so bad neither Nga nor I could eat it. I was beginning to have serious doubts about Air Asia.  

While in Australia, I decided to extend our stay and tried to change our bookings, firstly by internet (not possible due to the webpage not giving this option). Secondly, by phoning (after waiting on a phone queue for 30 minutes, the line dropped off). Thirdly, by emailing, only to receive a reply along the lines of, "Thank you for your email, we will reply with the next two weeks", which was not helpful, given that we were due to fly out in two days. I finally succeeded by ringing at three o'clock in the morning and the female srvice officer was very helpful and friendly.

When checking in to fly back to Vietnam the check-in officer informed us that 10kg of excess luggage would cost $500 to take as far as KL only. We declined, and did a quick clothing dump into and large airport bin, conveniently located for lots of passengers to do likewise. We had already paid an additional $100 to buy an extra 20kg luggage allowance and a further $340 to change the date of our return flights.  Does this company really want passengers?  

On arrival back at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (sounds grand, doesn't it?), it took one hour and fifteen minutes just to get int the Air Asia transit lounge. We had to queue to have our boarding passes, passports, and luggage checked AGAIN. This NOT fun when you are elderly, your wife has a heart problem, and your young daughter wants to run around and play. Then we were back to hard chairs, smelly toilets, and a shower that doesn't work.  The food on the two return legs Adelaide-Kuala Lumpur-Saigon was universally terrible, to the point where none of us finished out paid-for meals.  Oh, yes, you have to pay extra, as meals - and even water - are not included in the fare.

If you are young, want a cheap fare, and can put up with poor service, uncomfortable chairs and crap food, AirAsia is the airline for you.  Good luck !

Trip to Adelaide, South Australia - November 2013

I was surprised to see one day an advertisement from Air Asia offering cheap flights direct to Adelaide from Saigon, a new service.  So, after discussing it with Nga, we decided it was about time we went home to Adelaide for a visit.  We have been living in Nha Trang for six years and our daughter An Ngoc has never yet been to Australia.  I was hoping the trip would help improve her English, which she generally chooses not to use, although I speak to her in English as much as possible.

It took me over five hours to book the tickets online, something I don't think I'll bother trying again. The internet connection kept on time out while I sorted out the information to fill in the next answer. It drove me nuts. But more on that later. As it turned out, our flight was the inaugural flight to open the Saigon - Adelaide service.

We stopped in Saigon for a couple of days on the way, to catch up with relatives and for Nga to do shopping for small presents to take back for friends in Australia.  The weather wasn't too hot and sticky, and it seemed that the air in Saigon was rather cleaner than usual.

We has a long, five hour stop over on hard seats in the crappy, overcrowded Air Asia transit terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.  The upstairs concorse is much more relaxing and interesting. 

Air Asia transit terminal KLIA

Adelaide Airport has undergone a complete make over. The terminal is now much larger and more attractive.  An old work mate, Michael, met us at Adelaide Airport and took us to his car in a new built, multi-storey car park. "Wow," I thought, "this is all new and swish."  For those who have not been to Adelaide, it is a very clean, quiet and civilised city, with good universities and is a leading centre of medical and military research in Australia.

Then we took the 45 minute drive to his house to meet again with his Vietnamese wife, Hanh, and three sons. Son John and daughter in law Lisa flew over from Melbourne to be with us for the first week It was Lisa's first visit to Adelaide. We spent several days doing the tourist thing: looking at the zoo, botanical gardens, eating out, visiting a few pubs, and having a family barbeque with Michael and Hanh in the 'urban forest' in their back yard.

Eating outdoors instead of at the $50 restaurant in Adelaide Zoo

Gazebo, Botanical Gardens. We had to leave, due to a booked wedding

Pacific Islands exhibits, Adelaide Museum

 

Botanic Hotel, where a 15oz beer averaged $11 a glass

Rundle Mall, the main shopping street, Adelaide

BBQ in the urban forest

 

An, Bob, Hanh and Bob's 18th birthday cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The highlight of our month in Adelaide was the four days we went camping at Newland Head Conservation Park, around 100km south of Adelaide on the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsular.  Mike set up a large kitchen/dining/lazing fly sheet, which worked brilliantly to shade our days.  Mother and joey kangaroos came into the camp site every morning. "Wake me up in the morning to see the kangaroos !" An told me excitedly.  She loved it!

Mike relaxing in kitchen shelter. Our dome tents for sleeping in background

 

An sniffing wild flowers, but no smell at all

Rugged coastline and permanently closed beach, due to dangerous rips.

Kangaroo and joey at camp site

 

 

 

A pleasant afternoon walk

.The weather was kind to us in Adelaide most of the time, with temperatures of 23C-26C mostly and no rain. It was good to get back to see friends and to see how much Adelaide has changed in six years. There are new, multi-storey office blocks all over the city and entire new suburbs in the south.  There wasn't much evidence of the world financial crisis in Adelaide. 

All in all, we had a very busy, enjoyable time introducing An and Lisa to Adelaide and catching up with friends

Trip to Malaysia Part 2

This part is because I coudn't add anything more to Part 1.

One night on Langkawi, when we went out for dinner, two young policemen pulled up on their swish, brand new, Kawasaki Ninja 250cc motorbikes, and were quite pleased when I asked permission to photograph them.  Specifications include: Liquid cooled, 6 speed, front and back disc brakes,  27.9 kW (37.4 hp) @ 11,000 rpm (Australia: 29.4 kW (39.4 hp).  
This bike gets a very good review at 
http://www.topspeed.com/motorcycles/motorcycle-reviews/honda/2013-kawasaki-ninja-250r-ar154880.html

Malaysia has a lot of large capacity motorbikes, including the one that over took us at 160km/hr when we were in a taxi on the airport freeway one day. Here is another bike, taken in KL:

 



The following sign was outside out hotel at Pantai Cenang, Pulau Langkawi. It warns against alcohol and fornication, including a verse from the Quran for good measure.

We saw some interesting signs while in Malaysia, some rather surprising, given their location. Such as this one in a restaurant:

This one is from Kuala Lumpur International Airport toilets. Note the "Do not kangaroo the seat" figure.

 A "NO DURIAN" sign at the lift in our hotel in Chinatown, KL

An and Truc watching monkeys on Langkawi. If you didn't keep your eye in them, they'd come down and steal your food. Not ninja in background of first pic.

In a restaurant in China town, An had a great time assembling a plastic horse.

We often ate there, because the waitress was a Vietnamese woman (see pic below)

 who is married to the Chinese owner, who is seated in the background of the pic blow.

When we went out to KLIA to fly out of KL, I discovered by accident the airport jungle board walk in the middle of a terminal building. I thought it was so interesting, I called Nga and An to have a look:

Good bye Malaysia

kkk

2013 July trip to Malaysia

After cancelling plans to go to China due to the cost of flying from Hanoi to Kunming via Canton, Nga and I decided to go to Malaysia, especially after the travel agent in Nha Trang offered us FREE return air tickets to Saigon to catch our Vietnam Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur. 

on 17 June Nga, An, Truc (a young teacher who is one of mother in law's neighbours) and I flew to Saigon, looked around town during the six hour stopover, then on to KL.  KL International Airport is HUGE, so huge in fact that I couldn't find the baggage claim area. People kept pointing me in the same direction, until we ran out of building. I asked a KLIA employee, who said, "It's in the next building", but offered no information of where that was or how to get there.  After some more enquiries we managed to find the baggage claim in the next terminal after we had travelled there by airport train.

The taxi driver dropped us at the end of a closed street in Chinatown. But we couldn't find a suitable hotel in the street full of tables and diners. So Nga went off alone and came back within a short time, having found a hotel in the next street.  

Nan Yeang Hotel, 83 Jalan Sultan, 50000 Kuala Lumpur

tp: 603- 20748 7477 email: nanyeanghotel@hotmail.com

website: www.nanyeanghotel.com

We had a room with two double beds and a single bed, with aircon an ensuite bathroom for RM150 (around AUD50). The staff were polite and friendly, even the full time porter, who was a very jolly, friendly fellow, no tipping required.

Because it was by now after 2130 and we had been up since 0500, we ate dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant and went to bed.  I didn't sleep well and woke at dawn (0700). Because West Malaysia runs on East Malaysia time, they have two to two and a half hours daylight saving every day.  So the morning right through until midday are pleasant and reasonably cool.

We went to the 88 floor Petronas Twin Towers after breakfast, but could only buy tickets for the following day, which we did. These towers were the tallest building in the world at 452mfor six years 1998 - 2004 , but are now completely overshadowed by Baj Dubai 828m. The Petronas Towers now claim to be the highest twin-buildings in the world.

Night photo in viewing room

At night the Petronal Towers look like jewels shining in the sky.

The view from the 84th level was interesting, but not out-of-this-world spectacular and I didn't feel it justified the RM80 each admission fee. An liked playing with the hologram creator in the viewing room.

Viewing room 84th floor

View from 84th floor

The Dalek next door

There were tourist police everywhere in the building, to keep the crowds under control and to make sure the show went smoothly.  They were helpful and polite.

We went off to the not so far away Bird Park by taxi and were charged RM49 for a RM20 ride, almost via Singapore.  Bandit !  The Bird Park was another overpriced, but interesting tourist site.  Unlike some places in Vietnam, there was only one charge for Malays and foreigners, so no discrimination in pricing. Everyone was overcharged.

 

Stop staring, go away.

An and Truc on boardwalk

Another day we went to the Botanical Gardens, which was a pleasant park without names on most plants.  There was a boardwalk with missing planks going down the hill, so we followed it to the bottom, passing a children's playground for An along the
way.

Nga in Botanical Gardens

The old railway station

 One day we took a ride on the On-Off Tourist Bus, similar to the cuty tour busin Sydney. After the ride, I realised the four of us could have done it more comfortably by taxi.We went round almost the full circuit, which did not include stopping at the National Library, a place which could be interesting.

KL has many tall buildings

 Peak hour traffic in KL is horrendous, but for the rest of the time, although it is busy, it moves reasonably well.

Ticket inspector

Chinatown, where we stayed was interesting. It really was only two streets, one of which had the Hindu Mahamariamman Temple in it.  At night the street below Jalan Sultan was closed and diners filled the street at tables until after 2300. Julan Sultan merely had both footpaths full of tables on the widened footpaths. 

Jalan Sultan daytime

Side street off Jalan Sultan

Jalan Sultan at night

Backpackers hostel, Jalan Sultan

The signs on the backpackers' hostel possibly read, "1931 Nationalist 20 years", "grocery shop". If any readers can confirm or correct this, I would be grateful.  The downstairs shop now sells spectacles.

Nga quickly found the Chinese temple and made her offerings. As usual, two fierce guards stood at the gate, and various statues stood on altars inside.

Temple guard

temple entrance

Nga praying

Also in Chinatown is the small Mahamariamman Hindu
temple, which was almost deserted when I passed.















Nearby, going up the hill at the end of Jalan Sultan, was the small, Protestant Gospel Hall. Most of its congregation would be Chinese, because Malays are forbidden by the Constitution from converting to another religion. To be Malay is to be Muslim, full stop.

At the top of the hill was the beautiful mosque, Masjid Albukhary.  The guard on the front steps beckoned me in to take some photos, which was very kind of him.

Side view

Balcony on front of mosque

Chinatown is close to a monorail station and the Central Market - Pasar Seni, which has been turned into a really useful building and is no longer the dump "Pasar Seni - Art Market" it used to be. It is now full of specialty shops and restaurants selling all sorts of tasty food.  We often ate lunch here, and Nga, An and Truc managed to find there way here almost daily to  "go shopping" and to look for souvenirs.

Inside Central Market

Central Market

We finally escaped the bustle of KL and flew to Langkawi Island up on the west coast near the Thai border.  Some large nearby islands are actually in Thailand.  From my previous reading of Lonely Planet guidebook, I had the idea that Langkawi Island was full of overpriced resorts, but we found that this was not the case and it was a very relaxing few days we spent there.

The Palms  Guest House at Pantai Cenang,where we had booked a room from KL, turned out to be a mosquito ridden dump, so Nga went off along to find something better and booked us into the comfortable AB Motel right on the beach, for RM120 a night.  The staff were helpful and friendly.  The motel was also near shops, restaurants and the town department store, which sold cheap beer and spirits.

The beach was a pleasant place to swim, except in the late afternoon when two dozen jets skis hit the water making a lot of noise and getting dangerously close to swimmers.

I enjoyed eating for RM7 at a popular local Malay restaurant, while Nga preferred the Chinese restaurant and An enjoyed her spaghetti at the Italian restaurant.  Non-Malay restaurants serve beer with meals, but the Muslim Malay ones do not.  Two of the local minimarkets had signes saying, "No beer" and "No alcohol".

I think it's a real giggle that 'alcohol' came via Latin from Arabic: al-kuhul "kohl," the fine antimony powder used to darken the eyelids.

Not having car driving licences, we hired a car and driver one day to do a trip around the island.  We went first to Gunung Raya, the highest hill on the island,

   View from Gunung Raya 881m high.                                                          Hotel on top of Gunung Raya

Unlike the roads in Vietnam, the roads in Malaysia are very well made and well maintained. Generally, the drivers are polite and drive well, even the ones who overcharged us.

Typical stretch of road Langkawi

We declined a HUGELY overpriced one hour boat trip for RM250 the middle eastern tourists were happily taking.  I tried to bargain the boat owner down, but he refused to budge, saying, "My boat, my price." I replied, "My money, and you're not getting it."

We also declined entering a museum holding gifts to ex-PM Mahatir, because the entry cost for foreigners was dearer than for locals. I do not support discrimination, especially when it is directed at me.

We stopped for lunch in Kuah, the main town on the island.  There is not much to see in Kuah, and it's most important function is to serve as the ferry terminal for passengers coming from Pulau Pinang, 2 hours away by ferry.  Kuah has many duty free shops full of low cost whisky, brandy, vodka and other spirits from around the world.  There is also a fair selection of wines and beer.

Young Malays in semi-ninja uniform in Kuah, a very sleepy town

An enjoyed a walk up to a waterfall and wanted to swim in the  swimming hole, but did with just a wade and a play.

An playing in waterfall pool

Stream below the waterfall

Where ever we went in KL or on Langkawi, there were tourists from the Middle East, who seem to like coming to Malaysia because it is a Muslim country. Most of the women in full ninja uniform worm well done eye make-up: mascara on the eyelashes, eye shadow and eyebrow pencil.  Not much of their faces were visible, but they really did want to "Look their best".

Middle Eastern tourist in full ninja uniform

at KL Bird Park

Attractive ninja unmasked on Langkawi

 Another day the four of us went on a interesting boat trip between the islands of the beautiful Langkawi Archipelago, which looked like a mini-Ha Long Bay.

A swim stop on a small island. No food, no water, no toilets provided. 

Waiting for the ferry to return

A busy ferry terminal out on an island