Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Hong Kong

Quick couple days in Hong Kong on the way back from Saigon. HK is very warm (around 30-33C), even when compared to Saigon. Good dumplings for lunch near our office in Peking Shui Jiao Wang at No. 118, Jeffe Road. Thanks to Google for the recommendation. HKD 39 ($4.88 at the 7.99 HKG to $1 at the time) for very good hot and sour soup with dumplings. Stayed at the W Hotel Hong Kong which has a gym and spa on the 73rd floor and pool/hot tub on the 76th having good views of the city and a little bit of the harbor. The rooms are nice, with all the W touches including computer-controlled blinds and lights. The sauna off the dressing room on the 73rd floor was a highlight. Would definitely stay here again, although the food options in the immediate area were very western and the hotel is on top of the Kowloon station and its very high end mall. Had a salad nicoise (healthy!) with a side of mac and cheese (not healthy but awesome after a week of noodles and dumplings) at the steakhouse and wine bar in Central Park. Good happy hour ($5 decent martinis) until 8:30 which was nice. Their bread was essentially little cheese puffs, which were also not healthy but very very good.

Attempted a hike on Lantau suggested by Time Out (overview link). It may not come across in the article but on a sunny (really beautiful around 32C/90F) day this hike is very very warm and humid. I was on the 11:00 ferry to Mui Wo, started hiking up at Noon, and had drank 2.5L of water by 13:15. I turned around about 25 min after the country park when the trail leaves South Lantau Road. I would love to do this in the future, but would start much earlier in the day (7:00?) to avoid some of the sun and probably take a bus (1/2/3 or a couple others from the ferry terminal) for the first 2.5 km. Starting at the park and doing the 2:00 (listed at 2:45, but I suspect most people will do it more quickly) from the country park to Pak Kung Au then the Lantau Peak hike. Had lunch at the Turkish restaurant by the Mui Wo ferry terminal. The minced lamb with a side of babaganoush hit the post-hike salt need.

Looking forward to checking bags with Singapore Airlines in the train station below the hotel and getting back to SF.

HK and Saigon Pics at aklink.tcb.net/pics/2011-ap

A Few Days in Saigon

Spent a few days in Saigon for a network conference. The weather was generally good, pretty warm (mid-80s F) and very humid. It rained at least once every day of my trip which helped clear pollution out of the air and generally make things more comfortable. Smaller things are easy and inexpensive. A Mobfone SIM card bought off the street for 70,000 dong ($3.50) offered unlimited 3G coverage that was better than AT&T in San Francisco and $0.15 text messages to US and global numbers. Calling Vietnam toll-free numbers was also completely free with the card. 50,000 dong topup cards are widely available.

There are a real lack of interesting tourist activities in Saigon. A few churches are preserved, the Hotel Des Postes had many tourists but is still essentially a functioning post office with a giant (50m?) communications tower sticking out of it. The Ben Trang Market was a real waste of time, as was wandering around the backpacker district (Pham Ngu Lao).

The tunnel complex at Cu Chi is a somewhat bizarre tourist trap celebrating the efforts of the locals to resit the French then Americans with a series of tunnels dug up to 30 meters into the ground. They used these to funnel supplies from the southern end of the Ho Chi Minh Trail into Saigon. The Americans relentlessly bombed this area from 1966 until the early 1970's. The location is about 70 km from central Saigon and took around 50 min in a minibus. The tour starts with a video celebrating two locals who were "excellent killer of American". There was an advance warning from our guide that the movie was very communistic and we could leave if it was too intense, but more than anything I found it sad that given a chance to show an informational, potentially hard-hitting review of the needs behind the tunnel complex, they have gone with a 1967-era video with poorly-staged footage. I think a real loss of opportunity given what may be the level of understanding other tourists at the site may have. After the video the walking tour moves to tunnel entrances, traps for the enemy soldiers (read: Americans), a walk through an example tunnel "expanded for tourists", and to the shooting range. Yup. You can shoot an AK, an M-16, or several other automatic rifles for about $5 per round with a 10 round minimium.

Not many rickshaws around, but their drivers are pretty aggressive in wanting you to give them a dollar for a ride somewhere. What you have plenty of are motorbikes. All day and all night with incessant honking. Crossing the street, particularly a main street or around a plaza, simply requires a step of faith into traffic such that that the mass of bikes, cars, and buses will avoid you. The bikes are pretty good at doing so, car less, and buses don't seem to stop for much at all. The walkability of Saigon is pretty low, at least without considerable stress and concern for safety. The cabs from the couple reputable companies (Mai Linh, Vinasun) are very inexpensive ($2 for a 10 min ride) and generally available.

The Park Hyatt Saigon is everything that a hotel should be. Great service, excellent rooms, beds, restaurants, bars, and a decent location. You do pay western prices with local beer at $6.70, breakfast at $25 (although fantastic and obviating the need for lunch) and rooms approaching $350 with vat and service. Happy to have had a conference rate for most of my stay.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Airport WiFi Report

SFO: Free wif
HKG: Free wifi
SIN: Free wifi (with code from information desk)
SGN: No open wifi at all

Arriving in Saigon

32 hours door-to-door from SF to the Park Hyatt Saigon. Not as bad as it might seem because at least 8 of those were sleep and 5 were a layover in Singapore. Managed to squeeze most of a fantasy football draft in at 6:00 during a 90 min stop in HKG on the way.

Singapore Airlines is pretty good. Decent drinks selection and the food ranged from pretty good (glutenous rice with shrimp, chicken, and chili HKG-SIN and indian for breakfast SFO-HKG) to very meh (chicken and rice for dinner SFO-HKG). Completely worth the $50 for an exit row seat SFO-HKG-SIN, although it is next to the four middle seats that have bassinets on the bulkhead and that means screaming babies on and off for 13 hours.

The Park Hyatt is everything that a hotel should be. Over-the-top service, fantastic beds, quiet, great food at the restaurants, free wifi with good connectivity, 42" flat screens, ESPN Vietnam.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Sitting at SFO one hour before boarding. Appears that we'll get in to HKG about 13 hours from takeoff. Suppose this isn't too bad when I'm tacking 4 to SIN, a 6 hour layover, and 2 hrs to SGN on to the trip. Looking forward to some food.