Little sleep is had from the Airport Hotel but we get on and up with our day

A coffee bag each and scoot out the door by 8:45am

We make a start by heading the wrong way to the bus stop… thankfully, we’re actually early enough to get back and still make the bus we’re aiming for

Straight to the check in desk, right at the furthest point possible, where we actually buy a check in bag – oh, how the mighty have fallen! – we do get a BOGOF price so let’s us chill without massive weights for a couple hours ????

Through security breezily and straight to a little place that sorts us a couple of toasties and coffees as a deal… no photo, as we were so tired we forgot, but have a boarding pass photo instead

Panic as the board suddenly changed to “final call” so we dash to our gate and get boarded

The plane isn’t packed so after take off, we shuffle and get a row to ourselves

Daisy tries to nap, unsuccessfully, and we flip between variations of activities to not become deluded of boredom

We grab some noodles, as a snack, having to pay with three different currencies as their card machine wasn’t working

Several hours into the flight and coming to near the end, we’re told we have food included in our ticket too – no photos again as we were starving

Finally, we get a view of the ground and we’re so low it must be our destination – land ho!

Gooooooooooooooooood afternoon, Vietnam ????

We’ve landed in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and it takes a while to get through passport control but after we collect our bags faff-free

Over a year ago now, we arrived here on our way back from Thailand to the UK, as we had to change flights – we didn’t stay overnight so it didn’t properly count but we knew we had to at some point!

Out of the airport, we get straight to a Grab taxi – it’s one of the best in Davesy’s opinion

Only 6 kilometres but it takes almost an hour to get to our stay, G9 Homestay – Nguyen Trai, as the traffic is crazy – bikes everywhere!

It’s an excellent find by Dave from the get go: like a little apartment with a big telly, en suite and a kitchenette ????

Shower quickly and then out to collect some cash and for dinner

We passed Zumwhere in the taxi on the way in, thinking it was quite fancy-looking, so figure it’s worth a shot

Beef ribs and beef stir fry with some tiger beers – speedy and friendly service but the portions are rather slim!

We go home via a place our hotel has recommended: O Tinh House

The venue is very nicely done with little noise from the road – impressive for being so close to a multi-way roundabout

We order the chicken wings, a beef/pork/lemongrass pattie with kafir lime gravy and two local Huda largers

The owner, Van, is very friendly and accommodating with our jetlag and giving some recommendations – he even let’s us pop upstairs to the balcony to get a lush view (this post’s featured image)

This is definitely a quality establishment to visit: great food, cheap beer and super friendly people

A very knicky-knacked Davesy call it a night and try and get some sleep after an extra long day ????