22nd March 2010
We had thought that it would be easy enough to get to the airport in Kuala Lumpur, which is some 60kms from the centre. After all, we had booked the shuttle bus, which we had been told ran on demand, and paid for our tickets. But of course, this is Asia, they do things differently here.
We arrived at the bus terminal just across the street from our hotel at 11am to be told the bus would leave at 11.30am. No problem, still plenty of time so we sat down to wait. At 11.30am a man shouted for the bus to the airport, then led us out of the bus station across two streets and had us waiting on an island between two roads for the bus. By 11.45am the bus still hadn’t arrived, it was hot and noisy waiting for it, so we jumped in a taxi to KL Sentral so we could take the train instead.
At the train station we were faced with another half hour wait for the next train, but when it came it was lovely, all clean and modern and air-conditioned. Fabulous.
It took us half an hour to get to the stop we needed to catch a shuttle bus to the low cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur airport (they keep all the riff-raff in the same place here!)
After checking in at one of the automatic terminals, we then queued for ages to drop off our bags, before eventually heading through security to the gate and something to eat.
Our flight was delayed by an hour, so from being worried we wouldn’t get here on time we went to having loads of time to kill. Typical!
When we did finally board the plane, it was a bit like being at a bus terminal. We had to go through the doors and follow the signs to F75, a good 10 minute walk from the terminal building, with people diverting off at different stages for different planes. No wonder the flight attendant made sure to announce 3 times that this was the plane for Ho Chi Minh City.
Karen had given us very specific instructions as to which taxi company to use from the airport to avoid getting ripped off. So we found our little man in a green shirt from Mailinh and ordered a taxi. While we were waiting another passenger approached us and told us he had been quoted 300,000 dong into district 5 (a lot!), so we told him about being recommended Mailinh and he booked with them too. He also then recommended them to another British company who were struggling to find a cab. So Mailinh did quite well out of Karen’s recommendation.
We sat back in the taxi and let the vibrancy of Ho Chi Minh City wash over us. Wow! What an experience. The first thing you notice is all the bikes, everywhere at every angle. It’s like travelling in a sea of bikes, some with 4 people on them! Some getting so close to the car they were touching the wing mirrors. All wearing masks, not a bad idea considering the fumes. Lined up at the lights, it looks like a race about to start. Manic.
Unfortunately, our little taxi driver (he looked about 12) couldn’t find Karen’s street. We went up and down the main street Hai Ba Trung about 3 times, with him periodically getting out and asking people, then trying again to find it. Each time he crossed the road I was afraid he was going to get killed - Ho Chi Minh in rush hour is not an easy place to cross the road, but each time he just kept walking and the bikes seemed to miss him.
Eventually he found another taxi driver and asked him then managed to find it. Karen says that if we’d been with another firm, they probably would have dumped us out of the taxi and we’d have had to find it ourselves, so we’ll definately be looking for Mailinh taxis while we’re here.
After a catch up, we headed out for something to eat. Eating out or ordering in is so cheap here it hardly makes sense to cook. We went off around the corner for Banh Xeo, a pancake filled with prawns and pork and vegetables. It was a small street stall where the ladies were sat on their tiny stools cooking them to order over hot coals. We also had barbecque beef, lotus salad and fresh spring rolls. The small prawns in the meal are eaten whole, shells and all, which wasn’t as bad as it first sounded. A truly delicious meal washed down with a local beer which is about 50p. The meal itself for three of us came to around £12.
