Day 1-2: Asia, I Can't Leave You
My parents are on a 3-week cruise from Lisbon to Cape Town,
stopping at various islands and African nations. Currently they are in
Lanzarote. Why do I bring this up? Because it is this fact, and the more
exact fact that the cruise started on November 15th and will last
through December 7th. So they are on a boat for Thanksgiving.
Because of that my sister and I took that as an opening to spread our wings as
well. She’s off to have Thanksgiving with her in-laws, and I took a few extra
days off and decided to head back to East Asia. After doing a trip to Korea in
2022, and Japan in 2023 (and both trips including quick jaunts to Ho Chi Minh
City and Bangkok as well), I didn’t do one this year in September… and I miss
it – what can I say.
The impetus of this trip actually is directly attached to
that first Korea trip. Due to a typhoon that hit basically the day I was supposed
to land, I had to delay my trip a couple days, and change itineraries – having to
cancel trips to Busan (the days of the typhoon) and Jeju Island (likely still
unwalkable). It always left me feeling I saw Korea a bit half-baked. Well – two
years later I’m making up for lost time. Half-way, I guess, as I still won’t be
seeing Jeju Island (a nature-heavy destination isn’t ideal in late November),
but will be seeing Busan, and also Gyeongju – a more traditional old town in
the South of Korea. Add in a day in Seoul at the end, and my customary two days
in Ho Chi Minh City and day in Bangkok at the start, and you have a tightly
packed 11-day trip.
It all starts with a flight from Newark to Haneda (Tokyo) –
finally being able to use my plus-points (United’s upgrade scheme) for the
first time on a longhaul flight since February (when I got my upgrade to Frankfurt
cleared to start my Turkey & Cape Town trip). I guess mid-week to Tokyo is
a pretty low demand route for people to just buy business class, as my upgrade
cleared a week before the flight, and the day before everyone on the 10-person
upgrade list got cleared.
The day started with a quick trip to the Polaris Lounge,
which was fairly empty given there aren’t that many international flights
leaving in the morning. I went to the a-la-carte dining area and ate half of a
huge omelet (really well made), chugged down a couple cappuccinos and was off
to go. I had the better of the United Polaris seat formations, where the seat
is closer to the window, and the side table & cabinet area are closer to
the aisle. The flight was great, even if I slept less on it than I was hoping
to (and less than I did on the same flight a year ago).
United has for a while talked about slowly upping their catering
game, and while it still isn’t close to any Asian airline, it was quite good on
this flight. The appetizer of duck with parsnip puree and apple was well
thought out, as was the crunchy Asian salad. The main of sirloin with mushroom
sauce, and roasted carrots & potatoes was actually one of the better steak
dishes I’ve had on a plane. The sundae is good as always. Their Chilean red
wine was excellent. All in all, a good main meal – paired at the end with a
good Japanese “breakfast” fo curry cod, rice and miso soup. Two good meals,
some good drinks, some good movies, about 4-5 hours of sleep, and before you
know it, I was landing in Tokyo.
I had about a three hour layover in Haneda, and since the
airport is like Singapore where if you are doing an international connection
you get let out right into the departure area without needing to re-do
security, I could maximize that time quite well. The ANA Lounge was close to
the gate the flight arrived at. The Lounge isn’t the best – I think I noted
this as well in my blog last year that I would’ve expected more from ANA, but
there are some good features. First, a really nice shower suite, which was
sorely needed. Second, the had a really nice sake, which helped since their
food options were fairly poor.
Of course, I ended up getting to spend some extra time in the lounge since the flight got delayed about two hours due to "mechanical issues". I put it in quotes because it seems looking at the particular route's flightaware history, that every few days it gets dealyed the same two hours. Anyway, the flight was fine in the sense I had two glasses of sake, had their meal (a nice lightly fried chicken dish), and then slept.
We reached late enough that immigration was quick, the drive from the airport to my AirBNB in the heart of downtown was quick, and then so was the grab taxi over to The Gin House - reaching at 12:45, almost exactly one hour after landing. The Gin House was one of my original cocktail haunts in HCMC dating back mostly to my 2019 and 2022 trips. When I returned in 2022, it was a bit sad that post covid they gave up basically half their space. Well, this time they've moved a couple blocks away and got a larger space, quite reminiscent of their pre-Covid peak. The gin-based cocktails were great as usual.
What's also as great as usual is Pho Quynh, the 24-hour Pho spot nearby that has been a post-drinks/EDM staple for every trip. The place, even on a quiet Thursday, was humming. What's also nice is it is right at the end of a street that if you start walking down the street becomes quite seedy (to be fair, not really seedy - but let's say quite Bangkok-ish), but Pho Quynh is accessible on the main road. It is the best way to end a day (hint: upcoming ranking of late night food spots...).
