Saigon: April 2016
Mid-day departure from SFO meant an evening arrival at HKG. Wandered around a bunch given I had time to kill, then up to the Plaza Premium Lounge. The United Club being closed for renovation might've been benefit in disguise given that the fish ball noodles were surprisingly decent!
Wandered over to the satellite terminal attached to Terminal 1 for my flight, which had a Starbucks planted smack in the middle of it, and had a relatively painless boarding into a very familiar United sub-fleet: a Guam-configured Boeing 737-800. They've got the slimline economy seats with mega legroom in the bulkhead row and fancy split scimitar winglets, plus power and IFE. Short flight too, under three hours to SGN.
Landing in Ho Chi Minh City revealed a surprisingly dark landscape despite it being a city of 8 million people and an airport smack in the the middle of the city. This was further confirmed on the ground to the hotel, where, despite it being not too far past midnight on a Friday night/Saturday morning, very few restaurants were still open. At least the hotel was expecting me!