October 9 - Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)

Today was a travel day, so there's really nothing exciting to talk about.  We'd pre-arranged for a car to pick us up at the hotel in Hoi An to take us to the airport in Danang.  We checked into our flight and got our bags checked without any problems.  Exit Row seat - so that was nice.  But the guy who sat next to Jon kept rubbing his face with two fingers, and this went on for the entire flight.  Who knows?

In Saigon, we caught a taxi for the $4 ride to......

THE RIVERSIDE RENAISSANCE

Milking the last of Jon's Marriott points, we'd arranged for three free days in absolute heaven and grandeur.  The Renaissance is right on the Saigon River and is absolutely beautiful. We didn't bring Jon's Marriott card, so the front desk needed proof that he was, in fact, a Gold Member before giving us access to the Renaissance Club.  But all worked out fine and we eventually got access, which means free drinks!!

We checked into one room, but it was clearly a smoking room so they switched us to another room.  We settled into room 1520 and unpacked our stuff for our stay.  We also had a whole lot of laundry to do and needed to get it done today so it would dry in time.  So for the next hour or two, I washed and Jon rinsed and we hung the clothes up around the room.  Now we're staying in a luxurious hotel room that looks like a Chinese laundry mat.

After we finally had that done, we sat down on the bed to chill out for a bit.  We hadn't had lunch, but we'd munched on Oreos and weren't terribly hungry.  "The Astronaut's Wife" was on HBO and we got caught up in the movie.  One of the hotel staff came to bring us some fruit so we had more stuff to munch on.  One of the pieces of fruit was a bizarre-looking pink and green fruit about the size of a large orange.  When we peeled it, the inside was white with black seeds and tasted like a melon.  We later found out that this is called "dragon fruit".

When the movie was over, Jon went for a run in the hotel gym and I went for a swim in the roof-top pool.  The view from the pool was beautiful and it was a nice evening for a swim.  Jon came out to join me after his run and we goofed off in the pool for a while.

Jon Goes for a Run at the Renaissance Gym (special appearance by Jon:  run #10)

So I've decided that it's the heat that is keeping me from getting out for a run, and we all know I'm not much of a morning person so I can't get up early to beat the heat...So the best solution to the problem is to run on the treadmill at the gym!  I have to tell you that the Renaissance in Saigon is the newest and nicest hotel in town, and the gym is one of the best hotel gyms I've seen in all of my business travels.

That said, I got in a nice run and headed off to the pool to where Heidi was swimming laps.

The Club Lounge

A little after 5:00, we went to the 18th floor to the Club Lounge for drinks and hors d'oeuvres.  Aaaahhhh.... pampering!  The staff is all smiles, the drinks are all cold, and the snacks are all delicious.  The view from the 18th floor is lovely too!  While we acknowledge that this type of travel has the least amount of cultural exposure, it is SO NICE.  I could travel like this all the time.  We ended up staying there for a while, munching on the hors d'oeuvres.  By the time dinner rolled around, we weren't hungry at all.