On my first ever visit to Malaysia I was there for Christmas. I don't think that there was any special festivity during my second trip, but when I was in Singapore and Malaysia en route to Europe in October 2005 it was the Hindu festival of Deepavali. In February of last year we watched fireworks and lion dances in Kuala Lumpur celebrating Chinese New Year. On this upcoming trip it is the Muslims' turn with Ramadan. Hope that doesn't mean I can't get Malay food during the day!
The easy way to get to Hoi An from Ho Chi Minh City is to fly to Danang then go via car for the final leg. Then there's my way. We had to wake at 5.30 am to get ready for a 6.15 departure from the hotel. A hotel car took us the few kilometres to the domestic terminal at the airport, where we checked into our Vietnam Airlines flight to the central Vietnam city of Hue. The airport was nothing flash, but it seemed functional. Alex had sandwiches (refused banh mi) for breakfast, then we went to the gate. Our blue Airbus A321 was parked at a remote stand, which necessitated a packed shuttle bus ride. It was nice to be aboard a full service airline again, even if the service was just a cup of water. We took off over the hazy skies of Ho Chi Minh City and for most of the smooth flight were cruising over a carpet of cloud. We descended over mountains poking their heads through the cloud, across lakes and paddy fields and over the beach. It was lovely scenery.
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