Day 3, we explored Da Nang.
Panaroma views of My Khe beach and Da Nang from the hotel rooftop pool.
This is definitely one of the best beaches I have ever been to!
In Han Market.
Along the Han River promenade.
Brand new office building and mall under construction. Futuristic design amongst the older low-rise buildings.
Lunch.
Da Nang by night.
Dragon bridge lighted up!
A short getaway and time to fly home. As essential all flights to SIN would require a transfer at either HAN or SGN, we would have to depart rather early out of Danang. Our flight out to SGN was scheduled at a more reasonable 0945am, not at the ungodly hours as transiting via HAN requires early departure at 6am!
Danang's new terminal as we were approaching the airport. A rather generic design similar to many other newer airport terminals in the region.
The rather airy and spacious check-in hall. It was rather crowded due to the many travellers returning home after a long weekend break.
VN common check-in desks.
Unfortunately due to the full flight on this sector to SGN, we were not upgraded by Optiontown to J class. No problem, as it was a very short flight anyway. Our bags were also only checked to SGN, and we would need to re-check them to SIN at SGN.
Through security and into the departure hall, which is eras ahead of the departure hall of Hanoi airport! There were lots of shops, eateries and facilities. Probably even a nicer terminal than Ho Chi Minh as well!
Departures for the day.
VN A321 departing for Hanoi soon, with a company ATR72 just arriving from Vinh.
2 Vietjet Air A320s, including a sharklet A320, at the gates.
However, our flight to Ho Chi Minh would be departing from a bus gate. Funny that the low-cost carrier got two aerobridges but the premium carrier got assigned the remote stand.
04 May 2014
Vietnam Airlines
VN 107
Da Nang (DAD) - Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
A321
VN-A602
Economy Class
We were ferried by bus to the remote stand. This morning, a rather new aircraft would by flying us to SGN.
Boarding from the front door.
The exterior of this aircraft is so spotlessly clean!
VN's newer A321s are fitted with the new generation recliner seats in Business Class, along with personal IFE. Unfortunately, I would not have the chance to try out the new seats. I believe Silkair also uses the same seats in Business Class for their new B738s.
However, we were back in Economy for this leg. Economy seats on the newer aircrafts seemed similar as on the older planes, with no personal IFE as well. The flight seemed to be totally full!
Seat pitch was not bad though.
IFE controls, though it was not used on this short flight.
View out the window.
Soon after all passengers had boarded, crew came down to distribute refreshing tissues.
Doors closed and safety video was shown. Flying time was announced to be 1hr.
Started the short taxi to the runway.
Where we held at the entrance to Rwy17L, waiting for another aircraft to land from the opposite direction on Rwy35R. Apparently takeoffs and landing were performed using different runway headings.
Takeoff from Rwy17L.
Climbing out of Da Nang, with some great scenery.
Video of the climb to cruise altitude. We climbed to a cruising altitude of 32000ft.
Inflight entertainment consisted of the flightmap. At least it was working properly on this flight.
Cabin service started and was very efficient.
This was because all we got was a bottle of drinking water and nothing else.
With no other cabin service, I just spent the time admiring the landscape we flew over.
Bored, and started taking photos of the cabin. We were halfway there by now. Cabin crew had all disappeared into the galley since there were no more service to deliver in economy.
Seat recline was quite decent.
Soon, the pilot came on to announce our descent and gave some information of our arrival as well.
Starting our decent into Ho Chi Minh City.
Very densely populated outskirts of HCMC.
Over some fields.
Flying pass central Ho Chi Minh during the descent.
Turning for finals.
Flaps and gears down, we are landing soon!
Landing over the urban landscape onto Rwy07R and taxi to our gate at the International terminal.
Parked beside a CX B773ER at the International Terminal. This plane would be used on an international flight to Yangon for its next rotation.
My seat for the past hour.
Disembarking.
We had to disembark via stairs to awaiting buses to ferry us to the domestic terminal.
SQ B772 beside us as well.
Short bus ride to the domestic terminal and we were disembarked directly at the baggage belts. Had only a short wait for our bags, after which we proceeded to the International terminal, which was about a 10min walk away to check in for the final sector.
Very informative! Great to see inflight service from around the world!