I stepped out later at night to visit Bui Vien Street, the popular nightlife zone in Ho Chi Minh City — for foreigners. I state that clearly because it’s not where Vietnamese locals frequent.
This is Nguyen Thi Nghia street, quite a busy and crowded stretch
Nearby is September 23 Park, a fairly large public park
Locals were out and about doing various activities like play badminton, exercise, walk, etc.
Central Market Taka Plaza is an underground shopping center near the park
I walked towards Bui Vien street
Bui Vien street and the neighbouring bylanes are chock-full of restaurants, hotels, hostels, tour operators, and bus services. It’s a convenient place for foreign tourists and I initially booked to stay at a hotel here. But when I read multiple reviews of hotels and many complaining about the noise, I cancelled my booking and chose to stay a bit further away.
Nguyen Hue Street is a 60 metre wide promenade and the largest such open public space in Saigon. I’ll showcase more from Nguyen Hue and its surroundings in a later post.
This is the People’s Committee building Ho Chi Minh City. It used to be a grand hotel during the French colonial era but now it’s a government building and not open to the public.
I came to this area because Citibank has an office right on Nguyen Hue Street. I wanted to use the ATM to withdraw cash as there was no withdrawal fee for Citibank card holders.
I withdrew 3 million VND for the above rate. There was maybe a ₹100 +/- difference compared to the rate quoted on XE.com. This was far more cost effective than buying USD in India and then exchanging them here.
I walked around the area to find a Vietnamese restaurant but one that had a menu in English. I wanted to eat anything besides Pho and Banh Mi, which I planned to eat later and both are dishes I could find plenty of everywhere around my hotel.
I sat down at a restaurant where most of the diners were Japanese for some reason… but I forgot to note down the name :/
I was most amused by these water-activated compressed coin/tablet towels. Apparently a Japanese innovation. You get them at Daiso stores but I managed to find them on Amazon India too.
When the waiter first gave me one, I nearly popped it in my mouth thinking it was a mint candy! The waiter told me to pour water on it but didn’t laugh at me. I’m guessing it’s a mistake he’s seen many make when first presented with such a novelty.
The Com Chien Toi (garlic fried rice) was crap… but the Tom Chien Sake (shrimp fried with sake) was delicious. Along with a beer, lunch cost me 270,000 VND (₹870/$11.25/€10.30) — a bit on the higher end for Vietnam but then again, I was in an expensive part of the city.
Post lunch, I hailed a Grab bike taxi and headed towards the War Remnants Museum. I did take videos along the way and you can watch the ‘vlog’ I made; it’s at the end of this post.
There are lot of US Army military vehicles and artillery on display outside the main building
A lot of them were abandoned after US forces fled Vietnam having lost the war
Now all this are on display as remnants of the tools US forces used on Vietnamese soil
And in the air. This is an F5 fighter jet.
There are more planes on display, some of which were shot down by North Vietnamese forces. I’m not going to upload all the photos I took. (Sorry, but it’s a lot of work)
This is a blog post accompanying a video I edited (linked at the bottom) chronicling my experience travelling during the coronavirus pandemic. I went to Bangalore (local name: Bengaluru) back in late February and initially planned to return to Kannur (my hometown in the state of Kerala). But then India, like much of the world, went into lockdown. April went by, then May and by June, despite rising cases, I figured I had to return to my parents who were by themselves.
The Indian government allowed for domestic flights to resume in June. So in early July, when direct flights resumed to Kannur, I booked my flight on IndiGo (₹2400/$32/€27) departing on July 10.
As the flight date nears, IndiGo will email you a self health declaration form. You must do a web check-in, and you are asked to print that along with the luggage tag.
All those entering Kerala from within India must register on the COVID19 Jagratha portal. That will grant you a pass/registration number to enter Kerala. When leaving Karnataka, travellers do not have to register on Karnataka government’s Seva Sindhu portal. Domestic travellers only need to register on Seva Sindhu upon re-entering/returning to Karnataka.
Finally, all passengers must install the Arogya Setu app on their phones prior to arriving at the airport.
I printed out the luggage tag, ticket, Kerala pass, and the self health declaration form. If you don’t have a printer at home, you can check-in using kiosks outside Bengaluru airport terminal and you must at least have your Kerala pass document on your phone
Among all these, the one that ended up being most useless printed document was the luggage tag. Nobody asked for it and you still end up printing out a luggage tag that needs to be stuck to your bags. Even the self health declaration form was checked only by the check-in counter staff and never asked for by anyone else.
On the morning of July 10, I reserved an Uber ride to take me to the airport. All the taxi services have installed plastic sheets dividing the driver and passenger(s) (see the YouTube video below).
Upon arrival at the airport, you have to stand in a queue while maintaining some distance. Staff will check your web check-in pass and you will be asked to present your Arogya Setu app’s ‘Safe’ status.
After which you have to stand in front of a thermal scanner which will measure your temperature. Then security personnel will ask you to place the web check-in ticket for scanning (there will be a bar code on it). Security will also ask you to present an identity card (this can be Aadhaar, passport, driver’s license, voter ID or PAN card).
Once inside, you have to then use another kiosk to print the actual boarding pass and luggage tag(s) — see the video at the end of this blog post for all those visuals. Once you stick the luggage tag, you can now walk to the airline counter to drop off your check-in bag(s). If you don’t have any bags to check-in, just take the escalator or elevator upstairs and proceed towards security.
Before you pass through the security scanner, you have to pick up a tray by yourself, place all electronics into it and the security staff will then press a button which will move the tray through the X-ray machine
All seating inside the airport have been marked to maintain distancing
Around 1.5 hours before flight time, staff will come with PPE and face shields to distribute to passengers
Full body PPE will only be give to passengers sitting in the middle rows or in my flight’s case, the ones in the aisle rows.
I had chosen a window seat for myself and so I just got a face shield. IndiGo throws in a face mask and sachets of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
Needless to say the shops at the airport are selling PPE and other protective gear
Restaurants, bars and coffee shops are also open but I didn’t see many people inside them. I cannot imagine how these businesses are going to make money at a time when overall passenger traffic is very low and most people are only travelling because they have to and it’s not leisure travel. All airports must offer some waivers on rents because it’s pretty obvious tenants are not making much money.
When it was time for boarding (which began slightly more than an hour before flight time), staff scan your boarding pass and you then proceed on to the IndiGo bus.
Flight 6E974 to Kannur was in an ATR 72-600
While waiting on the tarmac, I could see cargo planes from DHL and Lufthansa Cargo. Seems like they make up more of the current international jumbo jets flying in and out daily.
By the way, boarding takes a bit longer because staff check each passenger’s temperature before boarding.
It’s two seats on either side. Fortunately I had nobody sitting beside me.
BIAL Terminal 2 construction continues
The flight departed on time…well, easy to do nowadays given the airport isn’t very busy
I know I was merely flying home but I still felt good knowing I was flying again 🙂
There is more footage from the sky in the video I made but the flight was smooth even though I was in a turbo prop airplane. But it takes slightly longer. One hour flight time versus less than 50 minutes when I first flew to Kannur in a larger Airbus jet.
Upon landing in Kannur, I went straight to the toilet, washed my hands and face with soap and disposed off the face mask and gloves I wore when I left my house in Bangalore.
Here is what follows as you head down to collect your bags.
The first queue is for arrival passengers to get their temperature checked
You will also be given a self reporting form which you have to fill up with your personal details
Once you get the self reporting form stamped, you can then proceed to collect your bags. Then head to the pre-paid taxi counter to book your ride. When I arrived, I was told pick-ups by friends and family weren’t being allowed at the moment.
This is the fixed rates passengers have to pay for taxis. To go to Kannur town, it costs ₹1200. Click here for a larger image so you can see all the tariffs for the other destinations.
Then the next line is at the National Informatics Centre (NIC) desk where officials will enter all the details from the self reporting form into their database. This information will be shared with local police and health officials in your home area.
NIC officials told me I would have to observe 14 days home quarantine. International arrivals would have to spend 28 days in home quarantine.
After that, you can go to the doffing room — an area where you can take off and dump the face shields into plastic bags. You must dispose off airline-provided PPE and face shields at the doffing room.
Fortunately it did not rain throughout my journey
Once out of the terminal, I was again stopped at another desk who asked for my contact details. Probably the biggest inconvenience was trying to understand what various staff at both airports tell you because their voices are muffled behind their masks.
I then boarded my taxi, which too had plastic sheets dividing the passenger and the driver. Due to road traffic being very low, I reached home quickly.
Once I got home, I went straight upstairs after greeting my parents from a safe distance (no touching). I immediately took a bath, sprayed disinfectant all over my bags and clothes. My mother came upstairs with my meals which she placed at a desk near the steps. I would do my dishes and wash my own clothes until my quarantine ended. I had brought a stock of snacks and chocolates to keep me occupied too 🙂
Every day for the next 14 days, local Kerala police personnel (come rain or shine) would come by my house to check if I was indoors. I would show my face through the upstairs window and basically give my ‘attendance’ 🙂
Over the weekend, a policeman would even make a visit wearing plain clothes. None wore full body PPE but all would wear masks. As long as they are safe going from house to house.
In between, I received calls twice from health officials to check if I had any symptoms and how my mental health was during this time. All in all, a good system with only a few hiccups. I was asked by Kerala Police to install an app for monitoring my location but after installing, it never worked properly (registration wouldn’t even work).
On the 14th day of home quarantine, the visiting police officer asked me to call a number of local health official. Upon speaking to the health official, she told me since I had two elderly parents at home, it is better that I stay upstairs for 14 more days and only go downstairs when needed. But I was still not allowed outside my house and was asked to avoid physical contact with anyone for another two weeks. She said there have been cases where international arrivals showed symptoms on the 14th day so it’s better to be safe.
After 28 days, I will be issued a certificate stating I’m in the clear and I can step out again. I will update this blog post with whatever additional information I have as I go through this quarantine experience.
I decided to film and write about all this in case others were nervous or wondering about whether it was safe to be travelling by flight at this time. I hope others find this information useful. If you did, feel free to like and share my blog post or just share the below video I made about my journey:
UPDATE: 7th August 2020
I got my Quarantine Release Certificate
I was told to collect my certificate from this Urban Primary Health Centre before 1PM
