Hong Kong

The first-class departure lounge at Hong Kong airport was virtually empty and, after pacing up and down a few times and sipping at a free beer, I left the lounge to look for the rest of the crew, whom I knew had run into complications trying to get their large amount of equipment checked in. I found them in one of the public bars, frustrated and angry that despite having business-class tickets and having paid £1000 excess baggage charge, they had been refused invitations to the lounge. It was a sad but somewhat apt summing-up of the attitude of the place. And, quite frankly, it was a relief to be moving on from Hong Kong, this time to South Vietnam, to Saigon – formerly the Paris of the East, now Ho Chi Minh City.