Getting There

To get to Hanoi from where we spend the winter in Southern California (La Quinta) is quite a long trip. First a three hour drive in to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), then sit around for a few hours, then a 13 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan and then an additional 3 hour flight to Hanoi.

The international terminal at LAX is quite new and very modern

and quite busy.

We flew with China Airlines which, I will admit, was a bit worrisome at first (we asked the tour company - Scenic - to arrange all our flights) but it turned out to be a very good flight. The cabin attendants all spoke better English than we spoke Chinese.

The food and drinks were good - except they didn't know how to make a good Bloody Mary. The one mistake I made was ordering the traditional Chinese breakfast which is a bowl of rice porridge and a bunch of other questionable things that you put into the porridge bowl. I managed to get a bit down but it really was quite revolting. It's no wonder the Chinese are spreading out all over the world these days - they're just trying to get a better breakfast!

The plane was modern and clean. No complaints at all in that regard.

And we were lucky enough to get seats at the front. They were fully reclining seats which turned into beds. As the flight left at midnight we were able to get a fairy good sleep.

This is a shot of the interior. Quite civilized actually. I think Terri was the only blond on the plane.

The reading material wasn't very good but it was interesting to see Trump's picture on the front page. I suppose the Chinese have reason to be worried about him too.

The one interesting thing is the route the plane took. Taiwan and China have a very difficult relationship. Taiwan considers itself to be a sovereign country but China considers Taiwan to be a part of China.

The plane did not fly over any part of China but instead took a longer route as shown below.

Another neat thing on the plane was the real time 3D image of the plane's progress.

All-in-all a pretty good experience with China Airlines!

DONE