The normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam occurred on July 11, 1995. Five years later, former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea Clinton went to the Land of the Blue Dragon, the first President to do so since the war ended.
As part of his trip to Saigon, President Clinton sampled the local fare at a restaurant called Pho 2000, a designation given to commemorate the President’s visit. Since then Pho 2000 Saigon (not to be confused with Pho 2000 Tenderloin) has become a must eat for tourists traveling to Vietnam. The place has gained so much popularity that they changed locations, now conspicuously located above a Coffee Bean in downtown Ho Chi Minh.
The first time I went to Pho 2000 was in May of 2010. Tricked by the President’s endorsement I had two quick bowls before wandering the streets of Saigon like George Costanza in search of suitable facilities to relieve myself. In 2013, as part of my Trip Heard Round the World and on assignment as a pho pundit, I returned to Pho 2000. With a stronger stomach and with an emergency evacuation procedure plan in place, I was ready to give Pho 2000 Saigon another shot. Unfortunately, the upgrade only applied to the facilities and not to the pho. While the moniker reads “Pho for the President”, the food is not even suitable for us pho plebeians.
Understandably, Pho 2000 is milking the publicity of President Clinton’s visit by investing their time in marketing not manufacturing. This is evident by the patrons of Pho 2000 of whom none are locals and by the employees who meekly serve bowl after bowl while their faces deliver another message- eat somewhere else.
It is for shame that Pho 2000 has become the first stop for international epicureans wishing to sample an authentic bowl of pho. The misrepresentation of this national dish will leave them disappointed, their taste buds the ultimate victims should they choose not to spring for another bowl.
To them and to President Clinton I say, fear not for on your next visit TPOL shall tell you where to go.
A bowl that isn’t empty isn’t a real bowl.
Do you feel richer on the road than at home?Disclaimer: TPOL was compensated for providing a referral link for Jurlique, my favorite lip balm.
Is life better on the road? Holding the quality of life in Mongolia as a constant, the answer, thanks to hotel room amenities is yes. On my recent trips to Japan, China, and Korea, I made a concerted effort to gather all the free hotel room amenities from my flights and stays. I returned to Ulaanbaatar with a treasure trove of body lotions, shampoos, conditioners, cologne, lip balm, a sewing kit, shaving gel, and a St. Regis luxury brand toothbrush.
While unpacking, curiosity and boredom got the best of me so I decided to Google the prices of these fancy potions. I was astounded to find that these ‘free’ giveaways cost more than a year supply of Axe Total Fresh 3-in-1 Shampoo+Conditioner+Shower Gel, conveniently available for bulk purchase at your [not my] local Costco. I am no expert in the field of body scrubs, revitalizing shower gels, and rejuvenating skin treatments, but I do have to say that the so fresh n so clean feeling that comes from using these products may be worth the cost of admission or, more aptly put, the cost of a night’s stay at an upscale resort.
Prioritizing for what is important in my daily budget, grooming goodies were never high on the list as I believed that soap is soap and shampoo is shampoo. I thought the same was true of lip balm until I flew Cathay Pacific and received a $35 tube of Jurlique lip care. Now, I dare not use anything else. Of course I say this tongue, lip, and cheek.
Looking out the window as the smog and pollution toxify the blue skies of Mongolia, I wish, for the sake of my skin, that I had kept all the hotel room amenities from my trip heard round the world. Alas, all I can do now is hope to preserve my current stash till my next voyagé.
Speaking of which, how’s award availability to Hong Kong aboard Cathay looking this holiday season?
Liquids, gels, aerosols?Shaving Gel? Bath Salts? Apart from the illicit kind who purchases these costly wonders?That’s a St. Regis toothbrush and sewing kit.I pity you Sephora
It’s great to be gold but diamonds are a churner’s best friend. I signed up for the Hyatt Diamond Challenge and received a trial Diamond membership for 60 days by sending a screenshot of my Hilton Gold membership. To meet the Hyatt Diamond Challenge, I needed to stay 12 nights in 60 days at Hyatt hotels, something I should’ve strived harder to do.
Even though I did not complete the challenge successfully, I still took advantage of the perks by using it on a trip to one of my favorite countries in the world, Argentina. Not only was I staying in diamond class, I also managed to book a business class ticket on Delta SkyPesos for only 100,000 miles which included a free roundtrip ticket to Mendoza.
Join me on this Trip Report as I venture to Buenos Aires and Mendoza for Malbec and steak in style.
Here are the highlights from my trip to Argentina in August 2013.
The Lounge:
Delta Sky Club at Hartsield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
The Flights:
PHX-ATL (Phoenix-Atlanta)
ATL-EZE (Atlanta-Buenos Aires; Delta BusinessElite; Boeing 767-300ER)
I’m inching closer to the full transition and integration of my blog onto the BoardingArea server. All the featured images have been added and adjusted for size, the deadlinks, like Lazarus have come back to life, and everything seems to be in order.
Checking everything on the back-end has taken a lot of my time so accept my apologies for this lame post.
At the same time, if you do come across any errors anywhere I’d be grateful if you would point them out.
Till next time, let’s play the game that all lazy bloggers host when they have no time to write: Can you guess where this picture was taken?
For my next trick, I’m introducing another Trip Report: Round the World Dividends From the Geographically Challenged.
It’s a shame that US Airways is merging with American Airlines. As part of the merger, AA is mandating a geography class for all US Airways whose services will be retained. The blogosphere is littered with tales of savvy travelers who have taken advantage of what is either apathy, incompetence, or less cynically put, superb customer service to book flights from the United States to the moon with a stopover in Seychelles.
In 2013, I took a chance booking a round-trip flight from Istanbul with a stopover in Seychelles an extended layover in Toronto with my final destination of Los Angeles.
Agent: So you are going from Istanbul to Seychelles then back to the United States? Hmm, is Istanbul in Asia or Europe?
Me: …
Agent: Do you happen to have the flight numbers?
Me: Yes
Agent: Please hold.
Cue Anxiety Hold Music
Agent: OK, that’ll be 60,000 miles and $160.
Today, I still have no idea if US Airways considers Turkey to be in Europe or Turkey to be in Asia. According to the Country Count List, it’s technically in both. Either way, how this was considered a round-trip ticket is a question left to be contemplated by a higher power.
Thanks to US Airways’ great customer service, I was able to visit the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) in Istanbul, Anse Source d’Argent beach in Seychelles, have pho with my cousins in Toronto, and catch up with friends at Cabo Cantina in Marina del Rey all for 60,000 US Airways Dividend Miles and $160.
My only complaint was that I had to do it all in coach and the slight visa issue I had in Sudan.
Care for a Trip Report? I have one.
It is my bold contention that this is the greatest award redemption of all time. I raise the challenge to any blogger, frequent flyer, or foe to prove otherwise.
How did I do it? A ton of points, 1,163,214 to be exact. The feature of which was the American Airlines Explorer Award.
American Airlines used to have a round the world ticket called the Explorer Award which allowed you to fly 50,000 miles on 16 segments so long as the trip was completed in a year all for 230,000 AAdvantage Miles and $275 in taxes. In October of 2013, I spent weeks planning, calling, and booking this lifetime achievement which started in Phoenix and included stops in:
Toronto, Ontario (Unable to go due to move to Mongolia.)
Los Angeles, California (Unable to go due to move to Mongolia.)
Phoenix, Arizona
*Note that the American Airlines round the world ticket took me from North America to Asia, Australia, and Africa then back to North America only to return months later to Europe; around the world and back again.
Flight highlights include:
JAL 787 Dreamliner from San Diego to Tokyo
Cathay Business Class over and over again
Maldives Seaplane
Qatar Business Class (overrated)
Lufthansa First-Class Lounge and First-Class flight prior to United devaluation (Unable to go due to move to Mongolia)
Hotel highlights include:
Park Hyatt Sydney
Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
St. Regis Mauritius
W Doha
Park Hyatt Moscow
W St. Petersburg
But that’s only a small portion of the itinerary. I spent hours color coding an Excel spreadsheet that showed when I was going, where I was going, how I was getting there, and the costs in points versus the cost out-of-pocket.
I flew most of the 63,000 miles in business class and stayed at some of the world’s best hotels. Retail, this trip goes for over $77,000 but it cost me roughly $5500.
Here’s the complete breakdown:
Now that I’ve thrown down the gauntlet for the best awards redemption of all time, who’s up for the challenge of showing me I’m wrong?
Southwest Airlines gives you free Dish television on your own device. Internet is only $8 all day so if you have to make a connection you don’t have to pay again.
Lufthansa which had the best Wi-Fi for my experience (though I did get scolded by the flight attendant for using Skype) charges the following:
HotSpot Pass Sky 1h: €9 or 3,000 miles
HotSpot Pass Sky 4h: €14 or 4,500 miles
HotSpot Pass Sky 24h: €17 or 5.500 miles
As a matter of principle, I refuse to use Boingo, electing to surf the world of my own thoughts since Boingo has commandeered free Wi-Fi at many airports.
Then there’s Singapore Airlines which charges US$9.99 for 10 MB.
When I flew Singapore Airlines A380 from NRT-LAX (Tokyo-Los Angeles), I was so thrilled with the experience I rationalized paying for this overpriced Wi-Fi. I signed up and logged in. Within minutes due to Facebook notifications, emails, and opening web pages, I had reached my quota. Nevertheless, I had to finish this post: It’s Thanksgiving…Without the Annoying Relatives feeling that I owed it to everyone to show how great Singapore Airlines Suite Class is.
When I heard that a passenger was charged $1200 for Wi-Fi on a Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore, I definitely wasn’t shocked. The passenger said he wasn’t streaming content, only opened a few pages, but admitted that he fell asleep while keeping the Wi-Fi active.
Besides providing the T&C’s that none of us read, Singapore Airlines also has an option to cut off your service when the purchased threshold has been reached. Why this passenger didn’t think to check that box is beyond me.
The real question will be how Singapore Airlines responds to this PR situation. This story reminds me of a guy I met last year in South Africa who received a notification from his US cellular carrier that his roaming bill was $1000. Puzzled, he explained that he had purchased an international data plan. The carrier acknowledged this purchase but directed the man to check the Country Count List where he would find that Lesotho, though landlocked, is its own country. His ignorance of this fact was not rewarded.
Will this passenger’s fate be the same? Should it be?
Get off the Wi-Fi and Get Comfy
The press in Seoul is Americano. The duality of being in a foreign country and state side at the same time pegs South Korea. The familiarity of Western life is more than the identifiable storefronts. Indeed, everything apart from the Korean characters looks like home. What’s more striking is the assimilation of its people to Western ways. While I’m no expert in Korean history, it is safe to say that lattes and iMacs aren’t indigenous to this country.
The globalization of brands isn’t exclusive to Korea. There’s an Apple store in every corner of the world. The difference in Korea is how the Western lifestyle has been incorporated to such a degree that it is no longer Western, it is Korean.
This metamorphosis is punctuated by Korea’s emerging role in the global economy. Take brands like LG, Samsung, and to some degree Hyundai. Once regarded as inferior to their international counterparts, they are now household names.
Where does this cross cultural phenomenon leave me? Lost in the streets of Seoul. For as much as everything feels like home, it is still all in Korean.
Cosmetically the move to the BoardingArea server is complete; the menus are easy to use, the ads are doing their job by bating you in, and the overall site is a thing of beauty.
But much like a Scottsdale bottle popping bimbo, looks can be deceiving. Many of the beautiful links go no where, some of the content isn’t up to date, and sometimes the site reverts to the old server.
This is to be expected and will be fixed at once- almost at once. I’m headed to Korea for the weekend and know if I start fixing anything there I’ll never leave my aLoft room.
I ask for your patience as I strive to develop the greatest points and travel guide website the world has ever seen. If Apple gets a pass for their iPhone glitches then I hope I do too.
Till then, it’s orange cone season at ThePointsOfDeadlinks.
Gangnam style! It will never go away especially if you’re traveling through SE Asia.
Today, I’m on my way to Gangnam for a couple of days at the Aloft Seoul Gangnam, another hotel I’ll be reviewing in the Hotel Reviews section. Clearly that overplayed song has influenced where I will be staying in Korea.
To honor the occasion, here’s a pick of President Obama and Psy all made possible by his song about the neighborhood of the newly rich.
Apparently it’s Gangnam not Gangman. Should I feel more silly not knowing the words or for perfecting the dance?
See you in Korea.
The normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam occurred on July 11, 1995. Five years later, former President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea Clinton went to the Land of the Blue Dragon, the first President to do so since the war ended.
As part of his trip to Saigon, President Clinton sampled the local fare at a restaurant called Pho 2000, a designation given to commemorate the President’s visit. Since then Pho 2000 Saigon (not to be confused with Pho 2000 Tenderloin) has become a must eat for tourists traveling to Vietnam. The place has gained so much popularity that they changed locations, now conspicuously located above a Coffee Bean in downtown Ho Chi Minh.
The first time I went to Pho 2000 was in May of 2010. Tricked by the President’s endorsement I had two quick bowls before wandering the streets of Saigon like George Costanza in search of suitable facilities to relieve myself. In 2013, as part of my Trip Heard Round the World and on assignment as a pho pundit, I returned to Pho 2000. With a stronger stomach and with an emergency evacuation procedure plan in place, I was ready to give Pho 2000 Saigon another shot. Unfortunately, the upgrade only applied to the facilities and not to the pho. While the moniker reads “Pho for the President”, the food is not even suitable for us pho plebeians.
Understandably, Pho 2000 is milking the publicity of President Clinton’s visit by investing their time in marketing not manufacturing. This is evident by the patrons of Pho 2000 of whom none are locals and by the employees who meekly serve bowl after bowl while their faces deliver another message- eat somewhere else.
It is for shame that Pho 2000 has become the first stop for international epicureans wishing to sample an authentic bowl of pho. The misrepresentation of this national dish will leave them disappointed, their taste buds the ultimate victims should they choose not to spring for another bowl.
To them and to President Clinton I say, fear not for on your next visit TPOL shall tell you where to go.
