Entree Kibbles: Le Saigonnais - SASCO Business Lounge @ Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam]

It was October 2022 and I still have a balance of one last lounge access to claim from Priority Pass (courtesy of Citibank PremierMiles card). Being a cheapskate, it was decided that I shall be spending it at Le Saigonnais - SASCO Business Lounge at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)!

What the heck; a shoe polisher?! Sadly, my work doesn't require business trips and my overseas journeys are all for leisure, meaning I am comfortable wearing sneakers or sometimes, even sandals / slippers. No chance to check out the polishing.

To be honest, it was a beautiful lounge with tall ceiling, great air-conditioning and an interior design incorporating elements of Vietnamese (the bamboo canopy reminding me of the A O Show) and French (vintage street lamp posts).

According this website, this was a "Vietnamese clothing exhibit including dresses designed by Vo Viet Chung, who is famous for promoting Vietnamese silk". Naïve me thought it was just a range of Áo Dài (traditional Vietnamese attire).

Personally, it would be great if airport lounges can showcase maybe those outrageous outfits worn by past Miss World / Universe representing the respective country; sure to catch the eye of travellers.

Other types of seating. My favorite would be those with high backing but that's because I am usually alone when I visit the lounge. Alex, my regular travel companion, doesn't have access to Priority Pass and too stingy to pay to use the lounge.

p.s. there's also a massage chair.

In case you have no laptops and need to use the computers to surf the web or check your email. Nowadays, I make it a point to bring along my personal laptop, since I often have to respond to work emails, and prefer a laptop over the phone.

Now the food section! Please ignore the Halloween decorations as it was more than six months since I returned from HCMC, and it's glaring reminder that I am taking way too long with the itinerary. Well, this would likely be my second last posting for HCMC!

Main dishes including teriyaki chicken, sausages, fried fish, noodles and sticky rice. Even though it's buffet style, my standard operating procedures, given my limited stomach space, would be to just take a little bit of each item.

A serve-it-yourself pho! Do you know that I didn't try any pho when I was in HCMC? There were too many things for us to try and to be totally frank, I didn't like the flat noodles in pho.

The common bread and toast.

Cake and fruits; I am a commoner and would always look forward to seeing watermelon and pineapples. Never mind, bananas are good, although I already had quite a few earlier in the morning at Vien Dong Hotel's buffet breakfast.

Drink section.

An automated coffee machine, soft drink dispenser, wine and liquor! I would love to drink as much as I could (non-alcoholic that is) but I dislike using the bathroom constantly when I am on the plane later!

And there was a full chiller with so many local drinks like guava juice, lychee juice! There were even milk, yogurt and at the bottom right; cans of beer!

Sorry, forgot about the cereals and orange juice.

If Alex were with me, he will attack the coco pops.

Time to start the bingeing! I ate so many bananas; well deserving of the zodiac animal that I was born under. Thankfully I only took half a passionfruit; too sour for my liking!

Fried fish wasn't crispy, teriyaki chicken was rubbery.

The rest were normal; not worth the calorie intake.

Pho was a surprise; nice beef that weren't too tough and I was amazed with the deliciously clear beef broth which had just that right amount of pepper and comfortable enough as I sipped the hot soup while sitting beside the air-con vent. I can literally just drink the soup, without the noodles.

Trying alcohol free beer for the first time; the Suntory All-Free, said to be "a delicious non-alcoholic beer-like beverage". Delicious, it sure wasn't! To me, this was simply carbonated soda water that had never been a choice of drink for me.

Time to check out the washrooms!

Shower facility and toilet with a spray gun. Nothing too fanciful and I guess good enough to refresh / relieve yourself. I wouldn't know much about the former as I have never travelled that far / the need to fly so frequently that I didn't have time to wash up.

Please approach the counter staff if you need items like towel, face towel, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, razor etc. hm.... how come no body wash?

Leaving Le Saigonnais with a can of Saigon Bia!