Some Of The Crew Back In 1992-1993.
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Chick magnets
They were old style Hostesses, charming and knew their job.
They were old style Hostesses, charming and knew their job.
Keep them coming 60's...........I am sure there are plenty of us enjoying the memoires
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Jakarta 1992 1993.
We lived in a good pub but being Aussies, befriended some of the locals who weren't so well off.
DD decided he needed a haircut and climbed some rickety stairs to a hair salon in the seedy end of town we lived near and found this team. Each had a duty in the process of washing, drying, massaging, cutting, annointing the head and another massage.
Nani's hair salon went up in the local estimation when a bunch of white guys had regular haircuts. AND for those with dirty minds our wives and kids got exactly the same treatment when they came up on holidays.
We lived in a good pub but being Aussies, befriended some of the locals who weren't so well off.
DD decided he needed a haircut and climbed some rickety stairs to a hair salon in the seedy end of town we lived near and found this team. Each had a duty in the process of washing, drying, massaging, cutting, annointing the head and another massage.
Nani's hair salon went up in the local estimation when a bunch of white guys had regular haircuts. AND for those with dirty minds our wives and kids got exactly the same treatment when they came up on holidays.
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And the price of a haircut ?
Well with that team working on it, as they do.....
I think possibly 3000 Rupiah.
I know that from Darwin it is almost cheaper to fly to Indonesia or Vietnam to have a haircut....
I did say almost.....
Great stories, keep them coming guys.
Well with that team working on it, as they do.....
I think possibly 3000 Rupiah.
I know that from Darwin it is almost cheaper to fly to Indonesia or Vietnam to have a haircut....
I did say almost.....
Great stories, keep them coming guys.
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I did post some of these photos a while back on the F27 thread, some may not have seen them there.
Some photos of the 3 AN Captains on an F27 Ferry Flight from Melbourne to Norwich (England) back in 1988.
The 3 Captains as we were about to leave OZ at Broome.
The same 3 shopping in Bahrain on a day off..........
And riding camels at the Pyramids.
Finalling leaving VH-FNR with AIR UK in Norwich.
Some photos of the 3 AN Captains on an F27 Ferry Flight from Melbourne to Norwich (England) back in 1988.
The 3 Captains as we were about to leave OZ at Broome.
The same 3 shopping in Bahrain on a day off..........
And riding camels at the Pyramids.
Finalling leaving VH-FNR with AIR UK in Norwich.
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The day we arrived in Jakarta, after the arrival ceremony and prayers (We weren’t part of the feasting … luckily because we hadn’t learned that they’re not little shrivelled green beans in the food, they’re dynamite and we’d have made fools of ourselves cryin’ with gushing snotty noses) we were told by the chief pilot we would go down to DGAC and sit the air legislation exam.
We said we hadn’t sighted the book to study it.
“What need a book! You pilots aren’t you?”
We won and got a day or two to read the book.
It was a beauty. Something left over from the Dutch days.
It had diagrams in it.
The most modern planes depicted were DC-3 ish sort of plane for heavies and a Procter for lighties.
Most of the info was what we already knew but a newie for me was, “If you’re aground in your flying boat you should fire shots at thirty second intervals to indicate your plight.
Somewhere else it announced that pilots weren’t to be packin’ pistols in planes so I guess you’d sit on the wing of your sinking machine and yell, “Bang” at thirty second intervals and some cove in a canoe might paddle across, but betchya he’d be comin’ over to see what he could snaffle rather than knowing the signal.
We got fingerprinted that first day.
A fingerprinting technician with his assistant importantly arrived and set up the equipment.
A glass louver, a small bottle of biro ink and a roller.
The technician got handed the opened ink bottle and poured a dollop on the glass then with smooth sweeps or the roller, artistically spread the ink into a thin film. Looked like an operatin' theatre scene with doctor and assistant.
We were grabbed and about three sets of multiple pages of prints were taken. Thumbs, all fingers and palm prints.
Some pages wanted everything; other pages had little boxes for specified digits.
Each of us got done over and was left with outstretched black hands. The ink dried slowly till someone handed us some tissues.
When done, the assistant withdrew some sheets of news paper from his boss’s satchel and carefully cleaned the glass and wrapped it up in other sheets and stowed them.
Off they went, Techo first, followed by the brief case lugging assistant and we headed for the dunny to try and clean out hands.
Needed a few trips as you can only hold your breath for so long.
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Meantime, back in Vietnam, 1992.
As I said before all the people that we worked with were great, but the Authorities were very suspicious of any Foreigners, hopefully it is better now, but very bad in 1992.
We had a couple of offices at the Airport, as we were basically part of Vietnam Airlines, but we had no phone lines at first, not allowed a fax machine or mobiles of course. Had to send any faxes from the business centre in our Hotel (The Rex) and receive them there too, which were all censored.
The things like Maintenance Manuals that were sent up there for us we never did receive, the Vietnamese censors were still trying to read them in case there was something derogatory in them about Vietnam or Communists.
We ended up getting another set which we just left on the aircraft.
Our aircraft of course had in flight movies, however we were not allowed to show any until their censors had checked them. I went in to the aircraft when it was idle in Saigon one day with these censors to check them out.
They were okay with violence, the more graphic the better, mild sex scenes were okay, guess what movies were banned?
Any, which is quite a lot, that showed large advertisements like on billboards for Coke, Maccas or anything American.
Each week (or fortnight sometimes) when the aircraft went down to Sydney and Melbourne and return, some of the guys there used to put Aussie newspapers and magazines on board for us, IF the Vietnamese Customs saw them they confiscated them, worried locals may get to see real news.
One thing that really infuriated our Company, was the Vietnamese Authorities insisted on seeing the originals of the aircraft documentaion, the registration and ownership papers etc. They would not accept photo copies, and even an offer from our Company to send copies certified by a High Court Judge. They ended up having to send them hand held with a courier.
As I said before all the people that we worked with were great, but the Authorities were very suspicious of any Foreigners, hopefully it is better now, but very bad in 1992.
We had a couple of offices at the Airport, as we were basically part of Vietnam Airlines, but we had no phone lines at first, not allowed a fax machine or mobiles of course. Had to send any faxes from the business centre in our Hotel (The Rex) and receive them there too, which were all censored.
The things like Maintenance Manuals that were sent up there for us we never did receive, the Vietnamese censors were still trying to read them in case there was something derogatory in them about Vietnam or Communists.
We ended up getting another set which we just left on the aircraft.
Our aircraft of course had in flight movies, however we were not allowed to show any until their censors had checked them. I went in to the aircraft when it was idle in Saigon one day with these censors to check them out.
They were okay with violence, the more graphic the better, mild sex scenes were okay, guess what movies were banned?
Any, which is quite a lot, that showed large advertisements like on billboards for Coke, Maccas or anything American.
Each week (or fortnight sometimes) when the aircraft went down to Sydney and Melbourne and return, some of the guys there used to put Aussie newspapers and magazines on board for us, IF the Vietnamese Customs saw them they confiscated them, worried locals may get to see real news.
One thing that really infuriated our Company, was the Vietnamese Authorities insisted on seeing the originals of the aircraft documentaion, the registration and ownership papers etc. They would not accept photo copies, and even an offer from our Company to send copies certified by a High Court Judge. They ended up having to send them hand held with a courier.
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Airsupport, these are the things that we never heard of. People think everything was pretty much the same as good old Oz or the USA.
My kids went to Vietnam last year and reckoned there's still a bit of anger towards whitey there.
Screw him for all you can get seems to be the go.
How were you treated at destinations?
Did you walk down the streets in the dark?
Could you open a bank account?
How did the street vendors and taxi drivers treat you?
Could you get Satelite TV in the pub or were you treated to local only?
Pickpockets?
Beggars?
Tell us more.
My kids went to Vietnam last year and reckoned there's still a bit of anger towards whitey there.
Screw him for all you can get seems to be the go.
How were you treated at destinations?
Did you walk down the streets in the dark?
Could you open a bank account?
How did the street vendors and taxi drivers treat you?
Could you get Satelite TV in the pub or were you treated to local only?
Pickpockets?
Beggars?
Tell us more.
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My kids went to Vietnam last year and reckoned there's still a bit of anger towards whitey there.
Air Vietnam on the way over was a local pilot, expat (Aussie) on the way back. Cabin Crew, they weren't the same as your day sixties, these were the sourest lot I've had the mis-fortune to share a cabin with. You had to protect yourself when the meals came out, they'd literally throw them at you!
Stunning country, great experience and cheap, you fellas must have had a ball over there. Would have been even cheaper when you were there?
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Airsupport, these are the things that we never heard of. People think everything was pretty much the same as good old Oz or the USA.
My kids went to Vietnam last year and reckoned there's still a bit of anger towards whitey there.
Screw him for all you can get seems to be the go.
How were you treated at destinations?
Did you walk down the streets in the dark?
Could you open a bank account?
How did the street vendors and taxi drivers treat you?
Could you get Satelite TV in the pub or were you treated to local only?
Pickpockets?
Beggars?
Tell us more.
My kids went to Vietnam last year and reckoned there's still a bit of anger towards whitey there.
Screw him for all you can get seems to be the go.
How were you treated at destinations?
Did you walk down the streets in the dark?
Could you open a bank account?
How did the street vendors and taxi drivers treat you?
Could you get Satelite TV in the pub or were you treated to local only?
Pickpockets?
Beggars?
Tell us more.
Firstly I have not been back there since 1993 so to be fair I am sure things have changed a lot since then, but this is how things were in 1992/3.
As I said before all the people we worked with were great, no problems, we met many people who still did NOT have any time for Americans but were perfectly okay with Aussies.
Funny you mentioned whitey, I never once heard anyone call us that, what they did call us used to make me laugh because IF you said the reverse of that in OZ or the US you would be branded a racist, guess what it was?
They used to call us the ''round eyes'', as in some people (NOT me) would refer to them as say ''slant eyes", I don't think they were really being nasty or racist it was just the biggest obvious difference.
Things were much different too between Saigon as we called it and Hanoi, Hanoi was much more hardlined, when staying overnight in Hanoi you used to get all the Communist propaganda over loudspeakers in the morning, nothing like that (thank God) in Saigon where we were mainly, had permanent rooms there at The Rex, which I believe is where the American Officers stayed during the War.
Because of the way our aircraft was used we only went to Saigon and Hanoi inside Vietnam, then of course all over the place outside of Vietnam, so on duty at least we were always okay.
Were always treated okay by taxi drivers and street vendors, just you had to hang on to your wallet.
Went to a local bank a couple of times, however they would only give out Vietnamese Dongs, some 10,000 (from memory) to $US1.
Will continue this following...........................
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Airsupport, these are the things that we never heard of. People think everything was pretty much the same as good old Oz or the USA.
My kids went to Vietnam last year and reckoned there's still a bit of anger towards whitey there.
Screw him for all you can get seems to be the go.
How were you treated at destinations?
Did you walk down the streets in the dark?
Could you open a bank account?
How did the street vendors and taxi drivers treat you?
Could you get Satelite TV in the pub or were you treated to local only?
Pickpockets?
Beggars?
Tell us more.
My kids went to Vietnam last year and reckoned there's still a bit of anger towards whitey there.
Screw him for all you can get seems to be the go.
How were you treated at destinations?
Did you walk down the streets in the dark?
Could you open a bank account?
How did the street vendors and taxi drivers treat you?
Could you get Satelite TV in the pub or were you treated to local only?
Pickpockets?
Beggars?
Tell us more.
We were on some $US60 a night for expenses, standard at the time in the Company, which they cut back to $US50 a night when they found out how cheap it was there.
Still the people we worked with at Vietnam Airlines, Ground Crews etc, although some of the highest paid people in Vietnam, earnt LESS than that a MONTH.
Some of our people walked around at night, however I only ever went out at night with the group for meals etc, not worried so much about being killed or even mugged, just so many beggars and pickpockets.
One night when we arrived back at the hotel quite late from a flight about 2AM, there were these Women at the Hotel front door holding babies and begging for money, I jokingly said talk about rent a baby. Turned out it was TRUE. These Women paid an orphanage to hire the babies for night to help them with the begging.
I always tried to be careful about pickpockets, however one day (yes in the day) very near our Hotel I was walking to the markets (must tell you about them later too) and this young teenage girl bumped into me, she had one of those pointed hats they all wore (tell you later too WHY they wore them), anyway I gently moved her hat to one side and there was a younger boy with his hand in my shirt pocket, luckily they got nothing and ran off.
We had no TV at first, later on we did and included some foreign TV, but ONLY at the Hotels NOT for the locals, this was when they finally stopped censoring as much the faxes etc.
I think that answers all your questions.
More tales from Vietnam later...............
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Just to clarify the couple of things I mentioned before...............
Most Vietnamese Females (not at Vietnam Airlines but the general public) wore these cone shaped hats, obviously I guess in part for protection from the sun, but guess what one of their primary uses was???
For modesty............................
There were virtually NO public toilets anywhere in Vietnam (in 1992/3 anyway) and people just went in the streets, you quickly learnt to avoid any green patches or wet patches on the footpath or sides of buldings etc, anyway when a Female just had to go in the street they used these hats for some modesty.
Ah yes, the markets, there were several markets in Saigon (in those days) some very good, some not so good.
The most disgusting was the animal markets, so sad, you could buy just about any animals there including all kinds of birds, snakes, dogs and even bears, mainly bought and sold for FOOD.
One or two of our Pursers used to sometimes buy some of the animals and release them, but sadly I think they were wasting their time.
Eventually while we were there this disgusting place was closed down by the Authorities.
There were several other good markets where you could buy all sorts of local goods including food etc IF you were game to eat it.
Probably the most interesting, apart from the animal market, was what they called the American market.
You could browse there for hours as I did many times, all sorts of things left behind by the Americans when the got out of Saigon, many great things including tools etc.
As I said before we were the first to operate IN Vietnam for Vietnam Airlines, however during this time 2 others began ops there, Regionair with an Airbus A310 and TEA of Switzerland with a couple of B737s.
Well one of the TEA 737s was grounded in Saigon after two portable fire extinguishers went ''missing'' from onboard, and they didn't have enough spares.
Guess what......................
They found two ''IDENTICAL'' ones at the American market the next day.
Only thing like that we had was we lost a lot of baggage/cargo containers for our B767, Vietnam Airlines went chasing them for us, found most of them not far from the airport, with families living in them.
Needless to say we left them there as they obviously needed them more than we did.
Most Vietnamese Females (not at Vietnam Airlines but the general public) wore these cone shaped hats, obviously I guess in part for protection from the sun, but guess what one of their primary uses was???
For modesty............................
There were virtually NO public toilets anywhere in Vietnam (in 1992/3 anyway) and people just went in the streets, you quickly learnt to avoid any green patches or wet patches on the footpath or sides of buldings etc, anyway when a Female just had to go in the street they used these hats for some modesty.
Ah yes, the markets, there were several markets in Saigon (in those days) some very good, some not so good.
The most disgusting was the animal markets, so sad, you could buy just about any animals there including all kinds of birds, snakes, dogs and even bears, mainly bought and sold for FOOD.
One or two of our Pursers used to sometimes buy some of the animals and release them, but sadly I think they were wasting their time.
Eventually while we were there this disgusting place was closed down by the Authorities.
There were several other good markets where you could buy all sorts of local goods including food etc IF you were game to eat it.
Probably the most interesting, apart from the animal market, was what they called the American market.
You could browse there for hours as I did many times, all sorts of things left behind by the Americans when the got out of Saigon, many great things including tools etc.
As I said before we were the first to operate IN Vietnam for Vietnam Airlines, however during this time 2 others began ops there, Regionair with an Airbus A310 and TEA of Switzerland with a couple of B737s.
Well one of the TEA 737s was grounded in Saigon after two portable fire extinguishers went ''missing'' from onboard, and they didn't have enough spares.
Guess what......................
They found two ''IDENTICAL'' ones at the American market the next day.
Only thing like that we had was we lost a lot of baggage/cargo containers for our B767, Vietnam Airlines went chasing them for us, found most of them not far from the airport, with families living in them.
Needless to say we left them there as they obviously needed them more than we did.
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As I said I have no more photos of the Crews, or even the aircraft, but I am hoping some of these will be of interest, or I am wasting a lot of time.
This is the main market in Saigon, NOT the Animal or American ones but the Ben Thanh Market.
This one is the Kim Thanh Grocery Store at 64 Ham Nghi Street HCMC where most of us bought our groceries.
Also you will see in that photo and the next few that are street stalls etc around there the hats I was talking about before.
Another thing I forgot until I saw these photos again, the Authorities there were very hit and miss, these stallholders you can see in these photos are (were) all over Saigon and they are just little family businesses, their only income usually, they are left alone mostly, however sometimes without any warning, I saw it myself 4 or 5 times, Army trucks come around and with no warning or any time to salvage anything confiscate all these stalls and take them away in their trucks.
This is the main market in Saigon, NOT the Animal or American ones but the Ben Thanh Market.
This one is the Kim Thanh Grocery Store at 64 Ham Nghi Street HCMC where most of us bought our groceries.
Also you will see in that photo and the next few that are street stalls etc around there the hats I was talking about before.
Another thing I forgot until I saw these photos again, the Authorities there were very hit and miss, these stallholders you can see in these photos are (were) all over Saigon and they are just little family businesses, their only income usually, they are left alone mostly, however sometimes without any warning, I saw it myself 4 or 5 times, Army trucks come around and with no warning or any time to salvage anything confiscate all these stalls and take them away in their trucks.
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This is another street scene in Saigon, you can see (I hope) the white cabinet on wheels near the centre of the photo. This is Saigon's equivalent of ''Mr Whippy", would you buy an ice cream from him? I certainly did NOT.
You also can see in this photo one of the very famous ''cyclos'', these are usually (were then) operated by ex South Vietnam Military people who can not now (then) get any normal jobs.
Public transport in Saigon. NO I did not use them, would you?
In the second one you can see the driver climbing back in after loading yet more bicycles and baskets aboard.
This one, taken from a moving vehicle so please excuse quality, is obviouly I guess roadworks, Saigon style though. Not only all done by hand, NO machinery at all, but unlike in OZ no barriers for their protection, no stop and go men, no warning signs, hi vis vests etc etc................
This one, also not great quality and also from a moving vehicle, I thought may be of interest. It is in Hanoi, not Saigon, a whole street of nothing at all but hairdressers/barbers.
You also can see in this photo one of the very famous ''cyclos'', these are usually (were then) operated by ex South Vietnam Military people who can not now (then) get any normal jobs.
Public transport in Saigon. NO I did not use them, would you?
In the second one you can see the driver climbing back in after loading yet more bicycles and baskets aboard.
This one, taken from a moving vehicle so please excuse quality, is obviouly I guess roadworks, Saigon style though. Not only all done by hand, NO machinery at all, but unlike in OZ no barriers for their protection, no stop and go men, no warning signs, hi vis vests etc etc................
This one, also not great quality and also from a moving vehicle, I thought may be of interest. It is in Hanoi, not Saigon, a whole street of nothing at all but hairdressers/barbers.
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Okay, last one, for now anyway.
This is one of the best and most interesting things I/we saw in Vietnam, IF you are ever there you should go and see it, if you can still now.
Mind you IF I had known anyone that fought in the War, which I didn't, I don't think I could have stomached the guides graphic stories about what the VC did to these invaders.
It is the underground tunnels at Cu Chi.
That photo is our guide before the tour pointing out the details. The pink area he is pointing to is Cu Chi Province, the red lines in it are the tunnels. The blue area in front of his belt with white lines on it is Saigon Airport, the 4 or 5 other blue areas are where the US bases were during the War.
This photo is the guide showing one of the highly camoflaged entrances to the tunnels.
They also have (had) a rifle range there where you can shoot with all sorts of weapons from the War, only $US1 per shot.
I won't tell you some of the stories he bragged about, what they did to the US invaders, but if you ever get a chance check the place out.
This is one of the best and most interesting things I/we saw in Vietnam, IF you are ever there you should go and see it, if you can still now.
Mind you IF I had known anyone that fought in the War, which I didn't, I don't think I could have stomached the guides graphic stories about what the VC did to these invaders.
It is the underground tunnels at Cu Chi.
That photo is our guide before the tour pointing out the details. The pink area he is pointing to is Cu Chi Province, the red lines in it are the tunnels. The blue area in front of his belt with white lines on it is Saigon Airport, the 4 or 5 other blue areas are where the US bases were during the War.
This photo is the guide showing one of the highly camoflaged entrances to the tunnels.
They also have (had) a rifle range there where you can shoot with all sorts of weapons from the War, only $US1 per shot.
I won't tell you some of the stories he bragged about, what they did to the US invaders, but if you ever get a chance check the place out.
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Went down the tunnels at cu chi, I'm not claustrophobic but it was THE scariest stuff I've done, couldn't get out quick enough! Visiting there will confirm to you why the Americans were NEVER going to win a war in Vietnam. Shooting the AK47 at a dollar a bullet more than made up for it though!
Beer Hoi is running at around 70 cents I think.
mmmm Beer Hoi
Beer Hoi is running at around 70 cents I think.
mmmm Beer Hoi
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Went down the tunnels at cu chi, I'm not claustrophobic but it was THE scariest stuff I've done, couldn't get out quick enough! Visiting there will confirm to you why the Americans were NEVER going to win a war in Vietnam. Shooting the AK47 at a dollar a bullet more than made up for it though!
Apparently there are (were) several different levels, the higher levels have been enlarged greatly for tourists, the lower level is the real thing.
NOT having a dig at you, I did NOT go right down, scary enough on the higher levels.
