I am sitting in window seat 19K on this Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321 from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh. The plane absolutely stinks of sewerage and upon entering the cabin we are knocked-back by the disgusting smell. The flight attendants say the heavy rain is causing the smell but I can’t see the correlation.

This is a very old plane with no individual AV system, instead it has a number of screens attached to the ceiling of the plane. Luckily I have my iPad with me so I study Chinese for about an hour.

Either the smell has disappeared 30 minutes into the flight or we are just used to it, but lunch is served – a choice of chicken or beef (I choose beef) and I don’t feel ill eating it. It’s actually quite good. And a whole banana!

The flight is only 1 hour and 40 minutes so before I know it we have hit the tarmac in Saigon.

Thank god for that!

Rating: 5/10