Vietnameasily Handled

I had my first taste of Vietnam this morning. Well, the Embassy that is. I walked down to Jalan Stonor (and sweated just a bit) to submit my Visa ap.

When I arrived there were a lot of people who just seemed to be "hanging about" outside and so i just "hung" with them. Then a Vietnamese guy grunted at me and made a head nod towards a closed door which said "Visas" on it.

I smiled and walked towards it and slowly opened the door and peeked my head through the gap, it was like going into somebody's house, not an Embassy! No guards, nothing!

The room was packed with travellers of every nationality, most in baggy "fisherman pants" and me looking very out of place with my business attire. It was all so laid back and carefree, I struggled to communicate that I wanted to complete the form at the small little wooden rickety "desk".

I paid the cash (which cost more than my return flight!) and they returned my passport, apparently they don't need it(??) which was annoying as I paid a bit extra to have it processed "express" (2 days) instead of regular (5 working days) just in case i couldn't get my passport back in time for China - how annoying! But looking at the woman on the desk, I knew trying to go back in time and reverse my decision would be pretty much impossible.

And that was that, done and dusted in a few minutes.

I really marvel at Embassies and no matter how efficient (china) or inefficient (Vietnam) they are, the process of tourist visa applications seems so straight forward!

Bring on Vietnam! :)