Ho Chi Minh: wobbly taxi, hours of waiting and lost suitcases.

We start the new year with a holiday in Vietnam. This morning the alarm went off at 5 o’clock and six hours later we landed in Ho Chi Minh. Here we will be the next few days before we fly on to Hoi An.

New Year Dive

After a heavy New Year’s Day (read: it took us two hours by car to get home) we took it easy on the 1st of January. The suitcases were packed and the swimming pool didn’t stay unused either. On the 1st of January, it is 32 degrees with a blue sky and lovely sunshine. So the New Year dive took place in the pool.

Wobbly taxi

So this morning we were woken up early by the alarm clock. The night before we booked a Grab so we were sure that someone would take us to the airport. So at a quarter to six, the smallest and most ramshackle taxi that you can imagine came driving by. Three suitcases, three bags, a trolley and five people in one car… It fitted, just barely. With 60 kilometers per hour we ‘raced’ on the highway and five quarters of an hour later we arrived at the airport.

Visa

Then everything ran smoothly and the plane left for Ho Chi Minh City at nine o’clock. An hour and a half later, instead of two hours, we landed in Vietnam’s largest city. If you think by then that you can quietly go through customs and then get into the next taxi with your suitcase, you are wrong. The queue at ‘landing visa’ got bigger and bigger. This is the first country in Asia for which we need a visa, so it was quite a hassle.

Agencies

So you need a visa for Vietnam. You have to arrange this before you arrive by plane. This can be done through so many different agencies, including the Dutch, but also through the Vietnamese embassy in Malaysia. You pay for the visa, get a letter mailed to you and take it with you to the airport. I don’t know how it can happen that a lot of people, mainly Russians, arrive at Vietnam airport without a visa application. And then you’re standing there at an airport where you can’t enter the country. I was so happy this wasn’t us.

Passport

Fortunately, we didn’t have this problem. We just had to wait a while. At the first desk, you hand in your passport and the letter. After an hour your name will be called and you can (no, you have to) pay 25 American dollars for the visa at the second counter. With a little bit of bad luck, you are still queuing at customs, but that was not so bad with us. This whole process took about an hour and a half and by then we lost our suitcases…

Lost and found

After searching eight baggage belts twice, our suitcases were still without a trace. The panic doesn’t break out yet, but it does get a bit more oppressive, especially because the ac isn’t on. After some searching, our suitcases turned out to be at the ‘Lost and found’ office. Then it was time to jump into the Grab and we raced, this time we actually did, to the hotel. Time to explore the city here!