Out flight from Singapore was only just over 2 hours even though it is suggested that it is about 3.5 hours
We saw the Visa on Arrival service and went straight over as there not many people there. Quite a few French people in front of us.
We gave our Visa on Arrival Letter (something we pre-purchased about 3 months ago – I think we paid about 15 USD per person for this). We were told to go around the corner.
We waited and waited and noticed that people after us were getting processed before us.
What they were doing was placing the passport down on top of the other passports after processing so only the latest passport was being given back to the travellers.
Since we were quite early getting processed, we were almost LAST to get ours back. Not too much of a problem.
Note: CASH ONLY – 25 USD per person (or Euro + probably other currency – NO ATM)
In Singapore I changed a $50 AUS to $50 USD (well + a couple of SG dollars)
We we had our visa, we went through to immigration – looked like 2 open places to go through – no queue since we took so long at Visa on Arrival.
They took quite a while to process the request and we noticed that the immigration desk/place next to ours had an immigration officer inside but he just played with his phone and did not want to serve anyone!
We then picked up our bag and went straight to Custom – nothing to declare – probably what they wanted!
We met our driver that we had arranged through the hotel to take us from Airport to the Hotel.
We needed money so we went to an ATM – 1 NZD is about 15,000 Vietnamese Dong – but is only about 12,500 at money exchangers.
At the ATM we thought we may need 20 Million – about $1300 NZD – But no go – said we should take 2,000,000 – we flagged this and decided to get some in town.
We later found out that 2,000,000 is all you can get from an ATM which is about $130 NZD – and they charge you 20,000 VND as a processing fee – $1.30 NZD
So pretty crappy really since 130 NZD really buys not a huge amount - we will be hit for $10 NZD + $1.30NZD per $130 NZD in fees!
So we are off in our ride to the city – about 40 KM or so – about 1 hour – we pass lots of rice paddies
We arrive at the hotel and find it to be pretty much as they describe it on the web site which is nice – we are paying $105 USD + 10% Tax per night.
We end up sleeping for about 3-4 hours as we are quite tired and then decide to “venture” out – about 5pm local time on a Friday Evening!
The roads are very busy – the footpaths are by motor bikes and shops – we walk on the road edge
Crossing the road to get to the Lake is a mission – 100’s of motor bikes and cars per minute – but we survive without injury.
We get to the lake – called “Hoan Kiem” and it is very green – not inviting at all – but we are Tourists and check it out anyway.
We walk along the edge of the lake and see people doing Thai Chi and generally relaxing around the edge of the lake – did not notice any Mosquitos.
We saw a lady run across the road – she had a basket of what looked like Croissants – just behind here was a Police Man – he caught up with here and they had a dispute about the basket we assume. She held on and more police arrived – she would not let go – we noticed a 3rd police man call in on his CB and then a truck with a tarpaulin turned up. The cop in the end got the basket off the woman and put it in the back of the truck. The woman was not happy still arguing with the police and was not very happy. In the end the cops went away, the truck drove off, no arrest and an irate woman! No idea of what really happened.
It started to get dark so Pam & I walked back to the hotel – we found quite a few people who thought we needed a new wallet – starting price, 350 (we assume thousand) in the end it went down to 100 (again assume 1000)
We did not buy – if it was 100,000 VNG when that is about $9 NZD
