Visa on Arrival

One of the reasons why I picked Vietnam as a holiday destination was that thanks to the wisdom of google, it appeared getting a visa wouldn't be too tricky. This was a primary reason, along with the fact that (a) I had never been there before and (b) I got a really cheap deal. All important factors in the decision making process. But I will admit, I was quite skeptical, never having heard of this process before. Essentially, you go to www.myvietnamvisa.com, pay $19USD, fill in a form and they'll send you a letter which you present upon arrival (only if you're coming by air though), pay a $25USD "stamping" fee, and you're good to go. Seemed a bit dubious. But astonishingly it worked! The only downside is that every other traveller to Vietnam was clearly trying to get their visa at the same time too, so it took quite a while (especially as some had taken the option of paying extra to have someone meet them there and take them to the counter - something I didn't think worth doing - but the benefit of this though was that the customs guy then dropped everything and did your visa next. Or so it seemed to me. An hour or so late I was good to go - but now there was a new problem, as the luggage belt for my flight was no longer showing on the screen, and no one seemed to know which one it had been, or indeed where the luggage was now. It was only by chance that I, in the course of completing a "lost baggage" form, overheard an official tell someone else who said they'd been on my flight that it was belt 2 - so i stopped filling in the form, hoofed it over there and luckily my bag was there! Thank goodness. Next step after customs and baggage handling was to get to the hotel. Easier said than done - the bus stops running at 6pm everyday and by now its 730 - no trains, no bus - what to do? Taxi was the only option but we all know how much of a rip off they are. Alas I had no choice, and headed for the ranks, only to be accosted by touts trying to charge me a good but exhorbitant "deal" - not one of them wanted to put on the meter, and several tried to say that i had to buy a taxi card in advance for 400 000 dong (about $40 USD). The guide book fortunately warned against all these and I eventually managed to find some poor soul willing to put on the meter, and we set off. Which I then immediately regretted. Now I've travelled by car in many different countries, especially those with intriguing road rules, but I tell you now, nothing can prepare you for the traffic experience in Vietnam! There's something like 8 million people in Ho Chi Minh, and half of them own scooters - and all seemed to be on the road at that time! Talk about madness! Even in the Middle East their driving was infinitely safer than this - here not only did we have several "lanes" of traffic - as many as you like, but no one abides by traffic lights! So you've got cars and scooters going every which way, even on the wrong side of the road - and there's beeps and light flashing going on everywhere. Madness. But on top of it, no one goes slow - my driver was weaving in and out at a ridiculous speed, so much so that i had to close my eyes as scooters, trucks, buses, cars all veered dangerously close to us. It was so rough that in the taxi in front of us the poor passenger stuck her head out and had a vom! Eventually we safely made it to the hotel and I checked in. This hotel, the Bich Duyen, is on the main street of the backpacker district, and is pretty clean and equipped with the mod cons, all for a very reasonable price. I paid $35USD for 2 nights which included an air-conditioned room, ensuite, tv, free wifi and breakfast. Pretty good. The only funny thing was having to take shoes off at the door - but other than that, all good. Oh and the fact that I didn't have a window, which was odd. But I did however sleep very well...