The Vietnamese Immigration Office

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Yes, in the Vietnamese Immigration Office. When our passports were returned to us by our hotel staff, containing our new Laos Visas, I discovered something unusual about my passport. It did not have an "entry" stamp. What is an entry stamp you might ask? Well, when you leave a country, you give your passport to someone at the border and they stamp your passport with the word "departed", then, they are supposed to stamp your passport with the word "entry". In my case, they word "entry" wasn't stamped, and it wasn't until 4 days before my Visa for Vietnam was to run out, that I discovered this. So, being that we had to leave for Halong Bay in the morning, I had to make a decision. The people at the hotel said they would sort the stamp out for me and I could go on the trip, but my insticts told me otherwise, so I cancelled. Couldn't have made a better decision. The next day I went to the immigration office and told them about my situation. They told me this was "very bad" and that I was to write them a letter explaining my situation, including where I crossed, who I had booked through, and a few other details. I wrote this letter, and in my opinion, to quite a professional degree. However, I did not know my border crossing, and had to call my embassy to ask them the most commonly crossed. When I returned, they asked me for my passport and told me to wait. And many hours over the next few days I did just that, I waited. I would then leave, gather more information, stress about what they were doing with my passport, then return, then wait. Then leave, then return, then wait. On my second day I returned, the day after I wrote them a letter and the lady said she had to ask her commander what to do. Well, the officer told me, at the end of the day (about 5 hours of waiting at this point with very little interaction or information on what was happening) and was told "You're under investigation and there may be fines. We need to hold your passport." I believe they also implied that I should cancel my bus ticket to Laos if i had one. It was at this point, I figured things mights be a little bad. Well, 2 days before my passport expired, the same day I was supposed to leave for Laos by bus, I was told that I had to leave the country by the next day, February 10th. And I need to leave by plane. Also, I was "recommended" a travel agency. So, I went and looked at plane schedules and prices. A flight to Laos is actually quite expensive despite it's proximity to Vietnam, so, I chose the cheapest option to a nearby country. I chose Thailand. So, with that, I boarded a plane, and within two hours I was back in the sweltering heat of Bangkok (a large contrast against the mild days and chilled nights of Hanoi). What am I doing back in Bangkok, I thought with a smile. Why am I back in Thailand? I'd like to think things happen for a reason. Well, I came online and my friend Deerli said they had VIP seating at a new club opening for that evening. Reason enough for me.

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Comments

[Eubo]

Flail
Pretty wild you got away with it for that long, easy mistake to make but all in all you´re probably pretty lucky you found it before actually trying to cross the border