We very nearly didn't make it to Singapore. We had been 'reliably' informed it was ok to leave Vietnam 48 hours after the expiry of our visas by various travel forums and travelers, however we found this wasn't entirely true. Upon checking into our flight we were asked to report to the immigration office, where five seedy looking, laughing officials greeted us. We were informed that we would need to pay a fine (which we assumed would be reasonable eg $25 as mentioned online). After much deliberation and waiting we were informed that the fine would be $420 USD. To give some perspective this was much more than we were paying on accomodation a week! We knew at his point these corrupt officials thought their payday had arrived...our trump card however was saying 'thats fine, do you take credit?'. Concerned looks were exchanged and they said 'no", but you can take out money from the atm downstairs'. We told them our credit card did not allow cash advances (total crap of course) and we had already used up our cash, other than what Russ held in his hand (about $10 worth of local currency). The stand off continued for awhile, even with them asking if we had friends in Vietnam who could 'help'us! We seemed to make some progress when Tash mentioned the Australian & English embassies, kindly offering them to help resolve the situation. We were also lucky that Singapore Airlines stepped in and offered to have their local Chairman speak with the head of imigation.
After the officials finally established there was no money to be made from us, we were escorted back to the airline and allowed to check in. We felt as if we had won the lotto but managed to maintain poker faces until boarding the flight, whereby we celebrated with lots of drinks, enabled by a very friendly hostess who freepoured wine, some times even before we had requested it!
We landed in Singapore giggling and relieved, happy to be somewhere clean, safe and familiar. As we had been here about five years ago we spent our time nostalgically seeing our favourite parts, and also seeing some new attractions which weren't here last time. Russ's highlight was food related (obviously), specifically curry in Little India, and Tash's was the Zoo, walking around like an over excited five year old on a sugar high.
It is impossible to summarise how amazing the last eleven months have been. We have spent time with family & friends we do not usually see, met some incredible people who have made the journey that much sweeter, seen Europe like we always said we would and have been amazed and challenged by SE Asia. We have climbed a mountain, hiked rivers, spent more time on buses, trains and planes than is healthy, and partied with the best of them. We have laid on what seems like a thousand beaches, tripped to islands, seen ancient buildings and landmarks and been challenged and excited by so many cultures, people and ideas. Tash has seen lots of animals in the wild! We have had stomach bugs, mozzie bites, leech bites and Russ even dislocated a finger....and we wouldn't change anything. It has been a epic journey and one which we will never forget. You could never have said 'we have not lived' before but now.....
We head for home tomorrow, happy and contented and ready to settle and stay put, at least for awhile... :) Hope you've enjoyed reading our blog - we will keep it for ourselves as a record of the fun we have had!
Russ & Tash
