17.02 Day 33 Chiang Mai to Saigon
Day 33 - Saturday 17th February - Chiang Mai, Thailand to Saigon, Vietnam
Time to try one's luck in a new country. Flight not until 13:45 so time for the kids to have a swim after breakfast. It's been great having the time to be able to spend four nights at the same place, especially with Kate being sick. That said I don’t think she is thrilled by the prospect of flying or indeed moving generally.
We stock up on some baked goods from the bakery around the corner and the Grab Taxi arrives to take us to the airport. After our visit last weekend we are familiar with the layout and I stand in the slow moving queue whilst the kids explore upstairs and down.
When we get to the front it’s clear why it’s so slow - the check in attendant checks every letter of our 4 visas against our passports painstakingly slowly.
But they’re strict - I have one American group to my left who are told they can’t check in without a visa; they say they’ll get the 30 day visa on arrival, but the check-in team are adamant. If ours was a short trip, I also thought we could get that visa type, but seemingly not.
To my right a lady with our flight to Saigon is also told she can’t check-in even though she has a connecting flight 3 hours later, her downfall is that it’s with a different airline.
We have our own drama in store ahead at Immigration. We knew we were 3 days overstayed on our Thai visa - the night before I had written a letter explaining why, complete with screenshots of dates of original flight bookings and visa application dates. Then google translate was my friend (and I checked the sentiment with reception).
I hand our passports and letter to immigration, trying to drag Seb to the front to work some of his Thai charm. However the officer is unmoved, although a little apologetically sends us with a lady to a room to pay our fine.
On the door is a large poster titled ‘Procedures for Overstaying Aliens’. That involves us having our name added to a large book naming and shaming those overstaying aliens - a cursory glance shows 10+ others on the list today, most 1-3 days like us. One relief is that, like all the temples we’ve visited, the kids get away scott free, not dragged down by their parents' indiscretions. Fine = 500 baht / day = 3,000 baht = $150.
After check-in commotions, it's not altogether unsurprising that the plane is only ⅔ full. An easy 2 hour flight and views of the city as we come into land at Saigon / Ho Chi Minh. Thankfully there are no visa dramas on the Vietnam end as we came through immigration.
Again I’d arranged (and probably overpaid) had Sienna and Seb’s name printed with a taxi firm to greet us, avoiding the hassle of all the touts offering rides. Just getting into the car is hot, it’s 36 degrees and stays that way everyday with only a low of 26 overnight.
The roads are as manic as Bangkok, perhaps with even more scooters. The taxi driver has a very precise spatial awareness and just avoids all the two wheeled vehicles as everyone tries to weave their way forward.
We’re dropped at Anam Homestay, a narrow 4 storey building with a cafe downstairs, the owner on the first floor, then 2 rooms on each of the other 3 floors. Our large room faces the street and we’re instantly struck by the background noise. Kate collapses in bed whilst the kids and I find a bite to eat before also passing out.