Finally on my way to Vietnam! Now my experience at the border wasn't a good one! The bus from Savannakhet was full to the brim of Laos people and I was the only westerner...this wasn't a problem - until I got to the border! It seemed as though the guards at the border had never seen a British passport before. Everyone on my bus was stamped out of Laos, stamped into Vietnam and were back on the bus. I was the only one taken aside to a small room saying 'Health check' above it....this made me think of horrific procedures and I was very worried as to what they were going to do to me! The guard pointed what looked like a taser gun at my head, and seeing the worried look on my face, he laughed and wrote down my temperature. -_-
So they kept me at border control for over an hour. Every ten minutes or so, they would come and ask me a question, such as "Are you German?" (clearly they didn't get the British passport..) "Are you sure you haven't been to Vietnam before?", "Have you lost your passport before?" And "Are you sure you declared it as lost?" It turns out I had lost my passport about 6 years ago, and with all the questions I was slowly convincing myself that someone had been jetting around the world on my old passport! No one spoke good enough English to reassure me of my crazy thoughts. I asked if I could speak to the bus driver in order to make sure they waited for me...but the bus had gone. Now I was really worried! Running about like a dafty, panicky tears filling up...I thought I was stranded with no bags. They made a motorbike action to me - and I thought we were going to catch up with the bus...which I thought would be pretty fun! But a few minutes later...they came back on the motorbike with the bus driver on the back! He had come to reassure me that they hadn't infact left...they were just ten minutes away getting petrol. Phew. Seems silly panicking, but no one told me and it definitely wouldn't have surprised me if they had left!
They then gave me back my passport - clearly the tears had helped! So we walked for 15 minutes back to the bus (I still think maybe they were leaving without me...) and as I got onto the bus, I was apologising profusely for keeping them waiting for over an hour - thinking I would be received with an angry mob of people! But instead, I got a round of applause and was told continuously that I was beautiful. Everyone here is just so entranced by how pale I am...I thought they would be used to tourists but apparently not! Lots of people touch my arms, hair, stare and take photos...it's not something I want to get used to...
Arrived in Hue! The old capital of Vietnam.
Art gallery by the river...(couldn't take photos inside):
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