$$

I need a visa to get into Vietnam – and I knew this, which is why I had applied online months ago. I’d got my invitation letter from the Vietnamese government, along with my two passport sized photographs and my (rather extortionate I thought) $50 visa entry stamp fee. Even after all that, I still had to queue to fill in the same form again to get the visa from the immigration officer, who did no more that just thrust the form at me, wave me along away from her window to the ‘form filling in area’ and then hold out her hand for the $$ before pointing me to the direction of passport control to gain entry. Nice.

I did want to get into the country, so I obliged without tutting too much, but I did wonder what the point of me filling in this form online was, only to have to do it all again now.