vietnam immigration - Cherieladie;

my first impression and the last impression of vietnam leaves me feeling annoyed.

when i first stepped into the vietnam immigration upon alighting from the plane, the custom officer took a really long time to process. He stared at me for the longest time and keep staring at my passport like it’s a fake. he even tried to feel my passport and inspect the page filled with my photo and particulars. ello?! do i look like im an illegal immigrant?

anyway, i couldn’t believe i took longer than everyone else to clear the immigration.. and he had to stamp at the LAST page of my passport. wah lau!!

then.. when i left vietnam.. i spotted an empty lane at the end of the immigration rows and ran towards there, only to realise that the gate displayed “no entry” even though there was an immigration officer there. disappointed, i went to join the queue behind my brother and my uncle shouted across to say that the immigration officer at the end of the rows is shouting for me.

i wondered what i did wrongly.. anyway, i ran over and he told me to push pass the “no entry” sign. went in and gave him my passport and he too, stared at me like i’m some alien. he stared non stop, then stared at my nike watch. thought he was interested, so i extended my arm and showed him the watch. he mumbled in chinese that it’s “mei” (pretty). when he asked what watch it was, i helpfully added, it’s NIKE.

and then he was like staring at me for periods of time, stared at my passport, took the stamp and when he was about to stamp, he stopped and stared at me again! he put down the stamp and then turned to me to say..”ni hen mei” (you are very pretty). i was like..”wtf! is he gonna stamp my passport anot?!”

anyway, he eventually stamped it after staring at me for the longest time (makes me feel like an alien) and i wanted to get my passport back so i forced a smile and told him to hurry. he held on to my passport and didnt have the intention to return it to me! felt so vulnerable because i could see all my family members standing at the other end waiting for me. i waited for a while and couldn’t stand it further and decided to blatantly stick my arm out and ask for the passport.

he finally returned it to me and wah lau!! i cannot stand the vietnam immigration ok?!