The Holiday from the Holiday from the Holiday

Just a fill in on the fun and frollics since I went AWOL a couple of weeks back. I returned to NZ to do some work and have a holiday from the holiday, but have now rejoined Jane in Vietnam. It was nice to get back to NZ for a couple of weeks catch up with friends and dose up on meat with Jane's folks (big thanks to Cathy and Tim for the hospitality and the chance to see the America's Cup).

Returning to the fray in my usual mad-rush sleep-deprived state I had all sorts of fun getting back to Vietnam; First Air NZ check-in in Auckland, where they were not going to let me fly to Hong Kong because I didn't have a flight out of Vietnam, now I informed them that this was in fact bollix because Jane had done exactly this 3 weeks back and I had a Visa and please stop being such dicks etc but unfortunately they own the airplanes and the appropriate rubber stamps. After an hour and me remembering that I had an onward ticket from Malaysia to Dubai in August (prooving intent of leaving Vietnam) they eventually relented and I was on my merry way. However the sequel to this was yet to come.

I got to Hong Kong with a ticket in had to go to Ho Chi Ming city (old Saigon) however about two weeks ago Jane got bag-snatched by a motorcyclist whilst getting out of a taxi in Hanoi and lost her passport, a credit card and some money. A real bugger and an inconvenience (not too bad as we are insured), but an object lesson in why women should always keep a BSM (big strong man) around to cry with them when it goes wrong. Anyhow the upshot was that Jane had to spend two weeks around Hanoi waiting for replacement so I wanted to meet up with her there instead. I rebooked for a flight to Hanoi, and was just in the process of checking in when they informed me that they wouldn't let me fly without an onward ticket from Vietnam. Bugger and Crap. So with 10 minutes to go before boarding I had to rush off and book a ticket out of Vietnam (cost about $300) so that I could fly in. Of course arriving in Hanoi no one checked to see if I had such a ticket (confirming my beliefs of it's inconsequentiality) but sometimes you just have to take it on the chin. I would love to know why it is that the countries that westerners have the least likelyhood of wanting to stay in long-term are the ones that make it most difficult to travel in and out of. The people's collective's of China and Vietnam should pull their collective heads out of their collective arses, the third would is nice for a visit but you wouldn't want to live there.

I managed to meet up with Jane for a few hours in Hanoi before she jumped on a 17 hour bus trip to Da Nang (halfway down Vietnam on the coast) where we hope to spend a few days in Hoi An - a nice beachy town. I am joining her today by the far more civilised means of flying.