While I was in Hanoi I needed to get another Thai tourist visa so that I could return to Thailand and finish out my trip. I was hoping I wouldn’t run into the same long lines like I encountered in Laos, but I decided to go over early just to be cautious.
I asked my hotel about getting a cab to the Thai Embassy. They asked me if I had Grab because it is better than a taxi service. Grab is the Asian equivalent of Uber. You will get you a cheaper fixed price than using a taxi who will try and charge you as much as possible. They might as well not have meters. I requested a car on Grab and was on my way.
I walk into the Embassy and to my surprise there are no lines and only one or two other people filling out applications. I filled out my form at the desk and handed it to the lady behind the glass. The Thai Embassy in Hanoi requests more supporting documents then in Laos. I needed to supply a copy of my bank statement showing sufficient funds as well as a plane ticket in and out of Thailand.
The lady had a quick look through my documents and said I was missing my plane ticket out. I had mistakenly only printed out my flight to enter Vietnam. She was accommodating and allowed me to pull up the reservation on my phone and took a photo of it. After that I was all set. It couldn’t have been smoother.
I requested another Grab to get me back to my hotel. From there I headed down to the Old Quarter to see St. Joseph’s Cathedral. It was one of the first buildings constructed by the French in 1886. It is still home to the Roman Catholic Archdioceses of Hanoi
On the way home I wander down whatever street looks interesting. I love the some of the architecture and well worn look of the buildings.
The Tet Festival, or Vietnamese New Year, was coming up soon and there were stores selling lots of red and gold decorations. These stores were doing a lot of business with huge boxes zipping off somewhere on the back of a motorbike.
