A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
As I mentioned earlier today, I was heading to the US Embassy in Vientiane this afternoon to get more passport pages. I did not have high hopes for this little venture, due to my previous experience with our illustrious foreign service.

When I had to replace a stolen passport in La Paz, Bolivia, the yahoos at the embassy attempted to maximize my frustration level. I would go through security, wait in line, then the dimwit behind the bulletproof glass would tell me something critical that I needed to get (different sized photo, drivers' license, $64 US dollars in exact change, etc). So I would leave the embassy, walk down or up the hill to get it (La Paz is all hill, and I was recovering from a 6 day flu during which I had eaten approximately 3 times), then return with the requested item, go through security, wait in line, and then be told by the troll behind the window that there was another critical item I needed. After three of these trips, he informed me that all was in order and I would get my passport in two to three weeks. Two to three weeks!! I had gotten a passport in one day when I was living in DC, and I knew they sent a diplomatic pouch up north every day. Since I was in a decidedly poor frame of mind at that point, I proceeded to raise hell, speak to the Counsel, and get an agreement to get me my passport in one week. The point here is that they go out of their way to be difficult at embassies. And I guess the other point would be not to piss me off.

In Ho Chi Minh City I didn't have any problems quite that annoying, but that may have been because they were never open. When I arrived in Saigon the citizen assistance section was open Monday through Friday, 8-11 and 1-4 or something like that. Within a couple of months they must have realized that they were being WAY too available to the citizenry, and cut back their hours. Now the HCMC Consulate is open Monday through Thursday, 8:30am to 11:30am. Yes, our public servants are available to us a whopping twelve hours a week. Hope those guys aren't working too hard.

So those of you who have not had the misfortune of dealing with US Embassies overseas will not understand the overwhelming wonderment I felt during my visit to the Vientiane US Embassy. The amazing thing about my visit was that they were so helpful! And friendly, too! I don't know whether it's because this is such a tiny backwater country or what, but these folks were like a whole different species than the embassy people I've previously encountered. I showed up at 4:30pm (the Burmese weren't the speediest in handing over my passport), which is actually closing time in the Consular section. So when I showed up at the window after going through security, I was essentially about 10 minutes late. But here's the amazing thing -- the girl working the counter said she'd talk to her boss and see if they could help me, and then they actually did! I now am the proud owner of 22 additional blank pages in my passport, ready for action.

So I the day has finally come when I cannot complain about the staff at a US Embassy. Oh wait, I did spend the first two paragraphs doing that very thing. I guess there's never really a day that I can't complain about something.


Copyright 2003 Katy Warren



posted by Katy at 3:23 AM