The Great Escape

 

After 12 days in Vietnam, we were more than ready to leave . JB reckoned that remnants of Agent Orange in the atmosphere were giving him 'brain fug'.

Indeed,  for the last 3 days, he's been running on his auxiliary brain, which, although obviously still larger than a normal one is way below his usual capacity.

I think it's fair to say that the country hasn't really lived up to the Vietnamese Tourist Board  hype.

What they promised:

What we actually got:

Of course  it's not all like that. There are some scruffy bits of town too......

We hatched our escape plan over several days, carefully covering all eventualities. 

Tensions were understandably high then, as we boarded the (daytime) sleeper bus to Ho Chi Minh.

8 hours later, we arrived,  and endured a somewhat hellish taxi ride under cover of darkness to our overnight accommodation . 

The next morning, still fearful that we'd be forced to stay,  (we still had 2 days left on our visas, )we arrived at the airport.

Check in went OK. 

Then came the news we were dreading. The flight had been mysteriously delayed. Surely we wouldn't be thwarted at this late stage.

Finally, the plane arrived, we boarded, and then......

We were free!!!

Next stop, Bangkok.

Actual scenes of our desperate bid for freedom.