And so to 1:30pm where I was perched on a small stool waiting with a crowd of people for the office to open after lunch.

gentlemen, start your engines.
I was in the area for collection of foreigner’s documents so was cautiously optimistic that I was in the right place.
By 2:30pm I had an Emergency Travel Document and Exit Visa in hand and we were on route to the airport. Hurrah, but let’s be honest, we’d been there before.
We missed our 3:45pm flight to Phnom Penh but it had done the job of getting me the exit visa. We bought new flights (we have spent so much money, ouch!) for a flight leaving at 6:30pm only to then discover the flight was delayed until 10:40pm.
But all was ok with Vietnam immigration as I was stamped through and given a boarding pass. We’re off to Cambodia (again) if we ever get out of Ho Chi Minh City Airport!

This has certainly been an exercise in How Not to travel through South East Asia!