Yes, I know. I still need to post something about the wedding that happened Sunday. The short version is that it was amazing, I didn’t take any photos of the fairly somber Shinto ceremony, but I did get a few from the quite opulent and formal reception. I’ll get to those, soon…really.
The wedding day continued on into a late night after-hours gathering, we woke up early to help get the other relatives off to the airport, and then the rest of the day evaporated. We cleaned up, ran some errands, met Mack and Haruka for the evening, and made another late night of it. Just in time to wake up even earlier for Mack, Harish, and I to fly to Chennai. Or try to.
We did get to the airport with time to spare and checked in, but I had issues with my visa for returning to India. Even though I have a multiple-entry visa, there are restrictions about how frequently you can return. We checked with immigration before leaving and was told ‘no problem’, but they weren’t so accommodating on this end. I need a re-entry permit to get back in within 60 days of leaving, and it’s only been eight. Singapore Airlines did let me make the first leg, but now I’m stuck here until I square things up with the Indian Embassy. Mack and Harish continued on and should soon be arriving in Chennai.
For what it’s worth, I did look into getting that permit while in Tokyo, but the embassy was closed when I went there even though the website listed it has open. I could have tried the next day, but then let myself get caught up playing tour guide and never followed up. So, I’m stuck in Singapore at cheap hotel with plans to go beg at the embassy tomorrow morning.
Oh well. Another travel adventure. It’ll all sort itself out. And, in the meantime, I’ll get a day or two in Singapore!
Hope you’re enjoying some tasty food if you’ve got to be stuck in Singapore. Good luck getting the visa sorted out! And if you have time to kill, we always enjoyed taking folks to the Night Safari- let me know if you need other recommendations on how to kill time when you’re not at the embassy.
At least you aren’t stuck in limbo at the Terminal, like Tom Hanks in ‘Terminal’!