Vietnam is loud, chaotic, and a country that’s rich for the senses. The food is delicious and very fresh, we are talking no preservatives, right from the garden and sea straight to your stomach. The country is geographically varied from large river deltas in the south to tropical coastlines to desert like regions with huge sand dunes to the mountains and cold weather of the north.
The people are independent and vary from friendly to rude. There is a theme of do whatever you can do to further yourself regardless of how you do it mentality that I find a little disturbing at times. This may stem from Vietnam’s past of constant attempts of colonization and control by the Chinese, French, Russians and the United States. The people here are very resourceful, able to make due with whatever they can find and make it work. The country seems to be one of little patience and order, but yet it functions and seems very successful capitalistically for a country that is supposedly communist. Perhaps Vietnam is a land of opposites.
Andrew and I have most enjoyed our time in Mui Ne where the lifestyle is about relaxing, enjoying nature and meeting interesting people. Most of the people, especially the Europeans, we have met are on long 2-3 month extended vacations. Some people have these types of vacations through their jobs, while others quit their jobs and are seeing the world for half a year before returning home and resuming their life. I found this concept so foreign to Americans. Compared to Europeans, we work so hard and for so little time off, plus many of us wouldn’t even consider quitting our jobs and traveling the world for a few months. This type of activity is just not in the American psyche, but maybe it should be. There is something to be said for seeing the world, there is also something to be said for taking responsibility for yourself and your financial situation.
Would I recommend visiting Vietnam? Yes. It is an interesting, beautiful and chaotic country. If anything, visit it for its gastronomic delights and its close ties to our own history during the Vietnam War. We found it a very different country from that portrayed in the media in the 1960s and 1970s.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
More Pictures from Vietnam
Just because everyone likes a good photo. Starting from the left, a pig crossing a pathway near a Hmong village, some Hmong boys near a store as we hike back to Sapa (there were laughing at Andrew as he unsuccessfully tried to work their spinning top), a wreckage sculpture of b-52s shots down in the Vietnam war, Rayna trying to bargain with Hmong women in Sapa.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Scams….they’re the worst. Like many travelers, Andrew and I came across some scams while traveling in Vietnam. We will share them now with you in hopes that they will help people to avoid future scams.
Scam #1: We didn’t arrive to Hanoi until late on Sunday night, so I booked a hotel on-line that was highly recommended by our lonely planet guidebook. I booked a standard room for $12-18 dollars/night. When we arrived that night, the small hotel was overbooked and we spent the night in the owner’s bedroom. Since it was 1am, we didn’t protest and just fell asleep. The next day we were moved into a normal room, that was ok except for the occasional smell of sewer gas and the fact that there was no hot water when there should have been.
I never got a direct quote on the hotel since it said it was $12-18 a night, but we found out upon checking that that is the price for 1 person, 2 people and the price goes to $25. Rigggggggggghhhhhhhht…….Can you sense the sarcasm? We found this out on the day we were leaving but didn’t want to argue too much because the hotel had our clothes because they were doing our laundry. The hotel owner had also booked our night train tickets to Sapa and would be driving us to the train station later that night. We were in a pickle. Lesson Learned: Always get a price quote before you stay somewhere and never stay at City Gate Hotel in Hanoi.
Scam #2: We were told that our sleeper car on the night train would be nice and have only 4 bunks. We ended up with a not-so-nice sleeper car train with 6 bunks per berth that not only had every bed filled but one of our sleeper mates was a Vietnamese man who wanted to smoke cigarettes. I don’t think so. Andrew told him in so many words that he was not allowed to smoke in our cabin. We survived the night but were not happy. On our second night train back to Hanoi we upgraded to the 4person sleeper berth and were much happier. Although we still felt burned at having paid the 4person sleeper berth price to begin with and then having been ripped off by our hotel. Lesson Learned: Always confirm and ask questions when booking any trip.
Scam#3: Just because you’re white and look like a tourist, people like to rip you off. I can take a little overcharging here or there, but there comes a point when you get annoyed (I like to say Hanoiannoyed) and get upset. Our second night train arrived in Hanoi at 4am, so we took to the streets to see what we could find to do. We ate at a nice street soup shop for 15,000 dong a person ($1). We decided to go to that same street stall for soup that evening and we were then charged 30,000 dong for the same soup ($2)! We refused to pay it and explained that we ate there in the morning for only 15,000, so there is no reason the soup would have doubled in price over the day, not to mention the fact that we say other people there only pay 15,000 for their soup.
Lesson Learned: Keep your eyes peeled for what the locals pay and do not back down.
Scam#4: Andrew and I wanted to change our plan ticket back to Ho Chi Minh City to a day earlier. When asking travel agents to do this we were met with a number of different prices to change tickets, ranging from $0 to $15. We had to go to the actual airline office to change our tickets and when were there at Pacific Airlines, they said that it would now cost $25 because there were no more economy seats and we would have to go to first class. We decided to go for this change after they said that they would pick us up at our hotel and drive us to the airport (which would be a $12 taxi ride).
The day we were to leave, the airline did not pick us up (as they had said they would and gave us a printed confirmation of this), so we had to have a taxi rush us to the airport. Talk about stressful. Then when we board the plane, we discover that there is no first class and that the plane is all the same class and we are stuck in a 3 seater with andrew on the aisle and myself in the middle (oh, great)! Disappointed does not even begin to describe how I felt.
Its one thing to get scammed on the street, but to get scammed from the actual airline office of Pacific airlines is another thing entirely. And this was not a misinterpretation between the two languages, but an outright scam. I didn’t think businesses could be that unscrupulous! These are the moments when I appreciate America and its laws.
Lesson Learned: Asian businesses are sometimes without morals.
Scam#5: We organized our flight back to Ho Chi Minh City around catching a 5:30pm train to a city nearby Mui Ne. I had asked a travel agent about the train schedule and he called and said that there was a 5:30pm train that traveled on the weekends. We got back to Ho Chi Minh on Saturday and took a taxi to the train station only to discover that there never is a train at 5:30pm on the weekend. When will the lies stop people! There was a train the next day at 6am but Andrew and I wanted to get out of the city as soon as possible, so we just bucked up and paid $65 to have a taxi drive us to Mui Ne.
Lesson Learned: Always double, triple check everything. There are lies everywhere.
To end on a happy note, now that we are back in Mui Ne, we have not encountered any scams and are ending our vacation on a happy, relaxed note. Amen!
Scam #1: We didn’t arrive to Hanoi until late on Sunday night, so I booked a hotel on-line that was highly recommended by our lonely planet guidebook. I booked a standard room for $12-18 dollars/night. When we arrived that night, the small hotel was overbooked and we spent the night in the owner’s bedroom. Since it was 1am, we didn’t protest and just fell asleep. The next day we were moved into a normal room, that was ok except for the occasional smell of sewer gas and the fact that there was no hot water when there should have been.
I never got a direct quote on the hotel since it said it was $12-18 a night, but we found out upon checking that that is the price for 1 person, 2 people and the price goes to $25. Rigggggggggghhhhhhhht…….Can you sense the sarcasm? We found this out on the day we were leaving but didn’t want to argue too much because the hotel had our clothes because they were doing our laundry. The hotel owner had also booked our night train tickets to Sapa and would be driving us to the train station later that night. We were in a pickle. Lesson Learned: Always get a price quote before you stay somewhere and never stay at City Gate Hotel in Hanoi.
Scam #2: We were told that our sleeper car on the night train would be nice and have only 4 bunks. We ended up with a not-so-nice sleeper car train with 6 bunks per berth that not only had every bed filled but one of our sleeper mates was a Vietnamese man who wanted to smoke cigarettes. I don’t think so. Andrew told him in so many words that he was not allowed to smoke in our cabin. We survived the night but were not happy. On our second night train back to Hanoi we upgraded to the 4person sleeper berth and were much happier. Although we still felt burned at having paid the 4person sleeper berth price to begin with and then having been ripped off by our hotel. Lesson Learned: Always confirm and ask questions when booking any trip.
Scam#3: Just because you’re white and look like a tourist, people like to rip you off. I can take a little overcharging here or there, but there comes a point when you get annoyed (I like to say Hanoiannoyed) and get upset. Our second night train arrived in Hanoi at 4am, so we took to the streets to see what we could find to do. We ate at a nice street soup shop for 15,000 dong a person ($1). We decided to go to that same street stall for soup that evening and we were then charged 30,000 dong for the same soup ($2)! We refused to pay it and explained that we ate there in the morning for only 15,000, so there is no reason the soup would have doubled in price over the day, not to mention the fact that we say other people there only pay 15,000 for their soup.
Lesson Learned: Keep your eyes peeled for what the locals pay and do not back down.
Scam#4: Andrew and I wanted to change our plan ticket back to Ho Chi Minh City to a day earlier. When asking travel agents to do this we were met with a number of different prices to change tickets, ranging from $0 to $15. We had to go to the actual airline office to change our tickets and when were there at Pacific Airlines, they said that it would now cost $25 because there were no more economy seats and we would have to go to first class. We decided to go for this change after they said that they would pick us up at our hotel and drive us to the airport (which would be a $12 taxi ride).
The day we were to leave, the airline did not pick us up (as they had said they would and gave us a printed confirmation of this), so we had to have a taxi rush us to the airport. Talk about stressful. Then when we board the plane, we discover that there is no first class and that the plane is all the same class and we are stuck in a 3 seater with andrew on the aisle and myself in the middle (oh, great)! Disappointed does not even begin to describe how I felt.
Its one thing to get scammed on the street, but to get scammed from the actual airline office of Pacific airlines is another thing entirely. And this was not a misinterpretation between the two languages, but an outright scam. I didn’t think businesses could be that unscrupulous! These are the moments when I appreciate America and its laws.
Lesson Learned: Asian businesses are sometimes without morals.
Scam#5: We organized our flight back to Ho Chi Minh City around catching a 5:30pm train to a city nearby Mui Ne. I had asked a travel agent about the train schedule and he called and said that there was a 5:30pm train that traveled on the weekends. We got back to Ho Chi Minh on Saturday and took a taxi to the train station only to discover that there never is a train at 5:30pm on the weekend. When will the lies stop people! There was a train the next day at 6am but Andrew and I wanted to get out of the city as soon as possible, so we just bucked up and paid $65 to have a taxi drive us to Mui Ne.
Lesson Learned: Always double, triple check everything. There are lies everywhere.
To end on a happy note, now that we are back in Mui Ne, we have not encountered any scams and are ending our vacation on a happy, relaxed note. Amen!
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