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Published: February 13th 2007
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The Long Drive to Tam Coc
The Trip to the Mountains At 8am this morning we were met by Han, our tour guide for our trip to Tam Coc, which is located about two hours south of Hanoi. When we approached the van there were already two other tourists waiting. We introduced ourselves as we entered the car and were pleased that the first couple, Ian and Pam, were from Australia. Australians have a reputation of being friendly which we’ve always found to be true, so things were looking up for the tour.
As we drove around and picked up the other 6 people from various hotel’s around Hanoi, Ian and Pam and Kel and I chatted about our trip and about Brisbane, their home town. Ian works as a professor at a university in Brisbane while Pam works as a graphic designer at the same school. Throughout the day we continued to chat and enjoy the company, it’s always a ton of fun to meet new people!
After everyone was settled into their seats in the van we were off for the two hour drive outside of town. The trip does not
involve going that far but due to the insane traffic in Hanoi the trip takes a good while. We stopped about half way for a potty break but were very quick so that we could get to our first destination on time.
Out first stop was a couple of 17th century temples which had been created for local kings. The temples were pretty cool but we didn’t enjoy them as much as we could because our tour guide, Han, was a little oppressive in his insistence that we stick together as a group. At one point, Kel and I wandered away from the temple by about 50 feet so that we could look at some relics. Han quickly approached us asking us to stick with the group. We replied rather dejectedly, “Ok,” to which he responded, “do you want to go back to the van?” While we knew that Han was being nice by asking us if we wanted to go back to the van as it seemed to him we were bored, it completely felt like having a third grade teacher threaten to send us to the bus while we were on a field trip. Uncool.
It
turned out the rest of the group was equally as kerflummoxed by Han’s need to keep us within a 20 foot radius of him. We all shook it off and figured that Han was just stressed and was worried about our time table.
Lunch, Sales Pitches and Beautiful Scenery After the temples, most of the group took the van on to lunch while 2 members of the group and Han decided to bike on to the restaurant. While the crazy bikers caught up to us the rest of the group enjoyed a decent lunch near our final destination. Kel and I got a chance to talk more with Ian and Pam and a British couple (we never caught their names) who were on a year long trip like us. It was cool to finally meet some people who were crazy enough to quit their jobs and pursue a trip like us.
After the decent lunch with fabulous company it was finally time to take the boat trip through the Tam Coc mountains. Han, and the bikers, arrived to send us off in the little boats that are rowed, by locals, through the rice paddies surrounding
the mountains. Two passengers were allowed to board each boat, so Kel and I jumped into a boat and set off to see the beauty.
We had been warned, by our guide book, that the Vietnamese capitalism shows itself in many unscrupulous ways during the Tam Coc boat ride. Thus, Kel and I were prepared for anything as we set out to enjoy the beautiful mountains that tower over the rice paddies.
Let’s start with the great part of this trip and then move on to the funny/scary part of the trip. The Tam Coc mountains are really very pretty. Each mountain stands several hundred meters tall and has been sculpted by the rain and greenery that grows all over each cliff. Unlike most mountains, these are perfectly vertical along the sides and then rounded at the tops which make them seem like they tower over you as you ride through the paddies.
Our boat crew consisted of an older gentleman who rowed in the back and his wife who sat next to me in the middle of the boat. Kel sat in the front in order to ensure that the weight of the boat was evenly
distributed. Neither of our hosts spoke English which made for a rather silent trip. We also wondered, as we jumped in the boat, why we needed two boat rowers. The need for a second rower in the middle of the boat became apparent later on in the trip.
As we enjoyed the splendor of the mountains we started noticing the guerilla sales tactics used by the locals. Throughout the rice paddies are other boats that don’t contain tourists, they contain sales people with drinks, chips and snacks. As you ride through the paddies, these people approach asking you to buy goods. We would ignore them or say no which turned them away.
Other sales pitches that were more insidious showed up. Some of the people in the boats had cameras. If you looked their way they would snatch a shot of you and then try to charge you for it later with insistent sales pitches. Moreover, some groups of photographers would do stunts like row their boats with their feet which would catch your attention. Once the attention was caught, the unsuspecting victim had their picture taken for the aforementioned picture scam.
Up to this point we
had managed to forego any of the sales options but things only got more difficult. Halfway through the ride, where the boats turned around to head back to the pier and drop off their tourists, was a den of sales boats. One sales boat approached each group of tourists and would sit alongside in an attempt to wear down the tourists with various pitches. The first was the easiest, “want to buy?” Answer, “no.” Then we play on guilt, “want buy drink for boat man?” We had heard of this one. The moment you buy a drink for the locals on your boat, they accept it and then sell it back to the people you just bought it from, nice!
After forgoing everything these people had to throw at us we finally started our trek back to pier. We figured that we were finally through the gauntlet of capitalism but we were wrong. On our boat was a steel box which was opened up as we started back towards home. The extra person on the boat is there for one reason, to sell you local goods as you head back to the starting point.
At this point we
were getting pretty terse with the sales people. The nice lady next to me asked me and Kel if we wanted to buy Vietnamese made goods, answer…NO! “You want buy T-shirt?” “No Thanks!” This continued for a few minutes and then finally stopped in favor of silence.
The final ploy actually got a laugh out of me. As we approached the docks to disembark, the lady asked me for a tip. I had prepared for this and gave her a 20,000 Dong bill which was a little over a dollar. She handed it back to the pilot and asked how many bills were there. When he said one, she turned to me and asked for one more. At this point I just smiled, said no and started laughing.
While all of this sounds incredibly horrible, it’s really not. The beauty of Tam Coc overcomes all of the tourist traps and sales pitches. The sales pitches are not constant and as long as you are prepared for a few attempts during the two hour ride, it’s no big deal.
After the ride was through we all clambered back into the van and headed off for home. The trip
back to Hanoi was long and dull but we made the best of it. When we returned we got some dinner and now we are getting ready for bed since tomorrow we are up early to head back out of the city on another adventure. This time we are off to Halong Bay which is north of Hanoi. We will be out of contact for the next two days but will post another blog when we get back to town.
Stay well and happy! We miss you all!
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