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Published: March 14th 2009
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A verse that is well known by backpackers and locals alike around these parts! If you need to find something or somewhere, you can always find someone offering the "same same." But usually you soon find out it is actually same same....but different! Things are never what you expect here, and you can't assume anything. That being said Hawley and I had almost entirely avoided getting badly ripped off in Vietnam until we reached Ho Chi Minh City, but I will get to that in a minute.
One we finally got out of Ninh Binh we headed south across the DMZ into southern Vietnam. We made a quick stop in Hue, and the finally after about 20 hours on a bus reached our next destination of Hoi An. This small town on the coast is surrounded by the Thu Bon River on one side and the South China Sea on the other. It is famous for its tailor shops, and there are over 200 lining its streets and Old Town. Of coarse we had to indulge! After several fittings and adjustments I managed to get a suit, wool jacket, 2 shirts, and 2 silk ties for myself, and Hawley got
2 dresses and 2 jackets, all for under C$500! After renting a scooter and touring the city we finished our time in Hoi An with a trip to the market and cooking class, where we learned to make traditional Vietnamese dishes and rice paper. The hard part will be getting Hawley to use these skills when we get home!
We then continued south to Nha Trang, a beach side tourist town for locals and tourists alike. The highlight here was our boat cruise. It was a day touring the islands, snorkeling and of course a few drinks. By the end of the day the trip had earned its title as the local booze cruise. The crew broke out their instruments and had everyone dancing on the tables, this was followed by the floating happy hour where free whine imitating substance was offered. We even met a couple former Calgarian's who are now living in Nha Trang, so all in all a good day. From here we got on our last sleeper bus (woohoo!) to Ho Chi Minh City, our final stop in Vietnam.
HCMC was the place where the Vietnam war came to an end, as tanks were
shooting at the Palace the South conceded victory to the North. This spot is now called Reunification Palace, and the name of the city has changed from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. In and around the city there are many reminders of the war, and we went to the Cu Chi Tunnel's and the War Remnants Museum to learn about the war and how it has affected the people and environment. Oh yes and how did we get ripped off? Well apparently there are only certain taxi companies you can trust here, and the one we used wasn't one of them! Hawley and I jumped in a cab to get from the central market back to the hotel, and rather then negotiate a price before hand, the cabi told us he would use the meter (usually a good thing). He then pushed the "stupid tourist" button on the meter and it started going up at a astronomical rate! By the time we noticed we were getting close to our destination (it was a short ride), and I thought that maybe I was reading it wrong because it couldn't be THAT for off. For what should have cost about 15,000
Dong, we reached our hotel with the meter reading just over 300,000 Dong. We then told t driver his meter was broken and we weren't gong to pay him that much, so he locked the doors and pretended he didn't know what we were saying. After arguing for a good couple minutes, he started saying "police" so we gave him 200,000 (actually Hawley threw it as him) and wrote down his info. After trying to call the taxi company to no avail, and not getting any help from our hotel manager, we realized just how powerless we were in that kind of situation in a country far from or own. Thankfully it really wasn't that much money we lost, but just goes to show you how careful you have to be when traveling, and how little you can do when something like this does happen.
After sending home 12kg of stuff we had accumulated on our travels we set off for Cambodia, where the weather is hot but the history and the sights are vast.
Regards,
Joe and Hawley
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