Noodling in Vietnam

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Finally, after weeks of arriving back in the Philippines, I was able to realign things about our recent adventure trip. Adventure because four of us went to Vietnam not on a usual package tour or booked in a fancy hotel but we arrived in Saigon without any bookings, just the guest house address.

If there were adventures, of course there were misadventures. Part of life’s balancing act probably because happiness isn’t finite without the other.

When we arrived in Saigon, although there was information on the in-flight magazine about the taxi fare from the airport to the city, we still got a high-priced taxi of VND 400,000. It turned out as the wheels went rolling that it was a rented car and we paid before leaving to a guy they say was the manager of Dich Vu Du Lich Tourist Service (company name on the receipt).

We let it passed and looked for the Long Guest House. Guest houses that time were fully booked in Saigon and it was way past midnight so we ended up with its neighbor Vy Guest House for US$15 a room.

It was a fast-paced vacation because by seven o’ clock in the morning we have to ask how to get to Cu Chi Tunnel.

This was what I loved about Vietnam. In almost every corner they have travel agencies to assist you just like tourist information center and with almost but not always the same tour package prices. The difference was whether the group’s tourist guide can speak English fluently and if he is a good story-teller.

That morning without any breakfast we have to rush to join the bus tour to Cu Chi at eight in the morning at US$6 each for the bus and $5 for the entrance fee. It was hot and humid walking around the Cu Chi but we learned war facts. We arrived back in Saigon mid-afternoon disembarking from the bus looking for a place to eat lunch. Then after satisfying our hunger, we walked around the city for pictures, pictures and finally more picture-taking with a little shopping and haggling.

We tried street noodles for dinner then headed back to the guest house by seven in the evening to get our bags because that night we traveled via sleeper bus going to Nha Trang hoping for some hydro adventure. We arrive after a 10-hour trip and checked-in a room and zoomed again outside.

I think all of us enjoyed this town with our island hopping for $6 including simple lunch, fruit party for snacks and floating wine bar party (you have to see for yourself). Although the tourist guide was scary when you first saw him, he turned out to be a funny guy which made the tour more enjoyable.

That night we left Nha Trang via another sleeper bus. But it wasn’t the same bus type we expected to ride in and sleep in bunk beds. It was a coach bus with half of the seats from middle to back lengthened for people to lie down. We ride that bus for 11 hours stopping over at Hoi An for two hours just to stretch for breakfast and boarded on again. We went around Hoi An for an hour just like a city tour because the bus picked-up passengers from one hotel to another. Finally by 9AM it started its trek to Hue. By lunch time we arrived in Hue and talked to a hotel and its travel tour. We left our bags without paying anything just purchased our bus ticket going to Hanoi.

It was a half day city tour with the most important thing to see is their Citadel, Vietnam’s smaller version of the Forbidden City of China. We tried the Hue’s version of pho hoa and off we went by six o’clock in the evening. We were also disappointed with the bus because it was not the same bus structure we have in Saigon. The guys in the bus put us, yes, on the upper bunk, but at the back with the beds compacted together which they tried fitting in five persons. It was a skimpy space to sleep in with a fifth person whom became our guest - a German guy who folded his long legs just to fit in that sleeper space.

The misadventure actually began to be very much felt in Hanoi after that of our several city and town stops.

We arrived probably around seven o’ clock in the morning in Hanoi. At the bus station, there were people, taxi drivers and hotel agents trying to get our attention. A hotel agent named Jimmy kept following us to stay in their hostel, the Hanoi Center One Hostel. Jimmy said it was $10 per room and asked us how much was our budget. We said the room we got in our last stop was only $7. Jimmy said he can give it for $8. We said we’ll check the room first and Jimmy let us rode a taxi and he paid for the cab. The room was fine but there was only one room available and Jimmy said somebody was going to check out by 11am. It was fine with us to wait for another room since we just want to freshen up and go around that morning. And Jimmy asked us how long we are going to stay and we told him two days. We asked about the Halong Bay tour and they said it was $25 with kayaking and swimming and $16 without. We didn’t book at once and we chose to go around first to eat and check the city.

After having another pho hoa breakfast, we went around and tried asking other travel agencies in the areas and we found this agency called Sinh Café Travel with address at 28 Bat Dan Street. There were a lot of Sinh Café Travel agency in the area and the one in Bat Dan Street was one of them. We talked to a guy named, Tuyen. Tuyen was a bit scary and snobbish but we thought he was just a straight-forward guy. We reserved with Tuyen our Halong Bay tour because he said for $16, kayaking and swimming were included in the tour. And Tuyen also answered our airport taxi query that for the four of us the taxi to the airport only cost $12. In the other agencies we inquired it was $16 to $20.

We left to consult the others and changed our dollars to dong and went back to Tuyen’s Sinh Café travel agency to pay our tour and airport taxi reservation. So, everything was settled and we just have to wait for the mini bus (it may refer to a van or a coaster) to pick us up in the morning.

When we went back to Hanoi Center One Hostel, we informed Jimmy that a friend will take us to Halong Bay. Afterwards, Jimmy followed us to our room to inform us that we have to vacate our rooms by seven in the morning the next day because it was already booked for the next day. It infuriated me because we talked about it before we went out that we were staying there for two days and suddenly after going back in the afternoon they were throwing us out early in the morning. I told Jimmy that it was cleared that we will be there for two days and he should have not let us stay there in the first place if it was already booked the next day and he didn’t bother to tell us until that afternoon. One of us tried to cool things off by talking to Jimmy and telling me to calm down because our passports were being held at the hotel reception.

So, two of us went out to find another place to stay for the next day before going to Halong Bay. We canvassed and found Venus Hotel nearby. The place was an old building structure inside with heavy furniture in the room. So we agreed that the four of us can stay in a room for three persons for $18 including breakfast since we were off by six in the morning to the airport.

At Halong Bay, we were enjoying the boat ride with some lunch and talking to other tourists. But when the kayaking time arrived, the boat people said that kayak was not included in what we paid for. We were disappointed because Tuyen said it was included. Our option was to join the small boat ride and pay VND40,000 each (around $1.50). Still it was a blessing in disguise because Halong’s water is not good to swim in and afternoon rain showers came in.

When we arrived back in Hanoi, we again just freshen up and went out to check again the night bazaars and the night life.

The next morning, we were in a hurry preparing because we have to wait for the water in the bathroom to come up. The hotel turns off the water pump during the night and we have to request and wait for the water to be turned on.

Finally, we were all prepared and waited for the taxi or mini bus taxi to pick us up by 6AM at Venus Hotel since we have given Tuyen the hotel’s address. It was already 15 minutes passed six in the morning and no taxi yet. We waited, called the phone numbers which Tuyen gave and asked several cabs passing by if it was our assigned taxi showing the receipt of Sinh Café Travel, but nay. By quarter to seven after asking help from the Venus Hotel’s manager, she advised that she was not sure if our taxi was coming since half hour had passed from the given time.

We decided to ride the cab of the driver we talked to. We cannot understand each other that much but the cab driver was helpful to bring us to the Noi Bai International airport as fast as he could. We gave the driver up to our last Vietnam dong and the driver was kind enough to understand that we were short of VND10.

We opt to go out of Hanoi to Bangkok via Air Asia since we got the flight for only $26 and if we go back to Saigon it’s going to be 36 hours by train.

Bangkok made the trip somehow more exciting because it was in the middle of a civil war and we arrived in time for their Songkhram or water festival. The guest house where we stayed warned us to be ready to get wet and don’t get angry because it was festival time. Well, we just ran away from water guns aimed at us. The festival helped us cool down because it was pretty hot in Bangkok.

We experienced riding almost all their mode of transportation excluding the elephant ride. We went to ride their metro trains, water taxi, regular bus even the pink taxi which was for our friend Meg who loves the pink color. We can try Bangkok railways probably the next time if we opt to go via Bangkok to Cambodia or Laos on another backpack trip.

For now, it is work, work, work back here in the Philippines, saving for another trip to see places, learn things, meet people and gain new friends. ***

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