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Published: March 31st 2008
(Matt)
Cut-throat -
It was early moring when we crossed the border from Laos to Vietnam, we were packed into a 'sãwngthãew' (a converted pick-up truck with two wooden benches down each side at the back). A family of farmers pushed into the already crowded vehicle and their young girl indicated to me that she needed help getting into the back, as I pulled her up by her left arm, I narrowly avoided the axe in her right hand swinging towards my neck... shortly afterwards we broke down .... I think that was when I realised it was going to be one of those days.
In the afternoon, we had our first experience of Vietnam in the form of the depressing and dusty border town of Na Maew (also known as Na Meo). Six of us had crossed the border and we soon realised the only way we were going any further that day was to get a minibus out of town. The first problem was that there was only one rust bucket of a minibus that could take us the six hour journey to Mai Chau (on the way to Hanoi) and secondly the owners were determined
to wring every last dollar out of us.
We were really not in any position to negotiate as we had almost no money, there had been no cashpoints for hundreds and hundreds of miles and the banks had been closed for days due to a national holiday called 'Women's Day'. Furthermore, the public bus to Hanoi is only every two days and no-one in town could give us a straight answer as to when it left or how much it would cost. (I later found out that the bus drivers regularly operate a scam whereby foreigners have to pay £10 - £20 or they're kicked off the bus!).
After three and a half hours of slow negotiation (I kid you not) we agreed to pay the extortionate fare and get out of town. As we rattled along potholed roads with terrifying drops into the valley, the driver's wife who was sitting in the front kept being travel sick (like every other local in Vietnam and Laos) and every time the driver braked we were treated to a short burst of annoying music because the reverse warning sound had been wired up incorrectly.... five hours later before reaching our
destination we broke down.
Frogger -
We eventually arrived in Hanoi and had to quickly learn some new skills. Firstly, we got to practise crossing the roads with hundreds upon hundreds of scooters/mopeds thundering past. As with the 80's computer game Frogger, there is never a quiet time to cross, the only way to get to the other side is to practise damage limitation, not so much 'stop, look and listen' more like 'hope, pray and be brave', Lonely Planet advise the following:
" You'll have to cross the street eventually, so go armed with this survival tip: step into the street and walk slowly across so that drivers can see you and drive around you. If you lack the nerve, look for locals crossing the street and creep behind".
Secondly we learnt the phrase 'com cam ern (phonetics)' which means 'no thank you', in the first 10 minutes we used this about 100 times to ward off taxi drivers, shop keepers and everyone else who fancied their chances of getting some dollars from us. Manic roads, constant hassle and grossly inflated tourist prices have unfortunately been an ongoing feature of Vietnam for us.
Accentuate the Positive -
Despite the negative tone of this entry, there is no doubt that Vietnam is a beautiful country, in our first week (as you'll see in the photos) we've visited Hanoi, Nimh Binh and Hue and have experienced a diverse landscape, weather from all seasons and some fascinating places but if anyone asks me again if I want a taxi I'm going to buy my own axe!
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Georgie and Craig
non-member comment
The Viet-Con
Was very amused by your entry (don't say we didn't warn you). I have never known a country that even sets up fake travel agencies and fake hotels that pretend to be the ones with a good reputation. As you say it is a very beautiful country with interesting things to see but you can't help but leave with a sour taste in your mouth after the sixth taxi driver who has a fake meter that tells you your journey is $15 when you know it should be $2!