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Published: February 9th 2009
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Bus Cargo
Awaiting a trip to the table. And the day begins.
Everyday while traveling you are constantly bombarded by touts selling you everything. The second you step outside of your hotel, you are immediately bombarded by drivers. They attempt to draw you in with a "hello" and a "where you go." If you elect to answer them, they immediately press in upon you with prices and places they will take you. You start to feel like a pig in a cage. When you decline their offers with a simple no, they will either repeat their offer one more time or lower the price. When you smile, say no again and keep walking, they walk with you and persist. Trying to sit in a park and read one afternoon allowed me the chance to read less than 4 pages. The second I sat down, tour guides approached, struck up conversations and pushed in hopes of making a sale. When I finally rid myself of the tour guides, the postcard girl approached me. After the postcard girl came the redcross girl. The sulking and huffing that ensues can leave you enraged. Are you supposed to buy everything that is brought to your attention? The whole process can be extremely
First Class to Hue
Not the most impressive train ride I have had but it worked. overwhelming. Even random strangers have approached me on the street pretending to be friendly with ulterior motives lurking behind their smile (such as the teacher that followed me for two days in attempt to have tea and then hit me up to buy textbooks for his children).
As you carry on in your travels, you begin to think of better ways to approach it all. You try not answering them and the sales pitch is given louder. You simply smile while shaking a hand no to them only to find that your smile has broken the ice and the sales push intensifies. You get gruff and develop a glare and they start to back down. You discover that if you walk steadfastly without looking up that you are asked only half as much. This success encourages you to walk as fast as possible and avoid all eye contact. Is head down speed walking anyway to see the world?
It is an annoying aspect that as far as I can tell is unavoidable. Some days I am fine with it, others it drives me nuts.
Finally got to ride the train from Saigon to central Vietnam. The train
Perfume River
The hillsides outside of Hue was an overnight sleeper and I decided to splurge for the soft sleeper. I had been warned in advance about the trains so I was prepared for less than thrilling accomodation. It wasn't too bad.
Hue, the former Imperial capital of Vietnam is a wonderful town in Central Vietnam. Gone is the maddening congestion of traffic and the pace slows to an evening stroll. Nothing is in a hurry around here.
The former Imperial city is surrounded by a giant moat and fortress walls. Inside lies the Thai Hoa Palace where the former emperors of Vietnam would conduct their daily business. The emperors in Vietnam are almost forgotten as Bao Dai, their last emperor fled to France as he had offered France rule over Vietnam. The imperial palace is better known as one of the Tet offensives longset battles. Rocket holes pock mark the city walls.
Hue is a laconic river town. Spread along the Perfume River, Hue is lined with parks along the waterfront and presents itself as a great place to relax and unwind. After a walk among the imperial city you can get away from the war torn past by visiitng the pagodas of
Thai Hoa Palace
The Emperor's meeting place before 1945. Hue. Tu Hieu Pagoda is where the famous Buddhist monk Thich Naht Hahn first established himself. Or you can simply rent a bycicle and ride off throughout the town and neighboring hillsides. On the other hand if you prefer to continue to look at the war you can take a DMZ tour.
It isn't really a tour, more of a long bus ride. The Demilitarized Zone is now a cluster of rice fields radiant in sunlight and bright green stalks. The Khe San base is a one room museum filled with a couple of pictures and little else. The famous Ho Chi Minh trail - a full blown highway. The Vietnamese seem reluctant to remember the past violence and instead have left it behind. Yet tourism dollars reign, and every tour company goes there. Seeing the geography of some of the heaviest fighting in the war was pretty impressive. I can't imagine how a war was fought throughout the hills and jungle. We did get to see the tunnels that the North Vietnamese built to hide and fight in during the war. The Vin Moc tunnels are a less visited tunnel sight than the Cu Chi tunnels outside of
Vin Moc Tunnels
The Vietnamese lived inside these tunnels during the war. Ho Chi Minh. These tunnels were built for the citizens to live in during the war. These narrow passageways and alcoves were homes to some residents for almost six years. Being short has finally helped as I could walk relatively comfortable (only hunching slightly). I felt like giant in there. So it was a strange tour that left me more confused as to the development process of tourism.
When traveling to places in Southeast Asia, economics as you know it takes on a convoluted form. Rather than having one universal price, there is a two tier pricing system in place: one for locals and one for foriegners. Foreigners can expect to pay at least double the price of a local if not more. This is quite distrubing to anyone who is used to a fixed price system. The Vietnamese don't understand why people get upset over the difference. They feel (according to the small group of Tuk Tuk drivers I have talked with) that the foreigners can afford to pay the higher prices and it is still cheaper than home. While I agreed, I tried to convey the principle behind the frustration. Why shouldn't they pay what the normal
Tu Hieu Pagoda
Thich Naht Hanh studied here (local) price is? I didn't do a very good job as it made no sense to them.
Chilling out in Hue for the past week has given me a lot of time to observe the whole tourism dilemna. I began to think a lot more on this one evening as I wandered back to my room from the Citadel in Hue. I had just been ripped off by a cyclo driver and was really angry about it. I just couldn't understand why they take such liberties so blatantly. Compared to the American system, this one seemed rather unnecessarily complicated.
On the other hand, I have started to watch what the lives of the touts. I noticed one of my tuk tuk drivers had a couple sets of clothes inside the storage bin of his tuk tuk (It popped open - I wasn't prying). On a sleepless night of mine, I wandered down to the lobby to discover that the hotel staff was sleeping on the tiled floor. Their entire sleep schedule was based upon guests coming and going. I started thinking back to the bartering sessions that I and others had with drivers and tour guides. Haggle on
the price of things. Desperate for business you are almost sure to get a cheaper price than listed. Settling on a lower price gives one the feeling of victory. Then it occurs to you that you have been arguing over a dollar or two sometimes even less. The victorious feeling subsides and you are left feeling a little dulled.
Why has travelling created this situation? How did it come to be this way? I am at a loss for explaining a system that forces people to get into bidding wars (which I assume have only increased as the world economic crisis has left the tourist industry scrambling to survive)? Why haven't the tour guides, joined together and come up with a bottom line? Is tourism to blame?
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les
non-member comment
barter/bickering system
Not to disappoint uand no offense Barb- but u didn't have to travel around the world to find a two tier system. Mexico is a perfect example of this. The locals pay one price and the tourist pay double. As you go along u will find this in all countries. Think of a smaller version-- Ber at Fergs for u and then for strangers.. Don't inhale around the DMZ-- agent orange and don't go crawling around in any tunnels. I forgot where I left all the present 40 years ago.. Hope all is still enjoyable and your not getting to disenchanted with the life style and behavior for survival. Just keep remembering--- 3rd wolrld country.. by the way, that great chicken that they will try to talk you into eating may have had 4 legs and barked at one time.. See u Les-Jan