February 19, 2006
Hello folks
The Australians and Kersten flew to "Hoi Ann" and I already had my open bus ticket which is paid all the way up to Hue Vietnam so I hooked up with 2 other travelers Tim from Toronto and Celine from Switzerland and we went for seafood. I had already eaten a delicious Hawaiian pizza for $3US and now it was time for seafood 1 hour later :). I had 4 giant tiger prawns in butter with rice and veggies for $7us. Celine took a different bus than us (the luxury bus for $7US more and she slept all the way and Tim and I took the bus from hell to Hoi ann which was an 11 hour journey completely uncomfortable and unable to sleep (7pm-6am). I will no longer do any more bus rides longer than 8 hours and will either take the train or fly.
We got off the bus in Hoi ann and we ran into Jim and Leon from Australia since we had made plans to hook up the following morning book into the same hotel. Their hotel was full so we checked out a few and found a good one for $10US. They met two other travelers and now we had a group of 8 so we rented scooters for $3us for the whole day and went out to "My Son" which are Cham ruins of Vietnam dating back 700 hundred years or so. They were made with bricks and scattered out in different areas on the site but were in ruins due to the USA bombings in the Vietnam war. It was a 40km ride out to the ruins and we had fun on our scooters and we zipped through little villages with cows and chickens on the roads.
We all met up for drinks later on and Tim brought another 2 travelers he ran into a couple weeks ago and one was from Victoria (James bay) Canada. After drinks we went for dinner and then we went out to another pub for more drinks. The bars close around 11pm and all the businesses in town basically shut down before that. I was tired from not getting any sleep from the bus ride and they were talked into going out to an afterhours bar which was 4km out of town which didn't feel right to me having strangers drive us out to this "out of the way" bar on a bus but the others were into it. They left in a group and I finished my drink and tried to find my way back to my hotel which was difficult because I hadn't really been around town and all the businesses that were open before were now all closed and they take down all their advertising signs and everything looks the same. I was very disoriented trying to get my bearing (particularly after so many draft beers) and every motorcycle drivers passing me was asking if I wanted a ride. So after walking a few blocks and lost I found a quiet and poorly lit alley to go into and began studying my map in my Lonely Planet book.
I was in that alley for about 5 minutes thinking I was alone when I kind of felt a bunch of eyes on me so I looked around and there was a bus with a bunch of people on it looking at me!! I thought "What the hell are people doing on a bus at 11:30pm in the pitch dark". Then Jim from Australia pokes his head out the window and says in his Australian accent "Kevin, do you need some help?" seeing me studying my map in the dark alley. I was surprised they were there and they were just waiting for the driver to take them to the bar. I said I was fine and knew where I was going (even though I was totally lost).
I continued on with no luck in figuring out where I was by my map. After doing a few more circles I saw a big group of tourists walking up the road and realized half of them was my group. Jim said the whole thing was a sleazy scam when a bunch of prostitutes jumped on the bus looking for tricks but Tim told me a different story that Jim had changed his mind and that they weren't hookers. So there we were in the middle of town with everything shut down except a concession stand that sold hard liquor, mix and beer right there on the street so we had more drinks talking to other travelers that were there too. Another traveler in his 50's said the after hours bar was really a scam where they drive you out to the bar and then charge big money to bring you back. The same touts who were promoting the afterhours bar were hanging around us like vultures standing behind us quietly as we chatted. It was pouring rain but nobody seemed to care.
In the morning Leon and I rented scooters for half a day and went out to China Beach for breakfast. We didn't know where we were going exactly but a Vietnamese girl who spoke english caught up to me and asked where I was going and said she was going to China beach as well and to follow her. We had breakfast there and then the Vietnamese girl wanted to take us to Marble mountain after we went to her cousins marble shop. Well we followed her and then split and went our own way where the tour buses were going and went to Marble mountain which is like Moria off of the "Fellowship of the rings" movie because the mountain was hollow with tunnels from all the marble mining. We spent an hour or two there then as we walked back to our bikes by all the mini marble shops where Vietnamese women call you into their shops by saying "Sir sir!!" or "You You!!" and all the shops beside them carry exactly the same thing.
Leon wasn't into carry around marble but bought two marble elephants and I wasn't into carrying marble either but saw a marble chess set and got her down to $3US! When I get back to Bangkok I might rent a storage locker for everything. I bought a 120 liter backpack for $22US which was a bargain since they are $200 back home. The Australians (Jim and Leon) and Kersten and Celine took the 2pm bus to Hue since they have limited time for their Feb 26th flight back home and Tim and I stayed another day with a few of the other travelers we met. Tim bought some tailored clothes and I almost bought some dress shoes that they would custom build for me for $25US and ready within 12 hours. They didn't have the soles I was looking for so I decided against it and I have almost no room to carry anything more (Hell, I am carrying around a marble chess set for christs sake!!).
The next morning I grabbed the 8am bus for Hue. It should only take 3 hours but our bus was stopping off at various places for 30 minute stops. I am sure these drivers get commissions from the restaurant owners for bringing in tourists. Everything works like that in South East Asia. I found a decent hotel here for $10US and Tim will be arriving in Hue around 6:30pm after picking up his tailored clothes.
There is not too much that interests me here except the "Tu Docs tomb" which is like Chinas forbidden city but only 200 years old. After the motorcycle driver said $15,000 dong ($1US) to take me there and back, I repeated $15,000 and said "1-5?" and he shook his head in agreement and repeated $15,000 and after he brought me out there waited an hour for me to come out and returning me to the hotel I gave him $20,000 and he said no $15,000 5-0. Now this is typical of taxi drivers and has happened a couple times to me where I refuse to give them anything more than the amount initially agreed upon. Even though we don't think much of $1 or $3 I hate getting played like this and I told him he is not getting it since I don't play that game and he shook his head not understanding wondering why I wasn't going to pay him. I told him to stay there as I marched to my hotel and asked the staff what a motorcycle driver would charge for taking me to Tu Docs tomb and back and they said $3us so it sounded like a simple misunderstanding so I went back and gave him his $50,000. I felt kind of bad for giving him shit and scolding him in front of everyone while he just sat there shocked but when you are being constantly played by touts and drivers you become rather hard nose about things and there english is never good so you never know if they are just playing games. In Nha Trang a driver wanted $160,000 to take me 2 km and I basically laughed at him and he kept lowering it $20,000 thinking I would bite and I said $50,000 and began to walk away until he agreed and after the ride he said the agreement was $160,000 and that he didn't understand which is BS and just regular practice by drivers.
OK I don't know why I spent a whole paragraph talking about this but it pisses me off. I don't mind paying twice the local rate but not rip offs like this. I am sure most tourists would pay the money just to avoid the hassle.
I am either going to fly or take the train to Hanoi and from there we will go out to "Sapa" which is in North western Vietnam right beside the Chinese border where hill tribes live and should be a great experience being far away from regular civilization where things are more primitive out there and probably rent some more scooters to go out to other villages and after that we go out to Halong bay which is suppose to be beautiful with limestone cliffs and islands and then fly back to Bangkok.
Kevin
Hello folks
The Australians and Kersten flew to "Hoi Ann" and I already had my open bus ticket which is paid all the way up to Hue Vietnam so I hooked up with 2 other travelers Tim from Toronto and Celine from Switzerland and we went for seafood. I had already eaten a delicious Hawaiian pizza for $3US and now it was time for seafood 1 hour later :). I had 4 giant tiger prawns in butter with rice and veggies for $7us. Celine took a different bus than us (the luxury bus for $7US more and she slept all the way and Tim and I took the bus from hell to Hoi ann which was an 11 hour journey completely uncomfortable and unable to sleep (7pm-6am). I will no longer do any more bus rides longer than 8 hours and will either take the train or fly.
We got off the bus in Hoi ann and we ran into Jim and Leon from Australia since we had made plans to hook up the following morning book into the same hotel. Their hotel was full so we checked out a few and found a good one for $10US. They met two other travelers and now we had a group of 8 so we rented scooters for $3us for the whole day and went out to "My Son" which are Cham ruins of Vietnam dating back 700 hundred years or so. They were made with bricks and scattered out in different areas on the site but were in ruins due to the USA bombings in the Vietnam war. It was a 40km ride out to the ruins and we had fun on our scooters and we zipped through little villages with cows and chickens on the roads.
We all met up for drinks later on and Tim brought another 2 travelers he ran into a couple weeks ago and one was from Victoria (James bay) Canada. After drinks we went for dinner and then we went out to another pub for more drinks. The bars close around 11pm and all the businesses in town basically shut down before that. I was tired from not getting any sleep from the bus ride and they were talked into going out to an afterhours bar which was 4km out of town which didn't feel right to me having strangers drive us out to this "out of the way" bar on a bus but the others were into it. They left in a group and I finished my drink and tried to find my way back to my hotel which was difficult because I hadn't really been around town and all the businesses that were open before were now all closed and they take down all their advertising signs and everything looks the same. I was very disoriented trying to get my bearing (particularly after so many draft beers) and every motorcycle drivers passing me was asking if I wanted a ride. So after walking a few blocks and lost I found a quiet and poorly lit alley to go into and began studying my map in my Lonely Planet book.
I was in that alley for about 5 minutes thinking I was alone when I kind of felt a bunch of eyes on me so I looked around and there was a bus with a bunch of people on it looking at me!! I thought "What the hell are people doing on a bus at 11:30pm in the pitch dark". Then Jim from Australia pokes his head out the window and says in his Australian accent "Kevin, do you need some help?" seeing me studying my map in the dark alley. I was surprised they were there and they were just waiting for the driver to take them to the bar. I said I was fine and knew where I was going (even though I was totally lost).
I continued on with no luck in figuring out where I was by my map. After doing a few more circles I saw a big group of tourists walking up the road and realized half of them was my group. Jim said the whole thing was a sleazy scam when a bunch of prostitutes jumped on the bus looking for tricks but Tim told me a different story that Jim had changed his mind and that they weren't hookers. So there we were in the middle of town with everything shut down except a concession stand that sold hard liquor, mix and beer right there on the street so we had more drinks talking to other travelers that were there too. Another traveler in his 50's said the after hours bar was really a scam where they drive you out to the bar and then charge big money to bring you back. The same touts who were promoting the afterhours bar were hanging around us like vultures standing behind us quietly as we chatted. It was pouring rain but nobody seemed to care.
In the morning Leon and I rented scooters for half a day and went out to China Beach for breakfast. We didn't know where we were going exactly but a Vietnamese girl who spoke english caught up to me and asked where I was going and said she was going to China beach as well and to follow her. We had breakfast there and then the Vietnamese girl wanted to take us to Marble mountain after we went to her cousins marble shop. Well we followed her and then split and went our own way where the tour buses were going and went to Marble mountain which is like Moria off of the "Fellowship of the rings" movie because the mountain was hollow with tunnels from all the marble mining. We spent an hour or two there then as we walked back to our bikes by all the mini marble shops where Vietnamese women call you into their shops by saying "Sir sir!!" or "You You!!" and all the shops beside them carry exactly the same thing.
Leon wasn't into carry around marble but bought two marble elephants and I wasn't into carrying marble either but saw a marble chess set and got her down to $3US! When I get back to Bangkok I might rent a storage locker for everything. I bought a 120 liter backpack for $22US which was a bargain since they are $200 back home. The Australians (Jim and Leon) and Kersten and Celine took the 2pm bus to Hue since they have limited time for their Feb 26th flight back home and Tim and I stayed another day with a few of the other travelers we met. Tim bought some tailored clothes and I almost bought some dress shoes that they would custom build for me for $25US and ready within 12 hours. They didn't have the soles I was looking for so I decided against it and I have almost no room to carry anything more (Hell, I am carrying around a marble chess set for christs sake!!).
The next morning I grabbed the 8am bus for Hue. It should only take 3 hours but our bus was stopping off at various places for 30 minute stops. I am sure these drivers get commissions from the restaurant owners for bringing in tourists. Everything works like that in South East Asia. I found a decent hotel here for $10US and Tim will be arriving in Hue around 6:30pm after picking up his tailored clothes.
There is not too much that interests me here except the "Tu Docs tomb" which is like Chinas forbidden city but only 200 years old. After the motorcycle driver said $15,000 dong ($1US) to take me there and back, I repeated $15,000 and said "1-5?" and he shook his head in agreement and repeated $15,000 and after he brought me out there waited an hour for me to come out and returning me to the hotel I gave him $20,000 and he said no $15,000 5-0. Now this is typical of taxi drivers and has happened a couple times to me where I refuse to give them anything more than the amount initially agreed upon. Even though we don't think much of $1 or $3 I hate getting played like this and I told him he is not getting it since I don't play that game and he shook his head not understanding wondering why I wasn't going to pay him. I told him to stay there as I marched to my hotel and asked the staff what a motorcycle driver would charge for taking me to Tu Docs tomb and back and they said $3us so it sounded like a simple misunderstanding so I went back and gave him his $50,000. I felt kind of bad for giving him shit and scolding him in front of everyone while he just sat there shocked but when you are being constantly played by touts and drivers you become rather hard nose about things and there english is never good so you never know if they are just playing games. In Nha Trang a driver wanted $160,000 to take me 2 km and I basically laughed at him and he kept lowering it $20,000 thinking I would bite and I said $50,000 and began to walk away until he agreed and after the ride he said the agreement was $160,000 and that he didn't understand which is BS and just regular practice by drivers.
OK I don't know why I spent a whole paragraph talking about this but it pisses me off. I don't mind paying twice the local rate but not rip offs like this. I am sure most tourists would pay the money just to avoid the hassle.
I am either going to fly or take the train to Hanoi and from there we will go out to "Sapa" which is in North western Vietnam right beside the Chinese border where hill tribes live and should be a great experience being far away from regular civilization where things are more primitive out there and probably rent some more scooters to go out to other villages and after that we go out to Halong bay which is suppose to be beautiful with limestone cliffs and islands and then fly back to Bangkok.
Kevin
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