If you want to get ripped off, go to Vietnam
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2003
1
18
31
Trip End
Dec 01, 2003
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon),
Vietnam
Sunday, October 5, 2003
Such a bad day yesterday. Have come to the conclusion that everyone in Asia lies to you no matter how sincere they might seem.
Got a speedboat from Phnom Penh over the border to Chau Doc in Vietnam. Opted for a speedboat as it only took 2 hours instead of 2 days - it was twice the price, but still only $15. We were told at our guest house in Phnom Penh that it was about 2 hours to Chau Doc and then about 1hr and a half to Saigon so we were thinking we were going to arrive to Saigon about 4pm. Our boat didn't actually leave till about an hour later that planned (no idea why as there were only 3 of us on the boat!), and after getting on and off at both the Cambodian and Vietnamese checkpoints, we arrived in Chau Doc about 5pm to be told that it was another 4-5 hours to Saigon!
Decided soon after we reached the Vietnamese shores that we hated the country as we got completely ripped off in the first few minutes. Also the only foreign people there so we felt like complete freaks as everyone was staring at us. Two seemingly nice cyclo drivers said they would take us to the bus station but instead took us to a nearby travel agent who arranged a bus ticket for us from Chau Doc to Saigon, although the ticket said Chau Doc - Long Xuyen which was a nearby town. We were a bit sceptical but there wasn't a lot we could do so ended up paying $5 each for the bus ticket and $1 for the cyclo which doesn't sound like a lot but they only took us 5 mins down the road!
They told us it would take about 4 hours to Saigon so it didn't seem too bad even though we knew we were being ripped off. I had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing but Janine said "the driver is wearing a shirt with a bus company logo on so it must be ok". How much did she regret saying that later! Especially when the deafening Vietnamese Karaoke kicked in.
We stopped what seemed to be every 5 minutes to pick someone up or drop someone off until we arrived at Long Xuyen where we were then convinced they were going to chuck us off the bus. Instead they just stopped for something to eat and surprisingly gave us a free bottle of water each, while a woman held her baby up at the bus window to look at us which was probably supposed to be complimentary but made us feel even more like freaks!
Oh by the way, I forgot to mention the fact we were stuck on a tiny minibus again, with our legs in our chests. Its lucky we're both so short.
The bus then drove onto a ferry(!?) which confused the hell out of us and we managed to get some vague English out of one guy who said it was another 5 hours to Saigon even though we'd already been going for 2 hours! We thought this meant 5 hours on the ferry and couldn't work out how we were going to get by ferry into Saigon.
After about 5 mins on the ferry we drove off it again, even though I'm sure we didn't actually move anywhere, which left us more confused than ever.
The Vietnamese roads seemed much better than those in Cambodia, until we started driving at about 100km/h, which meant any minor bump in the road (of which there were several) caused us to catapult forward into the seat in front. I think the other driver must have been delusional as he told us we could sleep on the bus. Yeah right.
Thought we were going to fly off the road straight into the river at various points, and bits of my Lonely Planet guide which mention to avoid driving anywhere after dark in Vietnam as it was very dangerous went flashing through my head.
Felt like I was slowly going mad by this point, and feeling suicidal from the Vietnamese karaoke which was on repeat over about 5 different songs but my minidisc player came to the rescue and I actually did then manage to go to sleep. Although I'm not convinced it was sleep - I think I was probably knocked unconsious from the rollercoaster ride of a drive.
We stopped at a service station to get something to eat, although everything was in Vietnamese and the only thing we could see whih looked vaguely edible was bread rolls. We got 2 of those but we had no Vietnamese currency (Dong), only dollars and the guy wouldn't accept $1 so luckily the weird guy who had been sitting next to Janine on the bus paid for them for us. Continued to get stared at constantly and got back on the bus as soon as we could.
When we eventually arrived in Saigon (midnight) we got ripped off again by the taxi driver who had said it was $3 for a taxi to the centre of town which then turned into $3 each. I tried arguing with him and got the price down to $5 which was still a rip off but there were no other taxis in sight so there wasn't a lot we could do. Problem was when I paid him I only had a $20 note and so he gave me my change in Dong but didn't give me enough which I tried to explain but he just blanked me and ended up walking away with about $8.
To top it off the hotel we had intended to check into was closed so we wandered around until a Canadian guy recommended one to us and got us a decent price on it.
Thankfully we now have the biggest hotel room ever with a massive shower (hot water finally), air con, mini bar, phone, satellite TV and our own flip flops and toothbrushes for just $9 each!
Know there are more rip-offs to come though, I can feel it.
xxx
