Held ransom in Halong Bay!!!

  Halong Bay, Vietnam
Monday, October 2, 2006

With not knowing whether the boat trip would be on, I didn't bother backing any stuff and just headed down to the tour office to check. It was on, so I was told to rush back and collect my stuff. Well I tried, but I had to pack and check out, then walk over to the tour office, where I was greeted with "Why you so long?". I was late and I had missed all the buses picking people up! Luckily some of the staff from the tour company were there with a car, so I jumped in the back and we set of to chase one of the buses. I wasn't feeling too healthily after all the Bia Hoi from the night before, and it didn't help that we were dodging in and out of all the traffic like lunatics. We were flying down the carriageway, heading straight for the back of a Transit van which was stationary, when the driver slammed on the brakes. I was ushered out of the car and put in the front of the Transit, and by the look on the guides face, he wasn't amused in the slightest. I just sat there, suffering with a headache and chewing on some bread I'd bought the day earlier. The bus stopped off briefly at some tourist cafe, where prices are double normal, but when you've got a hangover, who cares...
After another hour of driving we arrived at Halong Bay, and we were soon taken aboard the boat. It didn't look too bad; small, an upper deck with sunbeds, a small seating area below as the restaurant, and below that the bedrooms. It wasn't what I was expecting really; the scenery was pretty much the same as in Yangshou, China. Large limestone cliffs soaring high out of the water

The limestone cliffs, just like Yangshou in China

, and with the weather being pretty dull, yet warm, it wasn't very impressive. We stopped of at one place to visit some caves, which were actually pretty cool, although they've been manipulated for tourism. Signs everywhere , concrete steps and stupid disco lighting spoilt what would have been a very dramatic place, but it was still worth a visit.

Next stop was to see some caves; our guide told us we could get off and get on to a smaller boat, where we would pay the driver a "small donation". We all jumped on, thinking we could just give them a few thousand, but that didn't happen...After a 20 minute cruise round some mediocre caves we headed back to our boat, then the driver starting asking everyone for $2! But our guide had told us that we could make a "small donation", meaning voluntary! A few people paid up, but about 15 of us stood our ground and refused

Scam: After the demand, we refused

. We were still about 50 metres from our boat so the driver called for another boat to come over and pick up the people who had paid. They headed back to the boat while we held out. It wasn't the cost that annoyed us, it was the fact that our guide was trying to scam us, probably taking a cut of the money that the driver collects. No doubt this happens each and every day, most people just pay up and be done with it, but we weren't going to go down without a fight. Our guide came over to try and negotiate, but we just went crazy at him, telling him that the word 'donation' means voluntary! He said he couldn't help us and left us sitting there on the boat. After 30 minutes or so the driver went down to 20000 dong, about (70p) but we still refused. We were held ransom on that boat for well over an hour. We eventually agreed upon 10000 dong, paid only when we reached our boat. So the driver set off toward our boat (which had pretended to leave us behind my driving off into the distance and hiding behind another boat, a poor attempt to scare us into paying up). When the boat reached our boat everybody just dived off and clambered aboard our boat. We all casually walked away without paying a penny, but the driver came after us demanding some money, but we refused. What could he do now?

The leader of the pack

He had no leverage over us like before. Our guide came back to us with some sob story about how he only earns $6 a day and he had to pay for all 15 of us out of his own pocket! What a joke! One guy told him where to go...
There were over 30 people on the boat initially, meaning 30 x $2 = $60. Now more than one boat turns up each day meaning that these little scammers make a small fortune each day! They don't live in houses, but on floating shacks on the water, it looks bizarre!

I was meant to be sleeping on the boat, but our guide messed up and that night I ended up staying in a hotel. I wasn't too bothered though as I would have been on my own otherwise! The hotel was pretty good; cable TV, A/C and two double beds?. That night I ended up in a bar across the street with two Brits (Big shout to Dave and Lisa!), where we were entertained by drunken karaoke singers.

The following day on the boat was pretty uneventful; I managed to get a quick swim, jumping off the boat a few times, just like after diving in Ko Tao

Me jumping off the top of the boat

. When we got back to the port we had lunch in a restaurant before heading back to Hanoi in the bus, same story with the tourist cafe/souvenir shop again. After complaining to the tour guide, a different one from the previous day I managed to negotiate a $4 refund, which I was happy with (travelling on my own means I have to pay a single person supplement when I stay in a room on my own, so the total cost was $32, still expensive but a lesson learned- look around for the best deals before booking).

After returning back in Hanoi I had a few hours to burn before my overnight to Hue (Pronounced "Who-ay"). I grabbed some food and wandered around aimlessly again. I made sure this time that I was on time for my bus, and sure enough I made it with no problems. What lay ahead was a 12 hour bus journey, in a seat (no sleeper buses here), overnight, but after coming this far, I felt prepared for it...

The adventure continues...