Vietnam – Misc. Notes Part 5

Can’t find an expat who has anything bad to say about living here. Closest is no more long term visas and the need to be street smart. This suburban bred white boy has never been accused of being street smart. In Vietnam I’ve been getting plenty of practice at dealing with being pushed around.

Sat down for a meal and noticed the menu had different prices than the one on the stand out front. Complained then she apologized that I’d been given the ‘wrong menu’.

Returned to a breakfast place, was the only customer. The day before I’d experienced the woman running the restaurant spoke good English and liked to chat with customers. Asked her a few questions about Nha Trang then got to ordering. Her tone of voice and body language changed when she said there were no small water (500 ml) available. This wasn’t conversation, it was negotiation – as in ‘that’s my final offer’. I just stared at her and thought ‘You’d fuck with a return customer over 4000 VND ($.20 USD) gross when you have half a dozen competitors within 50 yards?’. I left.

Got out of my assigned aisle seat on the Dalat to Nha Trang bus to let in the Vietnamese guy with the window seat. As he went by I wondered why he didn’t put his daypack in the overhead. There was plenty of room. Dropped his pack on the floor against the side of the bus, splayed his legs to the left of the pack, well into my territory. I sat down with momentum, pushing his legs out of my space. He gave me a WTF? look, I used sign language to show he had his space and I had mine. After a half hour of pressing our knees against each other he gave up and shifted positions. Was one of us an asshole? Who? Or did we both show a trivial application of the culture’s ‘Me First’ prime directive?

Got off the bus in Nha Trang then walked into the slot between buses to get my bag. Was the first foreigner in. We foreigners arranged ourselves against the sides of the two buses, alternating so one had a clear but zig zag path to and from the bags. A Vietnamese woman bustled in and stood in front of me. Bags and people came and went then my bag appeared. The front of the zig zag path was occupied by a man getting his pack. Got the woman’s attention, pointed to the pack at her feet and indicated it was mine. She gave me a blank expression and turned away. Tried to get her attention again but she didn’t acknowledge me. Put one hand on her shoulder, pulled back to rotate her enough to squeeze around, then pushed past her on my way out. When in Rome …

Vietnam Tourism Industry Honesty, A Final Note

Sinh Cafe, now known as Sinh Travel, has served tourists in Vietnam since 1993.  Earned a good reputation in the process.  How good?  One indication is I passed four of their offices on a two kilometer walk this afternoon.  The Sinh Cafe has two offices in Hanoi.  Neither are on the streets I covered.

Also seen fake Geckos in every town.  Don’t know if the one above is real or fake.

Ready To Go Home

Been ready for 2 days. Had enough of the unfamiliar, as good as some of it was. That’s more about me than about this country. Flight to Hanoi tomorrow, to Thailand on Saturday.

Vietnam – Misc. Notes Part 4

I’m not the only one hanging out in the shade, enjoying the breeze while people watching with a non-alcoholic drink.  Interesting to talk with those guys.   The drinkers are the usual assholes, BSers and opinionated ranters I routinely avoid.

Long skinny country so many travel the same path. Most of the people I talk to in any town are either just from or about to go to the last town I was in.

Way, way, way more variety of tourists than what passes through HH.

Many French speaking tourists. At The Citadel in Hue at least half of the caucasians spoke french. I wonder if the cold drizzle kept others away that day.

How can one (not how should one) approach travel in a country known for its ripoffs and scams not to let it detract from one’s enjoyment? Prepped and guarded or clueless and open? Start guarded, transition to open and aware? Acknowledge it’s only money so exchange cash for experiences and stories? Stay home and read other’s stories or live your own?

Was milling around during a 30 minute rest stop on the bus ride. Man touched my arm, pointed to my bag of cookies. I hate it when beggars touch. Not many beggars in Hua Hin and they don’t touch.

If moto taxi and cyclo (pedal powered tricycle) drivers can read me well enough to leave me alone when I’m walking and fresh and yet everyone calls out when I’m walking and starting to feel tired, why can’t all the other vendors see that I want them to fuck off? Vendor harassment isn’t a problem. They leave if ignored. I’m just wondering.

WiFi: Windows vs Linux. Windows by a mile. More connections, fewer drops and faster speed on the same WiFi sources. Yes, I’m geeky enough to reboot just to test the difference.

Snorkeling

Took a snorkeling day trip to the nearby islands. There was colorful coral and fish, shallow water, only 20 people on the boat, ample lunch as advertised. Sea was calm with enough wind to take the edge off the heat.

Found I was dreadfully out of shape for swimming, as expected. Just meant I got tired easy. There was so safety concern because of the calm water and almost non-existent current.

Visibility was OK. I actually like something about less than crystal clear water. While swimming from the boat toward the reef all I could see below was fuzzy murk. Then the first dark shapes of the bottom coalesce out of the fuzz and disappear just as quickly. Love the moment when the bottom depth meets visibility distance and the underwater world takes shape.

There was a lot of horse-play after the last dive among those who had energy to burn. People got pushed in, retaliation followed and general child like play ensued. Our boat was rafted with another snorkel tour boat. They settled down to the afternoon snack of fresh fruit and we salivated. I was standing next to a couple of young Swedish men who had been at the center of the play. Saw them eyeing the food so I mentioned ‘You know, Pirates do raid other boats.’ They thought about it for a few seconds before declining.

There were expected risks that one would never see in a country with liability laws. The deck near the boarding ladder had no anti-skid features. Saw 2 people go down hard.

The tour boats were tied to a common mooring and rafted together about 60′ outside the floating line that marked the edge of the snorkeling area and thus the boat exclusion zone. Some people took small speed boats to this dive spot. Their captains sped through the area between the tour boats and the snorkeling area, the same stretch we were swimming through on the surface.

Finally, it was a good day for jellyfishing. Bad day to have exposed skin among live jelly fish. Four people got softball sized welts. I came face to face with a couple of the little transparent buggers but avoided contact. Vinegar relieves the pain of most jellyfish stings but our tour company did not have any on hand. On any of their boats.

We got back an hour late. No reason was given but it was easy to figure out. One company runs many boats. The tour includes pick up and drop off at one’s hotel. Obviously they have to stagger the arrivals and departures to match the number of available mini vans they have.