Adventures By Design

In which the travelers find some friends

We arrived at the Hanoi train station tired but not exhausted, so we walked away from the station. The last time we caught a taxi from the station at 5 am we ended up spending fifteen minutes stuck in traffic: there was a traffic jam of taxis leaving the station at the same time. This time we walked through the gridlock, got our bearings, and started walking. After a ten minutes or so we started looking for a taxi, and found one within nanoseconds.

Nathan and Amy’s flight was scheduled to arrive at about 8:30, and we figured they’d be in Hanoi by about ten. We knew of cafe called the Kangaroo Cafe that’s right in the center of the part of town we wanted to stay in, so we had designated that as our meeting place.

Our driver said he knew where the Kangaroo Cafe was, and off we went. Turns out, although he knew where it was, he still decided to take a somewhat circuitous route to get there. But that’s not all… Once we arrived, the driver helped us unload our bags (except for Gin’s small backpack, which accidentally got left in the trunk until we reminded him), then quickly ran off to sit in his taxi again. Did he forget that we hadn’t yet paid him? Weird, but we didn’t know what to think about it. Maybe he was parked in a no-parking zone? No matter, since the meter said 85,000 dong, Gin gave him a 100,000 bill. The driver tucked the bill between his seat and the door, and then gestured something about 10,000 dong. Clearly his math skills were rusty, so Gin informed him that actually he needed to give us 15,000, not 10,000. He repeated his statement about the money, and presented a 10,000 dong bill as a visual aid. Gin now deciphered that he was saying he wanted us to give him 10,000 dong, which we had no intention of doing. Although appreciated, tipping is not expected in Vietnam, and this driver had done nothing to warrant it. Gin then realized that the driver wasn’t asking for 10,000 dong, he was saying that we had only given him 10,000! The ten-thousand and one-hundred thousand bills look similar (they’re both green), and tourists are warned to be careful to ‘count the zeros’. We had no problem counting the zeros, and in fact had one right in front of us, trying to cheat us. Gin got frustrated and asked Ric to step in. Ric stuck his arm in the car, and when the driver said ten-thousand, he said “Ok”, and held out his hand and waited. The driver started the whole charade of gesturing that we had only given him 10,000, but by now we knew he was dishonest, and we were losing patience with him. Finally, when he realized that he wasn’t going to trick us, the driver reluctantly handed over the 10,000 bill (he owed us 15,000, but we weren’t going to argue over 5,000/$0.30).

The experience left us irritated and angry. Did he really think that we’d fall for his game? We reckon enough people do to make it worth the risk. He picked us up early in the morning, and near the train station, so he probably knew that we’d be tired and less mindful and alert. But his scheme is bound to fail in the long run, as Hanoi has an expanding reputation for dishonest taxi drivers. If tourists feel unsafe in Hanoi, they can easily find another holiday destination, and while Vietnam is beautiful and cheap, Cambodia and Laos have their own charms too. Hopefully someone in the Vietnamese government is listening, and has the courage and forethought to step in and clean up the taxi industry before people avoid Hanoi altogether.

It was now six o’clock and we had an hour and a half until the Kangaroo Cafe opened. We walked along the narrow streets until it started to rain, when we ducked into a cafe (that luckily offered free wireless!). When 7:30 finally arrived, we walked back to the cafe, ate breakfast, and set out again to secure a hotel for the night. After half an hour or so of searching, we finally found a hotel that was clean(ish), and cheap. We reserved a pair of rooms, and headed back to the Kangaroo Cafe to wait for Nathan and Amy to arrive.

We didn’t have to wait long, only an hour or so. It was fantastic to see them again. For those of you who don’t know, Nathan, Ric, and Gin went to university together when they were studying to become teachers. Nathan: reader, musicologist, jingle poet, and grudgingly optimistic cynic. Amy: healer, flamenco terpsichorean, and fledgling knot-tyer.

We ate breakfast and decided to book our tours to Sapa and Ha long Bay through the Kangaroo Cafe’s travel agency. When we were in Hanoi three years ago we went to Sapa and Ha Long Bay, but we did it through a budget agency in our hotel. Although it was amazing to see the sights, the quality of the tour wasn’t great (uninspired food, cramped quarters, inattentive guide). We remember thinking that we wished we’d book through the Kangaroo Cafe because although more expensive, the quality of the tour looked well worth the extra cost. We had a bit of a hassle finding train tickets to Sapa that coordinated with both the Ha Long Bay tour’s schedule and ours, but in the end it worked out fine

Tomorrow morning we leave for Ha Long Bay, where we’ll be for two nights and three days. After we return to Hanoi, we’ll have the bulk of a day to explore the city, and then we board a night train to Sapa, where we’ll be for two days, returning to Hanoi in the morning of July 15. Nathan and Amy will have to take a taxi directly from the train station to the airport, while we’ll have the entire day to kill because our flight doesn’t leave until eleven that evening. We’re not sure what we’re going to do with a whole day in Hanoi with our huge backpacks… maybe we’ll rent a hotel room, but just stay for the day? We’ll figure something out, and for now we’re just going to concentrate on have a great time with two of our favorite people.