If You'll Lie, You'll Steal, and if You'll Steal, You'll Kill

While planning for our trip I had read that Vietnam was notorious for trying to rip off tourists. For the first two weeks I had seen no evidence of this, and chalked this reputation up to naive or butthurt tourists who ended up regretting how much they ended up paying for something. However my perspective has changed over the past few days.

After finishing our time in Da Nang Zoe and I decided to take a public bus to Hoi An. I had read online that the fare collector tried to make foreigners pay a 50,000 dong (2.50USD) fare when the real fare is around 20,000VND. Sure enough, there was no fare posted on the side of the bus, and when we got on he asked for 100,000VND. I handed him 40,000, and he refused to take it.This continued for about 30 minutes, (it was a 45 minute ride) At one point he threatened to kick us off. I was very unbothered. I would have enjoyed seeing him go through me, take all four of our bags, and throw them off the bus. He finally realized he was fighting a losing battle, and that these were two tourists he wouldn't be scamming and accepted my money.

At least the bus driver just tried to charge us double. Zoe needed a pair of flip flops, so we stopped off at a shop. When she inquired how much they were the shopkeeper said, "500,000VND," (23USD) with a straight face. FOH. Zoe, like me, when given an extremely ridiculous price retorted back with one of her own, "10,000VND (.50)." Eventually a price of 50,000VND was settled on. Still, this lady thought she could get away with a 90% markup!

Finally, in what was probably the most egregious and brazen example so far, a noodle shop owner tried to overcharge us for some pho, except they weren't clever about it at all. Zoe and I each had a bowl of beef ho, and there were probably about 10 other Vietnamese people in the restaurant with us, all eating pho as well. As usual, no prices were posted. The Vietnamese people left, paying with no incident. When Zoe and I were ready to leave we asked how much our meal was. The waitress proceeds to pull out her cell phone, and call someone, presumably to ask someone how much to overcharge us. Keep in mind she did this right to our face, immediately after the Vietnamese who had THE EXACT SAME THING AS US, left without a problem. She ended up asking for 80,000VND, but we've been here long enough to know that's to much for pho, gave her 60,000 and went on our way.

I'm used to the give and take of haggling for things, but it is a bit disheartening when people try and take advantage of you. A dollar or two here and there doesn't seem like much, but when you are travelling for three months it adds up. I also don't buy into the sentiment that because these people may be poorer than myself that I should just suck it up, or that "that's just the way things are." If I am here staying in hotels, buying food, and merchandise then I am contributing to your local economy. Additionally, if tourists have the go along to get along attitude, it will only make things worse, and vendors more brazen. Either way, these episodes haven't changed my opinion Vietnam, I'm still having a great time!

Cu Chi Tunnels

To further our knowledge and understanding of The Vietnam American War, the next day we set off for the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels were about two hours by bus from HCMC. The tunnels were vital to the war effort, and if America had managed to take Cu Chi the war may have ended differently.

Bomb Crater 

Our guide shows us an example of a booby trap

After touring the area, however, it was easy to see why our military had such a difficult time taking Cu Chi. There were traps everywhere. The Vietnamese were also very resourceful. For example, they took American bombs that did not explode and refashioned them into bullets, and other weapons. They were also more determined and committed to their cause. They would sometimes live in those tunnels for weeks and months at a time. Food was scarce, a bowl of rice, maybe some tapioca, and the weather didn't make their stay any more pleasant.

US tank left behind

Bombs that were refashioned 

We had the opportunity to go down into one of the tunnels. Apparently these tunnels have been altered to accommodate fat westerners tourists. Our particular stretch of tunnel was 30 meters long with exits at 10 and 20 meters. My 6'4 180lb body could only handle crawling the 10 meters. I left Cu Chi with deep respect for those Vietnamese soldiers who endured so much.

Entrance to tunnel

Vietnamese Cuisine

Shrimp Spring Rolls

Pho

Fried Noodles

Grilled Frog

Mussels topped with peanuts

Grilled Fish

Lady barbecuing where we had the above fish and mussels.

War Remembrance Museum

We arrived in HCMC after thirteen hours of travelling. After finding a place to stay, getting something to eat, and doing a little walking around, we chilled in our room. I did sneak out and get a massage. It was 120,000 Dong ($6) for 90 minutes, and was pretty good.

The next day we got up early and made our way to the War Remembrance Museum, which chronicled "The American War," aka The Vietnam War. I am somewhat of a history buff/nerd and I keep up with foreign affairs, so I found the museum very interesting and informative.

On the other hand, as Union General William Sherman said, "War is hell." The museum certainly didn't gloss over the atrocities committed during the war. We saw the horrific conditions prisoners on Pho Quoc Island were kept. The piece that touched me the most, however, was the Agent Orange Exhibit. There was an entire floor dedicated to it, and although I knew about AO, most of it was from a Western perspective. While the media in the States covered the debilitating injuries and complications American soldiers faced from AO, the suffering of the Vietnamese has either been glossed over or completely ignored.

Examples of torture techniques used.

America's use of AO destroyed many of Vietnam's beautiful forests, and left behind generations of disabled and disfigured Vietnamese. It was a truly sobering exhibit. People spoke in hushed voices throughout the exhibit, and I saw a few folks crying. It didn't exactly make me swell up with pride, being an American, by the time I had exited the museum.

The aftermath AO left behind

However, the last US troops left Vietnam over 40 years ago, and while not forgotten, and maybe not completely forgiven, the Vietnamese seemed to have moved on. Unfortunately I fear there will be a similar museum like this in Iraq 40 years from now.

40 years later and all we have to do is replace SE Asia with Middle East

Ho Chi Minh City

Vendors taking their things from the market after it had closed

After living in Shanghai for three years, and having visited three other Asian capital cities, (HCMC is not the capital of Vietnam, but is the largest city) I was not expecting to be impressed with the city sometimes still referred to as Saigon. Thankfully my expectations were proven false and I ended up having quite a good time while learning a bit of history as well.

View outside our hotel window

HCM is a bustling city, just not on the same level as Tokyo or Shanghai, and not nearly as seedy as Manila or Kuala Lumpur. I saw no businessmen/women shuffling to and fro, or prostitutes asking me if I wanted "massages," or offering me Viagra. Most importantly the people seemed happy. I saw smiling faces everywhere I went and people who seemed to be enjoying life.

The King of Pop immortalized in blinds outside a cafe in HCMC

There were motorbikes, and they were EVERYWHERE! At first Zoe and I were quite scared to even cross the street, but we quickly got over it. Pretty soon we had fallen in with everyone else and did the dance of zigging and zagging while crossing the street to avoid being hit. It was good practice for Hanoi, which I've heard is even worse.

The beginning...

After three years in Shanghai, which I will write about in more detail later I finally get to begin the journey that I’ve been planning for half a year now!

After a few final last hoorahs, Zoe and I made our way to Pudong Airport to begin the first leg of our journey. After almost being coerced into paying an exorbitant fee to check one bag, having to dump lotions and soaps that were over 100 ml, because…. 9/11/underwear bomber, and a four hour layover in Kuala Lumpur, we finally made it to Ho Chi Minh City.

The plan is to travel until about the beginning of December and see Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. I will try and keep this blog up to date with my comings and goings. In the meantime check out my dropbox here

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