Sunday, December 7, 2008
Southbound
Our final three days in Hanoi were spent on a tried and tested routine of Happy Hour, Bia Hois, and dodgy, backpacker-filled nightclubs, through which we met several Australian backpackers, one Scott from Scotland, and an Italian marble tradesman with a failsafe business plan.
By the time Joel arrived in Hanoi on December 1, my body had suffered its limit of smog, dust and late nights out and had its vengeance in the form of a painful, phlegmy cold.
Joel had travelled halfway around the world to join us. Unsympathetically, we rewarded his efforts with an 11-hour-long train ride in a six-berth ‘hard sleeper’ cabin to Hue that very night.
Our quest for train tickets illustrates much of what I dislike about travelling Vietnam. A majority of travel agents, including our hostel, sold hard sleeper tickets to Hue for US$47 per person. When purchased directly from the train station, however, the same tickets cost about VND468,000 (US$27.50).
There seems to be a convenient lack of transparency about booking processes and prices in Vietnam that is conducive to overcharging tourists. Inflated prices mean price-conscious travellers have to bargain heavily for a fairer deal, which, for me, ruins some part of an otherwise relaxing vacation.
And then there are the persistent, aggressive touts, the occasional beggar, and the creative arithmetic employed by shopkeepers. One particularly annoying case in point was the ticketing officer at Hanoi’s train station who collected VND500,000 from each of us and then claimed only to have received VND2,400,000 in total. When we insisted that she count the money slowly and clearly, she complied, counting clearly to twenty-four, and unsuccessfully -- and shamelessly -- hiding the last VND100,000 bill in her other hand.
The train ride to Hue in a six-berth hard sleeper was significantly less comfortable than our previous experience in four-berth ‘soft sleepers’ to and from Sapa. Hard and soft sleeper cabins are of the same size, so to fit the extra two people in each hard sleeper cabin, beds are stacked just a little too close to each other in a triple bunk configuration.
The bottom-most beds are the most costly, and afford just enough room for a short, slouching person to sit. Sitting is virtually impossible on the middle and top bunks, which makes for a lot of wriggling when trying to access bags or go to the bathroom.
We had carelessly left our breakfast Oreos at our hostel in Hanoi and weren’t game to try the mystery hot food being carted from carriage to carriage on the train. By the time we arrived in Hue, just past 11am, we were famished and set out immediately for a very tasty lunch at a local diner.
Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the 19th century Nguyen dynasty, and some impressive architecture from the era remains. Best known among these is the Imperial City where the emperors and their concubines resided in a similar fashion to the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The city is crossed by the Perfume River, which is also called the Huong River and seems to play a large part in local life, as well as tourism. During a VND10,000 per person, one-hour-long cruise aboard a houseboat, we passed numerous fishing boats, transport boats and locals doing their washing in the river.
Sadly, my worsening cold was taking its toll on my mood and energy, and I spent little time away from our very comfortable room at the Sports 2 Hotel.
We left Hue after a rushed lunch on December 4 via bus with the Camel bus company. The four-hour-long bus trip to Hoi An was relatively painless -- perfect downtime, I found, for me and my cold.
Hoi An is a small port town on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. Once an important harbour town for the ancient Champa civilisation, Hoi An now is best known among travellers for its numerous silk tailors. Keen for a taste of the famed handiwork, I had a small silk dress tailor-made for VND180,000.
The city also is located about 50 kilometres from the UNESCO World Heritage Site, My Son, which was a sacred Hindu site of the Champa people from the forth to 13th centuries. We visited My Son on a day trip from Hoi An, exploring the 25 excavated temples and witnessing first-hand their extremely hardy bricks whose constituents are said to be as yet unknown to the Vietnamese.
We stayed at the Thanh Van hotel in Hoi An’s Ancient Town, where US$10 per person bought Jim and I a double room with a minibar, bathtub and poolside entrance. So enamoured was I by the hotel’s courtyard pool that I insisted on spending our last night in Hoi An -- and our last night as a complete group in Vietnam -- on a midnight soak with beers in hand.
On December 6, our group split in two. Max, Jim and I decided to make our way across the border to Laos by bus, while Joel and Viren were bound Southward to Ho Chi Minh city before heading over to Laos by plane and train.
By the time Joel arrived in Hanoi on December 1, my body had suffered its limit of smog, dust and late nights out and had its vengeance in the form of a painful, phlegmy cold.
Joel had travelled halfway around the world to join us. Unsympathetically, we rewarded his efforts with an 11-hour-long train ride in a six-berth ‘hard sleeper’ cabin to Hue that very night.
Our quest for train tickets illustrates much of what I dislike about travelling Vietnam. A majority of travel agents, including our hostel, sold hard sleeper tickets to Hue for US$47 per person. When purchased directly from the train station, however, the same tickets cost about VND468,000 (US$27.50).
There seems to be a convenient lack of transparency about booking processes and prices in Vietnam that is conducive to overcharging tourists. Inflated prices mean price-conscious travellers have to bargain heavily for a fairer deal, which, for me, ruins some part of an otherwise relaxing vacation.
And then there are the persistent, aggressive touts, the occasional beggar, and the creative arithmetic employed by shopkeepers. One particularly annoying case in point was the ticketing officer at Hanoi’s train station who collected VND500,000 from each of us and then claimed only to have received VND2,400,000 in total. When we insisted that she count the money slowly and clearly, she complied, counting clearly to twenty-four, and unsuccessfully -- and shamelessly -- hiding the last VND100,000 bill in her other hand.
The train ride to Hue in a six-berth hard sleeper was significantly less comfortable than our previous experience in four-berth ‘soft sleepers’ to and from Sapa. Hard and soft sleeper cabins are of the same size, so to fit the extra two people in each hard sleeper cabin, beds are stacked just a little too close to each other in a triple bunk configuration.
The bottom-most beds are the most costly, and afford just enough room for a short, slouching person to sit. Sitting is virtually impossible on the middle and top bunks, which makes for a lot of wriggling when trying to access bags or go to the bathroom.
We had carelessly left our breakfast Oreos at our hostel in Hanoi and weren’t game to try the mystery hot food being carted from carriage to carriage on the train. By the time we arrived in Hue, just past 11am, we were famished and set out immediately for a very tasty lunch at a local diner.
Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the 19th century Nguyen dynasty, and some impressive architecture from the era remains. Best known among these is the Imperial City where the emperors and their concubines resided in a similar fashion to the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The city is crossed by the Perfume River, which is also called the Huong River and seems to play a large part in local life, as well as tourism. During a VND10,000 per person, one-hour-long cruise aboard a houseboat, we passed numerous fishing boats, transport boats and locals doing their washing in the river.
Sadly, my worsening cold was taking its toll on my mood and energy, and I spent little time away from our very comfortable room at the Sports 2 Hotel.
We left Hue after a rushed lunch on December 4 via bus with the Camel bus company. The four-hour-long bus trip to Hoi An was relatively painless -- perfect downtime, I found, for me and my cold.
Hoi An is a small port town on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. Once an important harbour town for the ancient Champa civilisation, Hoi An now is best known among travellers for its numerous silk tailors. Keen for a taste of the famed handiwork, I had a small silk dress tailor-made for VND180,000.
The city also is located about 50 kilometres from the UNESCO World Heritage Site, My Son, which was a sacred Hindu site of the Champa people from the forth to 13th centuries. We visited My Son on a day trip from Hoi An, exploring the 25 excavated temples and witnessing first-hand their extremely hardy bricks whose constituents are said to be as yet unknown to the Vietnamese.
We stayed at the Thanh Van hotel in Hoi An’s Ancient Town, where US$10 per person bought Jim and I a double room with a minibar, bathtub and poolside entrance. So enamoured was I by the hotel’s courtyard pool that I insisted on spending our last night in Hoi An -- and our last night as a complete group in Vietnam -- on a midnight soak with beers in hand.
On December 6, our group split in two. Max, Jim and I decided to make our way across the border to Laos by bus, while Joel and Viren were bound Southward to Ho Chi Minh city before heading over to Laos by plane and train.
Labels: Vietnam
# posted by liz : 7:20 PM
