Restless in Vietnam (Hanoi)

After getting of the phone with my family and friends I was pretty emotional. I kept talking about what my family said and how Irene, Olga and Timmy are doing. The day was doomed, I was homesick. Everyone kept asking me how is Vietnam? I kept saying to imagine China town but bigger. I've been thinking about that question all day and decided that it was not a fair answer. We are staying in the Old Quarter, a touristy area in Hanoi. The city is very beautiful with rich history left by the French (churches, bridges, opera house, rivers) intermingled with new industry and malls. I find myself annoyed by the people and their behaviour towards tourists; the smell, the constant noise and endless scooters flying by.

There are endless tourists traps and we have identified many of them throughout our travels, but the odassity of people here is untolerable. The majority of people in Hanoi are rude and lack manners. It feels as though when they are looking at us, all they see are disposable dollar bills.

For example I went to buy soap and asked the clerk how much it costs. He showed 60 dong on his fingers (yes their money is called crap). I quickly translated it to canadian and realized that he's proposing that I pay $5 for a 200 ml bottle of Dove. I immediately said it was too much, then he proceeded to ask how much I am willing to pay. He handed me a pen and a newspaper and we started the negotiation. I decided to turn the bottle over and make sure that it was in fact soap that I was buying. To my surprise I found a white sticker with a printed price that said 35 dong. I took the pen and wrote 35. The clerk looked surprised; how was it that I was able to guess the exact price, of which he would have sold to a local. He started bargaining with me and I was so upset that I left the store. He ran after me and made a grand gesture that he was doing me some big favor and losing his pants to sell this soap for a local price. He got into a huge screaming match as I was leaving with his son (who probably put the sticker on the bottle in the first place).

We went to a temple yesterday, got thirsty and decided on a coke and fanta. The sign read: coca - 8, joy - 5. I figured coca to be coca cola and joy, well I wasn't sure why fanta was joy but figured my purchase should amount to no more than 13 crap. Out of habit before handing the lady my money I asked how much, she said 20. I looked at her and then at the sign and explained to her my rationale about 8+5 =13. She got really mad and handed me 4 dong change. It turned out that joy is water but they ran out. I thought to advise her that if she is going to rip of tourists she should find a more conspicous way rather than posting the prices on top of the fridge. My better judgment got me and I decided against it. Who am I to teach her how to run her business.

In Hue, the last city we stayed in, we ran into a traditional hotel scam. We saw a hotel we liked on trip advisor (a website were using), we called and made a reservation for two nights. When we got there they only had one night available but they paid for our cab to their sister hotel. The manager of our first hotel knew how much we were willing to pay and told their sister hotel our price. The sister hotel was more like a dirty uncle hotel and worth a lot less. Marc went to look at the room and I decided to look through their brochures. I found the price of the rooms glued to the counter. Marc came down and said the room was ok, not as nice as the other hotel, but it will do for two nights . He said our room number is 204. The manager quickly grabbed my bag and started carrying it to our room. I explained that we need to know the price before he takes my stuff up to the room (negotiation tip #1 always establish the price before you take the room, or enter the restaurant or put on the shoes). The manager quoted the price we were willing to pay for the nicer hotel (I wonder how he knew). I pointed to the sign that I dug up and pointed to room 204. The price was exactly half. To make a long story short he discounted the room just a bit and said if I wanted the price on the paper that I would have to go somewhere else. I wasn't willing to go anywhere else, it was hot and we just got off the overnight bus.

Bargaining Skills: As I previosly mentioned when we got to Thailand I was really good at bargaining. Something happened, Marc perfected the skill and I got weak. In Hanoi there is a really lovely shoe market. We promised Vanessa to bring back a pair of Nike shoes in black - size 8. My friend Shay who has been to Thailand three years ago said I can get them for $10. Well this is not the case anymore. We have been to many shoe markets and real Nike stores and we cant find any nice ones (but were still looking). I found these fake Puma shoes and fell in love. The first store we went to the Puma on the left was twice the size the Puma on the right. The second store we went to they were ripped and in the third store the slipper fit. I put the shoes on and started bargaining (remember the negotiation tip, this is a mistake). She said 350 I said 150 she said 250 I said 200. I looked and Marc and said "she wants 250 I dont know what to do". Marc said "the first store was willing to give them for 165 take off the shoes and lets go there". I looked at him and said, "but those shoes were bad and these are perfect". Marc looked at me in disbelief, shook his head and left the store. I ended up getting the shoes for 200 but after 15 minutes of making puppy faces. Outside I was all smiles wearing my new slippers, Marc looked at me and asked, "what happened, you used to be so good at this."

Vietnamese Massage: The day we were leaving Hue we got a Vietnamese massage. It wasn't a far stretch to assume that if the Thai massage is so popular, that these neighbours would learn the craft, steal shamlessly (like they thought us at Cintas). Apparantly the Viatnamese are to good for that and they invented their own massage. First things first, I know that we went to a proper massage place - no funny business. My girl was 16 and Marcs was maybe a few months older. They were both wearing mini skirts. The massage started with her pating my back wihout applying any pressure for about 30 minutes. She sat on top on the bed (in her mini skirt). It was really awkward. In the middle of the massage the lights went out, so they dissapeared for about 10 minutes to get the candles. During the black our next door neighbour fell asleep and started snoring. The rooms were divided by paper thin walls so the sound effects were clear. I felt that I could also feel the breeze from his snoring. So much for a relaxing experience. When the girl returned she countinued to pat my arms and legs. In about 15 minutes the massage was over. She handed me a feedback form which had two questions. Rate the massage good or bad and how much is the tip. The length of the massage including the black out was 45 minutes and we paid for 60 minutes. We saw two rats running by as we were leaving and they forgot to give us our mineral water. I would not recommend Viatnamese massage.

Street Hustlers: There are many people who offer to take tourists on the back of their scooters and carriages. They are at every corner huddled in bundles. They all have one line-- one hour very cheap. There aren't that many tourists during the day so when we are spotted walking down the street they all run towards us together. I dont even bother any more because they are so rude; however, to this day, Marc continues to say no thanks politely the first three times and then not so politely the next few times. Today he snapped. He got into an argument with a local. Marc and I were standing and trying to figure out where to go next. The large map in my hands may have been a giveaway. One local came up and said, "one hour very cheap" to which Marc said no thanks. They went back and forth about five times. Then another one came up, clearly the first one wasn't too convincing so the second one would try. Marc got so upset he shouted, "cant you see that we are having a conversation and you are interrupting." I dont think they understood but the fact that such a response came forth I knew Marc has had enough. As did I. The locals just laughed.

I dont want to give you a really bad impression of Hanoi, we did get to do a lot of really touristy stuff. Yesterday we saw a water pupper show in a traditional Vietnamese theater. It was about the rice fields, legends of the dragons and the sword accompanied by traditional music and singing. We also visited several temples, a church (left by the French), museums and went to the Cinema to see Revolutionary Road with Kate Winslet and Leo Dicaprio. Tomorrow we are going to Sapa, supposed to be the jewel of Vietnam. We booked the trip with our hotel so everything is taken care off. Overnight train, hotels, hikking, and overnight stay in the village. When we get back we are doing Halong Bay, also a tour booked with the hotel. In one week we will be off to Laos for ten days.

The best part of the trip is sitting in a coffe shop and opening our book, looking at the map and pointing to our next destination, then plotting the most efficient way to get there. I dont know if we will have access to the internet in the next 4-5 days because we will be away from civilization in the mountains. As soon as we are back, Marc or myself will blog.

I also wanted to mention that I got Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and I am really excited about reading it. It's a russian classic and I'm embarassed to say that I still haven't read it. Marc said that he would it read after me.

Hope you are all doing well. Thanks for following our adventures!! we miss you.

Kissess