waiting
by Rach
Ho Chi Minh City to Vung Tau, Vietnam
The other day we had to wait while Rob went two minutes round the corner to the bus company office. Over an hour later he returned. Then we needed to wait another 15 minutes while he took a motorbike ride……which actually took another hour and a half. By the end of that time, those of us who had been sitting at the entrance to the guesthouse for the duration were a) a wee bit over watching conical-hatted ladies, motorbikes, tall stacks of books (no, thank you, we cannot buy a book, no, not even that one, no we have no room for books in our backpacks, sad to say), sunglasses sellers (no, thank you, we do not want any, no, not even real raybans) and limbless beggars (sorry, no) and b) a wee bit concerned….I ran out of possibilities of what might have happened with which to reassure the children and so I sent Jboy13 out onto the lane with the camera. He came back with some shots to distract the mounting anxiety.
Today we had to wait for the hydrofoil (coz we were machines and even loaded up with packs we powered up the road so fast we had plenty of time to spare).
Then there was more waiting as we looked for accommodation. All we knew about Vung Tau when we arrived was that “Front Beach” has the expensive accommodation and “Back Beach” is full of cheap digs. Taxi driver assured us he knew BB…and then proceeded to take us to a particular guesthouse that was well beyond the price tag we had given him. Who knows if we were at Back Beach? Admittedly, nothing looked expensive, but neither was anything cheap. Our Cambodian Cynic Meters were running on high again as the proprietors of different establishments on the same street conferred together before deciding upon a price for us. They left us standing on the road waiting for the answer to our question “room how much?” while they ran up and down the guesthouses for a handwaving chat. Initially we secured two rooms at reasonable rate for two nights. Then there was more waiting for most while some of us went off in search of beds for the remaining three nights.
The big problem is that it’s Tet and prices don’t just increase, they don’t even double, they go from 200,000 to 2,000,000 for a night <insert eyes-popping-out emoticon>
A block away we managed to find someone who was not in on the preliminary beachfront discussions and her increase was nowhere near as severe and did not kick in until two days later. 250,000 to 800,000. We have taken two of her rooms for two nights and then we’ll all squish into one room at four times our budget for our final night.
Speaking of Cambodia and cynicism, which automatically leads to thoughts of money, reminds me of one more waiting incident. Yesterday morning I realised I had been overcharged to the tune of 46,000Dhong the previous evening and so I toddled off down the street in the hopes of retrieving it. I am an optimist, you know. And we had got the chess set back! Overly Apologetic Lady told me to wait until the evening, then come and talk to the guy who might remember me (a distinct possibility – how many people would have been buying ten pottles of yogurt and four large baguettes?!) So we waited. And returned. And got our money back. Victory!
There was victory for the rest of the gang too. They have all suffered from various sicknesses at least once each so far and had been waiting with eager anticipation for the Iron Stomach Mother to fall. They thought the fateful day had arrived a couple of weeks back, but staying in bed with a good book resulted in health. So they waited. And waited. And waited. Yesterday she conceded defeat with the occurrence of a single bout of Da Trots and they all went out for a Victory Walk. Look what they saw:
Tags: health, housing, money, postcard: Vietnam, price, tradition, transport
rayres
Oh, hope mother is well again! You lasted well to get this far!! And well done on going back for the money owed to you. Hope the hydrofoil ride was fun 🙂 Love the photos Jboy13 took.
ohhh nice pics Jboy13! i especially like the power lines one 🙂
the hydrofoil looks very cool and i love the little lighthouse(?) too!!
i hope you manage a once-off rach! 😉