Change, please.
The harbour town of Hoi An is a poster child for the ugly side of tourism. Don’t get me wrong, there were many, many things about the place that we thoroughly enjoyed, beginning with our guesthouse that not only had hot water, it also had a bathtub, a television, a top sheet (a first in Asia!), a real bedspread (they tend to have a strange preference for giant beach towels), a refrigerator and a swimming pool. They also cleverly stocked the fridge with (non-complimentary) beer/soda and filled a basket on top of the TV with candy bars – our willpower didn’t last too long!
There were other wonderful things about Hoi An; by avoiding the tourist area we were able to find 50 cent street pho, and the place is known for a local dish, cau lau, which is incredible and is made nowhere else (the water must come from a certain well). Bia hoi, or fresh beer, is served everywhere at 25 cents per chilled mug – this homebrew is light, but much tastier than any of the bottled options!
There is a beautiful beach only 5km away and a nearby island, Cam Kim, which hardly anyone visits. Cam Kim is home to several craft villages including several woodworking families that have been there for 14 generations – their workshops were unbelievable, the talent and dedication that these people have are amazing. The island was quiet, rice paddies crisscrossed with a maze of sidewalk-type streets and many colorful homes where friendly hellos would be shouted from as we bicycled past. Wonderful.
Hoi An’s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and that is where the ugly tourism problem begins. The area is postcard-beautiful, made up of narrow cobbled streets, old yellow European-style buildings with vines growing up the side and balconies full of flowers – it looked like many of the old villages I visited in Italy and again can only be described as “quaint.” Unfortunately the beauty, physical and atmospherical, is completely lost in the face of absolutely rampant tourism.
The streets themselves are overrun by tour groups, many of the senior persuasion, who are bussed in and herded around like cattle, everyone snapping pictures of the locals as though it’s a zoo and looking nervously at any food not served in a fine-dining restaurant. They spend their days indulging in “great bargains” at the myriad of tailor/jewelry/art shops, taking breaks for overpriced boat trips down the river and eating in table-clothed restaurants serving “local specialties” like fried rice, pancakes, pizza and pasta. This is the ugly (in our eyes at least) side of tourists.
The biggest problem with the tourists, however, is what it does to the locals. Basically it takes all of the wonderful things about a culture and turns it for the worst. The people in Hoi An have a tourism-based economy, and they are pros at taking full advantage of that in any way that they can. The buildings in the old town house nothing but nice restaurants (that you’ll never find a Vietmanese person in) and the aforementioned shops.
There were most likely many things there that I would love to have purchased, but the second that you so much as glance their way the salesperson pounces: “Hello, you, lady, you buy? Come look in my shop, you buy!” That right there is enough to make me run away without thinking twice (I hate shopping to begin with), but heaven forbid you give in and touch something for further inspection; in their eyes, you are committed, and it takes strong will and quick legs to get away!
We headed to the market on the first day, hoping for a respite from the madness and maybe a dose of actual Vietnam. Unfortunately, the market was nothing but souveniors and photo-snapping white people – I barely saw a single Asian person in the entire place. Gabe stopped to buy some postcards and they wanted nearly $1 apiece, suggesting that there are many people happy to pay this! He let them know that it was ridiculous and we had no problem getting the price dropped to 25 cents. You couldn’t walk past a single stall without the calling and often the arm-grabbing – we didn’t last too long.
The real ugliness set in when we went to the wonderful Cam Kim Island and realized that the tourism industry has a problem with giving change in Hoi An. There is a tourist boat and a local ferry – the local ferry has a sign where it’s clearly posted (luckily we can decipher Vietmanese) that each person costs 1000d (about 6 cents) and each bicycle costs 500d. We boarded and sat on the roof, laughing at the tourists paying upwards of $5 for a seat to endure the 5 minute trip in. We were well aware that our fare should be 3000d. When the collector came by we handed him a 10000d bill and he took it, not looking as though he intended to return with anything. We gestured enough to eventually get 5000d back – annoying, but immediately forgotten.
The island was great, and before returning we stopped at a roadside place for some soda. A can of soda tends to cost around 8000d, maybe 10 in restaurants. After finishing them we stood to pay and the old woman held out her hand, demanding 30000d! We gave her the ‘you’re crazy’ look and tried to give her 20, but she stood firm until she had 30. We shook our heads – a can of coke cost more than dinner! – and hoped she’d use that 75 cents wisely.
The ferry ride back was the most blatant example of double-pricing, and thus the most irritating. We boarded again, wishing we had an even 3000d but not too worried about it. The collector this time was a bent little woman who approached us and held up two 10s – she wanted 20000d for what was rightfully a 3000d trip! We laughed at her and refused, holding up three fingers. She shook her head and waved the two bills at us, we shook our heads, it went back and forth. Finally Gabe shoved a 10000d bill at her and held out his hand for change – she was apparently satisfied with 10 and disappeared to the back of the boat. The locals looked on with somewhat uncomfortable ‘that’s how it goes’ expressions.
We were both fuming a bit when we got off, and pointed at the posted prices just to make a point when we arrived, but she just shook her head again and went on her way. The money is not the issue – we were overcharged a quarter – it’s just the principle! Double-pricing is a fact of life in developing nations (national park fees in Thailand are multiplied by ten for foreigners) and if you’re white, you’re stuck with it, but it’s rarely that blatant. Insult was added to injury when I stopped to use the public restroom on the street and the lady sitting directly under the “1000d” sign took my 2000d bill then sauntered off with no plans to return.
We soothed ourselves with some bia hoi and enjoyed a vendor dinner on the other side of town (where people are happy to treat us as people, not ATMs) before giving up for the night. The next day we bypassed the bus that the guesthouse wanted to book for us ($10) and took the local bus ($1) to the train station where we bought tickets to Dong Ha. While waiting for the train to depart, we headed outside looking for some lunch.
There was a restaurant on the corner whose owners started waving translated menus at us as soon as they saw my blonde hair – we oh-so-cleverly ignored them and sat at some plastic chairs at the street stall next door. We were served very good bun bo hue from the pregnant lady running the stand, and prided ourselves on ‘going local.’ The fact is, however, that you can never really go local in such a place. As we finished our tea and stood to pay, she walked over and held up 5 fingers. We stared in confusion for a moment, thinking that 5000 was unreasonably cheap and that surely she didn’t mean fifty – that would be downright robbery for soup!
Naturally, she meant 50. We gave her the now all-too familiar “are you crazy?” look and handed her 30. She shook her head, and although she looked embarrassed (she knew exactly what she was doing), stood her ground, those five fingers waving at us. We gave her 10 more, hoping she’d give up, but no luck. We finally gave in, grabbed our stuff and stomped off as she hid back in the cooking area waiting on us to go. Again, the money is not the problem – would you really fight some poor pregnant lady for 50 cents? – but the principle is maddening and is absolutely exasperated by the sort of tourism that Hoi An sees.
In the end, what bothers me most is that I absolutely love 99% of what Vietnam has to offer – nearly all of the people have been wonderful, friendly and more than welcoming – but these incidents leave such a bad taste in your mouth and you can’t help but dwell on them.
We had a great experience in Dong Ha today, visiting the DMZ with a phenomenal South Vietnam vet, which is quickly erasing the Hoi An fiasco from our minds. I will save it for the next post, but we now have a new rule – no eating, drinking or riding before knowing today’s going rate!
Tags: Hoi An, price, scam, tourists, Vietnam
allisonrae
November 14th, 2008 at 5:44 am
[…] Original post by allisonrae […]
November 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Allison –
I love your latest photos you posted; I’m going to have to read up on those tunnels; very sad but thought provoking pictures.
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