Tonight, I found a $3 single room with private bath, had a crappy vegetarian dinner at the guesthouse across the street (I think you have to be Vietnamese to find good food in this country...the food the girls ordered for me in Sapa was amazing! nothing else has compared), talked to 3 tourist folks that have been bicycling for the past year--started in Europe, went through Iran, Pakistan...all the way here to Vietnam where they will be ending their trip in about two weeks--wow, and went to find the travel agency to book the next leg of my open bus ticket for day after tomorrow. While walking around, I saw some gorgeous art galleries--oil paintings, brass sculpture, and silk embroidery. Many Vietnamese people here seem rather disgruntled, and the energy from the Cyclo drivers is mostly not good. I meet a laughing Vietnamese guy playing the local version of hackey sac with a German-born UC Santa Cruz grad (!) who has been living and teaching english in Japan for the last 6 years. I join them and kick around the overgrown badminton birdie-thing. It has a sort of plastic spring on the bottom about 1.5" across and 2" tall. From this base, 3 feathers about 6" long are attached. It is much easier than hacking and we chat and play for about 15 minutes. Feels good to move my body.
I find the bus ticket place, but left my ticket in the guesthouse. duh. I can make the reservation tomorrow, though, so no worries. Walking on, I pass two cyclo drivers who try to convince me that a ride around the city for an hour is a good idea. For 30,000 Dong ($2) I disagree and walk away. FYI, Cyclos are tricycles with one wheel and a very tall bicycle seat for the driver in back and a cushioned seat in front with two wheels where the tourist (or bags of sugar/rice/coal/coconuts) sits. The driver steers by turning this part of the bike. I engaged these guys, so they continue to offer me a service I do not want. One follows me across and down the street, price dropping all the way. I continue talking to him casually, not really interested, but not totally opposed--a cyclo ride is another item on the "haven't tried that yet" list. I agree to a ride for an hour to see some sights (in the dark...) for 10,000 Dong. He takes me around in a circle of the same streets I just finished walking, tries to offer me a cheap place to eat since I was looking at restaurants, but takes me to a really pricey place...then bikes towards Hue's market that I want to see, but is closed and turns away from the citadel he said he'd show me but is also closed. We arrive back at the pick-up point about 5-20 minutes early (I did not pay attention to when we left) and he asks for 15,000 Dong. what? I ask to drive the cyclo with him in it. We go partway down the block and take a few pix. That's fun--they are pretty easy to pedal as long as the ground is smooth and flat (I got stuck on the lip of a driveway, though). I hand him 12,000 Dong and we part ways. I ran into my friend Ori from Dong Hoi and the beautiful Phong Nha cave tour. He says his Cyclo ride was only 5,000 Dong! And the day after our cave tour, he hired a motorbike to take him back to take some pictures and paid 60,000 Dong instead of the 150,000 we paid for the tour. Granted, his driver didn't have to wait 5 hours while we toured the caves like our first drivers did, but still, I felt pretty hosed. I'm getting used to this feeling, though. It is the Vietnamese way.
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