July 17th, 2017
The trek to ‘nam
Oh my Buddha. What a gong show getting to Vietnam was this year. Yesterday was quite a blur. Once we got into our Ark at noon (we should have actually had one to get out of Kampot) we started the trek back to Phnom Penh. There was so much rain in the streets the driver had to turn around and try another way out of town. He also had to stop and pay the Kampot “taxi mafia”. He randomly stopped the car and started talking to sone guys on the side of the toad, and I was like “wait-what? You aren’t really planning on picking up more people???” (This happens a LOT here) then someone runs over and he hands him a few bills, through a crack in the window (it is pouring after all), rolls up his window and carries on. I’ve got nothing to lose so I ask “why did you have to pay?” He explained that someone owns Kampot taxi rights and if taxis pick up people in Kampot then they have to pay them to leave with the passengers. They can bring people-no charge-but pay to leave with them. They have cameras on all three ruses out of town. He said that you can drive out and nothing will lol happen but that “the next day-they will come”. Doesn’t that sound ominous???? He seemed happy enough to pay 😳
We arrived safely at Phnom Penh airport around 2:30pm and our check in counter for our 5:40pm flight was not open yet. We hung out for a bit and when it opened, we were first in line. So far so good. Dumped our ONE bag – yes I’m still getting it all in one bag -all 18 kilos! Off to acquire some Burger King or equally sub par Asian fast food. Well Burger King in the international departures terminal had a special. A chicken burger and a beef burger, fries and pops for $16.50. What a steal 🙄!! It’s like they knew what we would order…..we are a house divided on burger choice (always one chicken, one beef). As it turns out, my chicken burger was unexpectedly good, Troy’s beef burger – meh…..tried to think what made it good, could we duplicate at George’s?? And in what we are learning is true Asian airport fashion, there was also a Dairy Queen. So one blizzard and dipped cone later-we were boarding our flight to Hanoi 30 minutes early. When does that EVER happen??
First time in a while we encountered unknown food items on our airline meal. Always happy to pass on these things, but the bun, pineapple and dragon fruit were good. The unidentified “meat” and bright orange items- passed. We were only given one boarding pass despite this flight going through Vientiane, Laos. So assumed we would be “staying on the plane” for the 45 minute layover. As it turns out….no. We had to claim our items and get off the plane. They had us go down a dingy hall to another waiting area, hang out for 30 minutes or so then trace our steps back and get back on the same plane, same seats. 🤔
The second 50 minute leg of this journey passed quickly and before we knew it, we were landing in Hanoi. I’d booked one night at a hotel very close to the airport so that we could just go straight to Sapa the next day. We had gotten a preapproval letter for our Vietnamese visas so we’re optimistic that the process would go smoothly. For the most part it did and with our passports, visas and luggage in hand we head out to find the transportation to the airport hotel (that said it had a free shuttle). I started with the information desk. Oddly enough and especially with her very limited english, this girl assured me she has no idea what a hotel shuttle is, a bus, a van, nothing. Maybe never even heard of a hotel. How us this a helpful information desk. So I go over to the area where all the drivers hold up signs with people’s names on them. This is where we connect with shuttle drivers in Bangkok. Some seemingly helpful guy spends a bunch of time looking at my phone where I’m showing hotel name and address, then he takes us outside and says it will be $10 USD. Now it’s important to note that I could not only see the hotel from the airport runway, but could see it from the sidewalk outside the airport. It wasn’t more than a km away maximum. We say “no” and I’m determined to find this area where shuttle busses gather. I continue to ask around….another driver tells me to walk, one tells me to “go that way (gestures) and get a Tuk Tuk – it will be $1usd per person”, someone else says go to pillar #7 there are vans there. We try all these things, nada. I’m almost ready to just pay the $10. (#HIGHWAYROBBERY). Then I see a couple across the way that look like they speak English and are clearly waiting for something. They are Australian – it’s a mom visiting her son who lives here. He advises against walking, says there are no Tuk tuks and that $10 is wrong wrong. He’s suggesting Uber, but likely no one will pick up the job because it’s so short. He called hotel for me. And they did not answer. He was going to take public bus back to city after dropping mom off at airport, but didn’t know the routes well enough to advise on that. So we just decide to suck it up and negotiate with taxi driver. I firmly believe they actually don’t want to take us because it is so CLOSE. they want the big fat fare to the city. So we get in when we are told it will be metered. Not flat rate. No meter comes on and the guy is holding up one finger, we interpret this as $1. The ride is indeed less than 3 minutes and we get out and I try to give him $1 and he laughs and gives it back to me. Shaking his head and examining it. So it’s either not enough or he doesn’t like the quality of the bill. I trade it out for another, still head shaking and a lot of “no no”. He holds up 5 fingers- by now the two hotel guys are there. They are all talking a lot and gesturing and laughing. But I’m thinking we are going to have a problem….. so I give him two and he wants more, I give him three and then that’s it. He still examining and showing the bills to the other two guys. I rush I knew what the big deal is about the bills here. Same problem in Cambodia. If they have a wrinkle, rough edge or hid forbid a rip, they won’t accept. I’m like “these are actual usd from America!’, they don’t care. But 2/3 of these bills were mint condition, maybe too nice??? Anyway, I started to walk away from him. And he let us go…it was super awkward and I was pretty annoyed by the whole experience. I miss my Thailand where I know what the heck is going on…..
