oops...we did it again

our canadian-ness has done it to us again. we were too trusting...too willing to believe the friendly, helpful guy...and we were scammed in vietnam.

the thai-cambodia border at poipet is well-known in travel circles as a difficult border to cross. it is difficult because it is unlikely that you will get across without having to bribe at least one person. well...we did! we did our research. we stuck to the plan. we met a forceful couple on the train to the border with the same mindset. we made it across with paying only the posted fee of 20USD while people in front and behind us paid at least 5USD more.

the cambodia-vietnam border was a breeze in comparison. we took a minibus from kampot to the border and the driver arranged a moto driver to drive us and our bags across to the vietnam town of ha tien. (ok ok...a little aside here...yes we took a moto aka scooter after we said we never would again. however, there was NO other option AND it wasn't like we were driving the scooter...we had a driver, a helmut and a scooter each.) we got to the cambodian border guard station and saw an officer asleep on a table in the back room. eventually another officer came to the window to stamp our exit from cambodia and we were waved on to vietnam. at the vietnam border we met 3 guards. the first looked at our passports and visas and waved us onto the next guy, who stamped our passports. the final guy looked at our stamped passports and let us through the gate into vietnam. all the while our moto drivers walked their scooters through the borders with our large backpacks perched behind the handle bars.

our plan once we reached ha tien, vietnam was to try to get a ferry to the island of phu quoc. phu quoc has become a big tourist destination for vietnamese people both local and those living abroad, as well as, foreigners. the border at ha tien has only recently become passable for foreigners. because of this opening the town of ha tien has seen huge growth in hospitality businesses and an addition of a hydrofoil ferry to the island was created. the other option is to get a ferry from rach gia which is a two hour bus ride further into vietnam only to add one hour to the ferry ride. we were keen on catching the ferry from ha tien figuring it to be the cheaper and faster option.

our moto drivers were khmer with cambodian licences on their bikes so they were not allowed to go much further than the town center of ha tien. jason had told them we wanted to go to phu quoc so they brought us to a tourist information center. a guy met us out front right on the sidewalk while another moto driver was also trying to get us on his bike to our next destination. we explained to the guy claiming to be with the tourism center that we wanted to catch the ferry to the island either that day or the next. he told us that the ferry was broken and would not be fixed until the following week. he said we may still be able to catch the ferry from rach gia if we caught a minibus right away. he went to ask his boss if he could take us on his moto with the other driver to the bus station. he saw us pay our other drivers with american money so he asked if we had vietnam dong because you cannot use USD in vietnam like you can in cambodia. so far we are thinking this guy is so nice, so helpful and making really great suggestions. they drove us to an atm and this was the first red flag that i felt. i said to jason, "do you think this is really smart of us to be taking out money in front of these guys?"

on the drive to the bus station my driver is making small talk like "where you from?", "are you married?", "how old are you?", "do you have children?"...all the questions we've grown accustom to in the last few weeks. they pull the bikes into a roadside shack that sells drinks and snacks and my driver announces to me, "bus stop". i am expecting to have to buy a bus ticket from the shop owner but they just tell us to have a seat and the bus will be by in about 10 minutes. aren't we lucky! the bus had to stop for gas so we will catch it! a few minibuses with rach gia written across their windshields drive by on the highway and jay and i look at each other. our helpful guy notices and mentions that those are tour buses and we are waiting for a local bus. as we wait we are quizzed about our life and we reciprocate and learn that our helpful guy learned english three years ago, has a wife and child and thinks vietnam is superior to cambodia. he taught us how to say, "i'm vegetarian" in vietnamese, which is "on chay". still thinking...nice guy...but...

finally after about half an hour the bus pulls up. a man hurries over and puts his hand on my bag to take it to the minibus. we ask how much the fare is and he says, "600, 000 dong each". well, jay only withdrew a million dong at the atm and we had to pay our moto drivers so we don't have enough. in my head i'm trying to figure out what 1,200,000 dong is in canadian dollars. jay tells the guy we don't have that much so he then says, "how much you have?". well, jay opens his wallet and he has 900,000 dong, a 20 and a 10 dollar bill, forgetting the change in his pocket from the moto drivers' pay. the guy says, "ok. 900,000 dong plus $20 will be ok". by this time jay has realized that 900,000 dong is $54 cdn which is way more than we have ever paid for a 2 hour bus ride anywhere else in southeast asia. he tells me this and i'm saying, "too much, too much". the moto driver butts in and says "ok $10". both jay and i are shaking our heads and the bus guy is trying to rush us onto the bus. in the end we didn't give them any american money but they did get all 900,000 dong.

after an hour of stewing on the bus we asked the vietnamese guy beside us how much the ride should have been and he said 100,000 dong. jay started taking pictures of the driver and steward (or is it more p.c. to say bus attendant?). but really what are pictures going to do. we have no idea what company they work for or how to find out. the guy that took our 900,000 dong didn't get on the bus. he stayed behind to split the profits of our stupidity with his new best buddies...our helpful guy and the moto driver.

the moral of this story for all you current or future travelers out there is...keep your wallet in your pants until you have agreed upon a price. another tip that we hope to remember from now on is to speak to people behind desks when asking travel advice and preferably a representative from a reputable company...not a guy in front of tourist office. still...after all this newly gained wisdom...we almost got ripped off by our guesthouse owner when we were in can tho...but that's another town...another post.

xin chao,
corina

one great city

i'm stealing the old slogan for winnipeg and applying it to istanbul. now that winnipeg is 'the heart of the continent'...i'm sure they won't mind. we really liked istanbul...it was definitely one great city. and i say that even though we missed a bunch of stuff. you know how it goes...travel planning, getting acquainted with the area you are staying in and then resting from exhausting travel days all gets in the way of actually seeing the sights. that said we were able to stay in all sides of istanbul by the end of our trip to turkey. there are two european sides, the first is the area between the sea of marmara and the golden horn and the second is between the golden horn and the bosphorus strait. the third side is on the asian continent.

most of the touristy bits are in an area called sultanahmet which is where we stayed our first night. we arrived after our night train from greece without planned accommodation which i supposed i'm getting used to. other than the smelly bathroom, which we would soon learn is a common problem in turkey, our hostel was adequate for the one night we stayed there. we were once again fortunate to find a couchsurfing host...mehmet. we met him our second night at the kadikoy ferry terminal with a handmade sign held in front of us like we were limo drivers waiting for our passenger. we drove for a long time to reach his apartment but were treated to endless amounts of tea upon our arrival...at midnight...before bed. apparently, in turkey, you can't ever have too much tea, no matter what time of day.

breakfast at mehmet's was a turkish feast set out on a low slung table in traditional kurdish fashion...mom-made cheese, omelete, olives, bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, honey with the comb still in it and rich creamy spread which reminded us of clotted cream...oh yah, and tea. so delish. so not vegan. luckily he had some time off that day and he was able to show us around after breakfast. we spent the day wandering through sultanahmet visiting the spice bazaar, the blue mosque, hagia sofia museum and the grand bazaar.

blue mosque on a hazy day

one of the side entries to the blue mosque courtyard

column in the hagia sofia

beam detail in the hagia sophia

the grand bazaar - this was a calm area

i really wanted these...all of them...so beautiful

turkey, of all the countries, has been the place that we have couchsurfed the most. before we left winnipeg we attended a couchsurfing karaoke night where we met a turkish fellow named tacettin. we met up with him and his wife marija for dinner during our first stay in istanbul. they extended the invitation to surf on our return to the city which we gratefully accepted. our last host in turkey was avsar, a young designer type living in a young designer type neighbourhood called besiktas. this was our favourite area of istanbul. crowded, lively and hip. lots to do and near to everything. we had a night out with avsar and some american student friends of his at a local pub with a live traditional turkish band. good times.

unfortunately our very last experience in turkey was not a good one. we were warned about scammers and taxi drivers in particular by others that had been to istanbul before us. we experienced nothing but friendly people and good service our whole time in turkey. until we had to resort to a taxi to the airport. when we called to confirm our flight the ticket agent warned us that there may be a transportation strike the next day. avsar called the morning of our flight to make sure the trams were still in service. and although there was indeed a strike, the trams were running as scheduled. well, we did catch a tram but it only took us up to sultanahmet which is quite far from the airport. we had no idea if what bus we could catch or what was actually still in service so we opted to spend a bit of cash and catch a taxi to the airport. the strike had already caused a delay and we were running about 1/2 hour behind.

we ran up to the first cab we saw and asked what the fare was to the airport. the driver assured us that he had a meter and took our bags. neither jason or i saw a meter but neither of us questioned him about it. we were in a rush. we were stupid and naive canadians. the driver engaged us in some small talk as we made our way to the airport. on arrival he turned around and said '38 lira' in his thick turkish accent. jason handed him 40. a second later the driver turned around with 25 lira in his hand and said '38 lira' again. jason looked bewildered and told him that he just gave him 40. i thought perhaps the driver had said 48 lira and was now asking jason for the rest of the money. i said to jason 'maybe he is saying 48'. then the driver said '48 lira'. we didn't have anymore lira as we hadn't planned on taking a cab so jason pulled out his hidden travel wallet where we kept the rest of our cash. he tried to discreetly look through the wallet for an equivalent amount in euros but the driver brazenly started grabbing for the money. somehow he managed to get all of our cash out of the wallet and into the front seat. he was fanning out the money showing us all the euros and american money we had. we were stunned. this was all happening way too fast. i grabbed the money out of his hands and gave 30 euros back to jay. once again the driver took the money out of our hands so that now he had 30 euros and 40 lira fanned out in his hand. both jay and i were shouting that 30 euros was more than enough...worth at least 60 lira. finally after much protesting he threw the 40 lira back at jay, grumbled about how we were cheating him and told us to 'get out, get out'. we were already late to check in for our flight so we just took our bags out of the trunk and left.

i was flustered and upset that this was our last impression of turkey after such a great 3 weeks. once we were settled at the gate and waiting to board our flight jay decided to count the cash we were able to pull away from the cabbie's grubby hands. we were short $40 american. so a cab ride that was supposed to cost 38 lira (approx. $27 cdn) ended up costing us over $90 cdn. i was so angry...at the cab driver...at jason...at myself...at our stupidity and naivety and our canadian-ness. stupid. naive. canadian. just what the scammers live for.

i have to remind myself that it could be worse. jason could have been beaten and taken for alot more money. we are safe. we are healthy. and we still have very fond memories of turkey.

gule gule,

corina