This will be our last post from overseas. Unless we get upgraded to business class and find ourselves with some air-borne internet. I am very tentatively charging my tainted iPod. If no-one touches it and no-one speaks to it, I think the computer I am on will remain safe. I carry no guilt about stuffing up the computer at our hotel, but this place is fantastic (2.5 thousand an hour) with top speed and friendly customer service, so I don't want to stuff them about.
My Lonely Planet book has certainly served us well here in Vietnam. It was pretty much new when I left Australia, but now we have to carry it around in a plastic bag for fear of losing pages. Last night it slept in a puddle of water (we got caught in a killer storm by the way. Everything flooded!) and this morning the entire cover peeled off. I'll post a photo of it when I get home.
I almost managed to rid myself of dong just in time to leave the country, but I realised I would like to eat some lunch today (and maybe buy some more awesome stuff!) So i've risked another ATM transaction.
We are really sick and tired of being ripped off by everyone we meet, so this morning at coffee time we compared the prices on the english menu to those on the vietnamese one. There were many differences but the only one that applied to us was 1000 dong between the bottle of coka. So we worked out the bill oursleves and handed them 26,ooo instead of 27,000. It's only ten cents, but my god we have to uphold our principles. The cafe guy didn't try very hard to get his extra 1000 dong. It's stupid but these rip-offs happen everywhere and for a lot more money too. I think every taxi in this city has two settings on their metres. Local and Foriegn. I think this may even be implemented by the taxi companies.
Anyway I'm kind of stuck for words. I'm going to be depressed for another four years back in Australia, so no one talk to me. Until I travel again. It was four years between Nepal and Vietnam, but hopefully the next trip will come sooner and I can stop my whining.
Sad sad sad. I'm going to whip up a second blog, with bundles of my Vietnam photography on it. This will be accessable from the top of Notes from Vietnam so everyone check it out. Sad.
Did I mention that our four week's of spending in Vietnam - that's food, accommodation, clothes, gifts and knick knacks - has yet to exceed the cost of our plane ticket!? I guess we'll conclude this blog from back in Australia . . . so keep watching.
Sad,
Bec,
Hanoi.
My Lonely Planet book has certainly served us well here in Vietnam. It was pretty much new when I left Australia, but now we have to carry it around in a plastic bag for fear of losing pages. Last night it slept in a puddle of water (we got caught in a killer storm by the way. Everything flooded!) and this morning the entire cover peeled off. I'll post a photo of it when I get home.
I almost managed to rid myself of dong just in time to leave the country, but I realised I would like to eat some lunch today (and maybe buy some more awesome stuff!) So i've risked another ATM transaction.
We are really sick and tired of being ripped off by everyone we meet, so this morning at coffee time we compared the prices on the english menu to those on the vietnamese one. There were many differences but the only one that applied to us was 1000 dong between the bottle of coka. So we worked out the bill oursleves and handed them 26,ooo instead of 27,000. It's only ten cents, but my god we have to uphold our principles. The cafe guy didn't try very hard to get his extra 1000 dong. It's stupid but these rip-offs happen everywhere and for a lot more money too. I think every taxi in this city has two settings on their metres. Local and Foriegn. I think this may even be implemented by the taxi companies.
Anyway I'm kind of stuck for words. I'm going to be depressed for another four years back in Australia, so no one talk to me. Until I travel again. It was four years between Nepal and Vietnam, but hopefully the next trip will come sooner and I can stop my whining.
Sad sad sad. I'm going to whip up a second blog, with bundles of my Vietnam photography on it. This will be accessable from the top of Notes from Vietnam so everyone check it out. Sad.
Did I mention that our four week's of spending in Vietnam - that's food, accommodation, clothes, gifts and knick knacks - has yet to exceed the cost of our plane ticket!? I guess we'll conclude this blog from back in Australia . . . so keep watching.
Sad,
Bec,
Hanoi.
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