Statistically it was bound to happen. When traveling for so long mostly in third world countries there are going to be hair-raising moments and we fell flat into one yesterday...
We came into Vietnam by boat from Cambodia which was a fun cruise down the Mekong River, now well over a mile wide. A few hours into the trip we got off the boat, got our passports checked by Cambodian customs, got back on the boat, and went about 1/4 mile downstream to a floating barge which housed the Vietnamese Immigration. Even though all the passengers where required to have their visas already we sat for almost an hour on the barge waiting for them to give our passports back. There was a random lady walking around with a huge stack of money offering to make an exchange. The going rate for the dong (Vietnamese currency) is 20,000 to $1 which means that just paying a $50 hotel bill means we are millionaires! Anyway, we finally got back on the boat and went another hour or so to the town of Chau Doc on the Mekong Delta which was our destination in Vietnam for the night.
Through our hotel we bought bus tickets to take us to Can Tho, about 3 hours south. This is the city where Victoria spent about 4 months in 2006 studying abroad and was excited to take Travis back to and show him all the local hang outs! It is however the bus ride that has made us grateful we are still alive and well.
The journey started like the day for most Vietnamese: jumping on a motorbike. We each got on the back of a motorbike which here is the family car and absolutely rule the road. We each have one quite large duffel bag and a day pack as luggage and were very apprehensive about if we were going to even make it to the bus station. But these folks are used to carry much larger loads without braking a sweat and were able to fit our bags between their legs in front of them while we each climbed on the back. We even got helmets! The short ride to the bus station was a thrill and we probably have a few more in our future.
But let us continue into the heart of the story and explain why we are probably now on the Vietnamese Most Wanted List. The bus we were pointed to was actually more of a van that would seat 15 or so Americans (which means about 30 locals) which we thought meant we lucked out and wouldn't be in a slow and bouncy bus. Wrong we were. We started the ride with just a few other passengers including a family with a very young baby, two drivers, and the head guy who rode in the first row next to the sliding door. We say head guy because just as we turned onto the main road he started spouting directions to the driver and getting on his cell phone to orchestrate what turned out to be several illicit pick-up stops.
While we were still in Cambodia we were shocked but excited about the cheap price of alcohol and concluded that there must not be any taxes. Elizabeth happily bought a nice bottle of gin for cocktail hour costing $6. We had also heard that smuggling goods into nearby countries was a big problem as ambitious folks could stand to make some serious money selling the tax-free stuff at a higher rate. That is just what our "bus" to Can Tho was doing, with cigarettes.
So, not 5 minutes down the road we kind of pull off the side of the road and a guy comes running over with a package all covered with black tape and tossed it in and off we went with us not knowing yet what the contents were. Several minutes later, we pulled over again and this time the head guy from the bus got out and ran across the road to the back of a shop and came out with two more packages also covered up. While he was gone, the guys in the front seat had opened up the dashboard and were placing in cigarette packs by the dozens. Uh oh. Before going more than 10 miles out of town we had made a few more equally sketchy stops and at one, the driver opened the hood and stashed another two large packages by the engine! To make matters more thrilling the driver had the pedal to the metal going 70mph at times down small roads with lots of motorcycle and pedestrian traffic. No doubt the heat was on. Despite the passengers being tossed about on curves, the head guy still in the first row was unwrapping the packages and we could clearly see that there were strings of cigarette packs held together by rubber bands forming a belt and this guy began strapping them to his body under his shirt! What the hell was going on! Was this some sort of scam that was going to get us tourists in trouble? Do we need to keep our heads down for fear of gun fire from the police? It seemed the other passengers where not as skirmish as we were and we both wished so badly we could understand Vietnamese to know what all was going on. Instead we had to just sit tight with our imaginary seat belts on and hope to make it to Can Tho so we could write about it in our blog.
Never have we prayed to get stuck behind a truck or bus before, but now we were as that was the only way to slow our driver down. Often he would spend minutes in the other lane to pass slow cars, forcing the oncoming traffic to swerve off the road entirely. When you need a slow truck they are never there. But about an hour into the ride, the level of urgency seemed to drop. Perhaps we were out of danger from being searched. Our head guy took off the cigarette belt and the driver slowed down to a brisk pace, but that did not stop all the chaos. Now instead of picking up cigarettes we began picking up passengers who were headed down the road. The head guy would stick his head out the window and shout non stop at anybody that looked like they needed a ride, and if they did, we would slam on the brakes long enough for the people to climb in but never coming to a complete stop. That would be asking too much apparently. Even when the family with the baby got off eventually, it was like a NASCAR pit stop and off we went. Women with bags of produce or luggage would get on and have to pile in the back. More young families came and went and some of the passengers even started throwing up which added to the scene that was taking place around us. Even when it seemed there was no room for more people, our guy was out there with his head trying to make another buck by getting another poor soul to climb aboard.
About an hour later we were getting near our destination and guess what time it was? Time to distribute our goods we had worked so hard at concealing. We probably made 4 or 5 stops to various people on the road waiting for the phone call from our guy. The packs in the dashboard were unpacked and given out. Next stop the hood was opened and the packages pulled out, and our crazy driver hoped out too and the guy next to him slid over and picked right up, barreling us into Can Tho.
We of course did make it to the bus station in Can Tho (in record time no doubt) and happily left the bus unhurt and only mentally scared. When we were told the way to our hotel meant hoping again on a motorbike, we did so without hesitation and then finally plumped down on our hotel bed wondering what our mothers would have done if they were still with us on our trip. Perhaps they will tell us?
We hope Vietnam continues to captivate us, but not quite to the same degree...
T&V
