A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Road from Pinxiang, China to Friendship Pass border station

The 20 km trip from Pinxiang, the Chinese border town, to the actual border checkpoint at the ironically named "Friendship Pass" (Vietnam and China tend to dislike eachother to the point of border skirmishes), was quite entertaining.

Our bus (or my bus -- by that time I was the only one on it, possibly because Vietnam has closed the border to the Chinese) was met by a couple of tuk-tuk-style conveyances offerring to take me to the border. I opted to go with the woman, figuring that philosophically I should support a woman-owned business in such a country, no matter how small.

Shortly after we set off, a young Chinese man leaped into the back with me, grinning and showing me a laminated piece of paper with the following message: "HE/SHE IS A CROOK. DO NOT CHANGE MONEY WITH HIM/HER. HIS/HER MONEY IS FAKE." After making sure I understood, he leaped off. Good samaritan? I'd have liked to think so, but after six and a half months in Asia I tend to look for the angle.

A couple miles down the road another smiley Chinese man (or maybe the same one) made a valiant attempt to leap into the vehicle, but was twarted by the sudden accelleration of my driver. He, however, as the driver of another tuk-tuk, was not to be so easily shaken off. What ensued could generously be described as a medium-speed chase. At least as great a speed as one can reacy in a couple of motorbike-powered covered wagons. Both drivers were having a grand old time, and after mine's attempt at subterfuge failed (pulling off onto a side road after a curve in the hopes that our pursuer would sail on by) she finally gave in and stopped.

The other driver's angle then became clear -- he didn't want me to change money with her because he wanted me to change money with him. I suspect every tuk-tuk driver has a major sideline in black market moneychanging, and this whole rigamarole with the "He/she is a crook" cards is part of their elaborate and much-enjoyed competitive game.

At any rate, I disappointed them all -- I still had plenty of Vietnamese currency left over, and had spent the last of my Chinese Yuan on rolls of film in town. Better luck next time.

Copyright 2003 Katy Warren



posted by Katy at 7:37 AM