July 17, 2009
Watching Ellen’s face while she discovered that the toilet in our USD15/night hotel room did not have a separate showering area was something right out of a comedic entity and when we found a better hotel for only slightly more expensive (it was actually quite a bit more, but the man was Waggling his eyebrows at her while she bargained), we lunged at the opportunity to jump ship. Although we felt a bit guilty, the thought of the flimsy plastic door which looked as though even I could dispose of it quite easily, coupled with the lack of a proper lock, soon remedied that.
So far, my theory about Ellen and Southeast Asian men in general has yet again been prove true. when we broke the news of our intentions to the hotel staff, one was rather dismal to hear of our premature departure and after a woeful farewell, heaved a sigh and flopped rather pathetically. Of course, he could just have been woeful at the thought of the disappearance of his cash cows but I choose to believe a more comedic truth.
Since discretion was key, we lugged our bags into the street, quite prepared to walk to the other hotel. However, the rain soon began falling with quickening intensity and although we had been warned of rigged meters and unscrupulous taxi drivers, we thought that flagging down the first taxi we came across would be of little consequence, since the other hotel was in fact on the next street. However, after the taxi driver had established our Singaporean-tourist status, we had, according to the meter, travelled the amazing distance of 20.7km in a span of 5 minutes and were charged a grand total of 80,000 VND – I suspect the correct fare would have been something like 12,000 VND (10,000 VND = S$0.80). Still, not much harm done for a well-timed lesson, I say.
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