To Dalang 450km to the north, waiting at the station is our first rip off of the day, an elderly woman comes over and asks if we would like coffee while we wait, yes please we say and a couple of minutes later and we have two large fresh coffees,”60,000dong” says the woman, that’s nearly 3 dollars for two cups, we can’t argue, so we reluctantly cough up the dosh. The train arrives late as expected, and soon we’re ambling along at a very leisurely 50kmh. The journey is uneventful and passes some great scenery though the windows were very grubby and the photos don’t really do it justice.
Every 20 minutes or so a woman (not quite a trolley dolly) walks past chanting her wares, “Coffee, tea, beer, sweets, chocolate and popcorn” at least that’s what we think she was saying. Around lunchtime and it’s ripoff number 2, a guy walks down the train selling hot food, we stop him to find out what he has to offer, spring rolls we discover “two please” we gesture in our best international sign language, Just as I get my money out he snatches 15000 dong from my hand and pockets it hurriedly before disappearing down the carriage, we notice the locals only paying about 2000 for the same thing. Oh well, tourist tax I guess.
We arrive at our destination a little late at about 3pm and get a taxi (ripoff number 3 )to the bus stop for the bus to Hoi An which we know is only about a km away, the taxi driver explains to us that the bus stop has moved and he will take us the 6km to the new station “your guide books are out of date” he tells us, he then goes on to say that he will drive us to Hoi An for ten dollars, after a short exchange of words he agrees to drop us at the bus station, where we jump on a bus marked Hoi An (ready for ripoff number 4) the tout wants 5 dollars each for the journey which we know is more than double the correct fare, we agree on 60,000 dong for the two of us (3 dollars) and climb aboard, we notice locals paying 15000 each for the same journey.We drive back exactly the same route the taxi drove us in on to the bus station (see ripoff number 3) Now have you ever been on a fairground ride and really wanted to get off, fearing for your life, this was the journey we had on this one hour bus ride, the coach driver had a death wish and drove like a bat out of hell, horn continually being pressed and so loud I’ve never heard the likes before and hopefully never will, even the locals looked terrified as he sped through the streets, mopeds scattering and cars swerving off the road in front of us as people were being dragged onto the bus and thrown off at regular intervals the bus not stopping for a second just slowing down a little each time, the driver needed four members of staff to cram everybody on and all the various luggage and belongings was just thrown off the bus in their general direction as they looked on bewildered. We could continually smell the heat of burning brakes and clutch, after what seems an eternity we are spat out in Hoi An in the rain with no taxis in sight.
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