Expectations

Why does Josh look so sad in this photo? Because our luck with the overnight "hard sleep" trains ran out on the way back from SaPa to HaNoi in Northern Vietnam. Take a look at that "bed"! It is a board with a mat on it. And that's it. Oh, and the air conditioning we paid for? That wasn't there either. (Suck it up, you might say. Well, it is 40C today! That's hot! And, for the first time this trip, I was feeling quite unwell. Nothing like feeling feverish while lieing on a mat in hot, humid air...)

I think I've learned something about being a "Westerner". I expect to get what I paid for. And if what I paid for and what I get are somehow not equivelant, I expect at least to get what I was told I was going to get when I paid. I am increasingly convinced that this is not the case around here.

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We've discovered this happens when we book things. Our trip to the Mekong Delta was very nice, and we're glad we went. However, the "contents" of the trip could have been squeezed into one day if it weren't for the early hour of the floating market and its distance from Saigon. We were also surprised to join up with a few other tour groups along the way- "why we wait? oh, we wait because we have 10 more people to fit on bus for ride back to Saigon." The day trip to the BacHa market near SaPa was also interesting and worthwhile, but we thought the market was not nearly as fascinating as the description. And that ticket heading back on the train was supposed to be the hard sleep air-conditioned type. We did not splurge on the first class "soft sleep" nor did we go so cheap as to agree to the non-AC type. We bought our first ticket at the train station ourselves, but the second one we bought through our hotel. We tried at the train station, but they wouldn't let us purchase tickets in advance. Instead, the hotels charge an extra dollar or two and then send someone an hour down the mountain to buy them for you.

We've heard this complaint from other backpackers and tourists in Vietnam. We think it might be this country in particular because short-term tours (day trips up to 5-day treks) are so common. In Vietnam, it is often easier and cheaper to book a tour somewhere than to actually do it yourself. We wouldn't have been able to get as far into the Mekong as quickly if we'd done it on our own. Along the same lines, we could have hired our own transportation to the BacHa market, but it would have cost a lot more than we paid for the tour.

The same is true of travel through the country itself. The hop-on hop-off buses are about half as much as a train ticket. But it's that "tour" thing we hate. The hop-on hop-off buses are almost completely backpackers and they make stops here and there at tourist sites or roadside cafes. You then end up traipsing through some villagers' house with another 22 people or spending an hour and a half waiting for everyone to both order food and use the toilet.

We've heard a number of complaints that the hotel room given was not quite like the hotel room shown in the brochure or the air-con promised didn't exist. One Australian/British couple we met had booked a speed-tour from Saigon to Cambodia. They drove to Pnom Penh, took a boat to Siem Reap and then flew back to Saigon from there. Among other things, they were promised a speed boat for the 6-hour trip from Pnom Penh up the Tonle Sap River to Siem Reap. Instead, they ended up with what they called "a canoe with an outboard motor." Perhaps it wasn't that bad, but it certainly wasn't what they had been promised. We've also heard that if you take the 24-hour bus from HaNoi, Vietnam to Vientaine, Laos, buy the cheapest ticket possible, no matter what they promise, because everyone ends up on the same crowded, non-AC bus no matter whether they paid $11 or $25!

This expectations thing is new for me. I like to think of myself as fairly laid back and easy to please. But I've learned that when I don't get what I expect and someone/thing is at "fault", I want someone to complain to! So its terribly frustrating to be in a country where the train conductors don't speak your language and most tour operators don't really care. When someone told me it was summer in Hoi An and that I shouldn't expect rain, I was terribly disapointed when it did rain our first morning. But who can I complain to then? (And, honestly, the rain did wonders for the heat.) However, with tours and the like, we've learned to set our expectations a bit lower because it doesn't seem to matter to the locals if things change mid-route. Who do we complain to anyway? Upon seeing the mats, the two Vietnamese girls in our train compartment wrinkled their noses, sighed a bit, complained to each other, but never said anything to the train staff. (But I claim that they paid for non-AC and were simply annoyed that the beds had no cushion like some hard sleep compartments.) Basically, falling short of expectations seems to happen when we don't do things ourselves, another reason we hope to avoid more "tours" if we can help it (unless they're more private like Minh's). I just don't think this would happen as often in the US. In America, clients who feel cheated complain and get their money back or at least get a coupon for 10% off at the gift shop.

The other thing I(we)'ve learned is that Josh does not have as large a sense of "no, this is how it SHOULD be" as I do. Apparently I haven't completely shed that child-like belief that life is or at least should be "fair". I figure it's fine to think the way I think; I just need to work on not voicing it everytime I feel I am on the short end!