Greetings from Vietnam! Yeah, for all those of you who have been receiving copies of my online travellogue, hope you guys are 'cool' hearing from me from Romania/Greece/Vietnam within the last 4 months. Some of you have already remarked that I am flying too often and not working as hard as you all are at home. Ok, I shall try to desist from my globe trotting adventures to the best of my ability.
Anyway, since this is a quick weekend getaway cos of the holidays in Singapore, will just have one email for the most memorable experience I have had during this trip. Yesterday, went for this 1/2 day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels near Ho Chi Minh (i.e. the tunnel networks which the Viet Cong used to devastating effect against the American G.I.s) and met Liz (this girl from the U.S. who was on the same tour as well). Since both of us were travelling independently, we decided to do the tour together so that we can snap pictures of each other and have some company to distract us from the scotching tropical heat. Did the crawl through the tunnels together and it was simply a great experience to have. Imagine duckwalking through the dark, narrow tunnels with a moderately heavy daypack and trying to manovre yourself on the damp soil with a limited supply of air inside with a whole bunch of people right on your tail. Since ventilation is so poor, it was really quite a 'sauna' and certainly not something meant for the physically unfit or the claustrophobic. Anyway, quite a shame to say that I lost the battle to a member of the fairer sex and she did the crawl pretty easily while I have panted pretty hard after the whole thing. Must be getting old, I think. =)
Though this was certainly interesting, it did not beat the highlight of the day - the dispute Liz had with the shop which tailored her dress. She was supposed to tailor a nice evening gown for US$100 which she intended to use for her annual medical gala dinner. Though the tailor said that the whole job could be done in 4 days (instead of the usual 7 days), the quality of the dress turned out to be a little slipshod. The length was two inches too short, the width was two inches too tight and the right hem was higher than the left by about an inch. Though my friend twice sent it back for altering, the necessary rectifications were not thoroughly carried out. In the end, she had a dress which was fitting at the bust (but with the sequins missing along the edge of the zip due to the alteration), dress was still too short and unequally long on both sides.
Despite us having left instructions that the remaining 50% of the payment will be made by credit card after all the alterations have been done, the shop sent a delivery boy with a shoddily made dress and demanded that the payment be made in cash. When my friend asked to speak to the manager, the delivery boy blatantly lied and said he had no way of getting in touch with her; wherein my friend then gave an ultimatum: to return the dress to the shop for a full refund or to keep the dress for the US$50 which she already paid and make no further payment. At this point, Liz was pretty pissed (while I was amused by the whole incident cos I was with her during the initial fitting of the dress and the whole fiasco subsequently) as we have not had our dinner by 10pm and the promises which the shop made to her was not kept. Miraculously, 5 min later, the delivery boy said he managed to get hold of the manager and that she will call back soon. When another 5 min wait for the call turned fruitless, we just went for a scrumptious dinner and ignored the poor guy (who by now had a very black face cos not only was he not able to get hold of the money, but was also forced to stay there for another 2/3 hours of the dispute).
After dinner, both of us decided to drop in and check on her hapless Vietnamese friends (who had been the translators of the discourse between Liz and the delivery boy) to make sure they were ok and that the delivery boy did not do anything 'funny'. All this while, they were quite stressed as they were trying to be nice to the delivery boy but had tto express the tough wishes of their American friend. Surprise, surprise, the manager was here this time round when we returned to the hotel reception. The manager seemed gentle and reasonable; being soft spoken and receptive. After hearing Liz's complaints, she offered to sell the dress for US$80 but Liz stuck to her stand of US$50 or nothing. The vexed look on her face, the no-nonsense tone of her voice showed me first hand the "American attitude" (Sorry Liz, just have to poke fun at you). In the end, the hapless manager asked for another $5 for the dress cos of the amount of labour put in blah blah blah and Liz relented (women can be so soft-hearted sometimes though they sound so tough).
Basically, what I have learnt from the entire episode is this: 1) Do not believe entirely all the promises that the people here make you (they can easily take you for a ride. Had it not been for Liz's tough stand, they would have taken yet another seemingly rich tourist for a ride and make another US$50 for substandard workmanship); 2) Be firm and yet, not rude (think Liz was pretty cool as her gown was really quite screwed up but yet, she did not just blow up at the people from the shop but just calmly gave them two alternatives to choose from) and 3) Be more open when travelling and make friends and you never know how your new-found friends' experiences can add so much colour in embellishing your own online travellogue such as this!
Anyway, that's all for now, folks. Am going to rest soon after all the long day at the Mekong Delta today. Flying back to Singapore tomorrow. Do give me your feedback if you think my travellogue is interesting.
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