The Taxi - Sat 22nd July
Saturday night we went to a party at the other VSO house at West Lake. We took a taxi there, a guy who actually knew where he was going for a change and it cost 70,000VND, just over £2.
It was a good evening, we ate at the local Bia Hoi and had a few drinks then back to the house where we had chance to catch up with a few volunteers who we had not seen since the conference in June. I had to tell my story several times as a few people were not up to date with my unemployed status.
As the evening wore on, Mike decided to stay over, Derek had already gone home so Richard Alice and I decided to get a taxi back. We walked out onto the main road and after a few minutes flagged one down.
The guy looked at us and after a few attempts he understood where we wanted to go. He didn’t attempt to negotiate a price but just leaned over and switched on the meter which kicked off at an unusually low 7,000VND starting price – it’s usually 9,000VND in a small taxi and 11,000VND in a large taxi.
He took off using his horn extremely enthusiastically, even when there was no traffic he was beeping away furiously. We sat and chatted about the evening, life, the universe and everything, and I noted the meter seemed to be jacking up the Dong a lot faster than usual. At first I assumed it was a late night tariff thing – it was close to midnight. Then Richard spotted we were going a very convoluted route. Even Alice started to say that the fare was way too expensive. I pointed at the meter and shook my head. The driver glared back and hooted his horn even louder. At one point the meter jumped from 350,000VND to 420,000VND. By now I was not sure whether to laugh and Richard’s stream of derision from the back seat had become continuous.
Soon after we reached our drop off point and the driver pulled over. He looked at me and at the meter which now showed the enormous sum of 478,000VND just over £16 and eight times the cost of getting to the party. I waved my hand dismissively at the meter and asked in my best Vietnamese what the fare was. He looked at the meter, then at me and held up two fingers, he wanted 200,000VND – only three times the cost. I didn’t have chance to answer, there were howls of protest from the back seat as both Alice and Richard screamed in unison “too much”.
By now the guy was looking flustered but continuing to hold up two fingers (was he expressing an opinion I wondered) I took out a 100,000VND note and gave it to him. He said something and held out his hand again. I shook my head and said no, Alice was already out of the car and I followed, we had a fight to get Richard’s door open then all three of us were on the pavement and the taxi shot off – horn noticeably silent. Richard looked after him and said “I bet the bugger had the meter hooked into the horn!” I can’t help but think that he was right.
It was a good evening, we ate at the local Bia Hoi and had a few drinks then back to the house where we had chance to catch up with a few volunteers who we had not seen since the conference in June. I had to tell my story several times as a few people were not up to date with my unemployed status.
As the evening wore on, Mike decided to stay over, Derek had already gone home so Richard Alice and I decided to get a taxi back. We walked out onto the main road and after a few minutes flagged one down.
The guy looked at us and after a few attempts he understood where we wanted to go. He didn’t attempt to negotiate a price but just leaned over and switched on the meter which kicked off at an unusually low 7,000VND starting price – it’s usually 9,000VND in a small taxi and 11,000VND in a large taxi.
He took off using his horn extremely enthusiastically, even when there was no traffic he was beeping away furiously. We sat and chatted about the evening, life, the universe and everything, and I noted the meter seemed to be jacking up the Dong a lot faster than usual. At first I assumed it was a late night tariff thing – it was close to midnight. Then Richard spotted we were going a very convoluted route. Even Alice started to say that the fare was way too expensive. I pointed at the meter and shook my head. The driver glared back and hooted his horn even louder. At one point the meter jumped from 350,000VND to 420,000VND. By now I was not sure whether to laugh and Richard’s stream of derision from the back seat had become continuous.
Soon after we reached our drop off point and the driver pulled over. He looked at me and at the meter which now showed the enormous sum of 478,000VND just over £16 and eight times the cost of getting to the party. I waved my hand dismissively at the meter and asked in my best Vietnamese what the fare was. He looked at the meter, then at me and held up two fingers, he wanted 200,000VND – only three times the cost. I didn’t have chance to answer, there were howls of protest from the back seat as both Alice and Richard screamed in unison “too much”.
By now the guy was looking flustered but continuing to hold up two fingers (was he expressing an opinion I wondered) I took out a 100,000VND note and gave it to him. He said something and held out his hand again. I shook my head and said no, Alice was already out of the car and I followed, we had a fight to get Richard’s door open then all three of us were on the pavement and the taxi shot off – horn noticeably silent. Richard looked after him and said “I bet the bugger had the meter hooked into the horn!” I can’t help but think that he was right.
posted by Marvin.. at Monday, July 24, 2006
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