Part of the arrangement with the tour company taking me to Ninh Binh, was they would arrange a car to take me to my hotel at the end of the tour. I could have easily gotten in a taxi when we finished climbing the mountain and been off, but the driver took me back into town on the bus.
I appreciate it. Saved me a load of money probably. I have no idea. But the tour guide took it upon himself to find me a Grab (Asian Uber) on the way from the cave back to town. He took his commitment very seriously, or so he appeared, yet we got to the point they needed to drop me off and he had nothing.
So he literally had the driver pull the bus over to the side of the road and got out to hail a cab.
Teresa and I exchanged a glance. The driver was not successful.
So, my luggage and I stood with the driver, the tour guide and the bus on the side of the road. Now nowhere near where I would know how to hire a taxi, and his apparent knowledgeable efforts to hail a Grab failed, I was unsure what to do. The hotel was over a km from ‘bus stop,’ and I was not about to walk. Not even sure I could in that moment.
And the Tour guide ran off. The bus driver and I exchanged a glance.
We watched him run over to a building. I have no idea if it was a business or a home, but he talked to a guy in the yard and soon a scooter was produced.
Mind you, I have 3 pieces of luggage and myself to get to the hotel. I have not ridden a scooter since the days we rode motorcycles, and even then I did not ride scooters.
Yet here I stood on the side of the road in the countryside of Vietnam at night. And I was not going to walk. Not sure how this was going to work, but I was not going to walk.
I put on my backpack. Scooter man put my smaller bag at his feet and my large bag went between the driver and myself sideways on the seat of the scooter. I really wanted a picture. I could not get a picture.
The tour guide gave him directions to my hotel once again, and having no idea what they were saying I simply tried to figure out how I was going to keep hold of that stupid hat from hat making day.
The obvious thing to do would be to throw the hat out, but at this point I was wearing my stubborn. That hat is going all the way back to Iowa where it will sit at least for a photo op on Doug’s head. Then we will burn it. But hell yes, it is going to make it home if I must wear it every day for the rest of the trip.
But I digress. I realize these people are accustomed to balancing whole cars on scooters and driving without a second thought. In fact, I decided in Hanoi, if there were less than 3 people on a scooter, they were wasting gas.
Shenanigan. Death shenanigan, but shenanigan.
So we were off. I clung to his shoulders so tightly he will not need a massage for a month. I might have braided his tendons. The hat was clenched between my chin and my big bag and I hoped everything else was still on the scooter.
First we crossed traffic, which was nothing like walking across traffic. It was like frogger doing the two step.
Then we were on non paved roads which led to ‘streets’, which led the nice man to stop and say… here. From what I could tell it was the wrong hotel.
It was indeed the wrong hotel, but in an almost right kind of way. My hotel was 2 doors down. He unpiled the scooter, helped me to the door and drove off into the darkness without comment or care. And 200,000 VND richer for his time. Well earned if you ask me. Poor man accosted by a tour guide in the middle of the night and asked to take a foreigner up the road. You have my respect, appreciations and sympathies scooter man. Live long and prosper.
