Hanoi, Vietnam

Is it better to travel in a third-world country where you have to bargain for everything and cheating is prevalent or is it better to travel in a developed nation for 10 times the price?

Nowhere have I asked myself the question more times than in Hanoi. While the scenery in north Vietnam is some of the finest in the world, the traveling has been tough.

The 12-hour night bus pulled up at 6am in front of Prince Hotel. We disembarked and quickly read our travel guide to see if the hotel was reputable. It was and the hotel staff showed us on our map the excellent location of their hotel. As soon as we entered the troubles began. I was told the room would cost one price but as soon as I saw it and decided to take it, the price miraculously rose. We were thrust in a room with no windows on the top story (six floors; no elevator). We would have left but the rain was falling hard and I was exhausted. The bathroom was still full of some else's toiletries, we had no control on the a/c and no towels. The manager kindly "cleaned" the bathroom with a 12 second rinse of the shower hose. I was to tired to fight.

Upon waking from a nap, we headed out to see the old city and a museum. As we walked we became disoriented. When we entered a tourist office to ask directions, we learned that we, and our hotel, were no where near the Prince Hotel on our map. We had been duped. The hotel we had decided to stay at was not the reputable, well-located Prince Hotel, but an imposter using the name to gather business. Such a practice is common in Vietnam. As we walked the old city we saw 8 more "Prince Hotels" and over two dozen "Camilla Hotels" when in reality only one of each properly exist.

Already in a bad mood, we entered a taxi to take us to the museum located 7km out of town. We showed the driver the name and street of the hotel before entering his cab; he nodded, confirming that he knew it's location and would take us. He put on the meter and began to drive. When he took his first U-turn, it was clear he had no idea where we was going. During the course of the 30 minute ride (which should have taken 7 minutes), he asked no fewer than 10 people for the location of the museum. At one point, he stopped the cab and told us to get out; no museum was in site. He simply didn't know where it was. We refused. After several more U-turns, we arrived at the museum. The meter read almost 70,000 dong. The price should have been 40,000, had the drive been direct. I directed Carmen to get out first, handed the driver a 50,000 note and exited. He tried to argue but we walked away.

After the museum, several taxis were waiting. We decided to negotiate the price before hand so as to avoid the meter fiasco. The drivers wanted 80,000 dong; twice the reasonable price. When they saw our outrage, they lowered their price to 60,000, which was still way too high. We finally had a motorbike with an attached carriage (a tut-tut), take us for 35,000.

It began to rain heavily on the way home. Carmen and I quickly became soaked. In an ill-timed moment, two men came up to Carmen's side of the tut-tut and began cat calls. She turned to them and yelled, "Say 'hello' to me one more time and I'll kick you off your moto!" I responded with the only threat I had: "Carmen! Calm down! I'm putting that in my blog!"

While traveling is an absolutely wonderful adventure, it can be very difficult in a third world nation. Upon paying the bill in the hotel, I had to throw a fit when they tried to add an illegitimate 10 percent "tax" and again when they gave me an unacceptable exchange rate. After three months of traveling, I just want to be able to buy a bottle of water or pay for room without throwing a temper-tantrum in order to be treated fairly. As Carmen put it, "I just want to walk into a 7 Eleven and buy a $1.29 bottle of Dasani. The adventure is a bit too much right now".