Two Tiers of Transport in Vietnam
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As regular readers of this blog have probably figured out, I am an independent traveler by temperament (and usually also by means). In China I take trains and local buses, and I avoid group tours like the plague. But here in Vietnam, truly “independent” travel is essentially impractical, at least when it comes to securing transportation.
Travel agents are everywhere in Vietnam, to the point that their ubiquity is almost hard to overstate. In Hanoi’s Old Quarter, every second storefront seems to hold a travel agent or a guest house that also sells bus tickets. Countless tourist coach buses run along the coast, stopping at all of the major tourist destinations from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. For a couple of dollars, you get hotel pick-up, an air-conditioned bus, and, once you get to your destination, a drop-off point pretty much in the middle of town.
Local buses are a bit cheaper, but they are crowded, take significantly longer, and leave from bus stations that are often kilometers away from the town center. Factor in a taxi ride to the bus station (because it’s hard to take luggage on a moto), and all of your savings can evaporate. Even the most independent-minded travelers fold in the face of the overwhelming tourist machine.
What’s the problem with this low-priced convenience? Only that it further widens the gap between tourists and the local population. In China, even if you eat in big restaurants with English menus and rely on cheap taxis to get around town, you’ll still end up on the same train as the locals. Despite the language barrier, an overnight train ride is a great way to make Chinese friends — even if the friendship amounts to nothing more than an exchange of smiles and a handful of melon seeds. In contrast, in Vietnam, the tourist industry conspires at every juncture to keep travelers separate from locals (other than salespeople and tour guides, of course).
Everyone is acting in their own best interests — including me, by taking the more convenient tourist buses rather than putting my money where my mouth is and schlepping out to the local bus stations. But that doesn’t mean the system is an ideal one. (Suggestion #1: Move the city bus terminals closer to town!)
Written from the road in Hoi An, Vietnam (and finished in Siem Reap, Cambodia). Subscribe to my RSS feed for more stories and come back in February for photos!
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