Hi guys,
thought I'd check in again as it's been a little while now!
We are in Hanoi, at the top of Vietnam and I'm over it and ready to move on to our nice beach resort we've got booked in Thailand.
We have found Hanoi to be full of scammers, although we probably have let our guard down somewhat as well as we feel more comfortable in the country now I guess. Went to bed last night at around 11...we are in a room with no window except for the one that opens onto the internal stairwell. Really crappy kind of hotel but we figured it was only for two nights. Didn't lock the door and didn't think to check the window, which was covered by a curtain. Slept really well, in the morning got up to go out. Went to leave but Jed couldn't find his little wallet and my handbag with the camera in it was missing too. Turned the room upsidedown looking for it...then realised the window behind the curtain had been slid right open in the night and left that way. It seems someone either slid the window open and lent in REALLY far and grabbed the stuff of the desk or actually came right in while we were asleep and took the stuff.
It's ok as it's covered by travel insurance and I'll just buy a disposable camera for the last week but today has been full of crap! We needed to call the insurance co and wanted to use reverse charges as that is what the insurance company wants you to do. The hotel said we could not do it from there but to go to the post office. The post office was of course closed for lunch. Then it re-opened and the lady said reverse charges was impossible. We asked if we could give the phone no of the post office for the insurance company to call back on - "impossible!" We stood around pondering what to do and in the meanwhile an Aussie girl was talking to the teller about the cost of calling Australia - she said 9000 d per minute. We went outside, came back in, decided to use the phone to call. Spoke to the insurance company who confirmed we'd need to make a police report & just lodge the claim for the missing stuff when we got back. Call seemed to take about 5 minutes but we were charged for 10 - at the rate of 18000 d per minute! No arguing with the post office, the lady just laughed and shrugged, etc. So we paid about $15AU for a call that told us something we already were pretty sure of!
Then poor Jed went to make the police report while I slept for a while in the hotel room. It took 2 hours, the hotel staff ended up coming down to the police station and were yelling back and forth with the police...the police didn't speak english so got a girl from a shop to come and translate...Jed kept stressing "we only need this for insurance, we don't want an investigation, we don't think it was someone who works there," etc. The hotel staff were pissed off and asked Jed to say we'd just lost the bag and wallet in the street, which we didn't, as we'd already told the insurance company and besides, who wants to lie in Vietnam? So many problems, but we have the piece of paper now.
We've seen a couple of nice things - the water puppets were fantastic last night and we went and saw Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, although it is kind of weird looking at a dead body in a glass case!
Tomorrow morning we fly out to Phuket in Thailand where we are meeting friends and I mal ooking forward to swimming in a nice pool and lying on a beach before heading home.
Hope all of you are well and good.
Amy
thought I'd check in again as it's been a little while now!
We are in Hanoi, at the top of Vietnam and I'm over it and ready to move on to our nice beach resort we've got booked in Thailand.
We have found Hanoi to be full of scammers, although we probably have let our guard down somewhat as well as we feel more comfortable in the country now I guess. Went to bed last night at around 11...we are in a room with no window except for the one that opens onto the internal stairwell. Really crappy kind of hotel but we figured it was only for two nights. Didn't lock the door and didn't think to check the window, which was covered by a curtain. Slept really well, in the morning got up to go out. Went to leave but Jed couldn't find his little wallet and my handbag with the camera in it was missing too. Turned the room upsidedown looking for it...then realised the window behind the curtain had been slid right open in the night and left that way. It seems someone either slid the window open and lent in REALLY far and grabbed the stuff of the desk or actually came right in while we were asleep and took the stuff.
It's ok as it's covered by travel insurance and I'll just buy a disposable camera for the last week but today has been full of crap! We needed to call the insurance co and wanted to use reverse charges as that is what the insurance company wants you to do. The hotel said we could not do it from there but to go to the post office. The post office was of course closed for lunch. Then it re-opened and the lady said reverse charges was impossible. We asked if we could give the phone no of the post office for the insurance company to call back on - "impossible!" We stood around pondering what to do and in the meanwhile an Aussie girl was talking to the teller about the cost of calling Australia - she said 9000 d per minute. We went outside, came back in, decided to use the phone to call. Spoke to the insurance company who confirmed we'd need to make a police report & just lodge the claim for the missing stuff when we got back. Call seemed to take about 5 minutes but we were charged for 10 - at the rate of 18000 d per minute! No arguing with the post office, the lady just laughed and shrugged, etc. So we paid about $15AU for a call that told us something we already were pretty sure of!
Then poor Jed went to make the police report while I slept for a while in the hotel room. It took 2 hours, the hotel staff ended up coming down to the police station and were yelling back and forth with the police...the police didn't speak english so got a girl from a shop to come and translate...Jed kept stressing "we only need this for insurance, we don't want an investigation, we don't think it was someone who works there," etc. The hotel staff were pissed off and asked Jed to say we'd just lost the bag and wallet in the street, which we didn't, as we'd already told the insurance company and besides, who wants to lie in Vietnam? So many problems, but we have the piece of paper now.
We've seen a couple of nice things - the water puppets were fantastic last night and we went and saw Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, although it is kind of weird looking at a dead body in a glass case!
Tomorrow morning we fly out to Phuket in Thailand where we are meeting friends and I mal ooking forward to swimming in a nice pool and lying on a beach before heading home.
Hope all of you are well and good.
Amy
Good luck with the rest of your trip!
