My limousine is a bus

 Saturday November 11th

Phong Nha has a world class cave I’d like to see there is one small problem, distance. It lies almost exactly half way between here and Da Nang. So what to do? Go back to Hanoi and catch the first plane to Da Nang and 8 to 10 hours up. Or hire an expensive taxi ride? Forget the whole thing? The busses only make the run at night, and overnight on a bus just causes me get shivers. The hotel lady promised me a sleeper limousine so I gave her some Uncle Ho’s and set it up. Pick up at hotel at 6pm for ride to bus terminal and arrive at 7am. Sounds possible, but I am not expecting what she promised.

Today was supposed to be some history sort of things in a private car. We cruised to the first location. Not what I was hoping for . A Buddhist pagoda that was made in 2011. I know everyone here is young but 2011 is no way ancient to my way of thinking. The entrance fee included a hop on hop off electric cart and to expect to spend an hour on the grounds before going to the stupa where for an additional charge you could get an elevator to the top. It was kind of a religious Disneyland. I decided to pass on the once in a lifetime experience.

Back towards town was some real history for the 900’s. A king’s residence that was interesting. It might

have been more immersive if it was not the starting line for the Tam Coc marathon and I think everyone from the three surrounding countries decided to participate . It was a mass of people in thank tops with numbers and sponsors imprinted on them. Next there were the school children from the English class. What is your favorite color? What animal do you like the best? What is your name? How old are you? The children all had a small sheet of paper with 5 or six questions they written on it, and space for them to write the response . So I knew my reply needed to be one word. There were too many of them, I felt badly leaving but I would have been there for an hour.

I did the history tour thing and then found my taxi driver for a return trip to the hotel. At the hotel I paid him the correct amount and tossed in a 100 Ho's ($4) tip. He walked in behind me and talked with the owner. I assume to pay her the hotel’s commission. I went to a/c, and later to lunch since dinner was questionable with a 6pm departure. I went to a different restaurant and had a full lunch including a Coke Lite for about $4.

Back at the hotel the owner started saying something about money that I didn’t grasp. Then she handed me a 100 and I understood. The taxi driver didn’t understand what a tip was and had returned the amount I had over paid him. Then with the help of Google Translate I explained the concept of a tip to the owner. She took the 100 and Venmo’ed it (or the equivalent) to him.

6pm came and along came my ride. A motor scooter of course. No way Jose’. Not with two backpacks and a 35 pound main bag plus me on a scooter. A car came and took me back to my favorite restaurant to wait.

Now on a bus, called a limousine but its still a bus. Full of the unwashed masses all with telephones and no headphones. This is going to be a long night.