We fell victim to a classic motorcycle rental trick yesterday. I'm still wavering between infuriated and amused. We rented a bike for the day, filled it up with gas, used it..and left about 2/3 a tank of gas for the next day. We made it clear we would be renting again the next morning.
The next morning came, and we, as promised, rented the same bike. It's gas tank was empty. The manager actually siphoned out the remaining gas. Usually Nathan lets tricks like this roll off his back, but this incident actually inspired him to raise a bit of a stink. He walked back into the hotel and said 'Seriously? Wheres the gas we put in the tank YESTERDAY?'
To the hotel managers credit, he pulled a classic tourist move on us..the TOURISTS! He acted like he had no idea what we were talking about.
"Oh, you need gas? The station is down the street and to the left."
We've heard a lot from people who don't like travel in Vietnam because they always feel like they're being swindled. Its a fine balance of actually being swindled and pushing back just enough to dissuade some would be swindlers. Its a balance that can be exhausting. Just this afternoon three military men tried to charge us fiftey cents to park our motorcycle instead of the twenty five that was written on a sign about ten feet from them. They said fifty cents and waited. It was like we'd been practicing our synchronized slow head turn for weeks with how fluidly we both let our eyes rest on the sign reading twenty five cents..until they agreed to give us the right price. Small victories.
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