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Warning about airport mini bus & taxi scams at Ha Noi airport



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 10th, 2004, 02:39 PM
The bloke from Ha Noi
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Default Warning about airport mini bus & taxi scams at Ha Noi airport

As someone who lives in Ha Noi, I'm so sick of seeing the tourists
scammed by the Airport Mini Bus & Taxis.

The taxis are by far the better of the 2 evils but have to be watched
as well.

Under no circumstances should you pay 1st & if you let them take you
to a hotel, you'll pay their commission for every night you stay
there. Usually $3 - $5 above the regular rate.

The touts are all on commission & if you let them do, take, organise
or whatever, anything at all for you then you have to pay their
commission.

It's the same with the hotel tour thing as well.

Possibly the worst hotel to be taken to is the Phuong Nam Hotel just
near the lake & the ANZ bank.

Not only is it a short time hotel for old blokes & young postcard
boys, but once they get your money you're finished.

The airport bus is a real stinker & it's best to read up a bit & then
get out at the 1st hotel they come to (near the lake is better as it's
easier to find your way from there) & go by foot to anywhere else.

1 last thing.

There's no such thing as "street kids" in Ha Noi. It's all a big scam
not unlike the sick buffalo needing a heart transplant.

They're nearly all rude, dishonest & will steal your money.


  #2  
Old January 10th, 2004, 03:19 PM
John Roy
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Default Warning about airport mini bus & taxi scams at Ha Noi airport

With that a little word about Saigon:
Saigon is less severe than Hanoi in terms of blatant screw-the-foreigner but
the same cautions apply. You can get from the airport into saigon (Dong Khoi
or Pham Ngu Lao) for about 50,000 dong (15,000=$1, so $3-$4). You ignore
everybody who comes up to you offering taxis as you walk out and take a
meter taxi from the top of the line on the left (intl. terminal), make them
put the meter on and you pay by the meter, if traffic is busy or you need to
tour around then the meter will come to a little more. Other "taxis" from
the airport are private and will charge several dollars extra and start with
the "your hotel so bad me know better hotel" once the wheels role.

There are a few old men from the days when vietnam was a civilized country
who hang around the parks and speak in french to foreigners, I find them
very sweet and exchange a few pleasant words. Everyone else who puts
themselves in your way is looking for something, which can be from anything
as innocent to as a free english lesson to outright robery.

If you were to stick around long enough to learn about the city and the
people in it you might be able to find some real poor and deserving
children, but likely any kids you come across will either be richer than you
or every penny they take goes to thier bitch "mama" who uses it to play
cards while drinking whisky with her pals.

-J

"The bloke from Ha Noi" wrote in message
...
As someone who lives in Ha Noi, I'm so sick of seeing the tourists
scammed by the Airport Mini Bus & Taxis.

The taxis are by far the better of the 2 evils but have to be watched
as well.

Under no circumstances should you pay 1st & if you let them take you
to a hotel, you'll pay their commission for every night you stay
there. Usually $3 - $5 above the regular rate.

The touts are all on commission & if you let them do, take, organise
or whatever, anything at all for you then you have to pay their
commission.

It's the same with the hotel tour thing as well.

Possibly the worst hotel to be taken to is the Phuong Nam Hotel just
near the lake & the ANZ bank.

Not only is it a short time hotel for old blokes & young postcard
boys, but once they get your money you're finished.

The airport bus is a real stinker & it's best to read up a bit & then
get out at the 1st hotel they come to (near the lake is better as it's
easier to find your way from there) & go by foot to anywhere else.

1 last thing.

There's no such thing as "street kids" in Ha Noi. It's all a big scam
not unlike the sick buffalo needing a heart transplant.

They're nearly all rude, dishonest & will steal your money.




 




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