Two different worlds

We have been in Vietnam for one and a half weeks now, the country we wanted to visit again. We spent the first three days on the island of Phu Quoc. Last year, we couldn't go there because the weather was so bad. This time, it wasn't any better and we had three days of continuous rain. But what can you do, it's rainy season! However, we had a nice, small and very affordable accommodation with a pool. It rained indoors and the ceiling tiles came down in the bathroom when it was windy, but what can you expect^^

Asia has two faces and the following two stories describe this very well in my opinion:

We arrived late in the evening in Hue at the airport and looked for a taxi (always with a taximeter)!! The nice man started driving. And drove, and drove. As we always track the route on online maps on our phone, we noticed that he was taking a detour. We pointed it out to him and he drove back on track. A short time later, the same thing happened. In the end, he took a 2 km detour without any explanation. Taxi drivers just want your money and are often quite cheeky!

We arrived at the hotel where we had booked a double room with a private bathroom. It already seemed strange to us that the bathroom was in the hallway and completely wet, but the lady confirmed to us that it was our private bathroom. When Jonas wanted to go to the toilet in the morning, the bathroom was occupied. We reported this to the man at the reception and he grinned at us with a dirty Asian laugh. They apparently believed that we would not notice that this bathroom is actually also used by the entire dormitory. And that dirty laugh!! We got really mad and packed our things and checked out, paid for one night and wrote a complaint to Booking. This is really unacceptable! Fortunately, we at least got our money back and slept for one night for free. Nevertheless, it always makes me angry how often tourists get ripped off if you're not paying attention. Later, we asked about the price at a laundry service. The price was ok, we picked up our things and went back. Only when everything was weighed and clarified, the lady casually mentioned that it costs 50 cents more per kilo than agreed before. We packed our things and left again! Not with us...

We really love this country, but there are also many black sheep out there who specialize in 'ripping off tourists'...

The opposite:

In Hoi An, we went to a restaurant that is a bit off the tourist path and we were the only guests. The food is absolutely delicious and the staff incredibly nice and friendly. When it tastes good somewhere, I always like to tell the waiter how delicious it was, as most of them are incredibly happy about positive feedback. Two days later, we go to this restaurant again and the owners recognize us immediately and are so happy that we came back for a second time that they give us a wonderful fruit plate for dessert and when we leave, they give us two bottles of water as a thank you. You don't experience that too often either. Unfortunately, one morning I felt really bad again and the woman from the hotel cooked a small bowl of rice especially for me and brought it to the room.

And that's exactly why we love Asia. There are incredibly nice people who are so grateful and really only want the best for you:) They are simply everywhere in the world, the black and the white sheep!