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Xe om driver's experiences differ with
foreign riders Enjoying feelings of
discovery or adventure with a companion is always pleasing to
tourists, but sometimes, there can be hardship and even trouble
In the Lonely Planet guidebook “Saigon – Ho Chi
Minh City,” it reads: “Honda om (xe om) is an interesting
means of transportation for you to explore as you wish.”
For “xe om” drivers who cater to foreign
tourists, some traveling experiences are sweet, while others are
bitter.
Traveling with foreign tourists
In the backpackers' area there are many xe om
drivers shouting at foreigners as they hope to give them a ride.
Drivers claim that being a xe om driver
for foreign travelers is quite different from that of ordinary
xe om drivers.
They not only take tourists around the city, but
also to other cities and provinces like Can Tho, Da Lat, Hoi An,
and on rare occasions northward to Hanoi or Sa Pa.
Of course, xe om drivers for foreigners
must speak some English or French.
They must wait vigilantly for a rider and need to
have a good sense of adventure.
They typically don't create strong bonds with
one-day tour passengers, but they become rather friendly with
long-distance passengers as they share hardships along the way,
like problems with the motor-bike or getting lost, for instance.
Many drivers say that they learn some practical
English sentences from tourists that some university students of
English may be envious of.
One xe om driver, Tran Van Nhon, once took
a tourist to a shop on Pasteur Street, and the passenger used
the phrases, “like father, like son” and “you get what you pay
for.” Nhon inquired of the meaning and the tourist explained.
One of the most interesting experiences Nhon
mentioned was when he picked up a French tourist named Pateic
for a city tour.
Pateic returned to France and wrote letters to
Nhon.
In each letter Pateic put 10 or 20 dollars.
Since then, Pateic has given Nhon a lot of
business by refer-ring people in France to him who will visit
HCMC.
Being troubled by foreign tourists
“Foreign tourists are of a different breed. Some
riders are good, but others are not. Not all foreign tourists
are polite. Some are very hard to please. We think they are in a
strange place and they shouldn't make trouble,” said Le Van
Ngoc, another xe om driver who works in the backpacker
area.
“But foreign tourists make trouble in a thousand
different ways.”
Some foreigners agreed with the time and place,
but then asked to be taken to more places without paying more.
Worse still, some foreigners refuse to pay.
Ngoc took a tourist to Ben Thanh Market, and
waited and waited without seeing the tourist come back.
Most drivers agree that some tourists are
generous, while others are tight-fisted.
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NEWS TO USE
The price to hire a xe om driver is typically
US$2 per hour, $10 per day for a city tour, or $15 per
day for a trip outside the city.
A
xe om driver can earn about $200 a month if he
has regular riders.
However, the drivers must compete with businesses that
rent motorbikes, typically for about $4 a day, and ‘open
tour’ services that offer bus rides at low prices. |
The foreigner may buy a drink and enjoy it
without inviting the driver to have one.
Can you believe the audacity of those impolite
foreigners?
One experience was “hard to deal with” for a
driver named Thai.
He took a Dutch girl to the Mekong Delta for four
days.
She was very generous and rented a hotel room for
Thai on the first night.
However, on the remaining nights she asked Thai
to stay with her, and she even asked him to give her massages.
However, Thai said that it was not rare.
His friends were often put in similar situations.
Western people think it's quite normal for a man
and woman to stay in the same room.
Sometimes, drivers and passengers have quarrels
over misunderstandings.
The situation becomes more difficult when the
foreigners drink and make trouble.
Thai said he once took an English man to Nha
Trang.
The foreigner drank too much and didn't come back
to the hotel.
Thai had to search for him, and eventually found
him passed out on the beach.
Thai took him to the hotel where he shouted and
vomited all night long.
Xe om
drivers for foreign tourists say that it is more difficult to
make money now because foreigners have learned the appropriate
prices for their services through guidebooks and the Internet.
Reported by Han Vu
- Source: thanhniennews[dot]com |
