Getting set up – transport to school

First thing to say is that as yet (10 October) I have not yet set foot in ILA Vietnam premises. Courtesy of a combination of my arrival date and a management meeting in Hanoi on 9 and 10 October, I am not due to have my first induction meeting until Monday 13 October.

Second thing to say is that the school is some kilometres from the hotel where I’ve been put up for the first week. The options are – walk (not an option even for this little black walking duck), take a taxi, hop a ride on the back of a motorcycle, hire/buy one myself, or go by bicycle (loan, rent, buy).

I’ve been doing a lot of walking and must be a familiar enough sight now that the calls to use a motorcycle driver are declining. On Wednesday afternoon I was walking in Ward 3 (the town centre area of Vung Tau) and had stopped near a Catholic Church and the American English college to look at the map because I kept missing the signs for a street I was trying to find. Approached to talk by a guy (whose name I’ve forgotten at the moment but have waved hallo to again since). His friend the motorcycle driver happened along (name of Lao) and continued the conversation. Interestingly no overdue pressure to hire him or take a tour, and we ended up going for coffee (free ride for this!)

Well, I wondered the same thing, especially when Lao paid for the coffee as well and offered further free rides. Of course our conversation did come round to the need for transport to work, to go shopping/banking/sightseeing, look for accommodation etc. but any idea of cost was elusive. “You tell me” was Lao’s constant response. The trouble for someone 2 days in the country is that I don’t know what is reasonable to propose.

So swapped phone numbers, got a ride back to the hotel – still free – slept on it, did some research (based on ILA info on what it costs to hire a motorcycle for a month and advice from hotel staff on the possible cost of transport to school), then contacted Lao to take me to the bank. (Did I mention that the exchange rate for AUD has been declining since I got here! Well I’m watching enough BBC World News to have an idea of why). When he realised I wanted to change money Lao took me to a jeweller’s shop instead. A point in his favour as David would be able to tell you. Then time to discuss an arrangement. On request Lao tried to get one of his other teacher clients for me to talk to but in the end we made a deal without this. Then in the afternoon I got a call from Lao – he had seen one of his past clients (also a teacher at ILA) and I got the reference I needed.

Oh and the ride to the bank/jeweller’s shop and back to the hotel was still free!