HALONG BAY

The limestone cliffs that jut out of the water everywhere was a trip I'd been looking forward to out here for a while, although as previously said the Tet Festival meant it was cut short by a day in order to get South of Hanoi.

OK, so accidentally managed to get 0ne back on the moto guys as follows:
Got back from a trip in the North at one of the many rubbish border towns with 2 hours to kill before the train to Hanoi.
On the bus to this place I overheard some mention the word 'Casino' which given my lack of poker has the same effect as 'walkies' to a house bound dog!

Despite my best efforts I got no takers to join me in some gambling so after some comedy translation I managed to get a moto to the big hotel on the other side of the town where the casio was.
I'd negotiated 50,000 dong for a lift there and back, with the moto guy waiting 1 hour for me outside whilst I tried to spend my entire trips budget on a pair of aces / spin of a wheel etc.

I got into the casino (in my pikey backpacker gear) amongst 20 or so Chinese men in suits (they cross the nearby border to gamble there where it's legal) and what felt like 100 casino staff in bow ties all going about their business like a scene from a Bond film.

So I apologetially went up to the counter and changed in 500,000 dong into chips, thinking that as that is more than the average monthly wage that would be a sufficient amount....the 3 chips I got in exchange told me otherwise.

So, looking more and more like a complete amateur by the second my dialogue with the main guy on the floor is:

"can you tell me where the poker is please"
"sorry sir, no poker"
"OK, where are the roulette tables please"
"sorry sir, no roulette"
"OK, I'll just play some blackjack for a bit"
"sorry, no blackjack -only baccarat"
"what the hell is bacarat??"

As he began to explain the rules to me I stopped him 5 seconds in, as I'm bad enough with games where I know the rules let alone something I've never even heard of before!

So approximately 2 minutes after I got my pathetic chip stack I cashed them back in again in possibly the shortest time in a casino by a gambler ever!

So, once outside and feeling a bit stupid I dicsover that my moto guy has disappeared - foolishly believing that I would be in the casino for an hour as promised....so after contemplating the long and confusing route back to the train station I manage to flag down another moto guy to take me back for 10,000, presumably leaving my (unpaid) original guy aournd the casino area somewhere!

When I got back and killed enough time I actually tried to look for him but with no joy, no doubt leaving him putting a curse on my head forever after having conned him out of his 50k, although I like to think of it as: Vitenam moto guys 1 - 1 Me!

All I need to now is find the punk that took me to Hanoi from the airport and get my 100,000 back!!!