Xe om driver’s experiences differ with foreign riders
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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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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.
Source ThanhnienNews
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