A difference of $2

As some of you know, Vietnam hasn't really connected with me, nor I with it. Yet I still found myself defending the country last night to a fellow traveler from Guangzhou (Ray), not knowing that I would not defend it after what happened today.

My plan for today was simple. Sleep in, take a motorbike to the local bus station, take the bus to Danang, hop on another motorbike to the airport and from the airport, fly to Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City. Simple enough, isn't it? And all went according to plan. Except I didn't budget nearly enough money for transportation. How come, you ask? Just read on.

At bus station --
Me: How much to Danang?
Ticket lady: 50,000dong (~$3)
Me: No way. 5,000d (what locals pay)
TL: No. 15,000d
Me: Ok. (Foreigners are always charged more. There's no way around it.)

I get on the bus and sits at one of the front seats.

TL: No. Sit in back. Go back.

I move thinking that maybe she doesn't like my big pack in a seat. Understandable. But I prefer sitting in the front because I sometimes get car sick. Oh well, right? Wrong. A few other passengers came up with big bags and were allowed to sit in the front. What kind of discrimination is that? As the bus leaves the station...

TL: Pay.
Me: (Gives her 15,000d)
TL: No. 30,000d.
Me: WHAT?! You said 15,000! 10 + 5!!
TL: No. I show you 30.
Me: That's ridiculous! You charge them only 5,000d! This is expensive!
TL: Not expensive. Cheap! I give you good price.

By this time, the bus was already moving. I couldn't get off and so I just paid her the money. I know that it was only $2, but $2 goes a LONG way for me here. That's 4 meals! Or 6 hours of internet! Or a new t-shirt! Or a cushy, air-conditioned, non-smoking bus ride from Hoi An to Danang with no stops!! This was highway robbery! And she LIED! If she told me that in the first place, I never would've boarded the bus! I would've bargained or waited for a different bus!!

But it got worse. There were many other seats in the bus, but she chooses to plop her ass down next to mine. Close and personal. I hate having random people touch me, even if it's just the thighs touching from sitting next to each other. But she then grabbed my arm in the (now sickening) Vietnamese fashion and starts chatting with me. I was fuming inside but still smiled out of politeness. She just charged me 6 times the normal amount, segregated me from the other passengers and still has the balls to befriend me? WTH?!?!

And to think that I was defending people like her last night at dinner. Ray was commenting on how he wanted to leave Vietnam asap because of how crooked the people he met were. I defended them by saying that they were really poor and as foreign tourists, being charged 2 to 3 times more than the local price is not that terrible. He told me stories about how they lied to tourists all the time. I didn't respond because I thought well, maybe he just had bad luck -- it can't be that bad! And today, this crap happens to me.

I am an honest person. I understand that I am charged more as a foreigner. I am okay with that. But there is no need to lie. There is no need to charge 6 times the usual amount. There is simply no need to be like that. Why are they so mean? Why can't they just be honest? What must they use such low methods to get money from me?