Free Market Communism

Day 64: Cat Tien National Park (VN) – Ho Chi Minh City (VN). I must admit, I don't quite get communism. I mean, I understand the principles well enough, but I just don't see how it works in practice. Take the buses in Vietnam for instance: In paradox to the country's ideology, the bus service operates in a seemingly unregulated free market, with each bus competing against each other. Whilst this provides a great deal for passengers, sometimes, from our western perspective, it can also cause pandemonium!

The beauty of Cat Tien was such that we could have easily spent another three or four days there. But unfortunately, our Vietnamese visas were due to expire in less than a week and with a substantial distance still to cover before we reached the Cambodian border, we needed to continue with our journey.

Jumping aboard a couple of moto's at the Park entrance we soon reached Highway 20 where Karen and I hoped to flag a bus down to take us to our next destination. We were not disappointed. Within 10 minutes three buses had stopped and offered us a ride, their attendants nearly coming to blows with each other to secure our business. And whilst we watched their animated arguments in the middle of the road from the relative safety of the pavement, the price of our passage just kept falling: 250,000... 200,000... 150,000 dong – and that was without us even uttering a single word!

Having made our choice of transport, Karen and I loaded our backpacks on to the little mini-bus at the rear of the three-some and watched as the other two buses sped away. Fearing that the competition would have the pick of potential customers at the next town, the red mist descended for our driver. Setting off in hot pursuit - at speeds well in excess of 100kmh - he finally caught up with his adversaries and then, in a moment of apparent madness, overtook the leading mini-bus at the exact moment it was already overtaking a truck – and to make matters worse this entire triple decker manoeuvre was conducted on a blind bend with oncoming traffic. Completely insane!

Reaching La Nga we trawled the back streets of town looking for prospective passengers to join our merry band. Spotting a young Vietnamese lady by the side of the road, our attendant used all of his charm and wit to entice her on to our bus, but with little success. Undeterred, and keen to add to his passenger list, the attendant decided the best way forward was to man-handle her on the bus 'hijack style'. I'm sure to this day that she only popped out for a packet of fags – the next thing she knew she was on the way to Ho Chi Minh City. Poor woman!