Water puppets, robbers and Vietnam police

As we are waiting in Hanoi to see which way is best to go, because apparently there are some more super storms and floods coming our way, we have now got some more interesting experiences here to report.

Last night we went to see a wonderful show of water-puppetry in Hanoi Municipal Theatre. We found it sweet, simple and amusing.

From Vietnam

From Vietnam

On the way home, already beginning to get into the Vietnam culture and atmosphere a little, we were suddenly surrounded by a mob. One lady instantly dressed Lii in a traditional Vietnamese conical hat and loaded 2 trays of bananas and pineapples on her shoulder, saying "photo, photo". After the obligatory picture, I was suddenly also wearing the hat, Lii was taking another picture, then at once she was trying to get away from the lady forcing her to buy some bananas, while from another side somebody else cornered her with postcards, and I was looking for a few thousand dong to pay for the photos. In the general hustle I suddenly felt a jolt in my bag and my camera had been snapped away, as fast as lightning. It seemed to us that there were several people involved in this robbery, trying to distract us from different angles. I tried to follow one of the guys down the street, he showed his pockets and stripped his shirt but of course what was gone was the camera.

Now for the real experience that shook us a bit more. Going to the police station to make a report for the insurance company. Here's to hoping that nobody has to deal with Vietnam police when they come here. Now we know that it is better simply to count ones losses and walk away. First of all- they don't speak a word of English. Second- they really aren't interested. Third- this disinterest borders on complete rudeness.

In the first police station we went to, we finally managed to explain the outline of the happening, but when I showed the police man on the map where I had been robbed, he showed us another place on the map to go, another police station, in the district where it had happened. We weren't very happy about this, it was already dark and we were a bit shaken and extremely distrustful to go out wondering on the streets anyway. Of course there was nothing else to do, no further action was coming from these guys.

Trying to find the way there was another joke. We asked many people on the road about police station. They did not understand of course, yet they all pointed at some random direction, some would try to send us to some hotel, some would just shake their heads before we had a chance to ask for help.

Finally getting to the police station we instantly knew that nobody spoke English again. In the end they found an incident report for me to fill in, and I was waiting for a copy, to be out of there. This simple thing however proved too difficult. Even after a receptionist had been called from a near-by hotel to translate the happening, all the police did was look at my passport from all possible angles, shake his head with a look of disapproval, sip his tea, watch TV from one corner of his eye and completely avoid looking at me when I was trying to speak to him. Finally we were told by the translator to come back the next morning whatever time.

So we returned. Apparently we were too late. For what exactly we weren't sure of, because nothing had changed in the office. All the officers were still sitting there, busy with simply Being as it seemed, but apparently the stamp that we needed, had gone to lunch.

And we returned. This time we met another officer, who simply shook his head the moment we entered, showing us a sign- "As we do not speak any English, bring your hotel receptionist with you." We had been showed this sign already, and the translator had already been there the previous night. Yet no matter how many sign-language motions we invented, what we couldn't explain, and what he didn't very obviously want to hear- was the request to give out a copy of the police report I had filled. Everybody in the office was rude, one of them was literally slapping Lii on the shoulder to take note of the sign to bring the receptionist, all the time there were jokes going around in our direction and we understood that we had nothing else to do there.

At this point we do not have much hope to get the report. It seems almost a point of principle to go back there and try again. Yet even a thought of that makes me think of a glass of rice wine and a big nice consoling bar of chocolate. Apparently even the locals here prefer to have no dealings with the police and settle their quarrels in other ways. We will see.

It is indeed sad that our experience of Vietnam so far has been rough, and clouded over by the tragic weather disasters in this area, crime, bureaucracy and the general communication problems with the locals. Yes- we are a bit tired and trying with all our might not to get into too much of a survival instinct, not to lose our own politeness when we are showed none. Yes- we are even slightly frustrated. But we haven't given up on Vietnam. We might shorten our stay here. But all beginnings are hard and we have probably simply experienced a bad stroke of luck at this time.