Titi arranged to meet me at my hotel at 830am. He was going to show me around Dalat on his old east German motorcycle. He was a member of a group of freelance moto-tour guides, called the Easy Riders. My guidebook highly recommended them. And also they hang around the backpacker joints, so they’re bound to sell you anyway. Titi was the first one to talk to me. I figured they all would be the same.
I went down to my hotel’s cafe for breakfast (it’s included) at 8am. I got my food and hot chocolate and started scarfing it down. I still had to get ready. Titi walked in for a drink. He said hello and told me not to rush. I tried to tell him that I needed to get ready still. I finished quick and got ready. I walked downstairs with a minute to spare. Titi was standing their next to his bike like I was way late. He did not say hello. I could tell something was amiss.
He took me to a Buddhist temple. I noticed there was another Easy Rider there, too. He told me all about Vietnam’s religious affliations. He told me to go in and have a look. Then he smoked a cigarette with the other Easy Rider.
Next he took me to a large hill that overlooks the town. He told me to go walk up the hill and take some photos. Then turn left,walk down the side of the hill, and meet him down the road. I saw two other tourists ahead of me hiking to the top of the hill. All three of us made it to the top at the same time.
I started walking down and the two followed me. At the bottom of the hill sat Titi and two other Easy Riders, smoking and joking. One of them told me to do the two-day tour with Titi. I could see where this was going.
Titi took me to several other sites around town. He would give me a detailed explaination of what I would see. Then if his buddies were around, he’d tell me to go walk around the site and take my time. If his buddies were not around, he’d hurry me onward so we could get to the next site where (presumably) there would be some of his buddies. Whenever we’d leave a site, he would upsell me on his two-day tour. And all through lunch, he tried to sell me on his two-day tour.
Buddy! Let’s enjoy today and get through that first. Tell me where we’re going next, instead of where we could go tomorrow. From what I’ve seen so far, there’s no way I’m going to pay for another minute of your time.
And I didn’t. When the day was done, I told him “no thanks” on the two-day tour. I promptly walked into my hotel. I saw some great sights and got some great photos. Maybe I would have a better time riding around myself.
