"Up to you"

(9.26.08 Bus Station. Hanoi, Vietnam 9am)
Next morning (9.16.08) I woke up, said goodbye to Bill and Janina and left to meet Travis for breakfast before our bus. When the bus arrived I realized I didn’t have my tickets. I searched and re-searched my bags but they weren’t there. I called Bill and he didn’t see them at the house either. Travis said he would try to hold the bus and I caught a moto back to the house to search for my tickets. As we pulled away, so did the bus! Back at the dungeon I found my tickets and grabbed a moto back to the office. I was able to find another bus to Mui Ne but I had to eat the cost of my original ticket. I arrived to Mui Ne about one hour after Travis. Travis had already found a guest house on the beach for 10 USD so I spent the next half hour trying to find it. We rented a moto bike took off North towards the town of Mui Ne to explore. Every once in a while we would pull down an alley to get a glimpse of the shore line and see what we had passed and where were heading. We made it thru town and down the only major road heading north. We eventually came to some sand dunes and decided to check it out. Travis had heard from some other travelers that they went sledding down sand dunes in Mui Ne. He was told that children would come and let you use their sleds for a fee. Soon three children came running up, they pleaded “mister, mister, you go sled. You use my sled” “how much” I replied as we pointed and asked where the BIG hill was. “follow me!!” they enthusiastically answered, realizing they had just made sale. “How much?” I inquired again. “up to you” in an innocent, playful voice they returned. “Really? It’s up to me? Soooo 500 VND (3 cents USD) per slide?” I jokingly asked to test the water. Travis had already told me that his friends paid about 2000 VND per slide. “ok, up to you” they again replied in the most childlike, innocent, playful voice. They had me convinced; I really thought they didn’t care about money. For the first time I felt as if they were simply there to play and if they could make a little bit of money and meet some tourist that was a bonus. But I asked again just to be sure “ok 500 Dong” again the same answer “Ok, up to you. you sled. you use MY sled, ok mister?” they continued to badger as we walked along and I continued to try to make small talk; “what’s your name?”, “how old are you”…they would answer “Doa” and then quickly revert back to “ok if you go you go with me first, OK?” I would simply ask another question. “and what’s your name?” “Kim... you use my sled second, ok mister” “Kim?” I inquired. “Tim” as I pointed to myself. Kim smiled big but Doa wasn’t impressed and he again cut me off “mister you use my sled first, ok?” “No, No, No I go with Kim first” I teased him. “Ok, ok, you go with me second??” as he attempted to grab and carry my bag for me. I told him I would but I could handle my bag. Doa appeared to be around 7 years old would have been struggling to carry my bag which now had two helmets and sets of slippahs strapped to the outside. Also by this time in my travels I had learned nothing is for free. I looked across the dune to Travis who was about 50 yards away and being trailed by three other kids, I now had 5 kids myself. Every time I took a picture Kim would reach for my camera “I take photo, I take photo”. “no its ok, thank you” replied. “I take photo, of you” came back and it worked. I did want some photos of me. I handed her the camera, and she began to shoot, she even set the shots up for. “you stand over here” she pointed. One of the small children was now dragging my bag since I set it down to have my photo taken. I explained to Kim that I would jump and I wanted her take a picture. She spoke pretty good English and understood what I was going for. On just her third attempt she nailed the “jump shot”. Now I convinced them to jump. All five of the lined up “Ok, 1…2….3… jump” I counted down. We tried several times but they were all out of sync. I pulled some of the small ones out of shot and tried again. Again it didn’t turn out. I finally got down to two kids and was successful at getting a “jump shot” of them. The small child again grabbed by bag as we walked away and I took from him. Kim instantly grabbed it from me. She was about 12 and the largest of the kids so I decided to let her take it. I was already gonna have to pay her for taking pictures and using her sled so I figured I would let her carry my bag as well. When as we approached the “Big One” Travis came flying down. I was sold, I had to try it. I sprinted for the top and the kids gave chase. At the top the set the sled down and prepared it for me. I yelled to Kim at the bottom to make a video for me. “Hey Travis, make sure its on video for me” Kim cut me off as she pulled away from Travis “I got it!!!” I was directed to sit down and shown and how to hold the sled. Then they all began to push me. Five kids screamed and cheered as they got me up to speed and then let me go. It was a short but fast run and it was actually pretty cool. Doa came running down the hill “ok you go with me again” “no I go with Kim this time” I replied. Travis took the camera and we headed to the top for another run. This time was far less exciting than the first. Only two kids pushed to get me going and the speed just wasn’t there. I decided I needed Doa’s expertise if I were gonna have a good run and solicited him to take me up again. Travis had gone twice and was finished so I decided I was done too. When we let them know we were done they told us to pay them. “no we’ll pay when we get back done to the road” Travis assured them “NO!!!! you pay now!! There are many kids down there, if you pay there they will want money too” they all replied. It made sense so we decided we would pay up. By this time our crowd had grown to about 10 children however I had only used the services of Kim and Doa and Travis had used two kids as well. I pulled out 2000 dong and they all screamed and whined “noooooooo, not enough! We carried you bag… we took pictures… you go three times…noooooo” I reminded them they agreed to 500 Dong. Again they all whined, screamed and cried. “not enough, not enough, 20,000! That one, that one” as they pointed into my wallet and tried to snatch money! One girl, about 15 years old, had just arrived and was brokering the deal for the kids. I agreed to pay 20,000 for Kim and Doa to split and as I pulled it out of my wallet she snatched it and ran away. Kim’s eyes instantly teared up and bloodshot red. “WHY YOU PAY HER!! SHE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING FOR YOU!!!! YOU PAY ME!!!” she demanded. She was literally crying! The scene was getting bad and Travis told me to just start walking to the road. “this is all part of their act” he assured me. I could simply ignore Kim and doa’s cries so I tried to explain that the money was for them, that she stole it, I hadn’t paid her. Kim wasn’t hearing it, she angrily snapped back “YOU PAID HER, WHY!?!??! I carried your bag, I took pics, you used my sled” she whined. I became convinced it was all for show and got more firm. “You need to talk to her, don’t bother me about your money, she has it, go talk to her” They were really intense and forceful. I decided I had to get this on film. I told Travis I was gonna make a video and as soon as I pointed the camera there was complete silence. They stopped whining and covered their faces with their sleds. They didn’t want me to record THIS side of them. Earlier it was all fun and games and they lined up have their pictures taken, but now it was another story. My camera had just become my greatest asset. Every time one would approach I would just say “video” and point the camera. It was like garlic to a vampire, they recoiled back! Travis dubbed it the “Show me the money” video. (see www.youtube.com/timlara ) They retreated and we rode our motorbike back to the beachy resort strip of Mui Ne. Next afternoon (9.17.08) we caught a bus for Dalat!