Ky Nam Beach Reflections

We woke to a deserted resort; the workers staying there had long since left for the construction sites by the time we got up.  Our room was in a small terraced outbuilding among other larger bungalows dotted about randomly.

We had the beach to ourselves it seemed, perfect for a prelunch swim.  The temperature was an energy sapping 37°C and I was glad to be relaxing on a clean and empty beach instead of pedalling hard.  My brother, on the other hand, decided to do some exercise.

Later, after the afternoon heat had abated to merely stifling, a few locals came out to the beach.  As we strolled down to explore the northern headland we met a Vietnamese worker in his mid-twenties from one of the construction firms.  He worked for the Vietnamese branch of a Thai company and we had an interesting and frank discussion about working life in Vietnam.  He described how bribery was the key in getting ahead in business.  I told him that it also happened in the West but he insisted that it was done more transparently and to a greater degree here.  To get ahead you had to pay the 'fee'.

He related how businesses often paid the government official who checked their company finances to downgrade profits which meant they would pay less tax and have more to skim off into their own pockets.  He spoke of loopholes which companies used to save on insurance for workers, whereby everyone is given a rolling three month contract which technically makes them temporary.  This absolves the employers of needing to pay for unnecessary 'expenses' such as insuring their workforce.

The government apparently allows these practices as the money stays within the party amidst all the mutual backscratching; funds are raised in other ways such as taxing foreign investment and fines for public offences such as drink driving/riding (VND1m).  He told me his salary was quite decent at VND3m.  So for the average worker, these fines were at an extortionate level.

Western companies also exploit loopholes as shown by the recent tax dodges of some major brands in the UK and it is wrong for these companies to withhold these funds.  The difference is that tax may eventually trickle down in some way to benefit the general population in a welfare state, whilst in Vietnam this concept does not truly exist.

Many people here have spoken frankly about the lack of social benefits in terms of health, housing and unemployment.  I recalled the noodle seller in Hanoi who had furtively told us how she had worked for almost 30 years in a fairly senior position within the party, only for the department to be dissolved and all the staff let go.  She had whispered bitterly that for her service she had received no pay off or pension; everybody was on their own once they were no longer of use to the party.

I thought about how corruption existed in different forms everywhere.  There is no country or society in the world where somebody in power has not taken a bribe in exchange for some privilege, now or in history.  I reasoned that the difference here was that everybody knew and just accepted it as a fact of life, it had permeated society.

In the west, deals are done behind closed doors and usually at higher levels; cases of bribery and corruption are read about as scandalous press exposés (perhaps not a surprise to some, but it is to others).  Here, there is no free press but people know that it goes on everyday and at every level.  The sight of the police stopping motorists at random only to let them off after an 'exchange' is fairly common.

In the UK, if you were to offer a bribe to the driving examiner on the day of your test you would probably not be getting your licence.  In Vietnam, it is the usual way.  Like anywhere, money will get you places, but for a country with socialist pretensions, the majority of wealth stays within the ruling government class and the well-heeled business elite who have dealings with or are a part of the cabal. Those outside are basically left to their own devices with little in the way of the redistribution of wealth.

At dinner in the resort restaurant the previous evening, a Vietnamese construction manager who had family ties to the party, extolled how the state had greatly advanced the motherland.  He told me that on one hand there are four fingers and a thumb - you need all of them equally to have a useful hand but they each have different functions and hence importance.  It was his attempt to address inequality after I had asked about party favouritism and Vietnam's widening gap between rich and poor.  So all parts of a hand have an equal usefulness but some are more useful than others.  It sounded strangely familiar.

From the poorest subsistence farmers toiling for their next meal, to the emerging middle class scrabbling to get ahead and the shop assistant dreaming of an upgraded mobile phone, these people could be from anywhere in the world with their shared aspirations of wanting something better than what the current system allows them.  But in Vietnam, the ones I have met feel that they are not empowered in any way to effect change - dissent is harshly dealt with (usually jail with no trial) and so it is generally believed to be a dangerous and pointless path.

Those better off just shrug their shoulders and say it is the price you pay to become successful.  The general belief is that the only way to get on is to accept the system and grease the palms of those able to advance you, if you have the coin.  If not, then you'll be left behind and nobody glances back in Vietnam once they are climbing the ladder.

Stage 6: Ha Tinh to Ky Nam (76km)

Stage 6: Ha Tinh to Ky Nam (76km)

Following a local lunch we took our bikes for a quick hose down at a local place which washed scooters, to get rid of the grit and mud of the previous day's wet ride.  We were waved off by the friendly hotel owner and the shop girl next door, who had both wished us strength and luck to complete our journey to Saigon.

We left Ha Tinh around 1330 in warm sunshine, our waterproofs safely packed away.  On the way out we stopped to buy some 'cu do', a local sweet speciality of rice cracker wafer and peanut brittle.  Energy food which we thought might come in handy.

About 12km down the road near Cam Xuyen we rode past our first major road accident.  The others had merely been smashed watermelons dropped in transit.  This was a calf that had wandered into the road and lost a contest with some large vehicle judging by the bloodstains in the road.  A group of locals had dragged the carcass to the side of the road, leaving blood smeared all the way across it.  As we rode past we could see that it had almost been rent in half.  A bovine hit-and-run, the vehicle which killed it hadn't stopped.

We debated riding back to take pictures of the scene and decided not to as locals swarmed all around by the roadside, another accident waiting to happen as traffic continued to blare past.  We pondered how much the loss would dent the fortunes of the local farmer and noted that most cattle was tethered securely by the roadside to graze.

As we continued past green paddy field scenery with mountains looming in the distance, the odd labourer greeted the sight of us and our bikes with friendly waves.

We reached Ky Anh, 53km away at 1600 and stopped for a break to refuel at a roadside place selling noodle soup and cold drinks.  The decision was made to press on as far as we could until darkness fell.

We rode on through Ky Thinh and then the roadside dwellings became replaced by interspersed construction sites of factory buildings and barren new settlements.  Approaching Ky Nam, as the sky darkened, we saw the Hotel Hoa Sim (Descon Kyoto) advertised by the road and came off Highway 1 to investigate.  It turned out to be a spread out resort with terraced bungalow rooms by a clean sandy white beach.

We checked in as darkness fell and my brother managed a quick dip in the sea before dinner at the beachside restaurant.

There seemed to be a lot of staff about the resort with an apparent lack of guests.  At dinner we spoke
to many of them as they sat about with not much to do.  All were locals from nearby Ky Nam and they
were curious about our trip and where we'd ridden in from.  There was a distinct family feel to the place and it seemed the staff were entrusted to look after the owner's child (a 2 year old girl) whilst they were in Hanoi on business.  They all laughed when we told them how hard their Ha Tinh accents were to understand as we ordered dinner.

We were surprised to find kimchi on the menu and ordered some to go with our meal.  One of the waitresses explained that a lot of personnel from overseas construction companies at local sites stayed at the resort.  As groups of them came in for dinner it seemed that there was a mixture of Korean, Japanese and Chinese workers.  We were amazed at how one of the main waitresses was so adept at each of these foreign languages when dealing with these guests.  She told us later that she was better at some of the languages than others and only knew enough for business.  We told her that it was still impressive how she'd effectively learned these languages on the job.

The next morning we woke to brilliant sunshine with a beach to relax on and the easy decision was made to stay for a few days.