Motorbike taxi’s prices increased to a point of dizziness.
The largest pagoda in Vietnam, after a busy season with many festivals and especially after the recent welcoming of Buddha’s relics from India, is currently overloaded with tourists. Many people are cleverly taking advantage of this by providing many forms of services all around the pagoda to make some extra profits.
During the first month of the Lunar New Year, thousands of tourists flocked to Bai Dinh Pagoda, Ninh Binh Province to sight-see, pray for good luck and worship the Buddha’s sari that was brought to the pagoda from India.
In direct proportion to the number of tourists, many services have appeared with no sign of stopping, to meet visitors needs near the pagoda. However, many tourists complained that prices for the services here are multiplied by 2 or 3, sometimes even 5 or 6 times compared with normal prices. Ridiculously high prices for services that seem to be cluttered and cause congestion, has caused anger among many visitors.
Nguyen Thi Diep, a visitor from Bac Ninh Province, shared, “Restaurants and street food stalls popped up in close proximity to each other. Whenever we walked past a shop, we would always be called or invited in. We feel like we are being disturbed. Some tourists who rejected, were shouted at by these shop owners. I hope the festival organisers will find a solution to fix this current situation.”
“I happened to witness a French tourist being charged a very high price by a street vendor. Even for an outsider like me, I couldn’t help but feel ashamed. Who could take VND 25,000 (1.3 USD) for a bottle of orange juice? The tourist just shook his head, paid and walked away,” shared Do Van Trieu, a tourist from Nam Dinh Province in an upset voice.
Hundreds of street vendors cover the whole front area of Bai Dinh Pagoda, and many even salvaged the pagoda’s ground to do their business, thus turning the largest, most famous and respected pagoda in Vietnam to a scene of chaos and full of disgrace.
Not to mention both the sellers and buyers littered in a very irresponsible way and have made the pagoda become surrounded by debris. From the pagoda’s ground to the pathway leading to the pagoda, plastic bags and fruits skin were scattered everywhere. A strong wind could cause these plastic bags to fly up and sometimes hover right at door of the pagoda, causing a melancholy mood among the Buddhists.
In a talk with DTiNews about matters regarding the security order of Bai Dinh Pagoda, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Tien, Chief of Police in Gia Vien District, said, “Before the festival season started, our police department in coordination with district’s People’s Tribunal had organised a hearing that held 10 subjects who were responsible for disorderly conduct and obstructing security at Bai Dinh Pagoda. They were strictly deterred to warn others. With the current chaos and many street vendors overcharging tourists in Bai Dinh, the jurisdiction belongs to the Management Unit of Bai Dinh Pagoda. Besides, we have constantly reminded the local authorities to pay attention, detect and tackle those problems mentioned above.”
Scattered around in disarray.
Father and son changing money right under the patio of the pagoda.
