Naivete in the Face of Ingenuity

From the Saigon airport to the Mekong Delta area we had a 3-hour bus ride. Huy's first words on the bus were: "Do you want to hear another passport story?"

Huy began by explaining that in 1995 Vietnamese could travel freely within the 10-nation ASEAN nations. No passport required. Most Vietnamese travelers were inexperienced. Many Ha Noi residents had not traveled beyond Ha Noi.

"One day a tourist company called me and asked if I wanted to handle a big job. I said yes.The job would be taking a group of travelers to Russia. There would be 54 in the group...a large group. I was told, 'Whatever the cost you must hold the passports for everyone.' I said I could do that. I had an extra large bag.

"The flight went from Ha Noi to Bangkok, to Dubai, and to Moscow.When we arrived at a huge hotel in Moscow, I told the group to meet at breakfast at 9:00 in the morning. I was exhausted and went straight to bed.

"In the morning, in the dining room, I thought something was strange. I did not see one of my group at the dining room. The local guide arrived at 8:50 am as arranged. Still not one of my group was anywhere to be seen.

" I called every room. No one answered the room phone. At 9:10 am I got a master key and a hotel employee and I went to the rooms. No one was in any of the rooms.

"I decided I needed to call the office in Vietnam. I explained what I had done and that none of the travelers were in any of the rooms. The office said, 'We know that. Don't worry. They had no intention of seeing Russia at all. And, do you have all the passports?' "Yes," I replied. "I do have all the passports."

Well, the explanation for the "disappearance" of the group is that in early 1990, Vietnamese monopolized the whole black market in Russia. Then, they needed laborers to help with their businesses. They wanted to bring some friends and maybe some relatives to Moscow. So the shortest route was to bring them via a travel agency.

"Having lost the group, I upgraded my room to a suite, then had a nice private tour of the places where I would have taken the group.Then I returned to Vietnam. What should I do with the 54 passports? The agency said the police will come to ask you some questions.

"The police did come. They said they heard that I had lost everyone in the group. "Yep,I did. I lost all of them." Well, this turned out  to be nothing bad at all. The travelers had paid the equivalent of $600 USD per person to the government.So the government was happy. This was a legal human trafficking system.

"Many years later,I met one of those people in Ha Noi. I asked how things were going for him. Very well, it turns out. Most of those people were able to earn $400 to $500 USD per month and send half home to Viet Nam. His wife could build a big house and send their children to the university. There were a few hundred thousand Vietnamese people living in Russia.

"So I asked What if you want to go back to Viet Nam? Well, that's not a problem. You get a big group of friends. You go to a bar and create a scene. You get arrested and kept in jail for about a month. Then you are put on a plane and are sent back to Viet Nam."