Hanoi, Vietnam: Two foreigners have been left stranded in Hanoi and have decided to ask the Vietnamese public for help. The photos of the couple surfaced few days ago on different Facebook account, soliciting for help at the entrance of the temple of literature with a cardboard with them, they had written that they were robbed on their journey to Hanoi and had lost money and other valuable goods in the tune of $1000.
The couple, Tautvydas, 25 and Milds, 27 years from Lithuania had been in Saigon for 3 weeks and just used 3 days in Hanoi when they were mobbed. Some of the things they lost are their travelling documents, 400USD, and other stuffs, a total of 700-800 usd, the travellers revealed in an interview with Docbao.
They couple said that they had reported the case to the nearest police station in Hanoi, but due to the language barrier between the police and the 2 foreigners, the police did not offer any help.
Since they had lost all their belongings, no help from the police and Lithuania embassy is not in Hanoi, they resorted to begging on the street for funds. They said they had asked a Vietnamese to help us write on the board what we had lost and our current situation, so people could help us. The couple had said they need to apply to China, so they could go to the Lithuanian embassy in Beijing.
The case of the 2 foreigners had caused a lot of debate between the expats community community and locals, both online and offline.
The Police Response To The Allegation
The police in Ba Dinh district, Hanoi has refuted claims by the couple, the police said that the foreigners came to the police station and reported stolen assets totaling $1,000, but they had left the police station 10 minutes after they came in and refused help by the district police command. Docbao reported.
Hanoi Rock Hostel & Fifty six Lounge has offered to help the tourists in with free accomodation till they could go back to the embassy.
The managing director of Hanoi Rock hostel & Fiftysix lounge said :
They are foreigners, they lost the map or scamming at the scene, I don't know, I can not guarantee 100% that is the truth, or they themselves just asking for help. But we still invite people to come and help Their eating is completely on us.
Now they want to go to China and don't want to go home. We have agreed on visas for them. They will leave Vietnam to China after six days.
The Foreigners Released A Statement
Tautvydas decided to come forward and address the situation of what had turned into a massive debate in the expats/Foreigners community. A lot of people have condemned the duo for what they believed to be shaming foreigners or expats in Vietnam. Some of also said they are game plan was a scam by the foreigners and just needed money to fund their other trips. Some have said the pair are ripping off the poor Vietnamese community instead of adding to it.
To clarify their current situation, Tautvydas joined the Hanoi Massive group on Facebook, a group by Expat community in Hanoi, Vietnam and wrote an epistle of what exactly happened:
Tuan Nguyen for Doy News