I've just eaten lunch on the street. Vietnam is a street-eating country - more so than Mexico City. Everywhere you go, there are women serving up different dishes, snacks, desserts, etc. Living in a hotel as I am, eating on the street or in a restaurant are my only options.
The going rate for half a plate of rice, some pieces of pork, meat or fish, a small dish of a vegetable and maybe soup is about 30-40,000 dong. That's $1.50-2 ($1= 20,000 dong). About half the price of eating in a restaurant. The street vendor I just bought lunch from only charged 17,000 dong. I've never eaten that cheaply here! Don't worry, my eyes were popping out of my head too when they told me the price. And then after they retracted, my thoughts started wandering... I wonder when those shooting pains in my stomach from the beginnings of food poisoning are going to kick in?
