Bargaining...The Vietnamese Way

A strange thing has occurred to me twice now, and since it's been twice, I have to wonder if there isn't something to it.

Back in the beginning, on the first train north, I stopped in a town called Dieu Tri. It was 11:30 at night, later than I like, and I just wanted to find a cheap hotel until morning. There was only one hotel next to the train station, but the woman didn't seem to understand what a stranger with a suitcase wanted. So I left. The only taxi driver at the station didn't know English. Neither did his buddy, the xe om driver. But it didn't stop them from trying to scam me into a meter-off, expensive taxi ride to the nearby larger town with lots of hotels. Once I caught onto the scam (a few blocks into the ride), I forced the driver to stop, got out and walked back to the train station. Almost there, I came upon a group of 3 ladies, one of them being a young girl who had known some English and helped me with the taxi driver (her English was very limited). They were quite friendly and wanted to know what had happened, but the girl's limited English and my non-existent Vietnamese made it difficult. So I just told them, "bad taxi driver". I told them I'd sleep in the train station - I was already prepared to do it, so it wasn't a big deal. Suddenly, a young guy appeared and he offered to take me to the next town on his motorcycle. For 100 dong. Suddenly the price of the ride had gone from 150 dong in a taxi down a third on a moto. It sounded good - I really wanted to sleep in a bed, not a set of chairs. I offered him 50 - if 150 wasn't true, neither was 100. First he agreed, but a moment later, when he asked me how much and I repeated the number, he came back with his own amount - 30 dong. It was a kind of strange thing that he had lowered the amount, but I didn't think much of it. Of course, after I got on the motorbike and realized he'd been drinking, it made sense. (I never got to any hotel because of his drinking. I ended up spending the night at the train station.)

Yesterday, I had a job interview to teach in a language school. I told the woman I'd contact her by 3pm to let her know 'yes' or 'no'. I sent her an affirmative message at 3pm, with a higher wage than what she'd offered. My message said: Hi A- I'd like to work in your school. Make it 325,000 dong an hour and I'll begin on Monday.

Her response: Ok, I'll increase to 335,000/hour.

Does this make business sense to anyone?

I will never read another book as long as I live

It's been a year since I've read a book. That's because the few book stores in Turkey which sold used books in English sold them for an arm and a leg (that means they were expensive). Coming from a country where I can buy used books for less than a dollar, paying 5 or 7 lira for a used book just wasn't justifiable. And so, I went a whole year without reading. (I did manage to find a book for $2 the month before I left, but it was the most awful written book I've ever read and I can't believe the woman was paid money for it while here I sit, still unfamous and unauthored.)

And so I had hoped that perhaps in a country which I kept hearing was cheap, I'd be able to resume my enjoyment of reading. But, alas, I can't. Because somehow, here too, used books in English cost $3.50 and up. Sold by locals who can't read English, let alone speak much of it, but know how to make a good buck by all those travellers who do.

Just exactly how cheap Vietnam is!

 $1 = 20,000 dong

Vietnam is cheap. Since everyone has their own opinion about what's cheap and what's not, I thought I'd share with you some common, every day prices I find here when I purchase common, every day items.

Ride on the public bus - 4,000 dong

Bottle of Pantene shampoo - 25,000 dong

Bottle of water 500 ml- 5,000 dong

Can of soda - 6,000 dong

Baguette sandwich - 15,000 dong

A long package of Oreos (that taste like American Oreos!) - 13,000 dong

Fried banana slices from a vendor - 5,000 dong

Donuts (okay, they're only sold in the tourist area because obviously the Asians aren't donut eaters) - 8,000 dong.

SIM card - starts at 50,000 dong (cell phones here don't inc. the SIM card)

Language dictionaries - 20-40,000 dong

Meal in a restaurant - easy to find under 90,000 dong.

Getting my sandal repaired - 10,000 dong (in the U.S. we don't repair things. We just throw them out and buy new.)

Room in a nice guesthouse - 200,000 dong

Room in a nice hotel - 300,000 dong

Room for an hour in a not nice hotel - 50,000 dong 

Not everything is cheap however.

Pasteurized "fresh" milk 1 liter - 30,000 dong