After my taxi incident, you would think that I would have learned. And I did, but not thoroughly enough. I blame exchange rates. I think that every country should use the US Dollar*. That would make things easy.
I was in Costa Rica recently and the exchange rate was 569 Costa Rican Colones (CRC) to the dollar. We rounded it to 500 CRC, which made the math easy. Every 1,000 CRC was $2 USD. Just like that, the math is done with relative ease. Then you have the Vietnamese Dong (VND), which trades at 22,700 VND to the dollar. You try doing that math in your head. Even if you simplify it to 100,000 VND = $4, I still manage to slip a digit here and there.
Since I’m traveling for the next 4 months with just a backpack**, I had to be judicious with what I packed for the trip. Included in the list was 3 pair of underwear and 3 t-shirts. I figured that I could wear one of each while the others were washed/ drying in the room. I didn’t properly plan for the local humidity of 120% or more. OK, it’s not quite that bad, but it’s definitely sticky out there. After being outside for half an hour, you want to take a shower. By the end of the first day, I’d worn all of my underwear (not at the same time) and I found myself in a predicament.
As I was leaving breakfast on Saturday, I passed a roadside vendor selling Under Armor knockoff t-shirts. She said that they were 100K VND, which I estimated to be around $5, so I got one. While there’s no way that it’s a real UA shirt, it fit well and seemed to be pulling some of the moisture away from my body. On Sunday I decided that I would go back and get three more, and I’d haggle her down to 200K VND for the three. In accordance with my new plan, I knew what I wanted and what I was willing to pay for them. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there, so I had to look elsewhere for clothing.
Searching for clothing found me at the Ben Thanh Market, where you can buy everything from a hot meal to jewelry to backpacks to footwear of all styles. If you wanted, you could even get a custom suit made in 24 hours. I didn’t think to check the prices, but I’m sure it would have been very reasonable. If I had room in my backpack, I might have considered it. After much wandering (and a quick stop for food in the market) I found a stall that had some polo style shirts, and I asked the guy where I could buy underwear. “Here! I have!” he said, excitedly. He pointed me to a line of underwear stacked like fish scales, with just the waistbands showing. I found a few pair that I thought would work for me, all with Calvin Klein name emblazoned across the waistband. I asked him how much they were, and out came the calculator. He said that they were 180K each or 540K for the three, but since I was his first customer of the day, he’d knock it down to 480K***. I said that I’d buy them for 450K, and we agreed. I paid and walked away, feeling quite proud of myself. I’d haggled down the vendor and redeemed myself for the taxi fiasco.
I made it about two steps before I finished doing the math in my head. I’d knocked him down by about $1.50 USD. He still got $20 USD from me for 3 pairs of knockoff Calvin Klein underwear that should probably have run me $5 for all 3. I reviewed the interaction in my head. It was like buying a new car; numbers that you don’t fully understand are flying at you, and the guy is being all kinds of friendly. He said that he could give me a bigger discount if I bought more, but I resisted and stuck with what I wanted, so I felt like I’d already won part of the interaction. Apparently my victory was nowhere near the size of his.
I think an enterprising Vietnamese person could build a business based on haggling on behalf of tourists in exchange for a percentage of the savings, or they could teach classes on how to negotiate. I’d pay for that. Heck, I’ve already paid, and all I have to show for it is 3 pair of underwear that don’t have a fly. I guess the fly costs extra.
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* Yes, this is hyperbolic nationalism, but it would make travel so much easier. But only if they use the dollar, because ‘Merica!
** I’ve had requests to post my packing list and photos, which I will do at some point. But it all fits into a backpack that fits in the overhead bin and a laptop case. I think I could fit the laptop bag in the backpack if I wanted to, since there’s room to spare.
*** Apparently the first customer of the day on auspicious days are considered lucky and help portend how sales will be. I don’t know if today was an auspicious day or if they were just yanking my chain, but I ran into the “first customer” line a few times that day.
