16 April 2011

Hanoi, Vietnam

I’m standing with a small bag full of fried donuts, or at least pastries that appear to belong to the donut family, and Gina is digging into her pocket for the 100,000 Dong note that our friendly street vendor is insisting upon for payment.  All I wanted in the sagging, soggy heat of this afternoon was an ice cream, but Someone decided to ask this friendly street vendor What exactly are those sweets?  The response came not in words but in a flurry of action, the basket quickly set down upon the filthy street, a plastic bag expertly extracted from its roll, and pluck, plop, pluck, plop, pluck, plop the bag is now full of these mysterious sweets and thrust into my hesitantly receptive hand.  Oh, this can’t be good, we don’t know the price and now I’m holding it, the sign of a sealed deal and now we must pay up.  Our vending experience of the day thus far tells us that this little bag of treats should cost somewhere around 5000 Dong or tops, 10000 Dong – the equivalent of about 25 to 50 cents.  But now our little lady is insisting upon 100,000 Dong – a whopping 5 dollars.  As Gina tries to bargain, the head-shaking and hand-waving begins, our heretofore friendly street vendor becoming less than cordial, and before this escalates into anything ugly, the 100,000 Dong note is handed over, the warm friendly smile of our street vendor returns, and she is gone, us left holding the proverbial bag.

Now before anyone starts thinking Sheesh you guys, don’t be so cheap, let us just say that it wasn’t the $5 that bothered us so much about this experience but rather that we had failed to handle the transaction like the savvy travellers we consider ourselves to be.  We violated the rule of not receiving until the price is known and we knew better.  We had done well earlier in the day with the water vendor and the plantain vendor and the croissant vendor (yes, another treat), but this donut lady, she just got the better of us.  But then again, a hint of perspective reveals who can use that $5 more, so shake off the loss, grab a seat, and sample that treat.  You’ll need the carbs soon enough … our 2 week bicycle holiday starts in two days.