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Published: March 22nd 2007
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Took the train again, was even grubbier than before with a weird conductor in addition, but the scenery north of Hoi An was incredible, with the track creeping along a steep slope leading down to the seacoast.
Staggering bleary-eyed out of the train, we weren't as sharp as normal and paid too much for a cab - they have metered cabs, but there are rogue cabs with a 'bad' meter, so you have to watch both how fast the meter ticks and the route like a hawk. We had a bad one in Saigon too where we raised a stink and refused to pay. At first we were overjoyed at the thought of metered taxis in Vietnam, but I'm starting to prefer bargaining the fare since you know the price up front and the driver will take you straight to the destination. A few other people we talked to got nailed in the same way from the train station.
Nothing was open yet so we found a cafe that soon filled with old chainsmoking men wearing berets. Energized after one of the addictive Vietnamese super strong coffees spiked with condensed milk, I set off to survey the accomodation...
Hanoi street 2
I think that's kohlrabi in the basket Hanoi is quite different in character than Saigon, it feels older and more quaint, with more trees and less neon. Both jammed with motorcycles though. The temperature is noticably cooler, damp and overcast. There are some nice little lakes scattered through with parkland around, very pretty.
We took a look at Ho Chi Minh's tomb - a big security procedure to go through, this huge lineup to shuffle past his embalmed body (or wax replica?). The tomb building is austere, but interesting looking. Inside, you are led up stairs and through the room with the body laying in a glass display case in the center under dim lighting. He looks quite well preserved and just like his pictures; the whole thing is somewhat bizarre.
Food is decent here, we've had some great bun cha and pho soup at some of the street restaurants - tiny plastic stools around low tables. Lots of fruit, including more durian which seems to be in season now.
Just today we took in a 'water puppet' show; we were curious what water could possibly add to puppetry. The stage is a square pond of water, with a screen hanging across the
middle down to just the water surface. The puppeteers are behind the screen and control the puppets on poles from beneath the water. The show was composed of several short unrelated acts, but was quite fun to watch and even humourous at times. The puppetry was great - the water acts as a screen to hide the mechanics of the puppetry, and so the puppets gain a third dimension of depth, rather than the usual two in a puppet show - being able to move towards or away from the audience. Really, its almost like a full stage that the puppets can move around. They also do some neat things with the water and also small scale fireworks and smoke!
Bargaining. We still are novices. The sellers are so experienced that it's a real effort to get a decent price, and then you're still not sure if you've been fleeced or not. The most powerful thing is to have a really good idea of what the item costs, but that's usually not the case if it's some knick-knack.
What techniques we know so far:
-Test run - if multiple people sell the t-shirt, try a couple out out with
no intention of buying, just to get an idea of the price.
-Taking one step away, then another step away- they may not offer, but if they need your business they will give a new lower bid each time you try to leave.
-Waiting - stand there and
-Disparage the item - hard to do politely. Inspect it; you've seen shinier ones around, no cyclo rides are too slow, the room is nice but beyond our budget do you have a cheaper one, and is breakfast included?
-Rubberneck a local buying the item.
-Bravely counter-offer even lower than you think - I am still afraid of hurting feelings, but often much LESS than half of what the vendor states, especially in tourist gouging places. I suppose it varies from country to country too. The initial price from the vendor can be multiples of the price that you could actually get it for. Ideally their response should be somewhat upset or surprised - "Oh no no no!" And then they should make a newer much lower offer. Don't go up too quickly! Tonight Farah bought some canvas sneakers - 338000 VND ($25 Canadian) opening price stated by the vendor. Farah counters
150000. Vendor protests strongly and counters 260000. Farah says 165000. Vendor: 230000. Farah: 175000 ($12.90). Done. (Still too much? Who knows...)
We often feel bad about bargaining hard, or don't mind overpaying somewhay - with one cabbie the other day we beat down the fare substantially, and at the end of the ride he wished us sincere good luck, happiness, etc.. Such kindness to us as we tear the bread from his childrens mouths with our cruel and heartless negotiation. Sigh.
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