Experiences in Asia
Sitting in an internet cafe in Bangkok. My thoughts on the trip so far:
Singapore: Started here. Most of the city feels like a huge shopping mall with shoes and purses ranging from $1,000 to $65,000. Silly. The vast majority of the stores downtown were apparel, which is something I have zero interest in. Seems like a nice place for rich girls — but despite the great food and people, it’s just not my thing.
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam My favorite place so far, by far. $1 USD converts to 18,000 Vietnamese dong.
Some prices:
- 120,000 dong ($6.50): AWESOME 1.5 hour massage with oils, fun ways to wind up like a pretzel, heated stones, and a cute girl stepping on your back, etc. In one place we went myself and my two travel companions were given a shared private room for the three of us to chat. The girls were flirty, singing along to music, and laughing the whole time. I tipped nearly 100% (100k dong) and my masseur seemed surprised and very appreciative.
- 5,000 dong (about $0.30): huge water bottle
- 300,000 dong (about $15): massive meal for three people consisting of: clam hotpot with 30+ clams, carp hotpot with a whole carp head and all, a nice vegetable fish with sauce, 6 bottles of beer, and 5 bottles of water.
- 250,000 dong ($13.88): another massive meal with two bowls of clams 20 clams each, 6 crab legs, 3 beers, 1 water bottle, one noodle plate with eggs and chicken, etc.
- 30,000 dong (under $2): motorbike taxi to get around.
- 306,000 dong ($17): decent hotel.
So, besides all the great deals, the people of Ho Chi Minh are the best. Some of my favorite things:
- Every time you cross the street it feels like you are winning a video game. There’s a massive never-ending swarm of motorbikes intermixed with cars, and no traffic lights. You just have to walk slow and steady and let people dodge you. On the large streets where people go in both directions the median for you to stand on is usually about 6″ wide (if they have one at all). I’ve never had so much fun crossing the road.
- Buying something has never been so fun. During breakfast one morning a bright and smiling lady came by in the traditional Vietnamese cone shaped hat with a shelf of goods she was carrying around. I spotted 3 bracelets I liked and the battle was on! I had no idea what they were worth and was surely going to get suckered, but I had already been taken a couple times so I was trying to guess low. She wanted 20k dong per bracelet and I wanted to offer 10k per. My uncle, Jonathan, had experience with this sort of thing so he played bad cop sitting next to me to help out. When he heard her price he laughed, shocked “Are you kidding?!” The lady laughed knowing her price was very high. We went back and fourth for five minutes with her making fun of Jonathan and buttering me up. “He’s #2, you are #1!” She insisted I put on the bracelets and after a while when I tried to give them back saying they were too expensive she reached out her hand as if to accept them, then at the last second did a smooth Tai-Chi like maneuver to caress the bracelets back into my hand. I had been getting suckered all day and decided to play tough this time, not going above 10k dong each, despite her pushing hard for one more 10k. In the end she gave in since she knew she was getting a good deal anyway, and I slipped her an extra 10k under my arm so Jonathan wouldn’t see to say thanks for such a hilarious negotiation.
- Everyone I met was extremely friendly. Even though the level of poverty was high in places, it was common to see kids and adults alike smiling warmly and laughing in their interactions with each other.
- I was very happy to see a handful of smart phones in use, and many people seemed to have some sort of phone available. I’m excited when I think about 3-5 years in the future when phones powered by the free Android-based operating system (or equivalents) hopefully become the baseline for all mobile devices. Btw, they already had 3G everywhere I traveled in Vietnam.
- One girl who seemed 10 years old at most came up to us during a meal on the street and put on a hilarious show with a water-filled baloon that squirted out a pin-hole when she squeezed it. She’d switch from spraying all of us to spraying her eyes to make it look like she was crying. She asked our names and when she heard my uncle’s was Jon she almost exploded with surprise and joy since her name pretty much sounded identical, with a slight tone difference. Her show lasted 10 mins+ and in the end she asked for 25k dong (under $2). I didn’t have a 25k bill so I gave her 50k and she seemed surprised and overjoyed. She then proceeded to try and sell us some gum. When we declined, she said if we could beat her in paper/rock/scissors we’d get it free, but if she won we’d have to buy it. (I guess she was charging enough [25k dong] to be able to afford a loss every once in a while). Anyway, we played best of 5 and she proceeded to beat me, then Jon, then Jon again. She left undefeated, then returned to give me her baloon as a keepsake. Jon got photos/a video of part of her show which I’ll put at youtube.com/anuzis after I get it. For now it’s all on his camera.
- I could go on and on about how great Ho Chi Minh was, but I’ve got to run soon and I haven’t even started on Thailand yet…
Going to make this fast since I need to jet soon…
Bangkok, Thailand
Overall: More exciting than Singapore, less exciting than Ho Chi Minh.
Where Singapore seemed 100% safe and boring and clean, and Ho Chi Minh felt like the wild-west, Bangkok is kind of in the middle. Ah! Jon just walked into the cafe so I’ve got to run. Will follow up on this later.
For now, flying to Singapore later today then taking a boat to Bintan (northern Indonesia with allegedly the world’s best beaches). Will update later!
P.S. How could I forget to mention the toilets in HCMC! I already posted vids of those to youtube.com/anuzis so if you haven’t seen them yet check them out now! Ciao.
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