Coming to Hoi An should have been easy and pleasant.
Easy, yes. Pleasant, not so much. The 4 hour bus ride from Hue should have been quick and painless, but the cramped seating and NO A/C made theride torture. I thnk I lost 5 pounds in water weight just in those 4 hours.
I arrive at the hotel I booked through Hostelling International. Confirmation number and everything. Single room, $12. Pool in the lobby. Nice.
The lady behind the counter tells me she has only one room, and it's $15. But I already have a room, and it's $12. She repeats that she only has one room. And it's a 4th floor walkup. I tell her I want it for 4 nights. She offers $14 a night. I tell her I already booked at $12. I can show her the receipt. Fuck it. I accept. I tell her my friend has decided to share the room with me (there are two large beds.) She now tells me it's $15 for two. The manager comes over. He tells me the room is $17. I laugh. We agree on $15 for the both of us.
And so it goes in Vietnam.
You negotiate EVERYTHING. Everything you do, everything you ask for, with the exception of the few restaurants where the signs are clearly posted. You negotiate beforehand. It is annoying as hell.
You basically only talk price when you actually really want something. Or they get pissed.
I came to Vietnam with only three tank tops. I read everywhere that dress is more on the conservative side. FOR THEM, it turns out, as they can pretty much spot a foreigner in an instant anyway. They don't care. And I don't plan on going into the rain forest where Ihave to becovered head to toe.
So I go to buy some tank tops. Every place in town has the same crappy tank tops. I look at one stall. The woman says "you want shirts?" and pulls me deeper in her store. She is smiling profusely.
I tell her I need a tank top. She tells me to buy three. She'll give me a discount. I needed two anyway, so I tell her I'm interested in two.
She whips out a rudimentary calculator and types in "170." She says "170 for2, 10 discount." She does the math on the calculator: 170 - 10 = 160 and says "160 for two."
Before I am able to say "no" or even counter, she gives me the calculator and tells me that I'm supposed to offer her something.
This woman is not only trying to teach me something, but she is teaching me to bargain.
This exact thing happened to Daniel a couple of days back. He was looking for sandals. The woman at the market gave him a price that was way too high, and she told him that he had to counter. Being also of a non-bargaining culture, he said no and walked away. The two giddy young salesgirls pulled him back, laughing, peting him, telling him he was supposed to make a counteroffer.
I think this was exactly a Monty Python bit. "No, no, you're supposed to 'aggle!"
I got her down to 120,000 dong, roughly $7.50 for them both. I look in my wallet and realize I needed anATM, but better, everyone was waiting for me at the restaurant next door. I tell her I'm coming rightback. She doesn't believe me, so she accompanies me to the restaurant and waits for my return.
I hate bargaining.
Hoi An is a sleepy little town. By sleepy I mean that I don't feel like I'm going to get run over by a motorbike.
This is a big deal.
The town is quite small and very easily navigable. There's sand on all the roads, even though it is not a beach town.
There's tailors as far as the eyes can see.
And TOURISTS.
Hoi An is notable for their tailoring business, and hoards of people come into town for a couple of days to have clothes made.
You go to a tailor and spend a good couple of hours looking through magazines. You mark off what you like. Maybe you like the top of one dress and the bottom of another. No problem. You peruse the store for fabrics. Then you negotiate the price. They take your measurements. In a day, you come back, and they alter if needed.
Sounds easy.
This process has already taken two days.
There are stores of all quality and price, and it takes a long time to find a store you like and quality of a level you can afford. You find something you like, and maybe not the material. Or, maybe everything is great, but the price negotiations come to an abrupt end.
It's full-time work.
Being that Hoi An is impossibly hot and humid, shopping for clothes is about all I have the strength for anyway.
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