Tuesday, April 24, 2012

58. Get a Mani/Pedi

No okkkk….back in Nam I wanted to leave Nam.



So the first day we left the boat purely to get a feel for the city
and go shopping. We were also in search of a tailor so we could get
dresses made. Taxis as usual were a pain in the ass to communicate
with. Even though they know more English than China, it's not like
that helped. Even if they understood what we were saying, 90% of the
time they didn't know where it was. How can you be a taxi driver and
not know where something is. That's your job. All you have to do is
know the stinking city.



In order to become a taxi driver in Singapore you have to pass a
difficult test in which they give you a random address and you have to
tell the fastest way to get there. Why were we only in Singapore for
a day??



Eventually we made our way to the market. It is pretty big. Shopping
is so much different in Vietnam. You learn very fast that bartering
is a game to them. They enjoy it. It's hard to actually experience
bartering at it's finest because it is clear we are tourists and they
have the upper hand. It is a perfect market transaction because
clearly we do not have equal knowledge about the prices. "Insider"
information is obviously at play here.





PS. I forgot to mention, the club we destroyed in South Africa,
Caprise, was mentioned in Cosmo as a hot place to see celebs (like Zac
Efron)…I'm not sure if it's been as hot since we left.



PPS. I'm definitely going to have to amputate my left foot when I get
home. Also I think my toenail is dying. That is not an
understatement. I can stick a needle under half of it. Cute right?



PPSS. I was looking at some of my first posts. It's interesting to
note the things I noticed at the first ports. For example, I
dedicated a lot of thought to the traffic. After going to all of the
countries, I realize that the US is one of the few countries that
actually have ANY rules when it comes to driving. Vietnam is no
exception. But there are A LOT of motorbikes. It's actually the cool
thing to have. One type is called the chick magnet because if you
have it all of the chicks love you. (Be happy I didn't take a
mototaxi…I was so close to doing it….a couple of people from SAS got
hurt on them). 30 people die in traffic related accidents EVERYDAY is
Ho Chi Minh. Maybe that's a number similar to NYC but for some reason
I think it's an extreme amount.



There are no crosswalks so when you want to cross you slowly walk out
into the traffic and keep walking. You really don't have to look
either way. It's purely a slow walk.

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