We spent most of today doing some shopping. It's been very interesting bargaining with the various vendors. They say that you should ALWAYS bargain. The vendors always quote americans higher prices, and if you DON'T bargain, it makes them take advantage of more foreigners.
Mark seemed to be a street vendor magnet! They followed him and followed him! For example, this lady REALLY wanted Mark to buy a Vietnam phrase book. She quoted him 130,000 dong. We say no, so she says 110,000. We say no again, she says she'll give us the book and postcards for 120,000 dong. Again we say no. She asks us what we want to pay. We try to tell her nothing, but she keeps following us and offering us all sorts of combinations of items for all different prices. That's just one example!
For lunch we stopped at this little place that had all kinds of different foods. Both Mark and I got the Singapore fried rice. It was pretty good. I thought it was pretty interesting that it came with a salad, garlic bread, and two onion rings. Weird combination...
After lunch we went back to the hotel and rested for awhile. Then we walked over to the Somerset to go over fees with Thuy. We've decided against expediting the passports, as we're not sure it will make any difference in the long run.
After meeting Thuy we went over to a marketplace. We did a lot of shopping there as well. They had a dog butcher shop! They had whole skinned dogs! Face, teeth, everything! It was crazy!
From there we went to a mall like place and did some more shopping. On the way home, it started POURING rain. We were really soaked by the time we got back to the hotel. We just ordered a pizza to be delivered to our room and here we are.
Tomorrow we are taking a day trip to Ha Long Bay. We should have lots of pictures so be on the lookout!
SIDEBAR #1:
Certain people don't seem to be answering my emails...I'm a little curious how my Sammi and
Raj are doing!!!
SIDEBAR #2:
I was rereading my previous post and I must make a correction. I was trying to tell you how expensive land was in Hanoi. I mentioned that a 40 sq meter piece of ONLY land coast between 200-300 USD. And it all had to be paid for upfront. What I MEANT to say was 200,000-300,000 USD!!!!
Here are some pictures of our hotel. This is the breakfast common area.
These are some items that we purchased today--items that Mark did not bargain for...
The rest are just pictures of our room!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Day 4-Monday
Posted by Angel at 8:23 AM
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8 comments:
Look a pink & White Crib!! I am here with Sammi & Raj right now, they are just fine. They have been playing with Rocky for about a hour & a half they are all three having a GREAT time. of course I bathed Rocky before I brought him over. I will be bringing him home with someone's (who shall remain nameless) spit all over him. LOL. I am planting your tomato plants. I expect to get some! I will write more later I gotta get back to work. Love ya
The art you got is beautiful. I am not sure I would pay the expedite fee either, especially if it were possibly not going to make a difference and/or you were okay with the extra couple days there.
Your hotel looks nice, did you know that alot of times they will push the beds together for you and do the sheets and such like a big king bed.
Thanks for letting me read along on your trip, I am enjoying following along. Hoping that G&R is sooner rather than later, try not to let it wear on you.
Hmmm...that couldn't be Rajah's spit!
Thanks for planting the tomato plants. You can have some for sure, I'm sure I'll have more than plenty!
Thanks for bringing Rocky over to play with Sammi and Raj. I'm sure they were loving that!
Thuy said that on one of the earlier trips that some people expedited while others didn't, but that everyone ended up getting done at the same time. She said it depended on how long it took to get the second interview.
Thanks for the tip about the beds, I didn't even think about that...
Wow, each day I can't wait to read what you have been doing, seeing, eating and especially news of Chloe and pictures of her (and you guys too). Can't wait to hold her-it is so exciting. Belated Happy Mother's Day to you Angel!!! Know I will be in Indy a lot once our sweet granddaughter comes home. Love the crib!! Hope the G&R comes very soon so she can be with you instead of leaving her. Love all 3 of you, mom
Thanks! We're pretty excited about getting her. We're really at the mercy of the Justice of Ministry officials and whenever they think they can get around to do doing the ceremony... Keeping our fingers crossed for a few days!
Mom--Did you record those shows I told you about???
Yes it could very well be the spit of Rajah. Looks like I don't need a DNA test to prove it to you.
Your Welcome for planting the tomato plants. How do you water the plants by the play house the hose won't reach. Yes I recorded the shows the one on Spike tv Came on back to back but I onlt recorded the irst one is the right?
Sorry, I didn't mean to not be answering your emails, and I think I only missed them for a day...But Sammi and Rajah are fine, rowdy as ever, and I'm sure they're missing their mommy... So when Sammi doesn't eat, and I finally decide she's not going to and let her out, should I give it back to her later? She didn't want to eat tonight, but then was acting real hungry later, and I felt bad for her and went ahead and gave her her food back, and she ate it then, but I thought I should ask about that before I do it again...
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