It was obvious from the beginning that the Vietnamese are a different breed from the open-hearted, smiley Thais that we have come to know and love. While we were able to crack a smile here and there, most relationships in Vietnam were forged on the basis of how many dong with which we were willing to part. Negotiating certainly wasn't the friendly bartering to which we were accustomed in Thailand. Instead of smiles and laughter, we were forced to contend with pitiful stares and phrases like, "But it's Happy Hour--special price." (Happy Hour all day?) "No good for me. Good for you." "Not my lucky day. Today no sell. Help me lucky." And if we didn't make a purchase, there wasn't a
mai bpen rai attitude -- we felt daggers from icy glares piercing our backs as we made a hasty retreat.
This was most apparent on the beaches of Hoi An, where women as old as the Earth itself shuffled barefooted on the scorching sand and dropped their baskets. They sat back on their haunches, sighed heavily, and begged us to buy their wares. How many pineapples and bags of peanuts can you purchase and consume of a morning? We dare not admit.
Or, take the woman who boarded our sleeper bus in Hue, who spent an hour and a half huffing and puffing down the aisles, reorganizing the seating arrangements. Our coveted single beds on the top bunk at the front of the bus, which we had procured by boarding an hour before departure, were ripped from our clutches. We were shoved to the rear and forced to sleep on the large, 5-person bed on the bottom bunk, next to a groping drunk and underneath a woman suffering from chronic car sickness.
Still, it takes a lot more than that to bring us down, and overall we had a pleasant experience. We will forever hold Mr. Tinh dear in our hearts, despite his abrupt and unenthusiastic departure upon dropping us off at our hotel. We expected at least a tearful goodbye. Or even just a goodbye.
One last point: For the first time since living in Asia, we visited a country in which not a single, solitary street housed the familiar, beloved convenience store that is 7-Eleven (or any convenience store, for that matter.) Not only was this mind-blowing, but also irritating when you could walk up to any stall and be quoted upward of three times the market price for a bottle of water. What so bad about price tags? Or Coffika? We put this question to Mr. Tinh, to which he answered with a pondering expression, "I don't know? Maybe it is not a lucky number." Oh Mr. Tinh, we miss you already.