the two-price system (chính sách hai giá)

In the early and mid 90s, when Vietnam first opened its doors to foreign visitors, the two-price system was a given. It was not just grocery shop owners who would quote a price 10 or 20 times higher to a foreigner than to a local, but even train and flight tickets would cost twice as much. The rationale was that all foreigners were far richer than Vietnamese, and if they had enough money to travel around, they must have been able to afford the price difference. The official system was abolished in Vietnam about a decade ago, but I recently discovered that it actually just moved abroad.

When I was at school, I tried without success to renew my passport because the Vietnamese embassy would not pick up my calls. This time, being in San Francisco, I could just walk to the consulate to hand in my application. Before I set out, I spent a whole evening listening to horror stories about the consulate from the Vietnamese family I'm staying with - they've dealt with the consulate on several occasions, having lived here for more than 15 years. Anyways, the bone of the story was not although the official price is $50 and the process time is 5 days (as listed on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), if you indeed pay $50, you will have to wait at least a month. If you want to get your new passport faster, be willing to fork out a couple of hundred bucks. And the more urgent you need it, the more they'll charge you. They're ruthless (không có tình người). All the while, I was asking myself: Should I bring with me a print-out from the Ministry's website and argue with them, because I can't let them do whatever they want? Or should I just give in to this system; it's not worth getting in troubles, especially when I need to get this done, and it's not in my power anyways? I decided on the former. But truth to be told, it was more because there was no way I could throw away $200 to renew my passport. To hell with that.

In the end, I was lucky to get my passport within the same day for $90. I told myself that the difference was tolerable, considering that it's "rush" though I well knew that it was not true. It would have cost $180, but I got a 50% "student discount" (yes, it does sound like they were being really nice). They actually wanted to charge me the full price since I already graduated, but I managed to talk them out of it. I really did not have a job, and I was still under my school's sponsor.

Anyways, I was waiting for my passport at the consulate, I talked to a cute half-Vietnamese guy who was there to apply for a tourist visa. They made him pay $115 for a --hold your breath-- 1-month visa. He asked me sheepishly: "Don't you think it's rather uhm steep?" And I was like: "What do you mean "rather uhm steep"? That's outrageous." Do some comparisons: My 6-month visa to India cost $40, to Peru $30. To the U.S. it was $131, but for a whole year. I didn't have internet there to check the official price for him. But this is what I found later:
less than 1 month: $40
1 month - 6 month: $70
6 month - year: $110
This is what I'd call steep, but at least not outrageous.

Btw, my friend Trang renewed her passport in Vietnam and it cost 200k VND (about $12). Do they really think that people living and working abroad are all uber-rich? Bullshit. There are dollar millionaires in Vietnam, and what about those living and working in countries whose standard of living is comparable to, or even lower than that of Vietnam?

Go Vietnam go!

breast

yay! everyone's fav topic.

Vietnamese: small, mostly As and smaller. Seems to have been so forever and i haven't seen much change in the past 10 years or so despite our diet heading into a new path. And for stupid reasons, we are still so embarrassed about it and can't embrace it as part of our figure and feature.

French: have to say i'm not quite sure since i was there for only 6 months and it was cold most of the time so despite their fashionableness, people bundled up (in black or grey) so it was hard to judge. I'd say mostly As and Bs, look quite proportional to their shape.

American: huge. I've seen guys in Vietnam goggled their eyes out at Bs. In the U.S. Bs and Cs are such a common sight. Ds are fewer, but you still see them around.

Indian: have the most beautiful breasts that i've ever seen, no matter what size they are, from the skinniest to the chubbiest.

A side note: In the U.S, i wear an XS, sometimes an S, hate that feeling when i go shopping and find that every top and dress looks weird on me because of the bubble that my breast can't fill in.
In France, I wear an S, clothes generally don't have that breast "pocket" and plus, once i wear bras, my breasts have better shape so they fit better. However, my American friends had a lot of trouble finding something that gave their breasts enough space to breath.
In VN, I wear an M or an L (!?!?!) And sometimes, I ind things that would look like a binder on me, even when I've taken off my bras. Crazy. And have to keep in mind that my breasts are super small, like a typical Vietnamese.

from Kolkata to Ahmedabad

In Kolkata, the women don't seem to care about the scorching sun and the suffocating dust, such a fresh switch from the Vietnamese with our own "hijab" (only eyes shown), and the Singaporean who seek refuge under awnings.
In Ahmedabad, women also wear "hijab" though all of them are clearly not Muslim. I was surprised and my first thought was maybe these girls just wanted to avoid stares on the street by covering up. And how ignorant i was. They have the same concern and came up with almost the same solution as Vietnamese. I have to give them credit because their scarfs look so much more elegant than our ninja masks, but maybe not protective (read hard-core) enough to our standard.

contradictions

- always accumulate for themselves, live selfishly and yet, always live in the fear of rumors and yield to others' judgment.

- go to temples and pray to the Buddha; Buddha teaches - at least this is what i think - not to be self-absorbed, not to avoid hardship in life, and to be detached to all wants, and yet they only pray for more wealth and more success

no head or no heart?

picked Dave up at Daewoo hotel, went to look for a xe om driver to take him home. Seeing his white skin, they decided to double the price. I could have easily paid 15,000VND but didn't like that attitude so I bargained. All of them made a volte face and started berating me.

at each crossroad, after the red light's turned green, everyone, lips tightened, struggles to speed forward, but sometimes no one can move because it's too crowded. And for some reason, people still honk endlessly. What do they think it'd solve? I notice that most of them drive (or at least the honk sounds like it comes from a car).

today when we got to Canh, there were cars in both directions so they slowed down so as not to scratch each other. Some motorbikes "mindlessly" took to the left and ended up stopping right in front of the cars going in the other direction. Traffic Jam!

Sometimes it's just hard to understand. Is it because they think for themselves (although in the long run they don't gain a thing) or because they can't think for others?

intimate

a hundred flowers bloom

thief hunting

an article on vnexpress
a spectacular thief chase in the middle of Sai Gon
if only people could be that gung ho and keep up their joint efforts until the last minute in combating other things.

chess playing

Took Dave to Ngoc Son (Pearl Mountain?) temple. As we walked pass a group of men playing chinese chess, Dave commented that he really liked it because it was social. Vietnamese styled, 1 game = 2 players + 10 bystanders who are advisors, commentators, and supporters at the same time.

3rd day in Ha Noi

likes:
- friends
- food
- tree shaded streets

dislikes:
- dirt
- humidity
- no urban planning
- race of house building, banging and smashing deafeningly from dawn till dusk, nowadays the tearing down and building up houses has even surpassed road repair.
- bicycle has almost disappeared from the street
- gasoline fume
- food hygiene and inflation which drive everyone into superstores.

and a little bit sad because
- banaba has died and flamboyant is no longer flamboyant.
- no Euro scene. no atmosphere (probably because of inflation)