I forgot to mention yesterday (yes, I forgot something in 20 posts, a personal daily record!) about the economy in Vietnam. The local currency is the Dong and €1 is roughly D22,000. You read that correctly - about €50 makes you a millionaire. Unfortunately, everything is priced accordingly, so it helps to know your 22,000 times tables! You feel like Michael Jackson on a Vegas shopping spree as nic-nacks, meals etc are D40,000, D90,000, D150,000 and so on!
The trip certainly helped to keep the grey cells in tip-top shape! Luckily, maths and mental calculations have always been a strong point and so I was moving the decimal point 3 places to the left and dividing by 22 like a pro in no time. As usual, herself was also using me as a human calculator for Singapore dollar calculations! Luckily, it's half as strong as the Euro ($1=D11,000), so that wasn't too onerous.
Unfortunately, they also accept (and set prices in) the US dollar out there, particularly in tourist shops, into which I was often dragged! US$1 is about D17,000, which made conversion between the 3 somewhat more complicated. However, despite being an awkward number to work with, it happened to be about half way between the Singapore dollar and the Euro which made it easy enough. I can proudly boast that I usually beat the calculator (or more accurately, the people using it!) with a pretty good approximation. Prof. Imbusch would have been proud!
In general, things were cheap put there which is another plus point that I forgot to mention in my summary yesterday. Even in the tourist areas, good meals could be had for a few Euro (or a mere 60 grand in local paper!). Generally, souvenirs and so forth were not extravagantly priced in the tourist shops. When dealing with the locals in a market though, of course you have to haggle to avoid being shafted. Usually the calculator is used as a universal translator as offer and counter offer are punched in with much gusto. I was guided by that great man, George Costanza, who once said that a salesman's biggest fear is the walk out. We used that potent weapon to great effect!
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
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4 comments:
Prof. Imbusch is my old physics professor from NUIG who taught students to approximate large formulas in their heads. This was a very useful skill to have, especially if you didn't have a calculator! Even if you did, you knew roughly the answer you were expecting and thus could spot a mistake. I don't like to brag, but I used to do it myself from an early age. I was(/am) a geek after all!
George Costanza is, of course, one of the greatest sitcom characters of all time from the Seinfeld TV show.
Based mainly on the show's writer/ co-creator (Larry David of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' fame) and played brilliantly by Jason Alexander, George featured an impressive array of negative character traits!
I'm not kidding - you are writing some great stuff. Can't say that I ever delved into the Pseudoscience of Love or whatever it is called but you could start charging for this blog soon enough. Keep it up (the blogging that is).
Thanks again, Gary. I may have to start charging soon as the money I'm paying you to say such nice things is bleeding me dry (and herself doesn't need any help at that!!)!
This is just a humble effort to entertain the family and what few friends I have back home while I'm here. I don't think I have enough traffic to bother with Google Ads! All donations gratefully received though!
The "Pseudoscience of Love" blog is somewhat amusing and looks mainly at the differences between us normal folk (men) and the other lot (women), using graphs and charts!
ps Any chance of a start in your organisation?!!!
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