The Story So Far ...

We said farewell to our work friends at the RSPCA and BBC on 14 September, farewell to our families on 3 October, and set off for Africa to save cheetahs, decorate school buildings, and look around a bit. After a trip home for Christmas, we headed for South East Asia on 6 January -- where we were stunned by Qatar and Cambodia, taught novice monks in Laos, and acted as security guards at an Elephant Festival. It was back home for four weeks to look after John's dad, before we tangoed our way through five South American countries in fifteen days. We then snooped our way through New Zealand, dipped our toes into Fiji, drove-thru California and were home from home with family in Vancouver.

Now, we are home itself. Fulfilled, happy, and ready to earn the respect of our friends and family by knuckling down and earning some money once again ...

Sunday, 27 February 2011

The Pineapple Seller

"They'll rip you off, those Vietnamese street-sellers!" we'd been warned by a friend.  So I felt a bit cross with myself when I paid 20,000 dong for a bag of fresh pineapple from a woman the other morning.  She'd wanted 30,000 for two; mulling it over as I munched, I thought I really should have got her down to 15,000 for one.

We'd just finished licking the juice from our lips when we reached the Women's Museum down the road.  Henry and I sat down to watch a short video, entitled "The Daily Life of a Street Vendor".

One woman explained how she rose at 2am to get to market to buy her fruit.  On a good day she'll have sold it by 5pm, on a bad day it's 7pm.  Every fortnight she hopes to escape the city to return to her local village, and give the $18-20 she may have earned to her husband and children.

I attempted the sums in my head, gave up, and did them with a calculator back in our room.  5,000 dong is about 25c.  About 0.3% of my salary.  About 5% of hers.  Yes, yes, yes, I do realise that her living expenses will be a fraction of mine.  But a 17 hour day is a 17 hour day, whatever part of the hemisphere you live in.  So if the street sellers do rip you off, it figures.

Only eight hours to go. 


John
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1 comment:

  1. Mags1 March 2011 at 04:58

    It's easy to fall into that trip of feeling you're being ripped off when in reality it's such a tiny amount of money! I think I ate pineapple every day in Hanoi (it's my favourite fruit) and I took great delight in buying it from the same woman each day as she seemed to look out for me to go by!

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