Speechless

This was a post that I should have made yesterday, but I chose to hold off for now. I was sitting in the good 'ole Ben Thanh Market having an early dinner (what turned out to be dinner #1), when two girls that I suspected were Australian or British walked up to the little food stand. They took a look at the menu and were talking with the restaurant vendor about some of the Vietnamese noodle soups. Next thing I know, I hear them asking to drop the price of the meal that was already just 2.5 bucks to begin with. They were negotiating to drop it down to 1.75 or something in that ballpark. I was astounded to hear that someone would negotiate a meal. I've heard of people negotiating at these markets before for clothes, shoes, watches, souvenirs, and other non-food items. I think that some people travel cheaply, but I didn't realize people travel that cheaply these days.

I thought I did well eating a relatively low priced meal for lunch and dinner. As I was walking back to the hotel though, I found a Turkish restaurant, and at 11 pm that menu spoke to me very loudly. So I had Turkish pizza, Tabouleh salad, and some Evian (French style in Vietnam), for a meal that was about 17 bucks. Thankfully today has been a relatively mild spending day.