When it comes to shopping in China, outside of the chain stores, haggling is the norm. If you don't learn the skill of it you'll walk away paying too much. If you're a foreigner you'll walk away paying too too too much. In my pursuit of purchasing presents for my return trip to America, I decided to buy a few scarfs. Out the gate the lady wanted $35 for one "100% silk scarf." At this point I'd been in the country for several months and had grown accustomed to bargaining and so my reaction was to laugh at the exorbitant price, and countered with a more reasonable price of $5. Bargaining was attempted on my part but the shop owner was relentless about lowering the price, until I walked away. As soon as I turned my back the price dropped to $5. It's rather funny how that works.
The same applies in Cambodia and Vietnam and if you don't bargain hard you're going to walk away a sucker every time. One night in Hoi An, after a day of tours, my friend and I sat finishing dinner. He was still hungry for more meat and I wanted the dessert I saw a few streets back. We parted ways and soon I was munching on a delicious bread of some kind. As I wandered back, I happened upon a bookstore. Having just finished my previous book, I decided to take a look. I got carried away since book prices are so cheap and ended up with three I wanted.
The bookstore owner started the bargaining at $17. Not quite happy with that price since I'd seen cheaper prices earlier i the day, I began my typical routine. Before I continue I have to make a quick interjection that the day was spent sipping beers and playing chess so I was a little off my game. As I offered my first price, he countered with $17 and a beer to celebrate the Tet holiday. We countered a few more times unsucessfully to convince each other. Until, probably due to the beers in my system, I countered with $17, one more beer, and the chance to hang out with his family until my tour bus was scheduled to leave.
It was an interesting look into a typical Vietnamese family's home life. The first floor was split with half being a book store and the other half being a living room. One of my tour guides had previous informed me that land is very expensive in the ciyt so many familes will convert a part of their home into a shop. The living room portion of the first floor was very simple. There was no furniture, only a mat on the floor. I didn't get a tour so I didn't see the rest of the house. I also asked to take pictures but didn't want to be potentially disrespectful so I only took three.
As for the family, I was introduced to the store owner's wife, son, niece, and mother who you can see in the picture. He was the only one who could speak English. Sadly I didn't get to ask much more since I only had 30 minutes to begin with until I had to leave.
Hopefully I can bargain my way into similar encounters again in the future. The cost of the books was well worth the experience.
