8. Shopping tips
Markets and minimart
Arm yourself with plenty of time and patience and get out there to find the amazing variety of great deals Vietnam offers.
DON’T miss the markets. Notable markets include floating ones in the Mekong Delta, Cho Lon market in Ho Chi Minh City that bears the same name, the large fruit and flower market in Dalat, big marketing Hanoi, colorful Sa Pa market and other ethnic minority markets in the mountainous north of the country.
DO go early when shopping at local markets. Goods are brought fresh every day from the country and without refrigeration they will suffer from the heat as the day drags on.
Shopping in many parts of Ho Chi Minh City is now little different from shopping in Bangkok or other Asian metropolis. Commercial complexes and supermarkets are also sprouting up in Hanoi and other sizeable towns. Else where things change more slowly.
Before full-blown supermarkets arrived in Vietnam, there were only minimarts. Plenty of these little international stores still exist, stocking all kinds of surprising, exotic and expensive goods, catering to the hankering of various expat groups.
DO check the expiry dates carefully on any imported produce you buy: many of the more obscure items in these shops have been gathering dust for years.
Bargain, bargain, bargain
The idea of a fixed pricing system is still quite novel in most commercial contexts, which means that a little good natured haggling is an important habit to develop. Anywhere outside supermarkets, restaurants… bargaining is the most essential.
The price of fresh food can fluctuate a lot, depending on the quality, season, availability, origin and types of goods. Sometimes, paying the lowest price is not the best bargaining.
DO be warned that, as you are easily spotted from a distance as a foreigner, you will be asked to pay more than locals. Sometimes just a little more but often outrageous more, even if this is not always immediately obvious to you, especially when relatively small sums are involved. It might seem like a snip, but you may be paying ten times the going rate.
If you feel mean haggling over such small sums or are tempted just to pay up for a quite life, DON’T forget to think of other people who will pass this way after you. You should not be too afraid off offending local sensibilities: if you pay vastly over-inflated prices without a murmur, you will simply be seen as the sucker you are letting yourself be taken for!
Faked goods
Much of the Southeast Asia is not notorious as an earthly paradise for counterfeiters and Vietnam is no exception. Everything has been faked in Vietnam-from the orchids to orgasms, via the Mona Lisa, motorbike…
DO consider your motives carefully if you purchase counterfeit goods: If you buy a Rolex for $ 20, you know that there are no chance of being a real one, except for its superficial appearance.
If this is all you want, DON’T complain if you get searched at customs on your return home, have the fake Rolex confiscated and are made to pay a fine equivalent to the cost of a genuine one.
Very good copies can be found in Vietnam, particularly items such as clothes, sports equipment and luggage. The Vietnamese are redoubtable and wily business operators, and both foreign and domestic companies often find it impossible to prevent know-how from leaking out. Even the products made from materials imported exclusively find their way onto the local market as a budget prices.
DO let the buyer beware however, it is impossible to find excellent deals, but only if you know what you are doing. You could end up with something that is standard fake-except for the label, which is entirely genuine –although that, too, was made in Vietnam!
To some extent, you can argue that fake goods provide a measure of “justice” for developing countries like Vietnam where real luxury goods are produced with relatively cheap labor to be sold subsequently too affluent and develop closer trading ties with the richer, industrialized countries, pressure will be bought to bear to ensure that such fakes disappear from the market.
What you pay for is what you get
DO be advised: for now, there is no trading standards authority in Vietnam, so check the quality of what you are buying very carefully, especially if there are safety concerns involved.
DON’T expect to get your money back if you change your mind after making purchase or even if you realize belatedly that the goods you have been sold are not advertised… Check everything before handing over your money. If it runs on electricity, get the assistant to plug it in and rest it. Keep an eye on while it’s being packed or wrapped.
The dual pricing system
Trains, which only a few years ago were as expensive for foreigners as flying, should now be the same price for all passengers. Inevitably, to meet the ensuing shortfall in revenue, the very modest prices charged previously to Vietnam have risen steeply since everybody else began paying them, too. Air travel still costs more for foreigners but the gap between foreigners and Vietnamese prices is narrowing.
A thornier problem for foreigners who elect to settle down and rent somewhere to live in Vietnam is that of utilities, namely electricity and water. There is no longer any need to pay these extortionate prices; landlords no longer have to obtain an expensive permit previously necessary to have foreigners inhabit their property. You can pay the local price for electricity and water, as long as the bills are in the Vietnamese house owner’s name. However many landlords see no reason why they should cease to profit from these lucrative extras.
DO negotiate firmly if you what to rent a places: as a foreigner, you are a good prospect, since you will almost certainly pay more than a local, you will not start worshipping your ancestors in the house and refuse to ever move out and you may even attract other monied foreigners to the neighbor hood. However, you should also be aware that there is no legal protection for people renting accommodation: if you have problem, you must solve it with your landlord.