"How much for a vest top?!"

This past week has been so great and I’ve been treated to restaurants and hotels I couldn’t have afforded if my brother wasn’t so generous. It has also shown me how settled down into Asian life I have become, which to be honest got me feeling a bit odd.

I’ve spent the past week back as a “westerner”, and though I have loved eating out at restaurants, my time in a nice hotel (obviously taking all the given toiletries) and visiting great places, it did make me think about a lot of things. And to be honest, this was mostly how poor I am.

Back in the UK, I was on an OK wage, living at home and was financially comfortable. Coming over here, I knew I would be earning slightly less but that would be ok as everything is that much cheaper out here. That the wage to living expenses ratio would be the same as the UK. I’ll be honest, I was pretty wrong, and towards the end of each month, it’s been a bit of a struggle.

On Richard’s last day we went to the Bitexco Financial Tower in District 1, and to my amazement, I saw a Topshop in there! Literally I couldn’t believe it. I walked (ran) in there and was keen to see if the clothes were any cheaper than the UK. They were the same price.

Bitexco Tower: The tall building on the right

Back in the UK, it would be pretty normal for me to just buy a £35 pound dress for a night out and then spend money on other bits and pieces. I picked up a vest top and looked at the price. “HOW MUCH??!” I thought. The vest was around 400,000 dong, which I thought was ridiculous! Turns out this is only about £11, a price I would happily pay when I was living in the UK. Now £11 could potentially feed me for a week. I think Richard saw my face and kindly offered to buy it for me, but I couldn’t have that! This 10 minute trip to Topshop showed me that it’s considered designer rather than high street clothing to most Vietnamese, and that I well and truly now think in dong rather than pounds.

Don’t get me wrong, I eat at Western restaurants probably about once a week, however the rest of the time I’m either eating Pho, Com Tam or Bot Chien at the side of a road on the world’s smallest, plastic chair. Like I said, a vest top from Topshop could feed me for a week.  

It seems this post has been a bit of a rant. But this experience allows me to appreciate that I don’t need new clothes or expensive food all the time, and that I can go this period in my life without them. If I was able to afford to eat at Western restaurants every day, believe me, I probably would. But if I did this, I wouldn’t be getting the experience I came out here for. So being a little poorer is allowing me to experience more of the daily Vietnamese life, which I am well and truly embracing.