I am back in Phnom Penh. I thank the Divine!

The entire Vietnam trip, though only two days in city was the exsperience of a lifetime. Three things learned very quickly. Use exact change, agree on price before an experience and never open your wallet in front of people trying to sell something.

This I first learned while sitting in a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. A pregnant young woman selling a huge stack of books ambled in and offered to sell me any book she had. Interested in a Lao phrasebook (I learned some Lao while at BYU teaching English as a second language to Lao refugees) I asked how much while pulling out my wallet. She noted the number of bills in my wallet and grabbed a ten dollar bill and a 20,000 dong note (about $1.20.) Surprised I demanded the money back but she had already put it in her pants. The store value of the book was about $11.95 USD and should have sold on the street for half. She then tried to sell me a tour book on Laos for twice that much... bargaining ensued (giving me an opportunity to get "even.") I offered her $25 USD if she would give me my ten back... She retrieved the $10 and held it out while with my left handf I held the $25. Grabbing the $10 back. I pushed both books back to the sales person and refused to buy.

The street sales woman stood inf ront of me in the restaurant while I ate some Americanized version of anchovies and sweet sauce... Ugh. It was horrible food so it took me about half an hour for me to eat and she was there the entire time. She finally left me when I left the restaurant and walked directly into the Socialist Party branch office across the street. (I am not stupid... socialism scares the heck out of mini capitalists.)

Another stupid moment was when an older man offered me a cyclo ride (bicyclepushed rickshaw) to the War Remnants Museum (warning if you ever want to have nightmares... go to any war museum and look at their prison exhibits.. little did I know.) The gentleman pushed all 200 lbs. of me up a hill and on a busy street so I felt sorry for him and though we negotiated a 15,000 dong price for the ride I was willing to give him 20,0000 (80c for the first and $1.20 the second.) As I opened my wallet he demanded Dong 100,000 then Dong 200,000 ($6 USD and $12 USD) reached into my wallet and grabbed the 200,000 dong note.

As some of you may know I dislike intensely being touched unless its consensual (agreed upon by both parties). (smiles) Every other second a moto driver was grabbing me to ride with him. I have never been so grateful to be back in a temporary home like Phnom Penh. Here the drivers of both moto and tuk-tuk respect a simple no and acknowledge it with a smile. God bless them all.