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KruChris wrote:

This morning, I took a 7,000 d government bus. Chris

Which bus was it?  Was it blue or yellow?

KruChris wrote:

At work, I'm getting bogged down with a silly workload some local could do. It's like asking a chef to chop vegetables. But they like it to be  h a r d  & painful, don't they?

Chris

"Some local could do...."   Is it just me or does this sound incredibly colonialist? 

What are your amazing credentials Chris that you don't have to mix a little drudge work in with saving the world?   I worked in corporate agriculture and had mechanics at my disposal.  When a machine broke down, I was on top that machine figuring things out before I called the "hired help" so that I could get back to budgets and reports.

THIGV wrote:

"Some local could do...."   Is it just me or does this sound incredibly colonialist?

I thought it sounds very arrogant, but I'm old enough to know that people who rate themselves too highly are often legends only in their own minds.

I asked the OP for the bus name, route, and colour because I had a feeling he might be a bit confused on the fare.  Not all "government buses" charge 7000 đồng, and not every part of a route is charged the same price.  I know about this, because just two days ago on Monday, I had a friendly debate with a bus driver, a conductor/ticket taker, and two other passengers on the difference fares of different buses.  In the end, I learned that the information I acquired from the Internet was completely bogus, and the lower fare for which I thought I was qualified didn't even exist.

Thaiger wrote:

My gf's ma just got 10 million pickpocketed by the bus conducteress on a private minibus. Lovely people here.

"Lovely people here"?  There are bad people and good people everywhere -- in your country, my country, and Vietnam. 

I had 10K snatched from my hand by a greedy bánh cuốn vendor who wasn't satisfied with the exact change I gave her (50K for two plates of "bánh cuốn breakfast").  That's the only bad incident I encountered since moving here.  OTOH, at least half a dozen wet market vendors have given me back the extra bills I unintentionally paid them, and so many of them have hand-picked the choicest fruits and vegetables for me when I didn't know what to look for. 

This morning, a young man stopped in the rain to take the unopened umbrella from my spouse, opened it over spouse's head, carefully arranged the handle and a few other items (including a to-go cup of hot coffee) in spouse's both hands until we and our goodies were protected, bowed his head to us, then went on his way without saying one word.

Last week, the security officer at a Sacombank escorted us to the ATM on the sidewalk, showed us how to change our pass-code, then turned his back to give us privacy and shield us from the line of people waiting to use the machine until after we finished with our transaction.

A few weeks ago, seeing us weighed down with backpacks, laptop bags, and other carry-ons (we were moving from one place to another on foot), a cảnh sát giao thông (traffic police) stopped the traffic so we could cross the street safely.

I don't know you so I'm not saying you're the type, but those who look for the bad in people will surely find it.  I've always believed in the goodness of people, and I've seen plenty of evidence to support that belief.

Ciambella wrote:

I told the housekeeper at our apartment building that I wished to try out bún riêu (vermicelli soup with crab eggs) from the famous vendor who has received hundreds of praises on the Internet, as well as a spot on Google Map.

My experience is that "famous" places are almost always a letdown.  We ate bun rieu at least once a week at a sidewalk place in front of the owner's house on an alley off of an alley, that no passerby would ever see.  Actually there was no sidewalk; the tables were just on the street.  They opened about 6 AM and finished around 9AM or earlier whenever they ran out, as often happened.  We would never have know of the place, even though it was close to our apartment, unless a neighbor had not told my wife about it.  They certainly weren't on Google but they certainly were well known in our neighborhood.

Ciambella wrote:

BTW, she wore plastic disposable gloves while handling the food she served us.  Evidently not all Vietnamese are unhygienic as wrongly believed.

These days plastic gloves are a pretty good indicator that a street vendor cares about quality and hygiene.