Archive for February 2012
Buying a real Nike hat in Vietnam
In Vietnam, you can buy:
1. a fake Jordan hat made of shitty material and poor stitches
2. a half fake half real Jordan hat made of good material and poor stitches. Usually the material is smuggled out of Nike factory and stitched by an untrained seamstress somewhere else
3. a real Jordan hat made of good material and good stitches. Usually the material is smuggled out of Nike factory and stitched by Nike seamstress somewhere else or the finished hat could be smuggled straight out of the Nike factory
4. a real Jordan hat imported from US or Europe and sold in luxury malls
Today I bought 3 for 12usd at an alleyway shop near my house
On Nike’s site (and almost everywhere else) its 24usd
How to do business in Vietnam
Location: on the sidewalk of Saigon, at the corner of Ton That Tung and Suong Nguyet Anh, District 1
Date: 2-22-2012:
Me: Why is this table tilted? My fish sause is sliding.
H (restaurant manager): I m sorry. Why don’t you sit inside? It is better
Me: Why would you put out such a shitty table?
H: Well we are not supposed to put tables out here on the sidewalk. Today the police is patrolling. If they see it they will confiscate it. We d rather they take our crappiest table than a nice one.
Me: I see. Why don’t you give them money?
H: We do. And they leave us alone most of the time. But every once in a while they need to do their job, confiscate some tables and write up a report. It keeps their boss happy
