I’m usually pretty good with spending.  Since I’ve been in HCMC, not so much.  This place is cheap, I mean REALLY cheap, and I’m blowing through cash a little too quickly.  I told myself before I came here that if I spent any more than $400 of my own personal funds before finding a job, I would start freaking the hell out.  I need to cool down the spending, fast, before I find myself begging on the street corner.

I started with about 3,600,000 dong, which is equivalent to about $200.  Now, I’m at 1,400,000 dong (about $80).  $120 for a week is definitely not the worst I’ve ever done, but when you put things into perspective, I suck at life.

Here’s a general idea of how much food costs here:

Pho: 30,000 dong= $1.70

Bomb Ass Indian Food Place (Taj Mahal, I think?): 90,000 dong= $5.00 (what can I say, I splurged)

Bomb Ass Thai Food Place (Coriander): 45,000 dong= $2.50

Beer at local pub: 11,000 dong= $0.60 (sweet!)

Beer at Expat bar where you can pick up hookers: 35,000 dong= $2.00 (what the eff?)

Other Expenses:

Rent: $6.00/day= $180/month.  Oh my god, my rent is only $180/month.  Keep in mind my rent in Los Angeles was oh, about 4-5 times that.

Totally unnecessary but extremely awesome massage: about 250,000 dong= $14.00

Cell phone: 250,000 dong = $14.00

Sim Card: 38,000 dong= $2.10

Taxi From Airport: about 200,000 dong= $11.20 (we admittedly overpaid on this one, but what can you do when you land in a country for the first time and have no idea what you should or should not spend)

Motorcycle taxis: about 20,000 dong= $1.10 for a 15-20 minute ride, not to mention a couple years off my life from how fucking scary I still find motorcycles in general.  Back home, I once got this grand idea that I wanted my motorcycle license.  When I actually took the riding class, I managed to pop a wheelie, completely unintentionally, and then fly into a wall, and flip over the aformentioned wall, straight into a bush.  Now I’m expected to ride in this city?  Holy crap.

Cigarettes:  First off, I’m the only smoker on JS0, and yes I know its not healthy, and yes I’m trying to quit, and yes I’m very very sorry mom.  Cigarettes are sold by little old ladies on street corners around here, and I’m amazed as to how quickly I was able to get the price down.  Night 1 in Saigon, they were 50,000 dong, next day 35,000, day after that 25,000, then I finally got it down to about 20,000/pack.  I got them for 19,000 one time only.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, cigarettes are about $1.00 here.

Writing the word “dong” 13 times in a post without sounding like a 13 year old:  Priceless

To cut costs, I’m working on cutting down on smoking, saying goodbye to bomb ass Indian place, and unfortunately saying goodbye to those lovely massages.  Wish me luck.