Selfies and jianzi

Today John and I visited a large park which ran along the side of a mountain, in search of a geocache. While we sat down to rest, a young girl in a white dress sat down on our bench next to John and smiled. John smiled back awkwardly and the girl then inched closer. Then I noticed her mother smiling with a camera in hand. She took a picture of the two of them together, and then the girl put her arm around John for another photo. After a few more photos the girl sat next to me for another shot, and then the father replaced the girl for a final picture. Catheleen was touring the nearby town of Cat Cat at the time with Elizabeth, and they had a similar experience when two girls each took selfies with Elizabeth. I find it very strange to be a tourist attraction when we ourselves are tourists, but most of the tourists are Asians so I suppose we are an oddity around here.

I find it exasperating that there are no price tags for most items in the stores I visit. It appears that the price for just about everything is arbitrary and subject to bargaining. Sometimes I end up bargaining for a bottle of water. I suspect this bargaining is partly cultural but also partly the mismatch between tourist and local incomes, whereby tourists may earn ten times or more than local incomes. In this environment I think it's not surprising that tourists are quoted prices for small items that may be double or quadruple what locals pay. Because the item is still reasonably priced by Western standards, this price discrimination still usually leads to a sale, at least with me. It does bother me nonetheless to be spending so much more for the same item than the person next to me. But I would be just as bothered if I learned that the person sitting next to me on the plane payed half the price I did for their plane ticket, even though I understand why this is often the case. I think it has to do with perceived fairness.

Last night there was a performance in the local square not far from our hotel to celebrate Vietnam's Independence Day on September 2nd. Plastic chairs were set up for some officials in military uniform to watch the singing and dancing, and a small crowd gathered behind. We arrived just as the performance was finishing, but what I liked about this place were the teenagers ignoring the performance to play jianzi, known in English as Chinese hacky sack. We saw pairs of people playing this game in Laos, but around here groups of five or ten kids will form a circle to play. The shuttlecock, called a jianzi, has feathers fixed into plastic disks. During play, kids keep it off the ground with their feet primarily, but also use other parts of their body except their hands. It's a nightly occurrence to see half a dozen groups of teenagers out playing the game, and it's fun to watch. Even some hill tribe kids were taking time to play a game with each other, once they had finished with their street performance.

While this was all going on, younger kids were wandering around near their parents and launching neon-lit projectiles high into the air with strong elastic bands, and then watching them float down on propellers. It was a nice time to sit around for a while in the cool evening breeze and watch the local kids having fun and laughing.

Here's a sign that caught my eye on Independence Day with its iconic Soviet style art. No idea what it says though. Feel free to translate.