I'm surprised we weren't shanked.

Okay, so here I am on a Wednesday...6 glasses of wine in, and I want to tell you about our first evening here in Nha Trang.
We took an eight hour train ride here from Ho Chi Minh.

Eight Hours.
With this foot next to me.
Yeah. Gross, I know.

I was so. SO. tempted to tell her to take her stinky foot away, but for some reason, I just couldn't.
So I let it sit there and just read my book instead. #weak

Anyway, we finally got to our hotel in Nha Trang and put our luggage in the room.
I was hungry, so we ventured out in search of some food.

That's when I saw this little fake tattoo stand.

They had this giant tarp laid out with all of the tattoo designs and a big sign that looked like this:

Now, just so you remember: 10,000-20,000 basically means: $.50-$1.00.

So I was like, uh Yes, please. Let's get temporary tattoos for less than a dollar in Vietnam.
Because, why wouldn't we?

So The Dizzle took the bait.
We decided on the most ridiculous looking tatts they offered:
A Labrador and Mickey Mouse.

Throughout the entire process of choosing our fake tattoos, there was another couple there from Australia. They kept trying to confirm the price throughout the whole thing, "Okay, 20,000 for both, right? 20,000?" 
But the little Vietnamese guy shadily kept quiet. He never confirmed their price.
The voice in the back of my head was slightly concerned that he wasn't talking, but I figured, oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine.

When all four of our "tatts" were done, we brought out our 20,000 dong each and tried to hand it to them to pay.

They immediately declined.

They then, all of a sudden speaking English, said, "No, you pay 500,000 each."

Which, let me tell you, is more like $25.00.

Wait. Wait. Wait. $25.00 for some TEMPORARY, 30-second paint-job, already smudging, little labrador?!
We thought it should only be $1.00?? Are you effing kidding me?

All four of us immediately protested and told them their sign advertised $.50 to $1.00 for their temporary tattoos!

They then pointed to the sign's "dot dot dot" part:

They said that our tattoos were part of the "extra price" charge and we needed to pay more.
We obviously continued to argue, as we were all lead to believe it should only be 10,000-20,000dong each.

So THEN, there were about 5-6 Vietnamese boys surrounding us, instead of the original two.
They kept repeating, "Money. You pay us! Money!"

That's when I got mad. I mean, seriously? You're going to try and charge us $25.00 for a FAKE, 30-second outline of a DOG, tattoo?? Are you crazy?
So I probably said that out loud to them, amongst a few other choice words.
Like I said, there's a Korean temper in me and I'm not afraid to use it.

And then, one of them tried to reason with me, "I am the boss. This other guy does not speak English. You not understand. You pay more."

So then I told him that it's not MY problem his "employee" doesn't speak English.
He should learn to negotiate PRIOR to business.

They continued to refuse the money we were trying to give them, even going to the extreme of saying, "F*ck you! F*ck you!" to the guys.

The Dizzle, bless his heart, was trying to negotiate and level with them about the misunderstanding, but they didn't seem to understand the English he was speaking and continued to ask for an unreasonable amount.
At this point, my heart was pounding, my hands were shaking. There were several of them to only four of us foreigners. I was honestly thinking some sort of violence was about to happen and was wondering if we should just jump in a cab to escape.

Every time we tried to walk away, they'd run in front of us, start yelling at us, and demand for more money.

We finally decided to just all walk away together in a group and hope they didn't follow.

I don't know if it was because they were half the size of The Dizzle or because we were walking towards a more crowded part of town, but they decided not to follow us.

Let me just say: Lesson Learned.
Always, always negotiate and be clear of the price before continuing with the purchase.
There was a reason why he was so quiet about the price, that shady little fella. There was a reason he was so quick to do the work before confirming how much we should pay him.

Anyway, now I have this Golden Retriever tattoo on my right bicep for the next month to remind me.
{Why did I think that was a good idea, again?}

At least this city is far more aesthetically appealing than Saigon...

xoxo

P.S. Don't forget to check out this giveaway!