Elvis, pardon me again for borrowing the title of one your biggest hits, "Hound Dog". I deem it appropriate for this caption on the image i dug up in my Vietnam archive showing ironwulf being pursued relentlessly by a Hmong seller. I grew up in Divisoria and I've had my fair share of very persistent sellers but i think the Hmong and Red Dao sellers in Sapa are among the most persistent ones. Lugging cameras seems to make us all the more vulnerable to their friendly hankering for a sale. in this case, even the veteran traveler that is Ferdz was hounded endlessly by a Hmong woman (we eventually bought a souvenir from her) even in the thickening morning mist following a squall. A friendly advice though: ask around for the best prices as we've encountered a few offers which were twice or thrice the normal going rates, and most important of all, haggle, haggle, haggle. It figures, if you can't beat their persistent hankering, join them in making persistent haggles.
7 comments:
We had our share of these persistent peddlers. either you get irritated first by their kakulitan, or irritate them too by haggling way, way, way below the acceptable "tawad" =)
arlene, sinabi mo pa :-) they can get to one's nerves at times but at the end of the day, they just want to earn a living so kinukulit din namin :-D
Hahaha! Mas matindi pa rin yung sa isanng European girl na pinalibutan ng peddlers. Hehe.
Katuwa talaga yung mga puno dun sa likod.
wulfriend! onga, hanapin ko nga yung kuha na yun. anyway, i never really noticed the beautiful patterns of the trees in the mist sa background until i stumbled upon this capture in my stash. i wish i paid more attention kahit na lagi tayong pinupursue ng mga hmongs :-) anyway, enjoy this post, ikaw na naman bida dito :-D
hahaha... advice noted. napabili nga talaga kayo. parang mga pinoy din pala pag dumiskarte.
ganda ng fog. ganyan ang mga gusto kong puntahan.
I love the mists in this photo. You captured the moment and the essence of the place.
dom, sapa is almost always shrouded in fog kaya it seems mysterious and somber.
photo cache, thanks :-)
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