We're all Millionaires

What do you do when you don't really have anything substantial or thought provoking to write about? Just write a list, which is what I'm going to do (another example of lazy writing, announcing what I'm going to write about instead of letting the writing announce itself).

Anyways, I'm converting the prices of some of the items I've seen around town into USD. I'm using 18,400 dong = 1 USD, which is the conversion rate at the gold shops around here. $100 will get you over 1.8 million in the local currency.

Can of Schweppes soda water (club soda) at the market: $.18

same soda water at restaurant: $1.35

decent bike for cruisin' the streets: $40

glass of fruit juice at the hotel cafe: $.50

bowl of some of the best noodles I've ever had (I think it's called bun real): $.44 !!

1.5L bottle of Aquafina: $.32

silk painting sold in a restaurant: $2.50

same painting sold on the street: $.55 (I totally fell for this scam)

cell phone including 2hours worth of minutes: $22 and up (I know because I lost (read "possibly got pickpocketed") the phone I brought)

fruit smoothie: $.65

packet of wetnaps: $.22

laundry: $1/kilo

As you might notice, drinks dominate the list. I'm drinking like 2L of water a day, one or two cans of tonic water or soda water, and whatever (actually typed that as water at first) else gets served during meals. It is hot and humid here. That and the cheap prices just make you want to drink. I literally just got back from the hotel cafe where I dropped 9000 (less than $.50) on soda chanh (club soda with lime, ice, and sugar).