(PICTURE: My mother-in-law looking at a tiger in Saigon.)
Upon returning to Hanoi, I took Huyen, my mother-in-law and Su out to dinner. We had a good meal with about four dishes and some special clay pot rice. The total cost of the bill came out to about 300,000 VND or $15. To me, I'm more than happy to pay for four people if the total cost is under twenty bucks. Hell, you can barely order an appetizer and a drink FOR ONE in America without it costing more than $15. However, to my mother-in-law this cost an arm and a leg. When she saw the bill her eyes lit up as if the waitress was holding me up at gun point. She was so shocked in fact that she kept the receipt to show my father-in-law. In their defense, they could probably eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days for 300,000 VND. However, we're talking about a restaurant in the city! I keep giggling to myself, imagining how Huyen's parents would deal with visiting us in America. I'm pretty sure this is what would go through their minds: "$12 for a piece of chicken! Not even the whole chicken? A piece? And it doesn't even have bones!!!"
