Dirty Laundry

Let's face it, everybody has some dirty laundry (not the same as skeletons in the closet).  Although some Vietnamese hand-wash their clothes, I suspect that washing machines are fairly common.  However, I am not so confident about dryers.  Most of the laundry I've seen is hanging out to dry - at least on campus.  This makes for an interesting view, all day, every day.  

I drop-off my laundry and it is returned in a few days - washed, dried, and folded.  Nice.  The other day a shirt mysteriously appeared in my clean load that wasn't mine.  So, I went to the drop-off point and tried to explain the situation.  She seemed to understand, but the shirt showed up again in my next order.  So I decided to keep it after all since I had paid for it twice.  I thought it was some type of omen and did not want to anger the laundry gods for fear of reprisal.  However, it did make wonder how many of my clothes are disappearing, only to be "discovered" by someone else.  :)  Of course I have to pay for laundry service, but I have no other choice.  I've not seen any laundromats in town.  As a result, clothes washing is one of my most expensive transactions in Vietnam - close to $10 USD.

They do not charge by the load, but instead, by the article of clothing.  Interesting.  Vietnamese just love to count things, so my bill is fully itemized:  pants are 12,000 Dong ($0.62); shirts are 10,000 Dong ($0.51); and socks are 6,000 Dong ($0.31).  Not sure if that is for a pair or per sock.  It's hard to get a straight answer.  I have no idea how they came up with these prices.  Perhaps I am being overcharged.  If so, I'm not going to worry about it.  Part of my job is to stimulate the Vietnamese economy.  If I air-dried my clothes like everyone else, then I would be depriving someone the pleasure of ripping off a "rich" American.  I feel as if the pendulum is starting to swing in their favor.