I am competing in a mountain bike race in the weekend in Da Lat, so I wanted to get my bike serviced.  I talked to quite a few foreigners and apparently it is quite hard to get good bike mechanics.  I ended up finding one that was recommended to me so I dropped my bike off after getting horribly lost. It was suppose to take me 30 minutes to get there and it took me 1.5 hours!!

I went back later in the day and they insisted that I test ride my bike to see if it was ok.  I did this and it was good.  I then went back and paid for it.  It cost me 250,000 VND, which is equivalent to $15 AUD.  Something similar in Aussie would cost be $100 AUD.

My handbag broke while walking along the street which is quite a bizarre thing to happen so I went in search of someone that could fix it.  I first went to a shoe guy but he said no.  A Xe Om driver (motor bike taxi) who I know then came over to me and looked at my bag and then took me to a guy who had a sewing machine on the street.  He then negotiated for me.  I picked it up this morning and it is great work and it cost me 30,000 VND which is $1.80 AUD.  Again, great value.