Do as Romans do

When in other countries, do as the locals do. About shopping. Strangely enough I don't have any appetite for high end or even department store shopping when overseas, and while my good friend is living the good life contributing to the economies of London and Paris, there I was at the mass hypermarts in the streets of Bangkok and Ho Chin Minh, my mind busy spinning out calculations of how much a bundle pack of toothpaste and sanitary napkins cost vs in Singapore. The secret of doing small time business in these countries is apparently to go to the hypermart to buy in bulk, loads of products at cheeep cheeeep cheeep prices (it's so cheap it's stunning), and then set up a stall selling them for another 10-20% markup. Not bad for a small time retailer. For the consumer like me, when faced with ridiculously cheap prices like this, do as the locals do. So there we were, my team and I, armed with bundles of toothpaste and pads enough for maybe 15 people for half a year. Uh huh, aunty mentality kicks in.