A Vietnamese joint stock commercial bank has finally agreed to repay the deposit and interest for a savings book a Ho Chi Minh City customer made back in the 1980s, nearly a month after the depositor was told her money had disappeared . But it is unclear whether Le Thi Bich Thuy is happy or upset with what she received, a mere VND4,385 (roughly 20 U.S. cents), for a deposit equivalent to five months' salary for a civil servant in 1983, when she opened the savings at the Socialist Saving Fund under the State Bank of Vietnam then. In 1983, Thuy deposited VND270, the face value at the time, at the Ba Chieu branch of the Socialist Saving Fund, in answer to a saving campaign to support national building. Gold was priced at around VND1,200-1,300 per tael (37.5 grams) at that time, when an extended family could afford life for months with such an amount of money.
Not only a Vietnam guidebook but also the daily life of a Saigonese who enjoys travelling as a backpacker