Going To The Pharmacy In Vietnam - All You Need For $1

You never know what to expect when going to a pharmacy in a foreign country.

One time, my friends and I accidentally took valium in Nicaragua that we got at a pharmacy (hint: If you ever go to a pharmacy in Central America and ask for something to help you sleep, you will NOT get melatonin).

Another time, I discovered one of the most amazing natural cures ever for nausea in Ecuador! I was super nauseous, so the pharmacist prescribed me a heaping dose of "not looking at myself in the mirror" anymore.

Nausea cured (just kidding)!

They actually showed me a cool thing called Matico. The one in the pink case is the "all natural" non-pharmaceutical version.

It basically works miracles for nausea even though it says absolutely nothing about nausea on the packaging. In other words, NOTHING in the world works for an upset stomach except for this, in my experience. I stocked up on a bunch of them in Ecuador last year and carry a few around with me wherever I travel.

I decided to go to the pharmacy in Vietnam because I'm sick...

...and, honestly, kind of nerdy.

I really like excuses to go to pharmacies in foreign countries.

They often carry both natural remedies and pharmaceuticals, and I'm always curious about what's allowed and not allowed in some countries.

Plus I love to see if there are any hidden gems that you can get in just that part of the world, like Matico (which is just in parts of South America).

The best bug repellent I've found so far was from India, and it was .25 cents per tube, so yeah. Let's just say I like pharmacy field trips. I'd probably pick going to a foreign pharmacy over going to the movies #NerdAlert.

So, the up side to me getting sick was a pharmacy trip!!!

You know, the kind of sick where you've got all this junk going on in your face and you can't sleep at night...

...because it makes your breathing sound like a creepy monster?

It's fun I guess if you're planning on hiding in a closet and scaring someone with some creepy breathing (I mean, what else is there to do when you can't sleep?)

So, off to the pharmacy.

First things first, I had to ask about the valium to make sure I was safe, haha. No valium here, not even if I wanted it. Phew.

I mimed a lot of stuff to the pharmacist and I'd say it was a 91% effective form of communication.

Except for when I asked for something natural to help me sleep and she handed me a pill and one of the main ingredients was caffeine, haha.

And when she handed me stuff but it was in Vietnamese, and I tried to google it but the google explanations didn't have any English, either.

Not risking taking an unknown pill again!

I learned my lesson the last time haha.

Finally, she showed me one that was obviously a cold/fever/flu pill type thingy. The whole box was in Vietnamese except for the part that I needed to know:

She asked how many I wanted and then cut them out and weighed them on a scale. I owed her 4,000 for two pills which I most likely won't take because I have a strong aversion to medicine.

Quite possibly the most I’ve ever spent on cough drops haha. What are these, made of gold?!

Just kidding, it was 4,000 Vietnamese dong, not dollars! So, about .17 cents.

I added some cough drops imported from Thailand for 18,000.

I love that you can just buy small amounts of things here, vs. an entire package of something you don't need!

I wish the US would get on board with that!

And that’s how you get everything you need at a pharmacy in Da Nang, Vietnam for just $1