streets

Life in Vietnam takes place in the streets. They are marketplace, living-room, dentist’s surgery, hair salon, café and restaurant simultaneously and serve many more purposes. The borders between private and public space are very fluid. The most significant impression of the major cities in that country is made up by millions of motorbikes. I am now attending Vietnamese courses at the National University. The streets almost reach into the classroom.


university in Vietnamese

Not only the traditional market is something very important in Vietnam. If you like to impress pretty girls a brand new Nokia or Samsung mobile phone has to be at hand and the Honda @ it the scooter you ought to have. Plastic toy producers in this demographically young developing nation go beyond the youth and target the even the smallest:


beyond the @ generation

The streets serve also as stage. “Đi chơi”, go out, cruise around, does in a way also mean to show up. The country is crazy about Italian designers, extravagant chic, make up and hair style. I admit I like to watch the beautiful young ladies flying through the urban lifelines on their spaceships. But you can feel that many people here forget about the depth behind the surface and the expression of a modern life seems more important than any other fundamentals. However, when you slow down and walk past the streets instead of fly on a motorbike yourself, then you will discover little things that seem to remain from ancient times, on almost every street corner. You feel like ages ago, feel pure simplicity – and experience the market in a totally different form.

emerging markets