Vietnamese bike dreams

Author / Creator

Egawa, Yasuhiko

Available as

Online

Summary

In Ho Chi Minh City, the motor bike reigns supreme. With limited public transportation and not enough affluence to afford automobiles, people long for motor bikes to take them to work and cruise ab...

In Ho Chi Minh City, the motor bike reigns supreme. With limited public transportation and not enough affluence to afford automobiles, people long for motor bikes to take them to work and cruise about on weekends. With a population around 4 million, there are reported to be some eight hundred thousand motor bikes, causing massive traffic jams in the mornings. Ly Tu Yung Street, in the center of the city, is lined with bike shops, a sign of the new prosperity brought about by the country s open door policy, doi moi. Here is the street where eventually everyone in Ho Chi Minh City comes.There is one particular bike, called The Dream that is currently the most coveted by the young Vietnamese. They save, scrimp and borrow to be able to buy one. Minh, aged 32, lives with his wife and child in a tiny 12 foot square room built in a gap between two buildings. He finds it difficult to decide between moving into roomier quarters or buying a Dream. Through this report on the motor bike craze, we are afforded a rare look at the Vietnamese people in a rapidly changing time.

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