Journey to Peace Village

Last night I paid a visit to the Night Market, which is right off of Hoan Kiem Lake in "downtown" Ha Noi. This place is a shopper's paradise. I walked down streets closed to traffic, block after block. Tourists and local people alike could shop from everything from clothes to cellphones, books to bakery. Most items were reasonably priced, I bought a pair of dragonfly earrings from $2!
This is one of the interesting things about the Vietnamese economy. There are very few western style shopping malls (I've only found one in Ha Noi and one in Sai Gon, so far.) There are less "big box" stores. Most shopping is done in little stores which fill the streets. In the part of Ha Noi in which I am staying The Old Quarter, there are also streets which are devoted to a particular business. For example, one street I pass every day is lined on both sides by eye glass vendors. Another street has toys, another is filled with gold vases and objects to decorate the home. Viet Nam, still ostensibly communist, has a free wheeling entrepeneurial economy!
Here's a link to a picture courtesy a German visitor (sorry I'm having problems with my camera right now.)
http://www.geogr.uni-goettingen.de/kus/pics/vn14/vn2006_hn_aq_night_market_28cm.jpg

Labels: culture and society, economy, Viet Nam and the West