TR EMERITUS

You could call it a stoke of good fortune, but after bashing out a piece on how people on Vietnam’s streets were setting up street stalls to get by, I ended up having to become a patron of the streets. It was a case of my host not feeling well enough to take me out and so I needed to look for my own dinner.

I didn’t really want to go to a place where I had to explain a lot of things in a language I clearly don’t speak. However, the first guy I managed to find a guy who was serving what appeared to be an omelet sandwich, that looked quite appealing. So, gave it try and found that it was amazing. So, I had another one. It wasn’t an omelet in that the outer layer was not an egg but a form of rice paper, which is quite common in the local cuisine.

I guess you could say, for want of a business lesson, is that you should always be selling something fairly unique and the product experience should be enjoyable:

Still felt that I needed something else and found another street cart run by a young lady. There must have been something about my looks, which indicated I was a tourist who doesn’t speak Vietnamese and so she showed that she spoke Mandarin. Managed to order from her cart. Had a sandwich and an ice lemon tea. I guess if there’s a business lesson, it should be the ability to learn another language other than your own because you never know who is going to buy from you.

This cart was strategically placed in front of one of the many karaoke bars in the city, which seem to cater to many Korean tourist. The girls from the bar were sitting outside yelling in Korean to any of the Koreans who would be walking by. The Koreans are the second largest investors in Vietnam (funnily enough, after Singapore) and their presence is enough for K-drama to take up a significant amount of airtime and for there to be plenty of Korean restaurants.

There seemed to be a relationship of sorts going on between the cart operator and the staff of the karaoke lounge. The staff turned out to be customers of the cart and you could say that the adage of “location-location-location” even extended to a mobile street cart.

Ended the evening at a bar near the hotel and made friends with a German tourist who had lived in Malaysia for a few years. Its amazing what little treasures you can find when you walk the ground.

Tang Li

*Although I’ve been based mainly in Singapore for nearly two decades, I’ve had the privilege of being able meet people who have crossed borders and cultures. I’ve befriended ministers and ambassadors and worked on projects involving a former head of state. Yet, at the same time, I’ve had the privilege of befriending migrant labourers and former convicts. All of them have a story to tell. All of them add to the fabric of life. I hope to express the stories that inspire us to create life as it should be.

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