The next big thing

[halphasian]

The Vietnamese - or at least the Vietnamese in Hanoi and (especially) Saigon - are very big on trends. Every year it seems there is a new "big thing." When I first moved to Vietnam in 2003, it was the time of English schools and big, fancy cafes. Then it was (not necessarily in order) micro-breweries, Western-style bakeries, "upscaled" humble

Comments

[globalesque]

That sounds like something you'd see in Williamsburg or Portland. Is Vietnam so full of hipsters? Are you seeing ironic facial hair yet? Or single speed bicycles and skin tight jeans?

[halphasian]

I figured the idea was probably stolen from Singapore or Hong Kong or someplace like that, but I don't think it would fly in the U.S. with building codes and health codes and like such as.

We sorta have hipsters here, but they are not the annoying Brooklyn kind, they are simply people who like rock music and comic books and movies that don't have fight scenes. Ironic facial hair is a bit of a challenge, as most Vietnamese facial hair would already look ironic on anyone else.