trung van

Andrew, Hien and I hopped on the 02 bus and headed to Big C, the area where we thought Trung Van would be. Unfortunately after asking around, the xe om drivers told us that in order to get to Trung Van, we would have to walk for an hour and since there wasn't a bus route that took us directly to Trung Van, so we had to call for a taxi.

After arriving in the area, not all of the locals knew where Trung Van was. We asked around some more for directions and ended up at the front gate of a residential area which lucky for us, was Trung Van. The security personnel who worked there let us through but told us that we were not able to take pictures or video record anything. One of the security guards followed us for a few minutes on his bike and then eventually left so we were off to explore.

The area had a community gate and Trung Van was still under construction. There was only one building where there were actually some people living there, but other than that, it was just the construction workers. We saw probably about four people who live there, but we didn't get to ask them about the lifestyle there or costs of living. Fortunately for us, I asked the security worker where the closest market in the area was and if vendors were allowed to wander the streets of Trung Van, of course he said that there was a local market nearby not within the vicinity and that people who did not live there would not be able to enter the gates of Trung Van after construction was done.

Some of the homes there looked modernized as if you could see the same of architecture in magazines or in the United States. Each home had their front porch lined with fencing which made it seem like a jail. When walking through the area, I felt that I was a fish out of water and Vietnam is not what it used to be the last time I was here. The houses were so separated and I felt as if there was no sense of community which saddens me because I felt like people were becoming more isolate and independent. It made me think about what Vietnam has become and the first thought that popped into my head when I got there was "globalization = bad." If I had the opportunity to live within this area, I would not want to live there.