Buddhism, communism, motorbikes, friends, family, dogs, cats, kids drinking, eating, singing: Life. Everything is there, right there, next to everyone who enters the alleys of Saigon. 

The alleys, thousands of them, some not wider than a pair of shoulders, tunnels the space between the major streets Walk a couple of meters in from the avenues and the noise from the motobikes and honking horns disappear and you hear instead the noise from a singing competition on tv, a kid shouting at a super hero cartoon, pots and pans scrambling, families eating or a solitary guy doing karaoke for himself.

What really blew my mind there is how visible everyday life is to everyone. There are no fences, no driveways, no nothing to separate home from not-home. Livingrooms melt together with the outside with people eating on the street and the streets enter the livingroom with motorbikes and bikes being parked inside.

And people are grounded. Literally, because chairs and sofas take up too much of that scarce resource: Space. So people sit on the floor, they work from there, eat from there, watch televison and drink from there. 

These friendly representatives of human kind deserves a visit from everyone interested in culture, since it is so visible, and for everyone looking for decor inspiration on Pinterest. 

_______________
© Morten Flarup
Available for photographic work worldwide
flarupandersen@gmail.com