VietnamExpress-July 21
Woken by the night rain, Lam takes his motorbike inside before returning to his hammock, strung up among dozens of others. “I want to buy shampoo,” Lam told the landlord while taking some clothes from his bag and heading to the washroom. The entrance is smelly with the combined sweat of many lodgers. Lam, 62, from southern Ben Tre Province, uses half the VND2,000 (9 US cents) packet on himself, the other half to wash his clothes, full of cement dust after a long day working.
Along National Highway 1A in Binh Tri Dong Ward, Saigon’s Binh Tan District, dozens of hammock motels have served the city’s poor workers the past decade.
“Renting a studio costs at least VND1 million, not mentioning buying mats, fans, etc. Staying at these hammock motels costs only VND20,000 ($0.86) per night, including electricity, water, and wifi,” Lam said.
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