French man sells toys on Hanoi streets
David Cohen is apparently the only western street vendor in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. And he's doing well.
The 43-year-old French man has been in Vietnam for seven years. He is living with his Vietnamese wife and their 2-year-old son in the city, selling souvenirs and toys for a living.
What’s drawn many Vietnamese customers to him is that he is very friendly, often smiling ear to ear.
It also doesn't hurt that he speaks Vietnamese, though not very fluently.
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| He greets two boys as they leave school, managing to make them smile. |
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| An eager girl customer |
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| He tries to sell a Minnie plastic fan to another girl. |
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| A little boy play with some toys. He lets customers try the toys without buying. |
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| Some parents are also interested in a foreign street vendor trying to advertise his wares in Vietnamese. |
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| He displays most of the toys right on his old Suzuki. |
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| The toys sell for VND50,000, around US$2, each. |
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| Cohen explains how a toy works to a customer. |
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| He waves his plastic fan for a scrap collector passing by. He said one thing he loves about Vietnam is “the women are beautiful.” |
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| Cohen poses with the wooden dolls made by himself. |
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| He packs up and leaves for his next gig at a night market after all the students are gone. |
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| Cohen at a Hanoi’s night market in the Old Quarter. He says he has been doing different jobs in Vietnam, from being a cook, designer and photographer and now a vendor. He is making around VND1 million (US$46) a day. He sleeps only two or three hours a day. |