In full swing just after the country’s 1986 đổi mới economic reform, Saigon's lively, optimistic energy shines through in these images from Japanese photographer Doi Kuro, who visited Vietnam during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Photographed on a Pentax 645 camera, several of the city's present-day locations come alive in these nostalgic images, highlighting the rapid growth of the country at that time as well as the brightly colored advent of a new era. From bright red Craven A cigarettes to vivid green Bia Saigon bottles, the unique yellow reserved for colonial building exteriors to the golden crust of streetside bánh mì, Kuro found “Vietnamese life was open in the streets.”
Take a look at these vibrant scenes of old Saigon, courtesy of Flickr master manhhai:
[Photos via Flickr user manhhai]
