Vast black markets have developed in Hanoi and Vientiane despite the best efforts of both governments to restore confidence. In Laos, the trade for the slimmest of margins takes place in considerable secrecy in the back rooms of shops and restaurants. Rumours are flying of frequent police roundups and detentions of foreigners. In Vietnam, although officials are nervous about the creation of a new and damaging underground economy, the trade is brazen. Anyone who appears outside the capital's main post office looking like they might be carrying dollars is accosted by screaming elderly women wielding fistfuls of dong.
Police chuckle and saunter past.
Age-old suspicions of authority are returning. In the congested French-built areas of Hanoi's old quarter, the fear is palpable. Prized possessions are being forgone for gold and the musty, damp US notes that still wash through the country are being stashed again under the floorboards and in old chests, often in the bedroom of the family matriarch, who rarely leaves the house. My family just opened our first bank account three months ago . . . We will close it next week.