Like fish out of water: Because Vietnam has no special schools established by businessmen from Taiwan, the problems of providing education for their children mean that very few take their families over with them. The businessmen face no great differences in customs, however, and obtaining the daily necessities of life is not difficult; the only imperfection in this otherwise idyllic situation is probably that Vietnam just does not have the same diversity of leisure and consumer activities that can be found in Taiwan. Businessmen are thus afflicted with an unavoidable dose of the blues.

On the face of it, Ho Chi Minh City is very colorful. In reality, the broadcast media and all information in Vietnam are tightly controlled. There is only one Chinese-language newspaper for the whole country and it seems impossible to find Chinese-language books in the city. "They have just two television channels and the programs are usually very repetitive," remarks Lin Yin-tso, who spends every day in his hotel room feeling down in the dumps when he is not at his secretarial post at the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Although Taiwan's businessmen have brought in all kinds of amusements, "it gets boring singing karaoke every night and the prices have already gone up to rip-off levels." Such are the sentiments of Yu Ta-chi, manager of the construction department of Yao Teh International Development, who has already been in Vietnam for three years. How to arrange your leisure time and escape depression is the most talked about topic of conversation for Taiwanese businessmen here.

"Do not think that the matter of leisure is unimportant. At times it can become quite a headache for management," says one businessman. His company has ten workers from Taiwan and their in ability to cope with loneliness has led to affairs and family crises. Many large companies thus find themselves spending much time and energy on attempting to provide some kind of emotional comfort.

Employees of the Warson development and investment company have collectively rented out a small hotel run by overseas Chinese, along with a Chinese cook and maids. When not at work they spend their evenings as though they were at home, congregating in the living room or on the roof terrace to chat and play ping-pong.

Letting off steam with group activities: A special case is that of Warson's vice-president, L.J.Lee. With his children grown up and independent, Lee has become one of the few Taiwanese businessmen to bring his wife over from Taiwan, and she has quickly taken on the matriarchal role of agony art. An elementary school teacher for three years, she still frequently plays the electric piano to accompany singalongs and dances. Having appreciated art and practiced painting for many years, when the others go off to work she likes to paint in her room. She has even got a Vietnamese tutor to give her lessons in oil painting.

The five Taiwanese employees of the A-One noodle company live in a rented factory, which is not so bad because it happens to be adjacent to a sports ground. With early morning jogs and games of tennis, their early-to-bed-early-to-rise style of life is "more regular than life in Taiwan," jokes company president Hsu Wei-ching. On holidays they even take a minibus out to the mountains to admire the scenery. With such group activities arranged, there is not much time for homesickness.

Lai Wu-yung, who came to Vietnam by himself, is not so lucky. "Everyday when I finish work I just lie on my bed reading the newspaper." Living in a factory dormitory, he says that things have not been so bad since the laying on of direct flights to Taiwan, with the trip only taking about three hours. Every time he goes back home he buys a month's newspapers and magazines to to take back to Vietnam and fill his leisure hours.

Apart from the hustle and bustle of business and the satisfaction getting a job well done, Taiwan's businessmen in Vietnam describe their life as: lonely, like fish out of water.

Taiwan businesspeople introduced Vietnam to karaoke. Here a few of them get together with local ethnic Chinese to celebrate Double Ten, the R.O.C. national day.