Kramer: ‘In the apartment, there are gifts from old friends in Vietnam: reminders of a different history. But the time is now: 1998 ‘the market economy’, that’s our common fate. A construction site on the edges of West Lake in Hanoi. This lake is being gradually walled in by huge modern hotels. The village is disappearing. Everybody knows: it’s just a matter of money now. Who’s rich and who’s poor, who can and who can’t. C’est comme ça.’