Tran Van Hai, 34, has been hiding out in Saigon's labyrinthine alleyways since 1965. Reason: he is trying to avoid military service. While his wife works as a vendor, Hai does odd jobs in the neighborhood; together they make enough to care for their six children. When the police come, as they do with increasing frequency these days, he ducks down the maze of passages in his ramshackle neighborhood or hides between the wall panels of his house.
"I could not leave my wife and children," Hai explains when asked why he deserted from an army unit a few years ago....
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