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There are as many as 80,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic, and in Prague, there's Sapa, a huge complex of Vietnamese shops. Seven thousand Vietnamese also live there. I had vaguely wanted to check this out, and the people in this restaurant downtown were most helpful in instructing me on how to take two subways and a bus to get there. Two people drew little maps for me.

In the end, though, I couldn't peel myself too far from the vast, staggeringly beautiful historical section of Prague, so Sapa will have to wait. With immigration so much in the news, I want to write about the Vietnamese in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Prague.TV on Sapa:

Inside the lot that constitutes Sapa, Prague’s “Little Vietnam,” it’s easy to pretend one has traveled to another country. The large complex of warehouses, restaurants, outdoor stalls, covered markets, small groceries, a Vietnamese school, and travel agencies is a world apart and contained for The Czech Republic’s third-largest population of immigrants. It takes a while to reach Sapa, about an hour or more using public transportation from the city center, but it’s well worth the trip. There are deals to be had on everything from sneakers to the seaweed needed for rolling sushi, and plenty to look at besides.

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