The women were given frequent breaks from the activity as each take was reviewed and the temperature soared. Many visitors stopped to watch as the beautiful women, each carrying a black briefcase in the basket of her bicycle, and wearing a conical hat, followed the director’s instructions.

The activity was the filming of a TV commercial that will be shown in Vietnam for a Hong Kong bank. The Vietnamese coordinator of the shoot said the bank realized that with the booming local economy, many Vietnamese would be attracted to investment with the bank and that the local content of the commercial would raise the interest and profile of the bank in this country.