FROM CONG TO KARAOKE:

Game time in Vietnam (John Boudreau, 1/17/07, Mercury News)

The singing begins Saturday for employees at the online gaming start-up VinaGame. Instead of beer-bash Fridays, the company hosts cafeteria karaoke contests.

``It's a Silicon Valley trend here. We do that so people will stay in the office,'' joked chief executive officer and Santa Cruz native Bryan Pelz.

Pelz, who with several others co-founded Vietnam's biggest online gaming company, is helping usher in the Internet era. His start-up symbolizes the swift changes occurring in the country of 84 million people, which just joined the World Trade Organization.

Vietnam's economy is roaring at about an 8 percent rate of growth a year. Young people pack electronics stores, buying everything from digital music players to expensive mobile phones. High-tech giants, from Intel to Canon, are setting up operations. The government estimates about 20 percent of the country is now online.

``From an American perspective, the last thing you think about is an Internet culture in Vietnam,'' said Henry Nguyen, managing general partner of IDG Ventures Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, which invests in tech companies, including VinaGame. ``This illustrates what modern Vietnam is like.''