Tiny women on the sidewalk in tiny chairs behind tiny tables selling lottery tickets that flutter in the wind like butterflies. A bathroom scale near a gutter flowing antifreeze green. For 2000 dong I can learn how much weight I've lost. Soda bottles filled with golden gaso- line, tire patching instruments in an old ammo box. The cramped conditions never cease to astound me.
Laundry blows from anything resembling a clothes line - even the electrical wires.
Wrought iron balconies like Asia meets New Orleans, mildewed and chipping plaster, trees growing through canvas awnings. Through the Old Quarter, we walked the streets named for their specialties. Silver street, Silk street. Got a white silk kimono for ten bucks and felt oh-so elegant. Amazing the images formed on black stone with fine chisels.