Guang ganh is used also to describe the physical shape of the country, rounded at both ends, narrow in the middle. Seemingly impossible amounts of matter are carried by everyone in bursts of frenetic activity. Petite women hustle along the streets in a rhythmic shuffle, laden with rice, chicken, cabbage and corn, balanced in baskets on either end of the guang ganh. Others, walking, pedaling or scooting on a motor bike carry cords of wood, cow dung, bales of hay. Along the side of the road, mounds of rice, beans, coconut shells, and shredded vegetation are spread on plastic tarps, to be rotated and dried before storage or sale.
Nothing seems to be wasted.
A block away from the beautiful downtown Saigon French-built Post Office, I watched sidewalk workers flatten Coke cans, transforming them into toy helicopters. It is said that ordnance left behind by the U.S. forces accounts for x amount of revenues. Cafes, music clubs, bars and restaurants have always attracted visitors here in what Neil Sheehan.calls Vietnam's Los Angeles. Driving along Pasteur Street in our 18-passenger van, I could only gasp as I watched traffic swirl around us. On a nominal two-way street, there were at least six lines of traffic, alternating directions on both sides of the street.