The occasional 4x4 glides by, all gleaming paint work and smoked windows; taxis blare their horns; most Vietnamese, though, travel by cycle, scooter or motor bike, each equipped with one vital piece of equipment: its horn. The whole trafic system, which is clogged, depends on this central communication device. With it, others know where you are; without it you become invisible. In the Old Quarter, the original 36 streets identified with separate trade guilds, are always full, even the most narrow. Vehicles weave in and out according to the paths that open up before them; if the road is blocked, there is always the pavement, where that isn't also blocked by debris,building materials, fruit stalls, parked bikes, or groups of people sitting together eating from the hawkers who have set up their makeshift charcoal fired woks
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