This lady drops into Cóc Cóc Coffee twice each day to sell lottery tickets. Sometimes her small daughter comes with her. The girl is always well dressed and cheerful. That's her on the customized motorbike.

7:04AM. Where I often get half a kilo of roast pork for 140K [$5.50]. That's plenty of meat for four meals.

After about three months in the US, this old couple have returned to run their excellent Chinese noodle joint, Nghiệp Ký Mỳ Gia.

"I thought you were closed for good, sister!"

"We traveled," she answered discreetely.

Incoherent man asked me to photographed this Indonesian bill worth $6.18.

Incoherent man asked me to photograph his two-dollar bills.

He had small bills from Indonesia, Qatar and USA and claimed to have worked overseas. Made almost no sense when I tried to talk to him. After he collapsed, I asked if he was OK. "I'm tired," he said, so there was nothing to do but to let him sleep.

She's from Thanh Hóa, a thousand miles away. Her husband is a career soldier. Her youngest child is in the 8th grade. When she called home today, I said hello to her mother and sister. Their fairly spacious family home is mostly empty. Nearly everyone has left to find work. She has a sister in law who's been in Taiwan for seven years.

Old man is eating boiled peanuts. His 400ml bottle of pome liquor costs around $2.25.

The DANGERS of Losing Your Asian Identity & Culture | Lee Kuan Yew

For at least a month, the crazy old woman on Lê Lai has stopped screaming and cursing out her nextdoor neighbor. She used to do that every morning. Here she is on 8/2/24.

[5:51AM at café on General Uprising]

 

Thanks for a $25 contribution from a repeat donor in Florida!