Souvenirs
Buy the thing you can carry. Ask the price before you agree.
Photo: Chainwit. · CC BY 4.0
What to carry home
Pick a thing you can pack. Silk on Hàng Gai, a paper or silk lantern in Hoi An, coffee, a pair of chopsticks, a print, or a textile from the north. A shop that will not name a price is not the shop.
Ask, then decide. A market stall is a short exchange. A tag on the shelf is the price. What you pay is Check on arrival.
Where
Hanoi Old Quarter still sorts itself by the old trade streets. Hàng Gai is the silk street. Textiles from highland looms show up there and in shops that say where the cloth was made.
Hoi An market is the lantern stop. The old-town walking streets sell the same thing at a different price. Compare two stalls.
Questions
- How much is a souvenir?
Check on arrival. Ask before you agree. A printed tag is the price.
- Where is the silk street?
Hàng Gai, in the Hanoi Old Quarter.