Uncle Cau and Aunt Phuong, Hanoi

Uncle Cau and Aunt Phuong invited us to dinner. Here they are with their youngest grandson in the doorway of their two room apartment. That Sunday afternoon, we sat cross-legged on mats around dishes of chicken, eggs, pork, vegetables and rice that Phuong had prepared. Jonathan told me later that this meal represented a substantial portion of Cau's weekly earnings.

Cau sells draft beer (bia hoi), tea, cigarettes, and tabacco on Nguyen Cong Tru Street, across from his home. His stand is next to Tinh's barber chair. (Note: In 2004, the government, possibly in an effort to modernize, declared most street vending to be illegal. This has caused enormous economic distress to many of Jonathan's friends.)

Cau is from Binh Dinh province in the South. In 1949 he went "tap ket" - to northern Vietnam. His village suffered massive casualties during the "American War." He, like most Vietnamese who moved to urban areas, has strong ties to his village and returns for extended stays annually.