In the past, Sai Gon's street vendors carried goods in baskets on their heads or in two baskets hanging from a shoulder pole. For example, candy vendors balanced round metal boxes on small cloth-covered pads set on their heads. They had attached their round, yellow candies to the sides of the boxes. Each time a vender met buyers, she used both hands to set the box on the ground. Then, taking a special chisel and a piece of metal as a hammer, she pried off the candies. The buyer s asked for whatever length of candy they wanted. The longer the piece of candy, the higher the price. This type of candy broke crisply in the mouth.
Vendors also carried other foods, such as meat, eggs, and cakes in boxes or baskets on their heads. The meat included liver, tongue, heart, ear, nose, or an entire pig's head. The eggs were twenty-one day old fertilized duck eggs, which are eaten with persicaria and peppered salt. Among the cakes were banh beo, banh bo, bean cakes, manioc cakes, biscuits, and shrimp and meat cakes. They also sold different kinds of pancakes: large, small, thick, and thin. Sometimes the sellers spread sesame or coconut juice on top of their cakes. Sometimes, they arranged them neatly when the cakes were still hot from baking. And sometimes the vendors loaded the cakes into big nylon bags and carried the bags on their heads.
Both children and adults enjoyed roasted ground nuts soaked with Chinese traditional medicine and sold in conical-shaped bags. Vietnamese call this treat "pha san." The nut vendors would walk through residential areas and call out: "Pha san! Pha san! "The nuts were crisp and fragrant. Some vendors also carried their goods in baskets hanging from shoulder poles. They sold granular salt, powdered salt, iodized salt, and cheap fruits such as pomelos, mangoes, carambolas, oranges, tangerines, custard apples, Siamese custard apples, and boiled ground nuts. They also carried other foods, including: tofu, black sesame pudding, tao soan bean pudding, sweet pancakes, xoi vo sticky rice, xoi nep than sticky rice, xoi la cam sticky rice, and ground-nut sticky rice plus a variety of puddings: thick green bean, black bean, French bean, and white bean with coconut juice. Still other vendors sold mats, chicken-feather dusters, balloons, hammocks, whisk brooms made from twigs, and floor brooms made from weeds. Some vendors sharpened knives and scissors. Still other street vendors transported these goods on bicycles, motorbikes, or carts. Their displays tended to look eater.
By now, vendors selling "jobless coffee" have all but disappeared from the streets. These vendors ere usually women wearing large-brimmed hats and carrying two rectangular cases that swung from shoulder pole. One case had two sections. The larger section held a basin of water, and the smaller had glasses and spoons. The other case held a small earthen oven with a kettle containing a dark sweet rink made from burnt rice. Plumbers, knife-sharpeners, and barbers with wooden tool boxes also practiced their crafts in the streets. In the evenings the masseurs could be found walking in every quarter of the city. The fortune tellers were particularly interesting. They were sometimes blind and tended to wear dark glasses and would keep a hand on the shoulder of a young servant or child. The young child held a cymbal in one hand and a stick in the other. From time to time he would raise the cymbal and strike it. Day by day, more fancy supermarkets, food stores, groceries, fruit stalls, and other service outlets appear. They are attractive, and these changes make life easier for both buyers and sellers. However, many residents miss the many vendors who once hawked their wares on Sai Gon's streets.
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