Hanoi:  the Wal-Mart of the orient
Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, a communist Bastion, and home of heritage-laden Old Hanoi.  Old Hanoi is famous for its market; or more specifically how it exists as a market.  The city was originally laid out like a huge metropolitan department store, with no greeters and shopping carts though. The market section of Hanoi is set up in a strict regimented style; all stores were grouped according to their products and the street they appeared on were given the same name.
Thus in days gone by; candle way, metallurgy road, rice road, petticoat lane, etc existed, albeit in their Vietnamese names, duh.
With this information in hand I descended on the wonderful old villa with it's French colonial influence and rustic decaying buildings showing the immeasurable character that has made it Vietnam's second world heritage site.  Obviously I wasn't looking for "Horse carriage lane" but hopefully finding 'cheap cd boulevard'.  I checked out the street names and their translation with a smile, Lonely Planet was true to their word.  The products on the ancient street names don't match their antiquated names, but the formal grouping remains.
Actual areas today: galvanized steel, mirrors, picture frames, toiletries, toys, clothes, shoes, motor bike parts, tools, home supplies, etc.
I began a walking tour as laid out in the planet to discover the old 'hood'.
*the following account may or may not be true, much like Hollywood takes liberties with the truth, I will say, it's based on a true story.
Hanoi was mired in a drizzle all day, so I had no inclination to hit the beach or a boat tour, and filed the Speedo for another day (KIDDING!). The drizzle, "rain dust" as the locals call it, was adding to the atmosphere of the old city.
My first street, of course, was a Woman's fashion street.. The Vietnamese name; "Fitt noway huhn Trong" was filled with store after store of lovely, colorful, tasteful clothes.  Brilliant silks, and satins, embroidered and weaved into amazing patterns made for a kaleidoscope of store windows.  The ever present, ever stunning, Oa Dai Vietnamese traditional dress adorned countless petite mannequins.  I would love to comeback with a trunk load full of them for you all (not you Earl) but I'm afraid North American girls don't fit the 'off the rack' sizes of the little ones here. I'm sure when sizing they have to go into negative numbers.
I strolled only slightly interested in a street entitled "Unot Kook Trong" (kitchen utensils), buzzed by petroleum smelling "Menolikecar Trong" (motorcycle/scooter parts) and found myself embarrassingly on "Boyinwrongplace trong"(female hygeine products).  A quick exit put me in a street with no use to me whatsoever, "Lottsa Maine Trong"(hair products), exasperated a left me with the equally frustrating vietnamese street name, "Needpadding Trong" (female undergarments).  Incidentally, every bra in Asia is padded, see those little dress sizes do have a down side.  They are padded so intensely that when passing one store with a display table full of bra's I mistakenly thought it was a Sealy Posturepedic Extra thick Mattress display. Further on that, Vietnamese prosperity hasn't translated into a long queue of Women lining up for breast enhancement. BUT, cosmetic skin (acid) whitening is commonplace; Asian Women dislike dark skin and pine for lovely alabaster tones.  Even when the thermometer hits 30 degrees (90 Fahrenheit) you will find them with long pants, shirts, opera length gloves, huge hats and masks! Weird! And then there are European girls on the beach in nothing but a thong, well so I hear.
Okay, so to wrap up this lame exploitation of lovely old Hanoi - it did take me 6 hours to locate a store which sold batteries (no battery lane on the map).  Ironically it was right where it was supposed to be, next to the Vietnamese street of "Yu Needs Elp Trong" (marital aids).   Oh stop!  Please, stop! Alright, alright, I'm done, maybe next time I'll write something interesting or at least funny.

Greg's Hanoi Painting:  Uncle Ho