Shhhhhh, My Le has built an illegal T*****t on the frontporch of her shop. If the Guvmint find out they will demolish it, promptly I suspect. The builders came and the bowl was installed in no time. Then the next day a glass panel was fitted with a sliding door. The archway to the street will be partially blocked off with her signature Salon panel and the glass partition will be covered with same. This is a big improvement on the existing arrangement where you had to walk through someones house to the rat infested back yard and use an ancient squat toilet or go over the road to Brothers resto and use theirs. I always felt uncomfortable going to Brothers though they never said anything. 
I've finally come to terms with the traffic here now, touch wood . I don't get that surge of adrenaline when someone comes out of nowhere on my right or left. They know what they are doing believe it or not and as long as you don't do anything too stupid you can get by. I used to freak out when I saw two cars abreast coming towards me but now I just pull over to the gutter and squeeze past. You drive on the right here, mainly, but driving on the left is common too if you are going to turn left or are going to stop at a shop. It can be unnerving seeing a scooter come towards you on your side of the road but they are just looking for a gap to get over to the other side. Now I do the same. Some of the worst offenders are the women who wear big hats under their helmets and their face masks cover their faces and stick out the sides like blinkers on a horse. They have no idea who is behind them and will turn in front of you without thought. I went into the tailors a few days ago and the woman boss there had big purple patches on her knees. I asked her what happened and she just said "scooter".
A few more building pictures today, the house behind ours is almost ready to pour the foundations and have set up an intricate network of planks. I saw a young woman there today wheeling big barrows of crushed rock along the planks just as well or better than a man would probably for $5 a day.
I caught up with my old friend Thien who you might remember as the man I gave some money to set up a hairdressing business. That never happened and he is still a gardener at Fields resto and has been for two years. I had first met him at Linhs so he was interested in the story about Linh having to sell her house and land because of her gambling debts. He also told me she was selling rice wine to underage kids at her cafe.