Mr Thai - a living treasure in Saigon - Rusty Compass travel blog

Mr Thai - a living treasure in Saigon

| 13 Aug 2009
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13 Aug 2009

For most of the past 58 years, Mr Thai has been selling his silk paintings, stamps and old currency in Saigon on what is now known as Dong Khoi St.

When he started selling here during the 50s, the French colony was in terminal decline and the street was known as the Rue Catinat. Mr Thai watched as the French and the Americans departed and the communists arrived. At 77, he's still here as Dong Khoi St again becomes the centre of upscale shopping in Saigon. He''s a wonderful eccentric who wears a beret dotted with a

Photo: Mark BowyerMr Thai spruiking his wares
strange assortment of badges - a real city treasure.
Mark Bowyer
Mark Bowyer is the founder and publisher of Rusty Compass.
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