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Writer’sDeskby Raquelle Azranover a tourist. I apologized, he gallantly forgave me and a tinyscar under my left eyebrow accompanied me for many yearsbefore disappearing under a convenient wrinkle.Eighty motorbikes, ten bicycles, five cars and a lonecyclo. Cyclos, relics of French colonialism, oncewound leisurely everywhere in Hanoi.Drivers pedaled away on their bicycles pushing attachedcarriages piled high with entire families, great bolts of silk andthe marketing. When it rained, a sheet of plastic was tuckedaround the passengers to keep them dry and in the fiercemidday sun, an accordion canopy was opened for shade.Cyclos were once king of the road, but the Hanoi authoritieshave decided they slow down traffic and are bad for the city’smodern image, so the downtown area is now off limits to them.You can still find low-tech transport near the marketplaces.Cyclo drivers ring their bells, looking for business. A peddlerwalks his bicycle, which he has outfitted with display cases.Over the front wheel are hammers, pestles and knives. Theback wheel displays rope, pins and ribbons.Market women, straining under 25 kilo basketsbalanced from a pole across their shoulders, offersugar cane and oranges. Another cyclo passes, twentychicken heads peeping out of their bamboo cages.A silver-haired orange seller points to her pyramid of fruit. Verysweet, she insists, and pushes an orange into my hand. No, Isay, I really don’t need any oranges. No problem, she smiles,peering into my face. How old are you? Fifty. You look young,she says. Here, we’re old at fifty. Are you sure you don’t wantto buy my oranges?A native New Yorker, Raquelle Azrandivides her time between Hanoi,Vietnam, where she specializes inVietnamese contemporary fine art(www.artnet.com/razran.html) andTel Aviv, Israel, where she writes inher inner city aerie overlooking theMediterranean.Azran has been widely published. Some of heraccomplishments include her short story ‘By theRoadblock of Bethlehem’ which was awarded honorablemention and published in the International Herald Tribuneliterary supplement of the Middle East edition (2002).Her work has also appeared in publications such asThe Writing Group Book (Chicago Review Press, 2003),Aunties:Thirty Five Writers Celebrate Their Other Mother(Ballantine Books, 2004), the Culture supplement of theHaaretz/International Herald Tribune, Yuan Yang, a HongKong based literary journal and the 2009 Tel Aviv ShortStories anthology.ASIAN JEWISH LIFE ISSUE 617