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HANOI - Downtown in central Hanoi - on a street called Ly Thuong Kiet that drips with jacaranda trees and "Welcome To Apec Visitors" signs - is a small, plain cafe named Clinton Cafe.
Thursday was the sixth anniversary of the visit to Vietnam by former United States
President Bill Clinton.
There was no way of knowing whether he ever went to the cafe or if it was named after him.
The young waitress would like to understand the questions, but she speaks no English and the visitor speaks no Vietnamese.
There are no anniversary specials, no Bill portraits, no autographs, or any hints on the menu, which gives intriguing English translations - tapioca milk with flower of grapefruit; lemon with salt; love story ice coffee.
Nearby, at a more down-market cafe, men on squat plastic stools smoke and read and discuss the daily edition of What The Government Says.
If the men are reading a local version of the English-language daily, they could be reading about the problems Hanoi is having in meeting birth-rate targets because too many people are exceeding the limits and having three children.
"Of great concern to officials has been that some districts have thus far refused to mete out punishments to those running afoul of the rules," the newspaper says.
It does not say what punishment the violators should be receiving.
Presumably it is not one of the 29 offences punishable by death - which in Vietnam is conducted by firing squad at the rate of seven to eight a month.
The same paper the previous day has a more familiar lament: "Young couples all over the city are facing a vast array of difficulties in renting and purchasing homes to begin their lives together," it starts.
The cafe dwellers seem oblivious to Westerners' wonderment at the co-existence of globalisation and communism in their city.
Bookshops with Vietnamese editions of Harry Potter sit alongside stalls of Ho Chi Minh memorabilia.
Bill Clinton's visit was the first by a US President since the Vietnam War - which the Vietnamese call the American War - ended in 1975.
President Bush is making his first visit for a summit that begins today. Perhaps we can expect to see Bush's Bar 'n Grill in a few years.
