Streets in Hanoi’s ancient quarter are named for the trade – blacksmith street, silk street, fish soup street, etc – that was historically performed there, and many streets still have only one trade in shop after shop for the entirety of a block. Though some streets maintain their historic vocation, many have changed to sell plastic toys, hinges and door handles, etc. Just as each street has a long history of a specific trade, many of the surrounding villages that have long been part of the City's economic network and have now been absorbed into the city’s new perimeter host not only residential development, but also specialize in one specific trade such as bottle sorting and recycling, chicken and duck feather cleaning and sorting (the above street is a few inches deep in drying feathers), vermicelli noodle making, pottery, tailoring.
Similar situation in Old delhi. I used to venture on to Nai sadak (New Road) to buy books, any book, for my cousin's abroad who wanted medical text books for a third of the price....sort of an amazon.com prior to the internet
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