Places
Dong Xuan Market
The quarter's great covered market: wholesale floors inside, the night market spilling out on weekend evenings.
Dong Xuan is the largest covered market in the Old Quarter, a working wholesale hub first: fabrics, dried goods, household everything, stacked floor over floor. It is not polished for visitors, which is exactly why it is worth seeing.
On weekend evenings the streets in front of it close to traffic and become the Old Quarter night market. Go for the atmosphere and the snacks at the edges; for serious shopping, come back on a weekday morning when the market is doing its real job.