Then there’s something else—sweet, almost cloying. Children laugh as they race past me, eyes wide with wonder and delight. At first it’s a blur, but as I approach the stall I can see the sugary confections more clearly—melted sugar spun into fanciful designs: a long, winding dragon with wise whiskers; a leaping fish; a graceful rooster; a blooming lotus flower. The man carefully drips a sugar mixture with a ladle onto a board lined with sticks. The syrup is oozing a warm golden brown as he flicks his wrist deftly, creating strands of sugar in long arcs, and I watch as a crane appears to take
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