Things go up in the twinkling of an eye... that is the dynamic at work in Ho Chi Minh City. Last November/December, after visiting the new Thích Quảng Đức memorial, I carried on walking up the street, made a left where the road got lost in a chaotic roundabout in the works, passed a whole bunch of bridal outfits and florists, and places where the army and police go to buy their threads. I was looking for the Sài Gòn Racetrack; I never found it. Instead, right at the end of that street, which I believe is called 3 Thang 2 Street, I found a shopping mall and a billboard. I didn't know it at the time, but the billboard was advertising a new mega building project. It's called the EverRich II development, and it is down in District 7.

June 27, 2011 in Blogs | Permalink | Comments

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Walking the Streets (of Ho Chi Minh City)

I TOOK A LOT OF PHOTOS ON MY MOST RECENT TRIP TO HO CHI MINH CTIY (JUNE/JULY 2010)... MORE THAN 400 IN FACT. Many of these were taken on foot as I walked around the city, occasionally taking shelter from the monsoonal downpours, or slinking into a cafe or bar to sink a cold one. There is always something going on, and plenty of things to take photos of. There are all manner of projects going up, transforming the neighborhoods in which they rise. See this Emporis site for more information on all the big buidings in Ho Chi Minh City. This is a city which is changing fast, and the local economy is growing about 12 per cent per year. One Saturday afternoon I walked over a bridge to District 4, the smallest quarter of Ho Chi Minh City, and one of the poorest. As I later discovered, District 4 is home to many of the city's slums. One midweek night, on the way back from Chinatown, I

September 09, 2010 in Blogs | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, May 22, 2010

My Phu Quoc Website is Up, and My Phu Quoc Blog is (Nearly) Out There Too...

EVER SINCE THE END OF JANUARY THIS YEAR I HAVE BEEN BUSY WITH A PROJECT, MY FIRST ONLINE FREELANCE PROJECT IN FACT, TO DOCUMENT EVERYTHING A TOURIST OR INVESTOR NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT PHU QUOC ISLAND. The fruits of my labour are now online, and the twice-a-week blog is coming soon. For those who don't yet know, Phu Quoc is an island off the south Cambodian coast, not that far from the Mekong Delta. Like China's Hainan Island, Phu Quoc is a former penal colony turned tropical paradise, and it is on its way to becoming the next Phuket. For investors hoping to be part of the action, my blog should hopefully offer some valuable information. I will cover coming developments such as the Roi Island Project, which looks like another Vinpearl Resort in the works. For canine lovers around the world, I will be detailing how to buy the unique Phu Quoc dog.

Vietnam seems to be investing a lot of attention on its islands these days, to the concern of China which regards the entire South China Sea as its own. Two years ago I was able to spend a night on Cat Ba Island, one of the largest of the jewels which stud Halong Bay in the north of the country. Even before you step off the pier here you will notice evidence of a building boom, as the photo above testifies. Like the limestone cliffs which rise into the mists all around, this island's economy is on the way up. There is one major resort on this limestone chain (Cat Ba Island and Spa), and another one the way.

May 22, 2010 in Blogs | Permalink | Comments

Monday, January 25, 2010

Urban Revitalization of Ho Chi Minh City

THE BUILDING BOOM IN HO CHI MINH CITY CONTINUES UNDETERRED BY THE GLOBAL CREDIT CRUNCH, AND THE ROADS OF THE METROPOLIS ARE CLOGGED WITH CONSTRUCTION CREWS. Try going for a stroll almost anywhere and before too long, you will find the pavement blocked by a big pile of sand. When the wind blows some of that sand will end up airborne, there to mate with the vicious Saigonese smog. On the last day or my last trip to Vietnam two weeks and a day ago, I got caught in a rare January squall. When I looked at the rain landing on my hand I was surprised to see it was yellowish/orange with tiny specks of sanddust mixed in. No wonder my girlfriend Nga often goes out with a mask on!

Smog and dust withstanding, this is a happening place to be. Just as in Berlin in the 1990s, wherever you look these days there are cranes, big ones, toiling endlessly:

Now this may or may not be the Bitexco Financial Tower under construction, which when finished will rise 68 storeys above the alluvial plains to become Vietnam's tallest building. (I got these stats from Colliers International). I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure it is the Bitexco. It is not yet nearly as pretty as it looks on the artist's rendering, but it is slowly taking shape in the cold bedrock of reality.

There is a lot of Korean investment in the city and I have seen more than one modern Korean greenglass cube transplanted here. This angular greensail style building above, however, seems to be more Japanese than Korean. It would not look out of place on the streets and sidestreets of Okachimachi, in Tokyo near my old house.

January 25, 2010 in Blogs | Permalink | Comments

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