Saigon DC : Part V

Firstly, I would have been posting a lot earlier but for this, now at least I have a lot of back up material for blogging!

So, let's get started.

This post may be the most riveting on TFW yet, it's entirely about rubble.....

The astonishing rate of growth in Vietnam is astonishing. I just said astonishing twice because I'm so astonished by it. The old District One is slowly being demolished and replaced with sleek glass office buildings and expensive apartment blocks. Diamond Plaza is quaking in it's boots at the number of new shopping centers planned or under construction. It is easy to get ahead of oneself when thinking of HCMC's develpoment but remember, DP is the biggest shopping center in town -- PATHETIC! I was just in the KLCC, Kuala Lumpar, you need a map and some flares in that place -- they have a 4 floor Parksons inside the department store. There's also Times Square and the Mid Valley Mega Mall (over 4 million sq ft) which are even bigger (they have search and rescue teams in these ones). Anyway, I digress.

It's gotten to the stage where I picture old decrepid D1 buildings as guilty school children loitering at the back of the classroom hoping the teacher doesn't notice the smashed window. Their days are numbered. Here are some of the sites that are currently ready for huge new projects and once completed will really have changed the entire face of D1. For those who have recently been in Vietnam and are familiar with 'Saigon Sqaure', take a look at it now! A Japanese corporation is developing here.

This site is just off of Ham Nghi, on the corner of Ho Tung Mau. Huge plot levelled for I don't know what.

The following is a thick, juicy medium rare slice of land bordering Dong Khoi on one side and Nguyen Hue on t'other. If you can read, look at the words etched into the green fence to discover the future of this particular rubble pile.

Next we have the site of the 'Saigon Tower' project, set to be the tallest building in Vietnam if I'm not mistaken. It's down at the end of Ham Nghi and will overlook the tunnel currently being constructed under the Saigon River (which will thankfully get rid of the horredendous juggonaut traffic that currently has to trundle down Ton Duc Thang). The picture sums it up for me. In the foreground is a women sifting through the trash looking for whatever she can use to earn a few thousand dong. In the background slum like corrugated iron houses somehow still survive sandwiched in HCMC's hotel and banking district. It's difficult to see, but behind those small gates is a huge water filled pit soon to be drained and filled with concrete

for the foundations of a building that will eventually look like this:

And speaking of the tunnel -- work down there is coming on as well.

Stay with me here, further down the road on TDT is this one right next to the Saigon Trade Center:

After this turn right down Le Duan and head to bottom and Nguyen Binh Kiem where you'll find this spanking new beast:

Don't go just yet, I have more pictures of building sites for you....back in town is this one on Le Thanh Ton, just down the road from the nearly completed Lancaster -- the security gaurd is just off to see what in God's name I am taking a picture of. Ooo they don't like any kind of intrusion on their turf. I'd gone by the time he turned around and wagged his finger anyway.

Don't know what's gonna be here, but I'm sure the location is recognisable to anyone who's been to Saigon -- the New World Hotel with its tasteful shade of yellow stands in the background.

And finally, it seems like it was only yesterday that I noticed this pile of rubble which is now a finished building, although it wasn't yesterday of course, it just seemed like yesterday. This is the corner of Dong Khoi and Le Loi, just before the Opera House.

With all this constructing going on, who can blame these guys for grabbing some shut-eye, allbeit in a rather unorthadox place, i.e, on the street.

Also see Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.

Xmas

A few pics of HCMC around the Chritmas season -- most of the hotels and shopping centers have done a good job in creating that festive atmosphere. For me, it'll never be Christmas here -- it's not cold enough.

The Caravelle

The Sheraton

Parkson

Dong Khoi Street

In Cong Vien Van Hoa Park, a traditional Christmas scene has been erected -- very popular with kids and their parents to stop on the way past and snap some pics for the family album.

However, I am slightly concerned that these kids will grow up confused. They may come away thinking that Santa's slay was pulled by vicious dogs, that panda bears accompanied Santa on his magical journey, and that the guitar is a festive instrument.

Writing for a living

I added more links to 'My Other Stuff' -- mainly my most recently published articles on Travelfish. Currently I am working on a guide to Saigon, including where to eat & drink, how to get here, how to get away from here, how to get around when you're here, what to do when you're here, accommodation listings and suggested itineraries. So on Sunday afternoon I visited 12 guesthouses in the Pham Ngu Lao area, picking up cards, chatting with staff, viewing rooms and jotting down notes. Here's my hot tip for the year -- try the deluxe room on the 11th floor at Anan hotel (it's on Bui Vien). It's $40 and it has an amazing view over Saigon.

Once all the sections are complete they'll be packaged into an e-guide, a downloadable pdf. I think individual sections will still appear on the site anyway, for example my Dong Khoi area 'Eats' section. Tell me what you think of it. Of course, it's hard to narrow it down, there are so many places to eat...so I just went with the places that I like, and hope that I have good taste.....! Also recently added was my feature story on Con Dao island which complements the listings I wrote earlier. See the feature here.

Chi & I head to Malaysia on Saturday -- some shopping and R&R in KL. Once I return it'll be on the road to write and update more listings. Firstly, Mui Ne and Phan Thiet, mixing business with pleasure as we'll spend New Year there also. Then, off to Dalat for at least a week to write listings from scratch. After that, Nha Trang, again from scratch. Should be a very busy, but very fun few weeks. So blog direction for a few weeks after Christmas will be veering away from HCMC and focusing on some of the attractive tourist destinations near here -- Mui Ne, Dalat and Nha Trang -- if I get time to post anything at all!

The 100th Post

Welcome to the 100th post of The Final Word (in Saigon)! Started off as a load of boring tripe -- now it's turned into a kind of dogs dinner that carrys a faint whiff of wet mustard. So well done blog, and well done blog readers for putting up with such crap. Anyway, most 'readers' probably treat the site like a three year old impatiently treats a story book -- just looking at the pictures. Probably better off that way to save your brain from slowly folding in on itself. See what I mean?

Anyway, to really hammer home the 100, I have conducted Saigon's first unofficial foreigner census. It is full of gaping holes, but that's where you come in -- you can help me fill in the gaps. My groundbreaking research has involved calling consulates. That's it. What a journey it's been.

So, without further ado, here is what I've got:

Australians - Consulate says 850 but estimate double so we'll say 1700.
Cambodians - The consulate has 'no idea how many Cambodians reside in HCMC'.
Canadians - 300-600 the consulate says, let's go for 450.
Chinese - no answer (I mean the phone, not the question)
Danish - 100-120 estimates my Danish friend Brian. 110 it is.
French - Consulate claims there are 2747 French registered in HCMC. Unless someone left yesterday.
German - 200-300 says Clemens, and he should know. 250
Japanese - Consulate assures me they have an orwellian 1984 registered here.
People from Laos (Laoitians, is it?) - More than 100, all students of the Vietnamese language (and of the course the guy in the consulate so actually its 101).
Malaysians - More than 100, a very rough guess from the consulate.
Netherlands - Reply from the consulate says 280.
New Zealanders (Kiwis) - Consulate says 80-100, I'm saying 150 because I can. And because I think a lot are not registered.
Norwegians - 32 including lonely Oyvind, my Raiders colleague.
Russians - the consulate could not disclose this sensative information over the telephone.
Singapore - just before they hung up, they said 'no idea, what you asking us for?'. Ken from Singapore (again, Raiders) says at least 200, so I'm going with 300.
Koreans - Here's the big one -- consulate estimates between 30-40,000. I'm going with 35,000.
Swedish - 80.
Swiss - 248 current last week, says Jonas from Saigon Raiders.
Thais - consulate general no less told me over 500.
United Kingdom - consulate says 900 Brits are registered, they estimate double that at 1800.
United States - the consulate could not disclose this sensative information over the telephone (surprise surprise). I would go down there to ask myself but I fear I would fail the retina scan.

So, my running total at present is 45 199. That is mostly registered souls apart from an estimate from the Brits, Aussies and Kiwis. This number is excluding the Yanks, so how many of you are there -- any ideas? Also excluded, South Africas, Henno.....? Filpinos? Indians? Indonesians? Spanish? Italians? OK, I have a lot of work to do, I'll update again next week. Consider this crusade to count the foreign residents of Saigon underway!

Those pesky kids.....

Charvey gets 10 intellectual credits for inspiring this post, or rather, requesting it.

As I come to the end of my tenure at the Korean School (thank you sweet jesus) I am forced to reflect on the last 16 months. Here I have been a homeroom teacher for Grade 4, teaching English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and theoretically, P.E. This year since September I've had 36 eleven year olds in my class. They are totally off the scale -- they make barnyard animals seem civilized and well-mannered. The noise they can generate in a breaktime is comparable to a jumbo jet taking off (you are stood on the runway). The Koreans seem to have a 'leave them to it' philosophy inbetween classes. Yeah, leave them to......fight, shout, fight more, break something, scream, start crying, smash a window and make someone bleed.

I could moan and bitch about the 5000 things wrong with the school, the way they manage us, the way as foreigners we fit in in Korean culture and therefore the way the kids treat us with less respect than our Korean counterparts, the curriculum, the fact we have to take P.E classes, the number of times cultural misunderstandings have occured -- I could ask a searching question about where we should draw the line between cultural misunderstandings and sheer common sense....but I won't. In two weeks, all that will be behind me -- now put yourself in my position, and ask yourself, how do you deal with this?

Most of the time, I have to be mean to get them to listen. Sometimes they listen, and we can have fun. Most of the time, they don't listen. Sometimes, I have to shout at the top of my voice -- sometimes they shout at the top of their voices. Sometimes I bring them in for lunchtime detention. Most of the time they arrive 20 minutes late for lunchtime detention, dripping in sweat, and with grass stains on their shirts. I spend about 63% of my time here rolling my eyes in disbelief. We play football in P.E class. That's all I know, or want to do, in P.E class. Some boys are very keen:

Others don't know what a football is:

What keeps me going in this zoo-like environment is the little moments with the kids outside of the classroom, when I can afford to relax a little. They are little charmers, some of them -- no matter how much they are distracted and no matter how much I want to rip tufts of hair from my scalp until it bleeds for the sake of them never having a bloody notebook or a pencil everytime we have class, I still don't dislike them. They're just kids after all!

So what do you have at the end of it -- one lost for words, messed up and shattered teacher.

Subliminal Message

That's right, this is an ice cream shop. Check the name to understand the sarcastic italics.

The guy in Malaysia who wrote to me, Terrence, I tried to reply mate but I got a mail DEMON reply. Hate those. Whoever keeps looking at my blog in Bolton, UK, WHO ARE YA!

Disaters aren't so natural....

Figures and statistics don't really reflect the reality of a natural disaster. The lastest update from Thanh Nien News tells us here how badly the southern regions were affected, including Can Tho and Vung Tao. They say that at least 50 people were killed. The sheer destructive forces that mother nature unleashes, the raw power that wind and water can wield, and the complete vunerability of human beings is truely frightning when experienced up close and personal. Everything you thought was concrete and safe in your life can be washed away and destroyed as if they were made of straw - I'm talking about possessions, property and people. I didn't read anything in the article about Con Dao, which spooks me out a bit because if you look at the picture from this BBC article

and the compare it with this map:

Doesn't look too good hey?

I wasn't caught up in this storm, but I did witness the power of the 2004 South East Asian Tsunami first hand. I was on the island of Koh Lanta in the Andaman Sea. See one part of my story here.

I got off the island on December 27th after a night roughing it in a bar/nightclub. Luckily I managed to hitch a ride in a truck with an Australian guy who had contacts on the island, other independent travellers were paying through the nose to get off as locals with avaliable transport made a mint from the panic. Once we were in Krabi we housed up in a hotel. We took a walk in the evening along the river only to come upon the pier, where there were thousands of Thais gathered. It was here that the rescue boats were coming in with the bodies, and anxious relatives were waiting for news. The air was filled with the wailing of ambulence sirens throughout the night as the dead were ferried from the pier to the makeshift morgue at the Krabi mosque. On our way inland the tour group my parents were travelling with dropped in at a refugee camp that had sprung up, a sorry site, some desperate people. Seeing as I had days to spare after my parents flew home, I asked about information on helping somehow. The feedback I got from local police officers was this : they need help in Khao Lak to clean up the corpses being washed up on the beach. The morning after the Tsunami, there were 400. That is a job my mind was not, and could never be, prepared for. A few days later, at the start of January 2005, I flew to Vietnam.

Durian Update

I'm not a news reporter, or a weatherman, but this seems worth reporting. Typhoon Durian is expected to hit somewhere around Nha Trang this evening, and continue southwards into Tay Ninh and Binh Phuoc. Read the full article here. Worryingly for us city folk, the article writes:

Ho Chi Minh City was likely to be affected by the typhoon Durian, the first time in the past decades, meteorological experts warned.

They expressed fears that high winds, coupled with river deluges could flood the city and damage dilapidated apartments and other susceptible infrastructure.

The center said cyclones are possible for the city.

So be careful out there....

Deliver THAT

Often we see things on the road here that leave us speechless. Here is one such sight. Who'd want to be a delivery driver for a nursery? The motorbike is only 50cc, and let's be honest, it's seen better days. It has a large wooden tray attached on the back upon which these huge pots are loaded, 4 in all. They are as heavy as they look -- imagine the balance and control issues on such a crap machine with such a stupidly heavy load. Credit to the driver hey? He's got skills.

Here's a better looking machine with a different kind of load. My friend from the Raiders, Gerald, is the owner of this bike which has the only sidecar I've ever seen in Vietnam. On Saturday night I bumped into him and his cargo -- one more German on the back and two wives in the pod. Sweet.

Own up

Alright you cheeky rascals.....who was it?
Thong my money's on you, but I wouldn't rule out Charvey, Kevin or Mel either.
Hang on.......maybe it was henno. It wasn't me cause I just spent my last mil on cosmetic surgery (one of the conditions of my marriage). What in GOD'S NAME am I talking about? This.

Importing luxury goods is obviously still a little tricky.......

"It was slapped with a 90% import tariff, 10% VAT, and 50% special consumption tax"

Ouch!
Only one more thing to say....bagsy shotgun! (I don't know how to say that in American but it means I called the front seat).

Doan Van Bo

This street is in D4. It strikes me everytime I ride past as one of the most impressive in the city. There are a number of reasons. Firstly, it is unusual in that this section of the road (the upper section which leads to the canal sperating D1 and D4) is quiet. Many roads are as wide but this one has very little traffic -- given it's location it is almost a cul-de-sac that the flow of bikes have forgotten or have little need for. The width of the road and the small amount of traffic make it seem, in HCM City terms, deserted. Add to this the buildings -- it's rare to see so many 4/5 storey buildings next to each other like this. I passed at the wrong time of day for the picture as the sun had gone down too much. In the afternoon, the sunlight glints off those windows creating an atmospheric Saigon street scene. For a better view of the picture try looking here.

All Sorts

Seems like I'm back to what I do best here. Talking s**t. As I mentioned before, a good blog adheres to the 'nobody cares what you had for lunch' doctrine, but today I'm throwing caution to the wind. I have no philosophical posers for this week, only the usual Saigon titbits. And if you're not interested in what I had for lunch yesterday, you better sod off, cause I'm gonna tell you anyway.

Firstly, the Raiders, captained by yours truly, won the 15th May School Soccer for the Streets tournament. Thanks henno for a good game in the group! We got a direct pass into the final through being the team with the best record from 5 groups. Granted there was a team of girls in pajamas participating, but the knockout stages were competitive and we beat a fairly decent team from 'Coke' in the final. It was safe at 3-1 especially after our sole Vietnamese player Vu poleaxed their best player with a fair but slightly mental challenge. Pics from the event later, for now, only this one.

Other news. I've found Vietnam's narrowest house. They must be a family of wafers, or someone's put it up for a laugh. Or it really is a by-product of population density in the city.

Well, at least they have a roof terrace.

Now, HERE'S WHAT I HAD FOR LUNCH......forget a traditional sunday lunch of roast potatoes, chicken, peas, carrots and stuffing -- here's how we do, Vietnam style. All lovingly prepared by my new wife, let me take you through this nap-inducing belly bloater of a hot day's feastathon.

Pork on a stick:

Veggie cooked in Garlic

Also included -- fillets of mackeral cooked with fish sauce and garlic and pork soup with more veggies. Add steamed rice.

Finish it off with a sweet lotus bean soup and what do you have -- a sense of satisfaction mixed in with a drowsiness the likes of which only a supportive fan-cooled matress can cure.

Are you hard-headed?

A recent magazine article combined with comments from a friend prompted an internal debate. Why don’t I wear a helmet? I remember, as a kid on my paper round, my parents forced me to take a huge plastic mushroom as protection. Too embarrassed to wear it, at the first opportunity I’d stuff it in the bag with the papers. As I grew older, wearing a helmet didn’t become any more appealing. Now, ten years on, I’m still shunning a simple item which could save my life. But why? It doesn’t look cool -- am I that vain? Is it uncomfortable – not if I get one that fits properly. Is it too hot to wear one? These reasons, which are common excuses for not wearing a helmet, disintegrate when you imagine the consequences of a traffic accident.

The fact that people aren’t responsible enough for their own safety is evident all across the world, and easily proven right here in Vietnam. Westerners often apply their seemingly higher moral standards when judging the Vietnamese – ‘Well, our countries have laws about this kind of thing’. That may be so – England is the nanny state, and for a reason. If we didn’t have those laws the people would be just as irresponsible about their safety, as proven when foreigners come here and find out they don’t have to wear a helmet, so they don’t. Another important factor here, and the main difference between the west and developing countries is this: laws needs to be enforced. Here, unfortunately, laws are not routinely enforced, and when they are, it’s not for the right reasons. Even though there may be penalties that accompany the law, they can be hurdled with a crisp pink note. If you don’t want to play that game, you’ll be tied up with red tape and sent to bureaucratic hell and you’ll wish you’d just kept your mouth shut and next time, remember to do what the Romans do in Rome. There is only one place your moral crusade will end up here – in a pit of burning resentment.

So, we should talk to people on a personal level, educate, convince and set an example.

These figures are a study of brain injuries from Viet Duc hospital in Ha Noi over a period 16 months (3/2003 – 7/2004).

Total brain injury cases selected: 1,127
Brain injuries due to road accidents: 859 (76.2%)
Brain injury cases without helmets: 728 (93.1%)
Brain injury cases with helmets: 54 (6.9%)

The following were taken from the same hospital in Ha Noi over 2 months early this year.

Hospitalized cases due to injuries: 5,517
Victims in road accidents: 2,805 (60% of people hospitalized due to an RTA)
Of these 2,805 people, 1,262 (45%) had face & head injuries.

Out of these 2,805 people, 2,632 or 93.85% were not wearing a helmet. Only 25 people or 2% hospitalized with a brain injury were wearing a helmet.

These figures were provided by Mr Dong at UNICEF Vietnam, who responded in length after I found this page about World Health Day 2004 in Ha Noi. The page lists a number of factors explaining the high incidence of child fatalities in traffic accidents, including a ‘limited knowledge about safe driving behaviour’ and a ‘fatalistic view about traffic accidents. Many people do not understand that these injuries are preventable’. UNICEF Vietnam then go on to list a number of potential solutions including organizing children’s competitions on road safety and ‘assisting the commune to provide “child safe playgrounds” where children can play safely away from the traffic’. Mr Dong also pointed me in the direction of Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, an NGO based in Ha Noi who’s mission statement reads:

‘Asia Injury's mission is to reduce the rising number of traffic fatalities in developing Asian countries, starting in Vietnam, and to raise awareness of their social, economic, and human impact'.

They go on to say:

'In Vietnam, nearly 40 people die each day in traffic accidents and twice that number suffer debilitating head injury. This is a result of rapid motorization and modernization, where people have the ability to trade bicycles for motorbikes, creating a highly mobile population. Unfortunately, preventative safety measures have not accompanied this increased motorization. Limited traffic safety education, lack of awareness about the effectiveness of helmet use, and inconsistent traffic legislation and enforcement have contributed to annual death tolls of over 12,000 people in Vietnam. In addition, approximately 30,000 more suffer from severe brain damage or head trauma sustained in traffic accidents'.

I wrote to Grieg Craft, the president of AIPF, and he kindly wrote back inviting me on a tour of their helmet factory. He said "Yes, we have set up the world's first non profit helmet plant, producing a 'tropical' helmet we've designed. All revenues flow back to Asia Injury to help fund our other work. We employ 150 workers, 1/3 of whom are handicapped. We're very proud of the model".

There is also the World Health Organization Helmet Initiative ,which has a more global focus, but as AIPF points out, of the 1.2 million killed each year in RTAs, developing countries account for 85%.

So from now on my wife and I are wearing helmets, and I hope you at least think about it too.

Hoi An

Here's a collection of nice shots from a recent trip to Hoi An. The courtyard below is nice.

Here's a jug and a sign. Maybe not the best place for said sign.

Here are some mini hot air ballons. Them seem to be quite popular in Hoi An.

Marble mountain is a 20 minute motorbike drive from Hoi An on the road to Da Nang. It has a lot of marble shops around the bottom where Saigon hotels undoubtedly buy their rearing lions for the lobby. More importantly, it has a temple complex enshrined with trees and inside caves which is well worth exploring.

In this picture, the smoke from burning incense creates a surreal scene.

Here you can see the other half placing her insence sticks in front of an impressive Buddha statue.

Heading back to Hoi An, a trip on the river reveals local boat taxis are small but frequent, this being a common site.

Upon arrival in Hoi An expectations were high, what with the UNESCO world heritage blah, and guide books petrified of bad-mouthing the place. However, during our first stroll through the old town, my partner turned and quipped with an eyebrow raise that I would have been proud of, 'This is like Pham Ngu Lao' (PNL is the backpacker nest of Saigon). Well, I couldn't disagree. The old houses were beautiful, until they opened up the front and turned them into DVD shops. The town caters for tourists in a mind boggling capacity -- huge groups of big nosed European tourists (I can say that because I am one myself) speaking a language I couldn't put a finger on (possibly Greek) kind of ruined the atmosphere. I can't begin to imagine what this little place would have looked like before the onslaught began. Fear not though, slowly but surely we were won over, as we became normalised to the tourist pollution and took a stroll down the riverside in the evening eventually stopping at one of the many outdoor cafes for a glass of wine. Very peaceful and relaxing. However, it was easy to spot the mid-morning timewasters in the cafes, lounging around as if they were Parisian artists during WW2. Hoi An though is pretty....