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.