Developing Saigon : PMH Expansion & Ben Nghe

Whichever way you get there, Phu My Hung is currently a little isolated from the rest of the city. The drive out of District 4 along Khanh Hoi takes you over marshy palm fringed river banks before arriving at the cream concrete of Saigon's new urban project. This however will soon change. The expansion of PMH, by that I mean the PMH model of housing and urbanization, shows no sign of abating. For now the developers seem to be looking at the 'no mans land' that lies in District 7, sandwiched between PMH and Kinh Te of D4, a few kilometers closer to Saigon itself than the current estates. Firstly, let me introduce the area more precisely with a map (see the full size here).

Looking back into D4, this vast area of land is being cleared.

Both sides of the road now look like a building site.

With the way houses are developed on rectangular plots of land, when a keen landowner builds his house before anyone else, the appearance if often quite bizarre. A lone structure in a world of half-dug trenches and echoing jackhammers...the poor thing must be lonely. In the background, the proximity of PMH (Sky Garden, the northernmost complex) is clearly visible.

Not that I was trying to 'capture' anything in the following shot, my camera isn't big enough to make those kind of claims, but......here a newly completed apartment block looms ominously over miserable, ramshackle structures that squat by the waters edge.

A few kilometers further towards town and the Ben Nghe Canal cleanup/highway project seems to be coming along. The new road will sweep in from D5 and link up with the tunnel taking traffic out of the city through D2.

Surely some of the grubbiest buildings in the whole city right here, center of the picture. I remember this street when I first arrived. The canal was a steaming pile of multiple garbage genus, the road a bumpy and aromatic cauldron alongside an oily, trash strewn wasteland, not to mention the fish market under the bridge. Things are looking a lot cleaner now.

Parking, toilets, and a random picture

As I mentioned before parts of the city are being used to accommodate the growing numbers of cars. The most notable area being utilized is the one outside the Hotel d'ville:

and also this street that runs alongside Ben Thanh Market

It may not look like anything significant, but to me it's representative of the changing face of the city. The 'Pho 2000' restaurant on the corner was once an atmospheric open air venue, a real Vietnamese destination slap bang in the middle of Saigon. Now, and in my opinion, sadly, the place is just another air conditioned, glass fronted building. I'm not sure I can really remember what the street was like before the cars were parked here, but one thing I know is that it was definitely more interesting. Something is missing, a slice of atmosphere has been removed, a step closer to development maybe, but a step away from 'old' Vietnam.

One thing I'm enamoured about celebrating however is this idea

1) Nam Ky Khoi Nghai

2) Ton Duc Thang

Peeing in public = not cool.

Totally unrelated, the random picture part of the post. The drinks machine, the guy sleeping on his bike, the boat. Do you like it?

Saigon Today

The hairdryer is back -- I mean when the wind changes and the breeze is as hot as the temperature all around you -- it's time to get your sweat on. The hot season is here in Saigon, as this unusual weather forecast shows.

Scattered thunder storms for this week in Ho Chi Minh, although no rain. I miss the lightning shows of the wet season....bring it on!

Parking HCMC

With all these damn cars on the roads, parking limitations in the city may soon be called into question. However, the situation currently seems under control. Roads around the city center now include parking bays for cars, with the central boulevard of Nguyen Hue heavily utilized. I say 'now include', but they may have always been like this and I never noticed before -- the increasing relevance of the topic of cars in the city however negates any fundamental errors of judgment I am making (crossing fingers).

On questioning one of the uniformed ticket officers, I discover that parking is only 5,000 dong for an unlimited time period...! It goes to show that despite all the talk, the city is still way off crisis point. Also on Nguyen Hue is a parking lot inside a huge disused warehouse.

I can't help thinking that this place has numbered days. It is a prime piece of land sitting in the middle of the town center, and the profit the land area currently takes as a car park is nothing compared to what it could be making as a high rise -- but then that would be another valuable parking area for the city gone. Maybe this should become the first multi level carpark in HCM. Currently it does have two levels, although the capacity must be about ten vehicles. There is a lift which takes cars up and down.

In other trance-inducingly boring news:

Saigon Raiders claimed a well deserved victory against RMIT Students in the second annual Saigon Cup. We lost the first game in our group of 4 teams against Phone Viet 2-1. Next up is a team representing Petrolimax.

The game yesterday included RMIT fielding the same referee for the third time on their home pitch, who preceded to gleefully award a ridiculous penalty. Thankfully self titled 'penalty killer' goalkeeper Christian tipped it away. We played a 53 minute second half, but eventually the ref couldn't continue the game any longer (it was nearly dark) and Raiders deservedly plundered the three points.

Also, I read on the BBC that a hotdog at the new Wembley stadium costs $8, fish & chips $14. That's just wrong. Although when they come out the other end you'll be ok, the stadium has '2,618 toilets - more than any other venue in the world'.

Thai Van Lung & Le Thanh Ton

The area around Le Thanh Ton and Thai Van Lung contains numerous bars, pubs, restaurants and accommodation, especially popular with expats.

To the east of the two streets, on the river side, is an area dubbed 'The Ghetto' -- a lot of foreigners living in this mish mash of alleys. Probably a good place to look for a shared house, or check the billboards in nearby Internet Cafes and bars. On the other side of Le Thanh Ton is Saigon Skygarden, the newly built Lancaster and behind that, on Ly Tu Trong, is Norfolk Mansion, all high end serviced apartments. Now, if I was a resident in Norfolk Mansion, and I had watched the slow but sure rise of the Lancaster in front of my eyes, I'd have moved. In a truly unbelievable, although perfectly believable situation, the buildings are about 5 meters away from each other.

Here's my list of '5 things you can do if you lived in the Lancaster and your friend lived in Norfolk Mansions'

1) Get hold of some string and paper cups to save money on phone bills.

2) Chat on the balcony about how bad the view is.

3) Play badminton.

4) Play games on your mobile phone using bluetooth.

5) Have ESPN on in one apartment, and Star Sports on in the other, and watch two EPL games at the same time.

Anyway......

Looking down Le Thanh Ton from Thai Van Lung:

You can see the green leprechaun of Sheridan's and the chalk menu board of Boss Cafe, both locations for this Saturday's St Patrick's Day celebrations (tickets $35). Further down the street are other restaurants including Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Western, and even Nepalese. Unfortunately, also this:

Globalization go away! One is already open in Diamond Plaza.

Thai Van Lung itself is packed with Korean restaurants, and many others including the Mediterranean restaurant Skewers.

Also on this street is 'Arab Kebab', worth a look if you enjoy chicken or lamb wrapped in pita and filled with some kind of delicious sauce -- in other words, if you're human.

Cambodia : Transport

Yo yo yo! HOLD THE PHONE

Somehow I forgot to finish off my report of the Cambodia trip -- well it's just a few pictures really. Pictures however, that will perhaps bear some comic value -- maybe you'll smile a little (as if you were passing a little wind), maybe you'll call your friend in from the other room, or maybe you'll shift your chair back a little from the desk, put your head in your hands between your legs and shake it gently from side to side in disbelief.

Now seriously, I hope you'll respect the tone of this post considering I've been in Asia for around three and a half years and here in HCM for over two of them -- so when I say the things you see on the road in Cambodia are probably unparalleled in this universe, you gotta believe me. I mean here in Nam I see guys driving their motorbikes with huge sheets of glass and I hardly blink. I see cyclos with scaffold ten times their length doing a left turn into oncoming traffic -- I dodge the approaching beams actually thinking about getting home in time for Sportcenter on ESPN. Over in Cambodia, I was leaning out of the window trying to angle my camera screaming at Chi 'Look! Would you bloody look at that!'. Obviously expats living in Cambodia are used to it. Just a few kilometers from home and I'm a stinking tourist all over again.

This guy has a stack of bicycles that are bigger than the actual van taking them.

This van was literally on two wheels. The entire left side of it was rusted through and the whole thing looked like it was about to disintegrate. This is the means of public transport for some Cambodians, sitting atop a van or a pickup. The vehicles are loaded until not one more limb can be squeezed in, there must be 20 people sometimes, that's forgetting the cargo.

Finally...this one....which is just.....errr....well....funny? Or ridiculous?

Saigon Developing City XI

If you are fed up with boring pictures of the ever expanding suburbia that is Phu My Hung, then look away now. If you're not, WELCOME!

This pic must have been taken around 6 months ago.

Now it's basically finished. These have to be the poshest apartments in all of Vietnam so far. They face the river and must have fantastic views. I heard $1800 - $2000 psqm.

I posted this in August 2006:

And now:

Down near the Waterfront, over the bridge, more new blocks are being finished off. This is one is called My Kiem (according to workers).

When you reach the end of the road down here, there is a small river. No matter, the bulldozers are already preparing the land on the other side, and the bridge is being built as we speak.

This is My Khanh, the end of the road just before the bridge.

I'm sure this area of PMH will become more popular. At some point, the new road will open making the buildings on the north side a little cut off from the rest of PMH.

Will 2020 ever come to Saigon?

HCMC by 2020 could be a very different place. So many projects are underway or being planned, and so many dollars are being poured into the economy by foreign investors, the only way is up, surely? Promisingly, a lot of the focus is based on infrastructure, a hugely important part of facilitating yet more rapid growth for Vietnam and the surrounding region. Other areas are real estate and tourism.

In the near future we should see the completion of more high rise luxury apartments, shopping centers and hotels. The $265 million Kumho Asiana Plaza project finally resumed in October after being delayed for 10 years. It sits on the site that used to be Saigon Square, and is due to be completed in 2009. Saigon Happiness Square is a massive development underway that I mentioned before in D5. It's costing its Taiwanese investors $468 million, containing offices, shopping and a hotel. Saigon's tallest building is also under construction, and thanks to Urban Planet for the picture of what it may look like:

Eventually, the tunnel will be operational running under the river in the foreground of the picture. The government aims to use both sides of the river for more development. One day Ton Duc Thang will have no heavy traffic and will become another 'Dong Khoi'. What I envisage for the city is a pedestrian area encompassing Nguyen Hue, Dong Khoi and Lam Son Square. I am no urban planner and maybe it's too late to build the parking that would be necessary, but wouldn't it be nice.....

On top of this newly shaped city center, the construction of the Saigon Metro system should finally have begun. As the widely read International Railway Journal stated in September 2004:

FEASIBILITY studies for two metro lines totaling 21km in Vietnam's largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, are due to be submitted to the government in October. If all goes well, construction could start by the end of this year and the metro could open by 2008.

Let's just say that was a 'little optimistic'. The most recent updates are looking at a 2020 completion date, with 2007 now once again set aside for consulting from foreign companies, as this from Asia Development Bank explains.

The new International Airport at Long Thanh is scheduled to have phase 1 finished by 2010, as this Wikipedia page says, with further development planned into 2015 and beyond. This will allegedly include a high speed road link to the site 40kms from the city.

The most recent big project to be announced is the construction of a high speed rail link from HCMC to Hanoi. This was reported across the world including Auntie. As the article says, it'll cut the journey from a mind boggling 2 days to a much more reasonable 10 hours, and it will only cost $33 billion, and the government claims that it can be completed in 6 years (the contractors want 9, I remember reading). This could become the jewel in the crown of the ASEAN rail network, which is seeking to complete by 2015. As this article from the People's Daily explains, the missing links are mainly in Cambodia -- once finished, the railway will be linked from Hanoi (and therefore into China and beyond to the Trans Siberian) to Singapore.

Back in Vietnam and heading north, Hanoi's proposed Light Rail System, or Tram system, or whatever you want to call it, is under construction......or it was. A recent report from the BBC's correspondent in Hanoi finished with him gravely assessing the inactivity at a deserted construction site. Due for completion : 2010.

According to all the dates we are given, these projects will be completed by 2020 - in 13 years time. If it's true, better get your backpacks on and get over here, because horrible roads and never ending train journeys will disappear, replaced with gleaming highways and sleek Japanese style bullet trains gliding effortlessly through the paddy fields. My guess is that there's no need to panic just yet...even all this come 2020 seems like a dream at the moment.

Siem Reap to Battambang

Heading out of Siem Reap to Battambang, I bought two boat tickets which would take us out onto the Tonle Sap and then up the Stung Sanker. What a lovely day in store I thought -warnings that the journey took longer in dry season due to low water levels didn't perturb me. They should have, because we were on the boat for eight hours sat on a wooden plank. There was a time, in my backpacker days, when I would put it down to 'experience' or say 'half the fun is getting there'. For a while, I was living that dream, gazing out onto the floating villages and Cambodian life on the river.

This contraption was commonplace. It's a huge net which the fisherman can raise and lower out of the water using the ballast you can see hanging above the bamboo platform.

As a mother and her children paddle by, a one woman floating market of clothes and material is 'pulling in' between two water bourne houses.

The boat we caught was more like the water bus. One of those backpacker specials.... someone making a mint out of cramming pasty white faces into the hull. The boat would drift slowly through riverside villages, occasionally revving the engine to signify it's arrival. Those who needed a ride were ferried to the waiting boat by a family member, sometimes their kids.

So, five hours down, and just before the ass-numbness became chronic, we stopped for lunch. The wife still seemed to be enjoying herself. All was well. After lunch, the 'low water' part of the journey began. This entailed navigating the bends in what was normally a river now reduced to not much more than a stream, vegetation on the bank above looking as thirsty as most of the passengers. With the vocation of staring out of the boat at the scenery pretty much removed, there wasn't a lot to do except 1) concentrate on what it feels like to sit on a wooden plank, 2) listen to the droaning of the engine, housed in a wooden box about 4 metres to my right or 3) looking at my wife's face, which was staring at me as if I had just called her a stupid cow, which even if I had have done she wouldn't have been able to hear because of the deafening noise. Chi said to me later it's amazing how all the westerners simply refuse to complain about the conditions, pain and suffering they must undeniably be in. Just as the backside was issuing its most violent of complaints (not audible, just muscular) we unexpectedly stopped and were ordered from the boat.

The water was too low to continue any further, but those harbouring any hope of us being 'near' Battambang would have done well to look around them. I for one couldn't see anything resembling a city, a town or a village, let alone a corrugated iron shack. The only thing visible was a field of ploughed dirt and two pick-ups. I knew it would be the end of my marriage if Chi realised we were expected to clamber into the back of the pick-up, so I quickly secured seats in the cab whilst all the backpackers pretended to be having a good time. After about 30 minutes of carefully arranging limbs and securing bags, we were ready to go.

Doesn't look too bad does it. Well try sitting on the edge of the truck over a road that looks like this. This is one of the places we got stuck.

It took three hours from boat to Battambang, in distance no more than 35km.

With all that said and done, and me unable to explain the 'joys of travelling' to Chi, we had arrived in Cambodia's second city, Battambang. It is split in two by a river that looks like this

and full of streets that look like this

and a market that looks like this