A driver's theory

Driving. England. Vietnam.

Let's look at the differences.

I'm currently learning to drive, and before you can take any practical tests you have to pass a theoretical test, a multiple choice exam where you need to score 43/50. Also required is a 'hazard perception test' where you watch 14 video clips and have to click the mouse when you see a hazard developing. Points are scored based on your reaction time to the hazard, from 5 to 1. To pass this puppy you need 44/75 points.

I really wanted to share some of my test questions for a couple of reasons. One is comdey value based on our shared interest in Vietnam and our tounge in cheek knowledge of its roads, two is highlighting some of the more patronising questions I've had to suffer. This is the way people are treated in my country...

Hopefully you can read these questions, if not use Cntrl and + to zoom in.

This one is designed to test your 'attitude'.

This one asks what you should do if your car breaks down on a level crossing (basically on a railway line) and the bell starts to go off...

Two for a little Saigonese driving style humour now....I have selected the appropriate answers.

What do you mean "that's not the right answer.."!.

A British Summer

Home away from home

A month in England is now gone, and I can't say that I am missing Saigon. Don't get me wrong, guaranteed sunshine and warm temperatures, cheap restaurants and bars, of course they are missed. But that is missing the lifestyle, not Saigon. Saigon to me is being stuck in a traffic jam in a shirt and tie at 7.30am already hot under the collar. It's reading reports of failing infrastructure, suffering, incompetent governance and corruption. It's witnessing in front of your very eyes the misery and inconvenience caused by the aforementioned list (I'm grateful to have missed the floods the other week of which I have heard horror stories). Saigon has a 'boy who cried wolf' problem for me, no matter what you read about 'improvements'...it is hard to believe. Yes, after three and a half years, I am a Saigon skeptic. It's appeal as a tourist is undeniable (Connections) and I will espouse them to anyone. It's livability is in serious decline, mainly due to traffic conditions and air quality.

It is unlikely Chi will convince me that it is worth living in the city again. I'll be off to stay in the burbs just outside Disneyland rather than in it (this is an analogy I just can't get out of my head..).

That was completely off topic, what I really wanted to post about was the effortless glide that Chi has made into life in England. Her cooking has taken my household by storm, we even have a special chopstick compartment in the knives and forks drawer now. Chi has already whipped up a couple of batches of spring rolls (with homemade fish sauce), a huge pot of bo kho, a mango salad followed by pho and a banana cake.

It's a terrible pic but you get the idea, Chi preparing her Vietnamese feast for my family on mum's birthday.

In all its glory - yes that is Buoi in the salad, available form the 'Asian foods' shop at the top of the road.

Here she is enjoying a picnic on the hill above Swanage, a part of Dorset's jurassic coast we are lucky to live by. The girl from the city was blown away by the view on what was a perfect summer's day.

Yesterday was a trip to London to see Manchester United vs Portsmouth in the FA Community Shield, along with 85,000 English football supporters.

Baby was treated to a deafening 90 minutes, kicking mum nice and hard to say 'What the hell is going on out there!'.

Ultimately however I think Chi was most impressed by the police and their horses....

Connections Vietnam new website

Dear Readers,

Connections Vietnam has relaunched its website -- still at the same address...www.connectionsvietnam.com.

Yes, despite Chi and myself being out of the country right now, Connections is still going strong on the ground in Saigon. Let's call it a long distance relationship.

Although a lot of people commented on how they liked the previous site, I was increasingly frustrated by its lack of flexibility and interactiveness. The new site is powered by wordpress and gives me the freedom and dynamic style I was looking for...cool plugins to display pictures and commentable blog style posts along with static pages. Hopefully this site will enable a lot more interaction with potential customers coming to Saigon enabling them to get a much better feel of what we do before they sign up for a Cook, Meet, Dine or Learn experience. Also, our previous customers can also interact and contribute to the site.

Take a look, see what you think, any feedback would be appreciated!

Reunited!

This was the moment it all happened...

Chi's brother, Jean-Baptiste, wasn't shy or awkward at this emotional moment, rather dignified and mature. He held Chi as she greeted him. I am in the background, choking on the local pollution or something. Not sure. After the meeting it was five days of French style hospitality with Chi's brother's large family, meeting various Aunts and Uncles, culminating in an 18 person luncheon at the family home. We ate sumptuously, we (or at least I) drank copiously, with lunch blending into dinner, after meal spirits blending into aperitifs. We spent three nights in a chalet overlooking Geneva and Mount Blanc. A far cry from the dusty highways and manic streets of Saigon.

We even managed to sneak in a trip to Switzerland to wander around Lake Geneva and gawp at ridiculously expensive watches, suits and cars.

Thanks to the local knowledge of our hosts, Chi was smuggled into this exclusive corner of Europe over the border via a back road, no visa. Despite our attempts to attract the attention of the Swiss gendarmes , she returned to France successfully.

Previously, we had enjoyed several enjoyable but expensive nights in Paris.

In the Louvre, here's what you face if you want to get close to the Mona Lisa.

Chi's story

When my wife's brother was born, she was only nine years old. During the birth, Chi's mother had some complications (what exactly I can't gather) and her brain was starved of oxygen for a short time. Her recovery was long, spending a month in the HCMC woman's hospital before being moved to District 5's Cho Ray. Eventually she recovered to today being able to function normally, but was left partially sighted. After the time of birth, she was obviously unable to take care of the baby boy Dai, and her sister helped her through the first year. Chi's aunt took care of the baby, whilst Chi lived with another aunt. At weekends, Chi would visit her baby brother and her mother. Chi's father who was responsible for the 24 hour care of her mother seemed to be overwhelmed by his duties and the situation, turning instead to drinking and gambling. It wasn't much later after Chi's mother regained her health that she pressed through with a divorce. Previously, she had been the main breadwinner in the family, whilst her husband was just a waiter. It was her inability to work due to her eyesight and the lack of support from her husband which made a very difficult decision become real. Here is Dai at one year old with his mother.

Through an arrangement with a friend, Dai was adopted by a French family. Here they are, in HCMC, visiting Chi's house. Right is Chi's mother, left her Aunt who cared for Dai through the first year.

Chi's mother insisted that no money was involved, the only condition was that the families stay in touch, which they have done without fail over the years, sending photos, letters, cards and emails. The pain of such a decision was tempered by the knowledge that Dai was being bought up in a happy family, getting a good education and enjoying all the things he wouldn't have had in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Chi and her mother lived together. Chi revealed to me only yesterday that her mother had seriously considered a similar fate for her, but in the end decided against it. By Grade 6, Chi was shopping at the market and preparing basic meals for herself and her mother. By the middle of Grade 8, she was working at the Saigon Horse Racing track selling tickets at weekends.

Over in France Jean-Baptiste (Dai) was continuing his growth and education.

First day at school...

Today Jean-B is a strapping 15 years old and doing well at school. Chi is so immensely proud she is fit to burst.

A week today, Chi and I will fly to Paris. After three nights wandering the streets and savouring the atmosphere we will catch a train three hours south east to the town of Besancon. Here Chi will be reunited with her brother for the first time since he left Vietnam as a one year old baby. Discussion of this event is already banned in our house for fear of the waterworks starting. It will be an emotional few days for us when we drive to stay in Gex, the hometown of JB and family, up in the mountains of the Jura region just a few kilometers from Geneva.

For Chi especially, I hope this is the start of a great relationship with her brother and his wonderful family -- the heartbreak she feels from what happened will I hope in some way be forgotten as they meet for the first time as adults. . The events 15 years ago shaped Chi's entire life and personality -- and all she wants most of all is a happy family. It's something she has missed out on for so long.

Typical Day

The weekend is over, a weekend which involved a long and emotional school closing ceremony. A weekend which preceded a long and emotional 5 days at school, where many goodbyes to students and fellow teachers were shared in the form of cards, gifts, photos, emails and probably to be broken promises. Sharing the same building with around 250 people for ten months straight can be an intense experience, and it’s amazing how well you can get to know each and every one of those people. That’s what teaching is, an intense experience which you commit yourself to, all or nothing, physically and emotionally draining but incredibly rewarding and meaningful. And when it is over, you look back and think WOW. I survived. So as the day started on Monday it was a surreal, brilliant natural high to be on the first day of summer holidays. Recharge time. Yet I still find myself in the middle of this city, with its citizens. Still two more weeks before leaving Vietnam, and plenty of organising to do, not to mention business stuff and organising a huge piss up before I leave. My day was extraordinarily typical to such an extent that if I hadn’t have been so god damn ecstatic then I may not be sat here so amused.

03:00 – Power cut. Fan whirs to a halt and I have an hour of mopping sweat from my chest before passing out.

06:20 – Awakened with a startle and then a groan of realisation. The guys who do that mental drumming with dragon dancing, they practice on the other side of the canal, just outside our apartments. Just a combination of bass drum, cymbal and other percussion being slammed, smacked and bashed as hard as possible in something resembling a rhythm. But it’s 6.20. They do that for an hour.

07:30 – Pour out my bowl of cereal and observe the ants come streaming out of it. Damn it! Left the box on the fridge again. The only ant proof place in the apartment is deep inside the refrigerator.

09:00 – Yoga. Morning class with Japanese housewives. Get a damn good sweat on and feel great for the rest of the day.

11:00 – Get a haircut. Have a weird conversation with the hairdresser (as usual) where I just smile and nod at whatever he says even though I understand about 25% of what he is saying. Nice bloke.

11:30 – Go shopping at the supermarket in tax plaza.

12:00 – At home watching the repeat of the 4^th round of the US open.

14:30 – Head to the bank. Here I have to transfer money to my account in the UK. I’ve already been sent away once to retrieve my labour contract. Now I am armed with the evidence – contract, pay stubs, red invoices, passport etc. A nice lady is trying to help me but bless her she is so scared of not getting the paperwork right. She asks me for a document (needs to be stamped – by who, doesn’t matter, but a stamp means it is real) that shows I was paid in cash. I cringe, and say I have more then enough here. Chi starts to lose patience. The nice woman takes the details to a guy in a white shirt at a desk two feet behind her, I’d say branch deputy manager. He seems to OK it after 5 minutes with her umming and aaarrring over my contract. By this point I have told Chi to calm down and let me deal with them. This simple piece of personal business is as usual turning into a catastrophe.

She comes back and I’m in. That is until the papers get put onto the desk of a big fat guy in a blue shirt at another desk but right in the middle of the bank, I am presuming he is the manager (and white shirt at the next desk one day aspires to sit at the desk in the middle). I can tell he is a class A ***** just from looking at him. Seen it all before. He grabs the papers and starts making a fuss. He knows I’m watching him. It’s all for show. He tells the poor flustered woman that they can’t buy sterling today. She tells me. I tell her whilst tapping loudly on the perspex and pointing over at fatso ‘I want to speak to him’. He sees this and begins to look worried. She says he is trying to get sterling from other banks. Ahem. OK….so he plays around on the phone and after 5 minutes of pretending to phone people he grunts out ‘OK’ and gives her the thumbs up. He leans back thinking smugly ‘ha I weaseled out of that one well…’…seen The Office anyone?! As the green light is given a man next to me gives me the thumbs up and says bravo. A small victory for the people.

That’s only half the day and I am exhausted. Good night!

Allez Boo

Ahh, those of you who have haunted the streets of Pham Ngu Lao and De Tham, as most residents of HCMC have at some point, will recognise this corner. However, it is goodbye to Allez Boo which entertained pissed backpackers and English teachers for ten years. Although not a place I would go to often, it represented a multi-cultural part of the city in what is still a very homogeneous metropolis. Unfortunately, Highlands have the ability to gobble up any available street frontage in a frighteningly casual manner. There were rumours of the backpacker area being 'moved'. Perhaps the appearance of this new Starbucks, sorry I mean Highlands, is a subtle message that reads : no more tacky bamboo joints and street side drinking in this juicy piece of land that is so nicely located and has incredible potential for development if only all you bizarre foreigners with greasy hair and who keep all your possessions in a bag on your back would bugger off and find somewhere else to ferment and complain about being ripped off 30 pence by your motorbike taxi with other bizarre foreigners of a similar ilk.....(complaints about this sentence's validity can be sent here).

Economic Slide

Today I happened to catch the BBC World News Business program, and they had a short but worrying analysis from the studios of the Asia Business Report program, also on the BBC. The fact that inflation up to 25% is no secret, but the report stated this was only matched or beaten in Asia by Sri Lanka and Burma...The report also suggested that Vietnam is in serious danger of having to revalue the Dong by as much as 7,000 to the USD (taking it to 22/23,000 to $1) in order to stabalise the economy and this uncontrollable inflation (not now but sometime in the future).

Here is a link : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7431195.stm : Although I am not sure if it is the same report I saw, I can't actually get the vid to play from here!

All of a sudden, after years of posturing and confidence and bravado, the wheels are falling off. Banks are unwilling to sell $$$ and the tourist rate is up to 17,500. Stories of construction companies halting work are rife, with cost of materials now too high to make projects worth completing. Government money that was probably earmarked for much needed infrastructure projects around the country -- trains, bridges, roads -- may now need to be spent on funding vital imports. The situation is the same as in many countries such as India for example, where world oil prices are driving up fuel and food therefore raising the cost of living. In Malaysia the government recently announced it was halting all fuel subsidies, meaning price increases of 40%.

Life is getting tougher for millions of people across Vietnam right now, and possibly this is the time that the facade of development (in my opinion) in this country is exposed. A recent Thanh Nien report debated the validity of the poverty line - calculated at 16% living below the minimum average monthly income per capita of $16.1 in urban areas (http://www.thanhniennews.com/commentaries/?catid=11&newsid=38688). And that is for families. I fail to see how a family living with $17 a month is NOT living in poverty, the other problem as pointed out by TN is that the statistics were calculated for a set 5 year period beginning 2006 and ending in 2010, and not taking into account the rate of inflation! As wages in Vietnam are hardly tied to inflation, obviously the figures are misleading and the real poverty line is higher than 16%. TN constantly declares that foreign investors are not put off by the situation and continue to be attracted to Vietnam, but this has to be a major concern.

So, a spanner in the works of developing Vietnam. As the government tries to control inflation by curbing the growth rate, the hopes of a developed Vietnam may have to wait a few more years yet. 2020 was my magic year for a big improvement..but let's see what happens in the next couple of years. I am just thankful that I am able to earn a decent salary here and am not directly affected by supermarket/fuel price hikes. Others, ordinary Vietnamese, must well be feeling the pinch.

Moving On

As with every expat, the time to move on has arrived. It may not be forever, but from June 30th TFW will be on holiday. To return, I am sure. When, I am not so sure.

What with all this baby stuff (by stuff I mean having one), it seems a good a time as any to head home, spend time with family and finally get certified as a teacher. I will start a PGCE in IT at Southampton University in September, and Chi and I will leave Vietnam for Paris on June 30th.

"What about her family?!" I hear you cry -- well, Chi's situation is rather unique, and her story I am planning to write as one of my final posts.

Connections will still be going strong though, no worries there!

I'll also be starting my own blog based on integrating back into the UK after so long away, address to be announced soon.

The trees!

Alas the trees. The only nice thing about the canal, that dirty, odious monstrosity that creeps around my apartment block, was the green grassy area shaded by trees adjacent to it. It was an oasis in the city, although barely three feet wide. I come home from work and they have been cut down in the prime of their oxygen giving life. Why I ask, why? No one seems to know why!

The xe om drivers made me laugh, they hadn't moved their bikes an inch the whole day, the lazy sods.

Why why why!

On a separate note, Phil, congrats to you too. Drop me an email pls so we can get in touch...

Bike Fashion

Very interesting story today on Thanh Nien News today. This crazy ass kitschy fashion invading Hanoi, youths decorating their bikes :

Teens have beautified small two-wheelers with glitter and plastic flowers, giant silk butterflies and teddy bears, Christmas tinsel and paper parasols and, yes, feather boas, in an anything-goes creative arms race.

Youngsters have rigged blinking lights, MP3 players and batteries to the frames to blast techno and hip-hop down previously tranquil tree-lined streets, earning them both amused smiles and reproachful looks from their elders.

Source: Thanh Nien

See the story here.

Anyone up in Hanoi witnessed any of this?! Love to see some more pictures. I'll have my eyes peeled for the first fashion victim down here in HCM!

Big News

When informed that he had gotten a girlfriend pregnant, George pondered for a minute, looking shocked, and then screamed 'I did it! My boys can swim!' as he ran down the hall in celebration.

Whilst not quite my reaction, Chi is pregnant (3 months) and before Christmas (last week of November) we'll have a baby added to the family. As the weeks go by, my anticipation builds. Brief flashes of what awaits come vividly on occasion, leaving a feeling of disbelief mixed with pure adrenalin. What an adventure this will be...

Urban Jungle

Here is a motorcycle car park from the center of town near the now infamous golden triangle that was recently auctioned off for 500 million dollars or something ridiculous (and that doesn't even buy the land, just the rights to use it...).

This area of land adjacent to Pham Ngu Lao has been a 'hung' project since I arrived three and a half years ago...I just find it staggering considering the value of the land must be so astronomical, and it is most recently being used as a 3000 dong a time motorbike park!

Car Spotting

Never again will I forget my camera. I may be a little over excited, but after the interest shown in the yellow Lambo I snapped a few weeks earlier, I was absolutely kicking myself yesterday afternoon. A posse consisting myself and Chi, a photographer and helper, a yogi and a driver left HCMC for Anoasis Beach Resort, Long Hai. Here Connections plan to start running short yoga breaks as a refreshing weekend out of the city, or possibly as an add for existing tours.
More on that later.

When we arrived at the resort I was staggered to see a silver Rolls Royce Phantom and a black Bentley parked carelessly in the sand under a couple of palm trees. Man that Rolls looks stunning! Only three are in the whole country, and the owner according to the staff was the Khai Silk guy, as confirmed by this story. The Bentley may have been a Brooklands. The RRP has a base price of $300,000 in America but as the VietNamNet story says, it would have cost up to a $1,000,000 in Vietnam.

To add to this, after we left this morning, passing us in the opposite direction towards Vung Tau was another Rolls Royce, not a Phantom but an older style car, and then travelling together a red Ferrari and yellow Lambo, probably the same one I saw and photographed a few weeks ago. That must cover the top 5 out of 5 cars in Vietnam!

AIS bloggers

Kevin has pointed out his 'Linux Lab' over at AIS. My 'Windows Lab' as I suppose it would be is next door. Here I teach Grades 6-9 about using technology to express themselves creatively (whenever possible).

I started the AIS school blog near the beginning of the year to showcase student blogs which I had them set up on blogger, and also showcase some of their work they did using Adobe Photoshop.

Check out the site to see what is going on inside the head of Vietnamese teenagers -- especially their creative stories most have posted to their blogs. I particularly like Tue (G7), Hienrich (8A) and Watson (possibly the next H.G Wells, 8B).

Soon I will be uploading some of their videos made in class using Adobe Premiere Elements, when I have the patience/time to deal with uploading videos!

Talking about traffic : Real Solutions

A while back a gent called Neil Fitzgerald wrote a piece in Thanh Nien called 'No Through Road'. The piece talked about solutions to HCMC's increasing traffic problems. I wanted to comment on his thoughts and add a few of my own, by no means written from any area of expertise, just my opinions. Sorry for the lack of pictures which I had intended to accompany this post. Maybe I will repost when I have the time or inclination to head out during rush hour.

Neil Fitzgerald's solutions are as follows:

1) Public Transport.

Of course we will have the 'subway' of which only 3km will actually be underground. We have a number of lines built by various contractors : Japanese, Chinese, German. The Japanese line has 'broken ground' according to a friend of mine. The line however faces problems already. It has to run through an area bordering D1 owned by the military - they have told the contractors they will 'let them know in 2 years'.

Conclusion : Large part of the solution to some of the city's problems but will take too long to complete. Could open up the city to other options (discussed later).

2) Carpool

Korean executives and wealthy Vietnamese parade around in their cars one up plus driver, this is not going to change.

Conclusion: No way this is a solution.

3) Box Junctions

Yellow criss-cross grids in the road which are meant to show areas always to be kept free. The frequent occasions I have witnessed a bus, taxi or other driver exhibit about as much intellect as a wet vegetable by joining a cue directly in the center of a crossroads lead me to believe that road markings, no matter how threateningly they are painted, are useless. Box junctions are however in this sense indicative of Saigon's traffic problems.

My general feeling is that the traffic, no matter how busy, usually moves. However, along each tree-lined boulevard is a tightrope walking left turn across the other lane with no system of give way, a thin layer of ice about to be shattered by an impatient bus driver who presses into the wrong lane. The ebb and flow of the nimble two wheeled traffic is on a knife edge. Gridlock does occur, but usually due to someone else's stupidity.

Conclusion: Again, observation of newly painted box junctions is optimistic, and a drop in the ocean.


4) Widening streets

Many streets have the capacity to be widened, especially ones like the nightmarish Dien Bien Phu, also Vo Thi Sau.

Conclusion : Would help in some places.

Real Solutions - Short Term
------------------------------------

1) More traffic police.

Traffic police enable busy junctions to flow. We need many more such workers to police these junctions, at some places almost permanently.

2) Education

Educational campaigns to increase the observation of traffic laws. Education about using roads - i.e., cyclists staying to the right side of the road. It may seem like a minor point, but actually, the sight of three abreast high school children merrily sailing down the center of a street during rush hour painfully adds to the congestion. Slow moving traffic should be persuaded to stay on the inside.

3) Traffic Signals

More complex signals need to be introduced at certain points. For example, NTMK and CMTT allow both oncoming and left turning traffic. The resultant delay from left turning traffic blocking the oncoming traffic from the other direction means that only a small percentage of vehicles are able to get through. A signal allowing one direction at a time would allow a much greater flow of traffic although mean longer waits.

Roundabouts need the addition of traffic lights, most are horribly susceptible.

4) Road systems

Some current road systems are the main reason for rush hour queues, a ludicrous left turn with no signal or a small alley that allows people to cut across an insanely busy street. Certain routes need to be out of bounds during rush hours. My favourite is just after the Dien Tien Hoang - Dien Bien Phu junction, heading towards Vo Thi Sau. Here we have a series of disruptive systems that cause havoc with the flow of traffic.

Real Solutions - Long Term
------------------------------

Ho Chi Minh City is a massive urban area. The city is a never ending sea of junctions and traffic lights. Interwoven in this urban fabric are schools, government offices, businesses and residential areas. So much of the city's economic infrastructure is based in the five or so central districts, thousands of people commuting from surrounding provinces. Come five o clock when businesses are closing let's say you have to get from D5 or D10 to Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan or Go Vap, all huge residential areas. Your options are reduced to one or two relatively narrow streets : Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Dien Bien Phu, 2/3....all horribly jammed in rush hour. Studies need to be done (if they haven't already) about where the traffic is coming from and assess the daily patterns of movement between districts and around the city. This can help better understand the strain currently felt on the existing road network.

With regard to residential areas, problems are faced by the uniqueness of areas in Ho Chi Minh. Hidden behind the boulevards and intersections are a labyrinth of alleyways and gated communities, each with their own economy of cafes, street sellers, food vendors, private tutors, refuse collectors and way of living. It is common for young Vietnamese to know this environment as the entire world, barely leaving the alley until they reach their late teens. Urban Saigonese have been living this way for generations, however it is essential that they are open to adapting new ways of life in order to cure the cities problems and make it increasingly livable for everybody.

Look to Singapore or Seoul, Tokyo or KL. All massive urban areas, mostly developed relatively recently. Especially in Singapore and Seoul, the solution has been housing projects on a massive scale, all linked to the main business districts of the city center by efficient transport. We have to recognise that HCMC is no longer the small city that some perceive it to be, rather that it will in the future be a massive area of people as its boundaries continue to expand in all directions. According to Wikipedia, HCMC's urban area is the 28th largest in the world, just one place below Bangkok, two below London, and two-thirds the size of Beijing -- it is bigger than the areas in Hong Kong, Taipei, Tehran and Dhaka, not to mention European cities such as Madrid and Milan.
The current developments we see are sporadic apartment blocks going up still inside the city. This is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed. Train lines running from the city center to outlying areas such as Suoi Tien and Go Vap put in place the infrastructure for large scale mid-range housing projects. Given the choice, I feel most Vietnamese would prefer a couple of short train journeys, say one hour in length, compared to one hour of wrestle and sweat on a motorbike on the cities streets.

It is OK to say that the apartment blocks in Seoul and Singapore are ugly and lack character, but they are ruthlessly efficient in keeping bulging populations in check. Just a small corner of Seoul, but look at the housing available....in 3D, apartments.


These developments may take some convincing for Saigon city residents to make the move but they would soon discover the benefits of out of town developments. More space. Cleaner air. Infrastructure naturally follows such as businesses, shops, cafes. Cheaper rent away from the city (for residents and businesses). All linked to the cities metro system with close convenient stations. Distance and journey times are skewered in Vietnam because of the congestion but with good transport links the actual distances are very short.

To go a step further, the future may be in developing 'satellite' cities, such as in Korea. These are whole urban areas that are modern, well planned, have plentiful housing and attract people -- creating an alternative to what is now available. I visited my friend in Illsan, Korea, one such city. Linked to the main hub by train and newly built highways, these new cities could be the future of the entire Mekong Delta region - the question is, could the population adapt.

Another Day

Another day, more unabated madness.

Reporting on Thanh Nien Online, Minh Duc's quote pretty much sums it up :

"What the @#%&?!" said a foreigner unlucky enough to get stuck in a jam on Nam Ky Khoi Nghai Street in District 1, the city's main thoroughfare to the airport.

Minh Duc is talking about everyone's favourite topic, the traffic.

"Around 150 cars and 1,300 motorbikes are newly registered in HCMC every day" (cue horror music).

1,300 motorbikes. The city is big, but not so big they can all be swallowed up by these narrow streets.

An article yesterday also had me cringing, where reporters assess the need for 'green space'. I couldn't agree more, but just how do they measure green space....not by parks, no, but by trees. This is there equation : Green space = number of trees in city / people. It is depressing, and one of the main things HCMC desperately misses out on - even in newly developed urban areas - real parks and public spaces.

In HCMC’s 13 urban districts – 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, Go Vap, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Binh Thanh and Phu Nhuan, over 30 percent of the 956 streets are treeless because there are no pavements or they are too narrow for tree planting.

Also darkly comical :

(Brand new) Nguyen Van Linh Boulevard in District 7 is 80 percent planted with peacock flower trees.

Their roots grow rapidly and protrude above the ground potentially causing damage to the road over the next 20 years, he said.

The 18 kilometer, 10 lane boulevard is one of the city’s biggest and most modern streets, playing an important role in the city’s economic growth.

Once again, short term visions for long term needs.

Random Pictures

Ok, some randomness here that has been captured on camera.

First up, the yellow Ferrari. Spotted this baby around a few times. Saw an orange Porsche Boxter the other day on highway one.

Next, a bizarre chunk of some part of the city floating down the canal.

This is just plain odd. From Vung Tau.

A quaint little picture also from Vung Tau.

I missed photo opportunities of the garbage truck stuck on the side of the canal and a man who was bathing naked in the canal (although probably no one wants to see that).

An everyday journey

Here I am reposting something from over a year ago. This piece will be published in an upcoming book called 'To Vietnam with Love', from the same people as 'To Asia With Love', due out 'early summer' 2008. I am not quite sure of the final edited version that will go to print, but I'll give you the closest I have.

It is also a handy way of making an entry for this months $100 prize on the blog competition over at Expat Advisory (see post below!). If you are a blog writer in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos or Korea, GET INVOLVED (but write something low quality so I can still win). The $100 prize would boost your monthly income by $100 for a month - not bad.

An Everyday Journey - II

I climb from my bed bleary eyed and trudge to the kitchen to gingerly sip on some hot green tea, prepared earlier by my wife (she’s always up earlier than me). If it’s one of those days when I was too lazy to do some morning exercise, then a few stretches have to suffice. I need to get cracking – don the work clothes, pick the least smelly pair of socks and splash my face with water. Grab the keys, money, and the godforsaken parking ticket – always losing it.

Down in the elevator and out into the parking garage. It’s cramped down here, likelihood is that my bike is buried behind three Hondas, each weighing as much as a baby elephant. It’s one of the worst things about living in these apartments that sit on top of a smelly canal which runs directly around the building. Fortunately, my pad is high enough to be above the whiff.

Sunglasses on. Helmet on. Out onto the street, immediately passing the countless array of coffee shops that smatter ground level around the huge apartment block. A few seconds later the full reality of the early morning traffic slaps me in the face as I join the flow. Straight into the routine: pull the throttle, glide, pull the throttle, glide, weave this way, weave that way. As soon as I’m moving, I’m stopped, firstly on the bridge just outside my residence. Some days, the water on the canal is so still I can see a perfect reflection of the small trees that line the bank. My drifting thoughts are abruptly shattered as the traffic groans forward with a monstrous communal roar. At this time in the morning, cream clad traffic cops override the signals, commanding red and green with the flick of a switch. Drivers wait on the starting line, suspiciously eyeing their imposing compatriots, waiting for the movement towards that magical gray switch box. And they’re off again -- but not at any particular pace.

Queuing at just another junction, it feels like I could be part of a Hollywood disaster movie. It’s like the whole of the city is trying to escape a doomsday event behind them, using the same road. Ugly green buses crammed with people line the street while noisy motorbikes supporting all manner of pillion swarm like an army of ants. Cyclists join the fray, and seem completely unaware of the lunacy around them as they wobble their way up onto the peddles. A droning crescendo signifies another gargantuan effort by the masses -- the process of inching closer to an unknown final destination is once again underway. The engines spew clouds of nasty chemicals into the air, clearly visible in drifting clouds. I hold my breath through the worst, for what good it does.

Down Hai Ba Trung, onto Nguyen Dinh Chieu. Not too bad this road, even in rush hour. I swing left onto Nam Khi Khoi Nghai. On occasion I share a nod with the boys at the motorcycle garage – sometimes, time permitting, I’ll grab an oil change and a bike wash here. Crossing over Nguyen Thi Minh Khai into District 1, the street leads down past the Reunification Palace. Traffic slows as people take time to gaze in through the gates. Some early morning tourists are wondering around in shorts, cameras hanging from necks. I’m catapulted back in time. How alien this morning chaos must seem to them, how normal it is now to me. Seeing them often returns that smell, that feeling, that taste of what it is to experience Vietnam for the first time. I can’t hold onto the nostalgia for long, I’m soon waiting to dash across the wide expanse that is Le Loi. On the street side, a breakfast noodle stand sits in front of a pastel yellow, rain worn wall. It’s the kind of scene common on postcards, but no time to dwell, must push on.

Eventually I break free from the shackles of the city center, passing the construction site of the city’s largest engineering project…maybe one day the tunnel under the river will really become true. At last, after twenty minutes, the Yamaha has a chance to stretch its legs. The bike turns onto Nguyen Tat Thanh. The sun has risen high and beams directly along the long stretch of this dangerous thoroughfare, reflecting off the asphalt. Heavy trucks sound their horns as they ruthlessly scream by. I pick up the speed, but not without caution, hunching over the handlebars keeping the kind of lookout that a circling hawk would be proud of. The world and his wife seem to participate in this frenzied up-and-down, from 40 foot juggernauts to 50cc machines carrying huge baskets of fruit; from the blue overalled, yellow helmeted construction workers on their Hondas to the slow moving labourers with their motorized wheelbarrows. The heat, dust and noise on this street doesn’t sit well – luckily it’s still a little cooler in the AM. To try this in the afternoon you may as well put yourself inside a tumble dryer on a hot wash, having rubbed detergent into your eyes before you climbed in.

I cross the bridge near the Tan Thuan Industrial Area, and motor along Nguyen Van Linh Parkway. Nearly there. Cruising to a halt at the junction outside FV hospital, I take the chance to lean on the handlebars. I watch the red light counter tick down from 30 as cars and bikes sail past me regardless. No matter, the final stretch of the journey – the last 25 minutes have been like wading through waist deep water, but now it’s like sprinting along a deserted beach, barely leaving a footprint. I take in the remaining green patches of land in this rapidly developing area whilst gulping down lungfuls of clean air as if I’ve just emerged from the desert and been handed an ice cold beaker of fresh lemonade. The light glints off the river which snakes away to the south through a landscape of tropical marshes.

The morning ride to work may only take around 30 minutes, but in that time I travel through the heart of a bustling city rush hour to it’s very edges where I can see the green countryside coming to meet sparkling, still vacant apartment blocks which now scatter HCM’s first true suburb – it’s a vision of the future yet come to pass.

TFW beaten to it

Expat Advisory is a resource site for expats in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and South Korea (so far). Great site for finding out what's going on where and when - updated daily.

When I found out that Expat Advisory were running a monthly blog competition worth $100 to the winner, and with my reams of wonderful material (ahem), entering was a forgone conclusion. I entered my article Queuing. I had inside knowledge that I was close to winning, but ended up losing to a story about ants. Phhh.

Just kidding, it was a very well written piece. Well done to Junlah and her piece 'Battlelines'.

I am already plotting my victory for March and therefore entry into the annual prize award of $1200.

Lacquerware

The entrepreneurial spirit of my wife took us Saturday to Binh Duong, one of the outlying districts of the city to the north-west. The urban density of HCM slowly fades away yet civilization clings grimly to the highway through the heart of what is the production center of the region. Factories with their mysterious hanger like buildings line the road. It was off the highway and down a dirt track that we found the factory we were heading for - a business producing lacquerware. Lacquerware has been known to the Chinese since around 500BC. It is created layer after layer and treated around nine times. A medium sized piece takes around 4-6 weeks, others longer.

Arriving at the commune, a ramshackle group of buildings were swarming with activity, a cluttered factory area crudely attached to a house, with a courtyard also housing lots of preparation.

Unfinished vases wait to be painted:

Two ladies hand treat some lampshades. These are sent to the Philippines for part of the treatment process before being returned to be completed.

Men working on various products:

Preparing frames for big mirrors:

Finished products:

Wrapping for export:

Development - Latest Round Up

As the city continues to demolish and build, changing it's face literally every month, I'll attempt to round up the latest developments. Nguyen Thi Minh Khai has suffered recently from the totally absurd story behind the Pacific building. WHAT a joke.

Over in Phu My Hung, things have really gotten crazy. I am talking about the completion of the new highway which runs through the residential area, which must be at least four lanes each way. Roughly a year ago I took pictures of the area from around March last year which you can see here.

Comparing to today's finished project:

It is hard to show the sheer ridiculousness of the new road system through pictures. Here you can see half of the highway running in front of skygarden apartments. It is quite simply a big ruddy mess. For the residents down here now who may wish to cross one side of PMH to the other, it now means negotiating 10 or 12 lanes of road, with of course no provisions set out for pedestrians. Really a couple of pedestrian foot bridges are desperately needed, and the fact that they didn't incorporate these features when the highway was constructed is, for me, mind numbingly unintelligent -- but also typical. The planning just looks so random and hurried - a shame.

This was taken a year ago. It is the Saigon Paragon.

And today:

Adjacent to the Paragon, the Saigon Convention center is now under construction, and looks like it will be a good modern space.

The Panorama, a riverside PMH apartment complex, one year ago:

Today - nearly ready.

Over on the highway linking D7 and D4 and beyond to D1, big plans are taking shape.

District 5 in the distance.

Plans for a Police University on the site :

Back into town, a bridge now connects Thu Thiem to Binh Thanh district, creating an alternative route onto Highway One (other than the Saigon Bridge) and meaning motorbikes no longer have to queue and wait for the ferry across the river. Rather than join in with backslapping of the local media over the opening of this bridge, I feel it put things rather in perspective about Vietnam. Despite the 'incredible growth of 8% per year', we can see that this most useful and basic of infrastructure is still just arriving. The city really does have awful links, especially in this D2/D7 area in the south and east of the city.

The new bridge:

The bridge arrives in Thu Thiem on a typically narrow thoroughfare so it is still no good for heavy traffic. It will eventually link up with the east/west highway currently being built along the canal through D5, into D1, through the tunnel under the river (of which I have heard very little recently) and then into Thu Thiem eventually arriving at H1 some 2/3kms beyond the Saigon bridge. I am hoping this will eventually mean the end of articulated lorries trundling down Ton Duc Thang, which I envisage as a semi-pedestriansed modern river front in the future. Really, the river should be more of a centerpiece, as it is in any city, and once the old ports further along it's banks are cleared as they inevitably will be, we have potential for some nice outdoor restaurants/cafes lining the river. So much potential!

So in the old days, I'd finish working in PMH and drive over to D2 to play football - a minimum of 45 minutes. Not a million miles, but when you understand that it could actually be a journey of 15/20 minutes with the right infrastructure in place, you get frustrated. Apparently the bridge needed has had 'contractual' and 'bureaucratic' problems for many years. A very tired old story, one which represents the biggest obstacle to useful development -- because friends, acres of high end apartments and extortionate office space is only useful to the few. However, by 2009, this new journey should be ready to test drive, finally giving a link between the developments in Phu My Hung (which are spreading east) and the developments and apartment blocks in Anh Phu, D2 (which are spreading west). With decent transport links it is likely the two areas will continue to grow together, and what with the government plans for the rest of D2 (Thu Thiem), we could see a new urban center on the other side of the river. I am hoping this will happen and the burden will be lifted on what will become known as the 'old city'.

Now dominating the skyline of the city from many angles, the Saigon Pearl is nearly finished. In Binh Thanh district, it is right on the river and well placed - equidistance between the highway and the city center. The street it is built however, as residents of The Manor will attest to, floods horribly during the rains (which always makes me laugh as the slogan of the Manor is 'The best address in Vietnam'). Here is the Pearl, the Manor in the background. You can see the villas/townhouses built below the towering apartment blocks.

And from Ton Duc Thang in D1.

And close up:

In the town center, Times Square on Nguyen has finally begun construction phase, as my friend Chris often tells (he lives basically on top of the site and often they work at night). Saigon Happiness Square, Nguyen Van Cu:

And back where we started, Sailing tower on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai / Pasteur.

I am, of course, just skimming the surface, but that's a round up of what's going up. Amidst all the madness, the traffic, the people dressed in orange who sweep the dust a further two feet up the road, all I can do is share the sentiments of the giant billboard awaiting arrivals leaving the fantastic new international terminal at Tan Son Nhat :