New Neighbourhood

In the distance is Phu My Hung, in the foreground the upcoming Riverside Residence project, which as you can see, we will have a pretty good view of from now on.

"Phu My Hung is not a dirty word Blackadder. Crevice is a dirty word, but Phu My Hung isn't."

Phu My Hung seems for some to have a stigma attached, as if moving there is a cop-out, a wimps option, giving up in a sense to a sterile environment, giving up on the real Vietnam. Well, for us, now a family, it's the only choice. The time for bravado and the (apparent) ego trip of still being 'hardcore' enough to live in the inner city districts is gone. The three and a half years I spent living in Binh Thanh district, an epi-center of all that is potentially frustrating (congested roads, flooding, poor infrastructure) feel like that was my time. Now, times have changed. Our little one needs the space to breath and play, and with our new neighbourhood we have this. We can actually use a pushchair and in the morning or evening stroll around leafy green parks and quiet deserted streets. When I retire at night it is not to the sound of bad karaoke, racing motorbikes or a hawkers call , it it is to the sound of croaking frogs and humming cicadas.


I suppose our year back in England helped to put a lot into perspective, about the good things and the bad things of living in Vietnam. Quality of life being one. From now on there is no more traffic to worry about, my school is 5 minutes away. No flooding anymore, and the air is comparatively good too. Town is just a 15 minute taxi ride away but all the stresses of its heaving streets are now just a twinkling skyline visible from my chair as I sit typing - that, in itself, is peaceful. PMH has developed now into another busy part of the city and even the main part now is not so attractive to us - busy in it's own way. However, we have managed to find a little corner of the city suitable for what we needed.

In the field opposite the apartments an old man has taken the liberty of setting up his own garden. This is not unusual either, as opportunists have done this in various other spots I have noticed.


Here, work being done on the lawn out the back, the peaceful tree-lined road and apartments in the background.


And some shots from the park: