Cu Chi by river boat to see Great Grandma / Future of Cu Chi

On Sunday I took Chi on a surprise visit to Cu Chi. The real surprise was that we were going by boat thanks to Saigon River Express. Their tour leaves the wharf in D1 on the Saigon River and heads upstream taking you through Binh Thanh, under the Saigon Bridge, through D2 past Thanh Da and then snakes up the north east of the city, passing Thu Dau Mot. The whole journey takes around 1 hour 20 minutes (quicker coming back) and ends at Ben Dinh restaurant, on location at the Cu Chi tunnels. Instead of visiting the tunnels during the two hours onshore we went over to Grandma's house for a short visit, just a few kilometers away. I also got a chance to see our plot of land in the this area too. I have jackfruit (more on that later).

Cruising the river

Leaving D1, a nice perspective on the skyline

Saigon Pearl

Uncle's house in Cu Chi. Waiting for the big bad wolf

Lou with her great-grandmother

Collecting fresh veg to take back to the city

Uncle collecting milk from rubber trees to sell

Uncle's mini rubber tree plantation in the back yard

  Uncle shows Lou and I how to get coconuts out of the tree  

Now I don't own very much that I feel is worth owning, but one thing I do have that I am very happy about is a tree. Not only is it a tree, of a commendable size, but it is a fruit bearing tree. Not only is it a fruit bearing tree, it is one of my favorite fruits, the jack fruit. 

In all its glory. My jackfruit tree

Our land in Cu Chi, back end, An Nhon Tay.

We hitched a ride back to the boat and devoured lunch at the riverside restaurant, left just before 12 and were back in our apartment in Phu My Hung before 1.30. D7-Cu Chi is a standard 2.5/3 hour journey in a car usually requiring a trip through the heart of the city. Cruising there by boat is definitely the way forward. Surely in the future there will be public river transport up to Cu Chi. For now, its limited to this $69++ per person tour.

I'm excited about the future of Cu Chi. Obviously, its in a good location - by the river, near the Saigon/Phnom Penh highway, and within (relatively) easy reach of the city. The Saigon Safari Park project will be very close by to the land above, in the An Nhon Tay/Phu My Hung wards of Cu Chi District. The best map I could find online was here. I love finding a .gov.vn site that has such a crap green arrow drawn in MS Paint. The image is not very good.

I took the liberty out of my own interest of creating a Google Map of the location of the Safari Park. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205534455282465890907.0004ce57132e88e2ef47e&msa=0&ll=11.115075,106.475973&spn=0.049943,0.055189

Mel of Antidote to Burnout provided the following map for me as he had been involved in a project for the development of Cu Chi new town - a 1000 hectare area with 1/3 of it devoted to green space.  Don't expect this to come to fruition for another 10-15 years. All this is on the other side of Highway 22 which runs from Saigon through Cu Chi district. 

Watch these spaces

Two huge areas of development in District 2 is the 'Saigon Bridge 2' and the first metro line running from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien.

The Saigon Bridge 2 is being built adjacent to the current (and infamous) Saigon Bridge which was, until the recent opening of the Thu Thiem tunnel, the main entry way into the city from Bein Hoa and basically anyone else coming in on Highway 1. The Highway has been dramatically improved through District 9 on towards Bien Hoa with new bridges and widening of the highway. The new Saigon bridge will be one of the final pieces in improving the traffic flow in and out of the city.

The current Saigon Bridge seem from D2

Construction crews on both sides clear the land for the new Bridge 

The Saigon Bridge entering D2, with the unfinished Thao Dien Pearl apartments in the background, which will eventually have a metro station too. 

Artist Impression: 

Further down the road we have the beginning of the construction of a metro line No1. Wikipedia says completion is scheduled for 2015, however we'll go with the Saigon Times article that goes for 2017 and commencement of operation in 2018. So I'll be back here in 6 years time to write a review of my first ride on the Saigon metro. I hope. 

Looking at the area of construction adjacent to highway 1

The Chateau: $4.6 million villa in PMH

One of the last remaining corners of Phu My Hung is being filled in...and its called 'Chateau'. Before getting to that however I'd like to just mention the staggering speed at which the BCIS school was built. I took this picture on June 16th this year.

Within three months, the school was finished.

 

That, above, is the view from my balcony. In the foreground, adjacent to the school, is a smallish housing development, townhouses. Beyond, the villas under construction are 'Chateau', which seems to be the crowning final jewel in the Phu My Hung crown. 

 

Pictures from here

We all know that the real estate bubble in this country is astronomical to the point of being visible from northern Finland. Chateau is either a very bad joke or a clear sign that those responsible are not prepared to give up before the crash . Am I over exaggerating? Check the prices: 

A semi-detached villa, 187-300m2, 23-34 billion VND ($1,100,000 - $1,630,000)

A detached villa, 500-700m2, with park view, 58 - 83 billion VND ($2,780,000 - $3,970,000) 

A detached villa, 500-700m2, with river view, 77 - 98 billion VND ($3,670,000 - $4,690,000) 

Yeah....I know. 

Singing in the rain

It's been a very wet couple of weeks in Saigon.

Saigon Updates August 2012

Site of MapleTree Vietnam in Phu My Hung, a $200 million dollar project:

'The One HCMC', another BiTexco project, looks set to once again redefine the city skyline. Two towers, the tallest at 55 floors.

The architectural design has a cultural context as it refers to the Vietnamese myth of the Two Dragons. The podium represents the coiled tails, while the two dragons rise from the land. The cantilevered tops represent the dragon's heads. The glass cubes are figurative depictions of Vietnamese pearls in the mouths of the dragons.


The 25 floor Vietinbank Tower on the corner of Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Ham Nghi.

March 2010:

Today:

Thu Thiem tunnel:

Inside (taken whilst driving)

From Thu Thiem to the D4 and D7 ports.

Diamond Island nearing completion. Looks just like it does in the promo.

The mind boggling wealth of the Saigon elite is outlined once again by this project. This extract taken from this Saigon Times Online article.

The project has around 30 yacht berths besides some 1,000 high-class condos priced up to millions of U.S. dollars each. A representative of the company said half of the berths will serve the Marina Club and the investor is offering 15 berths for private use. The highest price is US$500,000 for yachts from 25-27 meters long. Nguyen Kim Son, business and marketing manager of the project, said 11 homebuyers have registered to buy the berths although many of them have yet to own a yacht.

Another British Summer

Selecting a small, overpopulated island on the top of the world close to the north pole and with an awful climate doesn't seem like the sagest of choices for a summer holiday however, one can not change the origin of ones birth. Hence another visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was undertaken. And the weather surpassed the stereotype of a British summer. It was living in a squall for two weeks. There were however sufficiently kind breaks in the squall to dash out of the house to somewhere pleasant. And Bournemouth beach. Here's Lou testing the 15 degree water.


Zip Slide


Practicing being English...toasted tea cake and a cup of tea.


With Louisa just over three and a half, it was a culturally awakening trip, perhaps the first time she took notice of the difference between where she lives and where she was born. The first confusion came at 'bed time'. I had just perfected the association of darkness with bedtime - a cunning plan in Vietnam because it gets dark between 6 and 6.40 all year round. Sat at 8.30 or 9.00pm with daylight still streaming through the bedroom window, those long summer nights were confusing to begin with. "No it's not bedtime Daddy, it's still sunny time...".

 It's amazing how you can find anything on YouTube. I should have shown this to Louisa before we left. As soon as the beeping started she ran off up the road in the wrong direction shouting 'Daddy what's that noise!'...

Drugs will kill you

Not my words: 

International Education in Vietnam

Five years ago I wrote English Teaching in Saigon: The Jungle.  In it I mentioned the international schools in the city.

To the vast majority of the foreigners I meet, the cost of sending a child to international school is one of the major headaches of having children here. BIS for example, the biggest and most 'prestigious' (not meaning 'the best') international school, charges a $3000 'registration' fee alone, and is $22,000 for students in Year 12 and Year 13. That's right, TWENTY TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. That's not including field trips, buses, meals, musical lessons, etc.

Here's a quick comparison of the top international schools and their fees:

School	Registration Fee	Grade One	Grade 12
BIS	$3000	$17000	$22000
ISHCMC	$1000	$15500	$22500
SSIS	$400	$17345	$21355
AIS	$3000	$14500	$18600
RISS	$2000	$12000	$20000
ACG	$3000	$14000	$18000
ISSP	$2000	$12500	$16000
TAS	$1000	$10400	$13000

As you can see, in Vietnam, the costs are fairly similar for all the 'top tier' international and some of the smaller up and coming schools. Is this value for money or market rigging? You might be surprised if I compare these costs with private education elsewhere in the region and even in Europe. 

Singapore: Two of the best private schools in the world

Singapore American School: Fees totaling $15000 before you even get to tuition (for new students). Grade One tuition is  $19500, and Grade 12 $22,000, the same price as both BIS and ISHCMC in Ho Chi Minh City. 

United World College South East Asia: Around $3000 in application fees, a 'development fee' of $5000 for the first year, tuition in Grade One is $20000, Grade 12 $25000. 

Thailand

New International School Bangkok (NIST) - registration/application and other fees up to $10000, tuition in G1 $15000 and G12 $22000.

International School Bangkok (ISB) - registration/application and other fees of $8500, Grade 1 $20,700, Grade 12: $24,500

Malaysia

International School KL (ISKL) - fees around $15000, tuition Grade 1: $18000, Grade 12 $23000.

Even in England, private schools are comparative for the price. For example a private girls school in my home town, Talbot Heath, costs $8000 a year for Year One, and $16500 in senior school. So, cheaper than the international schools in Asia. 

As the article in the new edition of The Word points out, not so many expat families are around at the moment and schools are focusing more and more on the Vietnamese community. BIS has opened BVIS, and CIS is opening BCIS, right across the street from me. The campus is part of the new development called 'Chateau' in Phu My Hung.

These new bilingual schools are mirroring what the pseudo-international schools have been doing for years, but with much better facilities and properly trained staff. 

Many foreigners I know who come here, get married, and then have kids, are often stuck with a stark reality - put your kids in the Vietnamese school system or take them back home for their education.

There is of course the homeschooling option - and thanks to Tyler for pointing out that I had omitted it from my original post (strange because its something I've done a lot of research on too!)  Homeschooling comes with its own obvious challenges but there are people out there doing it here in Vietnam.

Unless you have the qualifications and experience to 'move' into a corporate job that pays for the school fees...or feel comfortable with your child being educated in a Vietnamese school...then its sayonara Vietnam.   

Evening down the Cresent

In a year or so I may have the dilemma of whether to move to District Two or stay in Phu My Hung and make my daughter (and myself) commute for school purposes. I really, really don't want to leave PMH. The thought of having no where 'outside' and green to walk around on our doorstep is depressing.

Sunday night down at the Crescent is silly season - so many people descend on it, and a lot of people who look like 'tourists' to the area. I can tell because they still stare unabashedly at us, a mixed couple with a little girl in tow. I have to stick my hand in front of cameras as they try to take pictures of my daughter. When she was smaller I didn't mind, but now its a no no. Just waiting for the 'Daddy, why are they taking pictures of me?'.... The place is really coming to life and most of the restaurants were jam packed. Pick a time when its not so busy, like a weekday before sunset, its really the best place in Saigon for a long stroll, people watching, and grabbing a bite to eat.

 

Mapletree Phu My Hung

I'm taking a guess that this is the site of the announced mega shopping center costing $100 million which is being erected in District 7, Nguyen Van Linh bouelvard. This is the site of the old 'Wonderland' between Huong Vuong apartments and the golf course, opposite the Cresent Mall.

New megastore?

The shopping complex, covering over 42,000 square meters, will get off ground this year for completion after 18 months to two years of construction, said Hoa. The project will include a seven-story shopping mall with more than 70,000 square meters of floor space and a 20-story office building with more than 100,000 square meters, Hoa said, adding the shopping complex would meet standards for a modern shopping mall in the world.The forthcoming shopping center will also serve as a destination for relaxation and entertainment, and is one of the largest projects undertaken by SCID, Hoa said.

http://www.vca.org.vn/Default.aspx?tabid=163&CategoryID=19&News=2159

http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/Home/business/property/22464/

I may of course be wrong, but something is going up here and this is the only prime piece of land left in Phu My Hung to be developed.

That's what we need, ANOTHER shopping center, ANOTHER supermarket, ANOTHER cineplex....

Tropical Storm Pakhar

A few pics from Phu My Hung this morning after Tropical Storm Pakhar spent yesterday afternoon giving us a good thrashing.











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