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!'...