Antidote to Burnout

Changes in my backyard

I have been busy working with a real estate development company this past year (not my own -- that didn't work out), so I got off the blog track for awhile. But I am back in Saigon after a long... Read more →

Constant construction in the hẻms of HCMC

Kevin over at SaigonNezumi.com often posts about the constant construction around his house in a hẻm (lane) on the other side of the Phu Nhuan District from where I live. He is usually concerned about the dust, mud, and noise... Read more →

Telecommunications infrastructure in HCMC

Back on 10 Ocotober, we complained about the slow internet bandwidth here in Ho Chi Minh City. At that time, many of us bloggers commiserated with each other about the slowing to a crawl evident at that time. Immediately thereafter,... Read more →

Neighborhoood new houses...

There is construction work going on everywhere in all of the neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City. While there are a fair number of high-rise buildings, bridges, highways, and housing subdivisions under construction, the bulk of work being done here... Read more →

Retail stores come and go...

You may recognize where my banner photo above comes from -- the photo of this restaurant building off Phan Xích Long Street in the Phú Nhuận District of Hồ Chí Minh City was taken a year ago when the building... Read more →

Sliced-off house...

Last year, I posted this photo of a house along Nguyễn Văn Trỗi Street in the Phú Nhuận District. The front half or two-thirds of the house had been sliced off to accommodate the widening of the street. As streets... Read more →

More on slow internet connections in Vietnam

Here is a link to an article on Vietnam.net Bridge about the pervasive internet bandwidth lack in Vietnam: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2007/07/718231/ We all seem to have the same problem -- here is a quotation from the article: "Most internet subscribers are very... Read more →

FPT's bandwidth limitations in Vietnam

Vietnam's economic growth is clearly outpacing its ability to get supporting infrastructure in place. The increasing traffic jams are evidence of the lack of highways and the need for mass transit alternatives. New housing developments and industrial parks are located... Read more →

Modernist design ideas in Việt Nam

I have often expressed my respect for the modernist tradition practiced by Vietnamese architects in urban houses. I believe that Vietnamese architects have explored a long history of modernist design ideas, and produce very interesting, well-designed houses. They constantly try... Read more →

Thin Building

Vietnamese developers in TP. Hồ Chí Minh will build on any minimal lot if they can gain approval of their project from the City. In this case, the lot on Trần Hưng Đạo Blvd. is only four meters wide at... Read more →

The Urban Fabric of HCMC

This article is the second in a series on urban planning of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The first article presented my image of the existing city. The colonial French laid out the old city of Saigon, beyond the grid... Read more →

My Image of Ho Chi Mnh City

In order to prepare one's personal vision for the urban design and development of a city, one must have a good sense of what his/her city currently is. The description of one's personal image of his/her city is important as... Read more →

Visions for downtown HCMC

Jon over at The final Word...in Saigon just posted a very comprehensive and thoroughly researched description of current and planned development projects in TP. Hồ Chí Minh. He is looking forward 13 years to a dream of "gleaming highways and... Read more →

Back in Ho Chi Minh City

We are back in Viet Nam -- have been for 10 days now. I am very happy to be back in HCMC, where I am much more relaxed. It is not that I wasn't happy at home -- I was... Read more →

Parking problems....

I was relaxing at my favorite cafe watching the scene in the neighborhood square when this car pulled up and stopped. It seemed as if the driver was looking for a place to park, but there isn't any place to... Read more →

HCMC Buiding 1

Posting a house every day is too much. Let's try a building once in a while. Building new commercial structures in the middle of a block is not a strategy that most American developers will pursue. In Viet Nam, there... Read more →

Learning from others....

I have been a funk for the past month about the lack of progress in our Vietnam business. Hence the lack of postings here. But the break to this funk might just lie in writing some posts about business, which... Read more →

Street widenings....

Đường (Street) Nguyễn Văn Trỗi in Quận (District) Phú Nhuận of Thành Phố (City) Hồ Chí Minh is being widened, as many major streets have over the past several years. This street is the primary route from Tân Sơn Nhất... Read more →

Business relationships

Our real estate development work has seriously impacted our time to write blog postings over the past couple of weeks. When our U.S. business partners are in Viet Nam as they have been these days, there is a whirlwind of... Read more →

Is Viet Nam the next China?

A very thoughtful posting by Dan Harris, an attorney from Seattle practicing in China and other international venues, states that the next China is actually the interior of China itself. What we usually think of as the developing China market... Read more →

The new urban area alternative for Ho Chi Minh City

The Vietnamese blogger Le Bao Tuan from Hue posted on his blog a while back several beautiful pictures and his thoughts about the new development Phú Mỹ Hưng in the Saigon South new urban area of Thành Phố (City) Hồ... Read more →

Bangkok as a planning model for HCMC

My posting on 21 March 2006 wondered about the tremendous growth in population of Ho Chi Minh City over the next four years. The debate among HCMC planners for planning models seems to be between high-rise housing in the inner... Read more →

OSHA? What's that?

In the good ole' USA, construction people are very aware of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Admiinistration (OSHA), and the various state agencies regulating worker safety. On the whole, these agencies and the construction industry together have positively raised... Read more →

The HCMC Residential Market...

There is a lot of individual house construction going on all over Thành Phố (City) Hồ Chí Minh. We take a walk each late afternoon, expanding our geographic circle each day. We tend to get off the smoggy and noisy... Read more →

Business is intruding on my exploration time...

While I have been anxious for our first development project to be financed and licensed, I have enjoyed having time to walk around my new neighborhood, explore, and take pictures of houses and design touches to publish on the blog... Read more →

Planning Ho Chi Minh City...

The following article from yesterday's Vietnam News confirms population growth figures for Ho Chi Minh City: Planners evaluate overflowing city (20-03-2006) HCM CITY — With HCM City’s population projected to hit 10 million by 2010, local planners are working hard... Read more →

Working successfully with Vietnamese people

I loved working with the Vietnamese construction inspectors and contractors when we were in Việt Nam thirty-some years ago to help build up the country's infrastructure. But they worked with me and the U.S. Navy on our terms -- our... Read more →

Back in San Francisco for awhile....

We are back in San Francisco after two weeks in southern China, three weeks in Vietnam, and a week in Branson, Missouri. We still intend to relocate to Vietnam soon -- the date is up in the air for awhile,... Read more →