Antidote to Burnout

Same River, Different Water: A book by Virtual-Doug

Long-time Việt Nam bloggers will remember Doug Young's blog, Virtual-Doug. He wrote extensively and beautifully about Việt Nam when he lived in Huế for a year and a half in 2005-2006. Since then, he and his wife Cindy have returned... Read more →

Good writing about sexy Hanoi

I value very highly good writing, so my hobby is searching for interesting essays in blogs and on websites such as Longform.org. Today the Twitter feed from @VietnamBlogs brought me to an extremely well-written blog entitled Only OK posting about... Read more →

More beautiful cafés (coffee houses) in HCMC

My colleague, KTS Trà Giang introduced me to two beautiful cafés in Ho Chi Minh City this weekend. Architects in Vietnam are addressed as "KTS", an abbreciation for Kiến Trúc Sư, the Vietnamese words for architect. Cafés in Việt Nam... Read more →

Design Touches 9

This park bench out in the Phu My Hung area of South Saigon (District 7 of HCMC) is a very interesting design, even if it is not very comfortable. We didn't spend much time sitting on this bench -- we... Read more →

Too much modernism?

As much as I love modernist architecture in Vietnam, sometimes I come across an example that has been taken a little too far. This house is quiet quite different for Viet Nam: It looks like a small office building, but... Read more →

The uniquely Vietnamese evolution of modernist architecture

When I first lived in Saigon for a year in 1971-72, I was struck by the numerous excellent modernist houses I saw while walking the streets of Saigon. I wondered at the time why there would be so much of... Read more →

Sorry....false alarm

Every time I think about writing about the weather, I tell myself this is a topic I know not much about, and should stay away from posting opinions. But I can't resist posting about the change of seasons. This year,... Read more →

Change of seasons in HCMC

The winds shifted two days ago to now be out of the southwest, the direction of the annual monsoon winds. For the past six months, the winds have been from the east. The shift this year is occurring 21 days... Read more →

Tet Parties

My Tết holidays this year were enjoyed in Dắk Lắk Province at the home of my Vietnamese friend's parents, introduced in this previous posting. A subsequent posting presented their home as a typical rural Dak Lak house. Since the Tết... Read more →

Rural Vietnamese farmhouses

Since we visited over 20 families around the Tết (Lunar New Year) season in Đẳk Lẳk, I had an opportunity to see over 20 farm and village houses in this rural province. The home of my friend's family was very... Read more →

Vietnamese have taken to helmet use....

Simon over at the Saigon Today blog published a photo today of a Vietnamese fisherman at the beach wearing his motorbike helmet while fishing. Simon opined that the fisherman was wearing the helmet rather than risk theft of it off... Read more →

Visiting a Vietnamese family for Tet

The Tết Nguyên Đán season (Tết) in Vietnam welcomes the lunar new year (similar to Chinese New Year), but most importantly, celebrates the family and its ancestors. Vietnamese, including those from overseas, take this time out to return to the... Read more →

Long time no post....

Virtual Doug recently presented several potential reasons for his not posting for a long time on his blog. Missing the muses was one of them. I have definitely missed the muses over the past month and a half. My last... Read more →

Architecture over-the-top in Tay Ninh

Probably the most influential book in my life has been The Quiet American (1955) by Graham Greene. Greene's evocative depiction of Vietnam brought me to ask for U.S. Navy construction posting for a year in Saigon in 1971-1972. One of... Read more →

Update on viewer interaction regarding modernist vs. historicist residential architecture

Reading through the comments on my posting a week ago requesting viewer interaction about modernist vs. historicist houses, the results so far have three preferences for the modernist house and one vote for the historicist house. All three votes for... Read more →

Increasing retail sophistication in HCMC

Over the past two years in Ho Chi Minh City, I have noticed an increasing sophistication in the presentation of new retail concepts. Most of this increase seems to be centered on new services to the growing numbers of middle-class... Read more →

My colossal miscall...

Back on 12 October 2007, I said the rainy season was over since the monsoon wind had changed direction for the first time in five months, which brings the end of the rainy season. Since then, we have had torrential... Read more →

New sewer line outside our front door...

Concurrent with the extended rainy season we seem to be experiencing, workers came to tear up our hẻm (lane) and replace the storm sewer line. The existing line was not large enough to accommodate the torrential rains, resulting in minor... 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 →

Time for viewer interaction...

Please respond to this informal poll by clicking on the word comments below this posting and leaving your preference for the types of residential architectural style presented below. Feel free to offer your opinions about these styles and why you... Read more →

The iconic forms of houses...

Ask a little kid almost anywhere to draw a house and he/she most likely will draw a simple shape with a gable-end roof. The gable-end roof form has persisted over the centuries as gable roofs were applied to most buildings... Read more →

Temple Mountains

Buddhist temples in urban areas of Vietnam often like to create a more ntatural atmosphere around the temple grounds. In Ho Chi Minh City, land is expensive and large pieces of land are hard to find or put together, so... Read more →

Color in Vietnamese modernist houses

Viet commented yesterday on my posting of 23 October 2007 entitled "Neighborhood new houses...": I realize VNeses like to use to the secondary colors to paint thier buildings (perhaps it's due to the heat, probably it's toomuch to the eyes... 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 →

Street Vendor of snacks...

A moving display of color and texture -- snack food: Read more →

Ugly Ugly Dog...

This has to be the ugliest dog I have ever seen: The dog hadn't been in a recent fight -- that is just the way it looked. This must be a cross-breed between a dog and pig, if that is... Read more →

No need to rent a van...

Most goods get carted around the city on motorbikes or bicyles, as shown in this past posting. But a refrigerator on a bicycle is pushing the limits, it seems to me. Read more →

More on jungle cafés...

Last year about this time, I expressed my frustration about the constant rains characteristic of the final month or so of the rainy season in Ho Chi Minh City. This year we just accepted it like most Vietnamese and didn't... 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 →

The end of the rainy season is here

Last 5 May, I called the beginning of the rainy season here in southern Vietnam because the winds had shifted from the east to come out of the west, the monsoon winds that bring the rain for 6 months. On... Read more →

Celebration of the utilities...

An altar to the electrical grid, found on Nguyễn Văn Trỗi Street in the Phú Nhuận District, where the street has been newly widened. On the other side of the street, the telecommunication cables are still hanging below head height. 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 →

Cars on the narrow lanes of HCMC

Everyday many more cars are registered in Ho Chi Minh City, and the results are experienced daily in increased frequency of traffic jams. Seeing cars on the mid-block lanes is still disconcerting since these lanes were never envisioned to accommodate... Read more →

Cultural differences

Most of the Asians I know don't totally fit the stereotypes I unfortunately carry around in my head about what people should be. The same applies to how other people view me -- my neighbors often wonder why an American... Read more →

Impressive large themed cafés

In my posting about American coffeehouses a month ago, I mentioned that the stores are much smaller than Vietnamese cafés. The design of these stores are almost always retail in nature and rarely explore themes or provide environments more comfortable... Read more →

We are back "home" in Ho Chi Minh City after our month in the USA. We went there for the wedding of our older daughter. I have been putting off posting anything about this wonderful event, while running through a... Read more →

Cars in Phnom Penh

Jon at The final Word...in Saigon posted awhile back on "Cars, Cars, Cars. And Cars", lamenting the traffic and hazardous smog created by the growing number of cars in Ho Chi Minh City. Visiting Phnom Penh in Cambodia recently, I... Read more →

Overloaded motorbike

Most everything in Viet Nam is shipped by motorbike across Ho Chi Minh City. Motorbikes get around town much faster than trucks or cars. This motorbike looks top-heavy with its load, but although it is bulky, it's toilet paper and... 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 →

Voting Day today in Việt Nam

Today, Sunday, is Voting Day for the delegates to the 12th National Assembly in Việt Nam. The flags are out on everyone's house in the hẻm (lane) since this is a government holiday (even if it is Sunday). According the... Read more →

Cà phê at cafés in HCMC

Jon over at the blog The final Word...in Saigon posted the other day about places to "chill out" in Ho Chi Minh City, meaning cafés, otherwise known as coffeehouses in the western world. Jon subtitled his posting "Part I", indicating... Read more →

The rainy season has arrived

Back on 25 March, Chris at the blog Charvey in Vietnam announced that the rainy season in southern Viet Nam had arrived. I knew this was premature because the winds hadn't changed yet. The winds all through the dry season... 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 →

Vietnamese journalism

In the comments to the preceding post, Jon asks where in HCMC the sinking bridge is located. I should have been more careful to provide background for the story and the pictures. But note that the Thanh Nien News article... Read more →

More tilting houses

Article from Thanh Nien News 23 March 2007 Deteriorating HCMC bridge poses threat to houses A recently built overpass in Ho Chi Minh City, which has been in the news for corrupt contractors and poor quality, is continuing to sink... Read more →

HCMC House 11

I first photographed these houses in the Bình Thạnh District of TP. Hồ Chí Minh nine months ago, as shown here. These houses are on the 14-lane Đường Điện Biên Phủ leading to the Hà Nội Highway northeast away from... Read more →

Design Touches 7

While I am thrilled about the modernist and experimental directions of Vietnamese house architecture, I am aware that Việt Nam has a long history of modernist architecture that has a distinctive Vietnamese flavor. Việt Nam's explorations in modernist art and... 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 →