Clear skies this morning

Saftey first

There seems to have been a dramatic improvement in safety on construction sites, with workers wearing protective equipment, plenty of safety railing, etc, etc. So I was a little surprised to see this new building with no railing at the front of the street.

Danh Khoi Real Estate

Drinks stall

Empty hairdressors

These shops tend to serve more women than men, which may be an indication that the topless advertising out the front is not working

Gucci on Dong Khoi st

I love this kind of advertising - completely culturally irrelevant and depicting pointless lifestyle scenes. Yet in obviously works as ridiculously expensive handbags walk out the door, especially when you could walk down to Ben Thanh market and buy rip offs at 10% of the label price

Goodbye Eden Mall

These two fantastic old buildings form part of the Eden Mall. However they are about to be demolished with the rest of the city block to make way for a new development. There are supposed to be height restrictions in this area so it will be interesting to see what happens

Queuing for the ATM

Anyone who has visited Vietnam will know that the Vietnamese are not known for their ability to queue. Airports especially are an incredible phenomenon, although this has improved over the years.

This is a standard scene outside an ATM, where a few people mill around with no real structure, just waiting to ounce on the cubicle once the person inside comes out.

Young punks riding tandem

Is she inspired?

A river

May Theme Day - Statues

There are two Hindu temples in town that I know of, and both are adorned with statues of the many deities from the religions mythology

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Piggy Bank?

Flags out for Liberation Day tomorrow

On public holidays residences must fly the Vietnamese flag. We had Hung Kings day last Friday, Liberation Day tomorrow and May Day on Saturday, so generally the flags stay out for the entire week

Hotel Continental

IJ makes another instore appearence

About 18 months ago the kids ended up on some Parkson department store advertising for the DLS brand. Cruising through there over the weekend we found that they had replaced the old pics with new ones, including this monster of IJ

Vincom Center nears completion

Anzac Day sausage sizzle at Vino

Anzac Day is the Australian and New Zealand equivalent of remembrance or memorial day. The day is becoming more popular in Vietnam as the government is opening up more opportunities for remembrance services at American War battles sites such as Long Tan.

Afternoon shadows

Need a new seat for your bike?

Barbie pens

Coffee and a beetroot concoction

Hauling rubbish

I am always impressed by the orange army of street sweepers who patrol the major thoroughfares and little lane ways, keeping them relatively clean from the array of garbage that gets left or thrown on them. It is quite obvious when a street has been neglected by the orange team, as the rubbish can build up quick

Preparing for business

A noodle stall being unpacked and preparing for the dinner trade. It always impresses me how much stuff they can squeeze into the trolleys

Dinner at La Plancha