...even with one sandal for a seat
...tiny pagoda The neighbour next door runs a small Chinese herb shop in the front of her house. She told us the old couple who lived in the pagoda died and it has not been open since.
It seems they have been working for years to complete this park, but finally it looks as if it’s coming to completion. It is being built to honour Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk who burned himself to death in protest on this intersection on June 10, 1963.
It’s pleasant to stand near this gate and listen to the nuns chanting a mantra
...it’s something we need to get rid of and here there is a rubbish collection daily at 4.45 pm. Not like in Australia where the rubbish sits festering and becoming smelly as it waits for the once a week pickup. Our current rubbish guy is a real gem. Not only does he have his trolley […]
... and delivered to my door every morning What could be better than fresh crisp white bread delivered to your door every morning, still piping hot from the oven. I don’t think anything compares, it’s totally awesome. Every morning the deliverers of this breakfast treat ride their bicycles up and down each hem loudly chanting, […]
The form-work for house construction in Viet Nam is mainly shaped by hand, and often by ladies of steel like this one.
No matter where you are in and around Sai Gon it’s hard not to notice the Bitexo Financial Tower as it dominates the landscape. Construction is due to be complete later in 2010 of the 68 floors and 3 basement levels built to resemble a lotus, the symbol of Viet Nam. When complete over 10,000 […]
The old terrace houses juxtaposed against the ugly (to my eyes anyway) new apartment block make a statement about the change taking place in Sai Gon.
The small hems (alleys) in this city are a never-ending source of fascination. If I get bored with working in my home office the thing to do is head off in some new direction and get lost among the thousands of alleys that criss-cross most residential city blocks. However, the rapidity with which the hems […]
At the risk of being branded sexist or sex-obsessed there are some signs around this city that just give me a good laugh. I simply can’t help relating the word play back to my aussie humour roots. For instance, there is the “box” series such as the well known… and the newer… and then, lo […]
This is the rear of an office block under construction in District 3. The assembly of 4 bamboo ladders tied together enables workers to render and paint the outside of the building. It’s very typical of the type of scaffolding provided for workers here. As they complete a section the ladders are moved horizontally along […]
I came across a small re-cycling yard not far off the main street of Batu Ferringhi on Penang Island. It’s the first time I’ve seen toilet seats and lids being re-sprayed to extend their useful life. Things could get a bit sticky once the paint begins to peel.