Notes on the Geography of Vietnam: Post-Colonial Hanoi
Glimpses of the contemporary city.
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The river runs as ever.
Riverside temple.
The boundary between streambank and city is as sharp as can be.
Busy, busy.
One of the striking things about the city is the narrowness of building frontages.
Narrower still.
Narrow and high.
Stylistic juxtaposition on a high-rent street.
French is no longer the only language of international allure.
Blonde models, importing the Chinese neurosis.
High rise offices.
Apartments in the Vincom City Towers.
Inside the same building.
Outside, on the streets.
Heading to the suburbs.
Could be many places.
Wake up and wonder where you are.
Here, on Tran Duy Hun, we've come to a Bangkok-owned hypermart. The inflated tube says with a straight face, "Honoring the Beauty of Vietnam."
Busy, busy.
The triumph of French civilization after all.
America in hot pursuit.
Sideshow.
The neglected Cho Buoi or Buoi Market, a leftover from Socialist days.
Dead, dead, dead.
Meanwhile, new construction relies heavily on imported icons, adapted without much respect for their customary proportions.
Grandeur on the loose: the entrance to Ciputra Hanoi International City.
Inside, high rises loom over a corrupt version of even a Las Vegas corruption of Europe.
"Very expensive," a passerby says admiringly.
Meanwhile, the crowds continue to gather at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, built in 1975 and already from another world.