Tôn Thất Thiệp on a sunny afternoon

It was just one of those lovely days when the sunset filters through the pollution in a particularly pleasing manner. Ton That Thiep looked positively bucolic in places, especially the roadside dining option outside Sri Thendayutthapani Temple.

Motorist seemed to be in a particularly good mood and the road was quieter than usual.

Ton That Thiep is a busy little street now and home to three newish bars, the Temple Club, the 3T rooftop Barbeque and of course Fanny's.

I'm British so of course I took a picture of the Fanny Parking sign.

Saigon Tet decorations, the start

The city's gearing up for Tet, the biggest celebration of the year. The excesses of the Christmas decoration seem palid compared to Tetorations and it's all about tigers this year.

The tax centre at the top of Le Loi is one of the first to roll the big cats out:

The balloon sellers have inflated the tigers:

At least I think they're tigers, they could be orange and black zebras. Does Hello Kitty count as tiger?

Bonus pic!

Gratuitous back view of lost tourists for no particular reason except to marvel at the confidence it must take to wear such a hellishly mal-suited garment.

Saigon from a distance

A visit to Conic Apartments, KDC gave me an interesting view of the city. The first picture shows the view to the left of the apartments and away from District 1.

Next a more direct view towards the city, I don't expect these fish ponds are going to be around for too much longer.

Finally, towards Phu My Hung and showing the plots already laid out for further developments in Conic.

I tend to forget how flat HCMC is, we don't really want the sea level to rise.

Vespa Street

A trip to Vespa street to ooh and ahh at the pretty things.

Reconditioned Vespas are available all over town but Ly Thai To street in District 3 seems to be particularly well populated with refurbishing shops. Here's some pretty pictures:

Beer optional. Most of the pictures here were taken at Hoa Vespa .

A sad day for footwear

Alas a trip to shoe street looks necessary to replace the pink flip flops which pass as work shoes because they're not made of rubber.

Expat develops addiction to unavailable confectionary

The man's gone to Kuala Lumpur with the work and has promised to bring back Maltesers. I've been gorging myself on the last ones in the fridge which were donated by a very understanding friend.

I seldom touched the bloody things in the UK.

New balloons hit the streets

Who knew there were balloon fashions? At New Year I noticed that the balloon to have if you were anyone wasn't a tiger or spiderman or santa but one of these fantastic spiral creations.

I've already had a few of them bop me in the face but it would be churlish to complain about a balloon attack.

Helmets for sale

A nice bit of urban decay and graffiti as a background to a pretty normal looking display of helmets. Graffiti still isn't too common but I've noticed a slow increase recently.

Fast Food Saigon Style

Sure, the streets are full of vendors selling all manner of tasty Vietnamese treats but the fast food chains are making steady inroads too.

KFC franchises are probably the most numerous.

Jollibee, the Philippines contender for the burger crown is well established. At least their happy bee mascot isn't as creepy as the clown used by McDonald's.

At the higher end of the market Illy cafes have sprung up jostling with Gloria Jeans, Highlands Coffee and, more recently, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to capture cafe high society.

I wonder if we'll ever get a Greggs ?

French Architecture, Central Saigon

I think this is the Party Headquarters in District 1. I know I've never been able to take pictures of it before because there are always armed guards outside looking sternly at me but I managed to grab this image from a taxi.

I love the slightly debauched and louche face surrounded by hair and roses and I'll have to try to take more stealth snaps of the building in future.