Vietnam Is Rapidly Changing

Went out this afternoon, but not by motorbike.  It was too hot.  Van, Jenny, and I went to a new area that Van wanted to show me.  It was an upscale, modern NEW high rise mall that drips of money and name brand logos. It was like being back home in a galleria or such.  But the apartments in the area that are being built are all going for around $2,000,000 U.S. and construction is far and wide.

 Family home and fishing nets shown in the middle of the river.  What you don't see are modern homes on each side of the banks of the river.

 I told Van that I wanted to go back to the "old" places she took me before on my previous trips.  I like that other side of Vietnam with the narrow little streets and vendor stalls, and markets, and of course good deals. I want to get Vietnamese items -- not logo'd Americanized items. But Vietnam is changing SO FAST!!! There is so much money in this country from outside investors.  It's amazing how fast it's growing and progressing. It's almost like watching bread dough rise it's increasing it's fold so fast.

This is the front of Scott & Van's House.  Did I mention that it's five levels? Did I mention that it's 81 steps from the bottom floor to the top floor?  My room is on the 4th level. Lots of steps every day.  Good exercise for me, right; especially combined with the constant sauna that is the weather around here.

The metal doors in front open into a small courtyard and then into an area where you drive in to park your motorbike. This first level also has a very nice formal sitting area and garden and also a play area for the girls in the back. The next level is the kitchen, dining level. The third level has the girl's bedroom and Van's mother's room.  The 4th level has my room and Scott and Van's room. The uppermost level has another room, a laundry room, and a beautiful roof patio that wraps around the house.  I like to go up there early in the morning and watch the city wake up.