Architecture: The Cosmopolitan Chapter (Pt 2)

Can you spell interesting, individual and inspired? Hello again me hearties and welcome to architecture part deux. This entry is a little more personal, as I ventured out and especially because after a series of failed excursions and being cheated by a taxi the size of a Kancil, Fei and I managed to get a few decent pictures to show you how Vietnamese architecture really is like no other. It’s just so cool, the farther out of town you wander!

An apparent style of architectural design that is unique yet maintaining some distinctively similar traits

Vietnamese houses have long been associated with business. Most people run businesses and live above their workplace, such that a shop house culture has emerged in relation to the way buildings are designed. Therefore, most houses within the city are tall and narrow. This trend has also made its way beyond the skirts of the city into the suburbs. When a house is built, it is tall and narrow such that subsequent houses are also designed in the same fashion.

On Day 5 after our session at Caritas and some super kow (which means “thick” in the Hokkien dialect) Vietnamese drip coffee, Fei and I went walking around the city on the lookout for interesting-looking buildings. We noticed that French architectural styles were prominent almost everywhere, particularly with contemporary architecture, in particular the shophouses. Each floor typically has a balcony with double doors that have two adjacent independent panels hinged on each side of the doorway.– a characteristic that is distinctively French. Most windows still have louvered shutters, some even incorporated with a window box. Furthermore, designers are expressedly creative, with houses painted a multitude of colours. For instance, the Bitexco Financial Towers demonstrates beyond what the eye can see amidst a dense and busy rainbow. Houses are beautiful to look at because they display designs that are incredibly intricate. Some are taller, some are shorter, but neither one is any wider.

A typical modern example of a Vietnamese home

But back to the matter at hand, I’d also like to express how skillful Vietnamese contractors are. They are able to remove an entire shop house in the middle of a compact row and, in its place, erect a new one, linking it together seamlessly with the rest. Their imagination and creativity are showcased by the complexity of their designs. The hotel we are staying in is a good example. The Mai Vy hotel is not the prettiest building in the alley, but I must describe how ingenious the arrangements of the rooms are made in a building that is about 6 metres wide and 6 storeys high.

First off, the staircase is a square spiral that leads to three rooms on each floor. Each room has its own bathroom, a wardrobe, a dressing table and one or two double beds with simple but functional frames. There are compartments on the headboard which look like they are merely part of the design, but they can be used to stow relatively flat items such as laptops. And I know this has not got much to do with the article but I must express my gratitude and enjoyment during our stay at Mai Vy Hotel. The staff are extremely friendly, helpful and accommodating, demonstrating a fine example of true Vietnamese hospitality.

One of the highlights of our exploration of architecture was the trip to the Bitexco Financial Tower, the tallest building in Saigon. It dwarfs the city’s other structures, standing at 262 metres and 68 storeys high. The shape of the building was inspired by that of a lotus bud, symbolizing the gradual blooming and integration of Vietnamese traditional culture with aspirations after progress. At night, the Bitexco Financial Tower is almost invisible, save for the lights at the top that glitter like diamonds.

This monumental modern structure is the brainchild of property developer Vu Quang Hoi, who invested about 300 million US dollars into his project. According to the information we have gleaned, it was his way of showing that Vietnam is no longer a war-torn country but an integrated player in the arena of the global economy. His idea became a reality with the help of world-renowned architect Carlos Zapata.

6000 plates of glass were used to clothe the structure, the glass plates imported from Belgium and fashioned in South Korea. This special glass was chosen for its superior qualities of displaying resistance to wind forces and reducing external noise. I noticed how the glass was double layered, the two layers of glass separated by space while walking around the observation deck.

The Bitexco Financial Tower

From the observation deck, the whole of Saigon stretches into the distance, beyond what the eye can fully see. It was really cloudy because it had just started to rain heavily as we entered the Bitexco Financial Tower. Regardless, the view was simply amazing. The wide curves of the Saigon River snaking its way through the city, past the cargo docks and ferry jetties provided a contrast between the developed city and the neighbouring countryside. While the observation deck is on the 49th floor, other buildings in Saigon are only a few stories high; this huge disparity in height makes the bird’s eye view of other buildings a majestic one from the observation deck. Countless blocks of thickly concentrated shophouses make up the cityscape like blocks of multicoloured Legos. In comparison, our own Petronas Twin Towers of 88 storeys, surrounded by other really tall buildings, is only open for viewing from the 41st floor. In other words, you have a better view of Saigon than of Kuala Lumpur.

All rainbows and no unicorns. Amazing view.

To sum it up, Saigon is heading towards a fabulous future of progress whilst maintaining its wonderful jumble of East-meets-West and modern-meets-traditional. In this city where no two buildings are alike - where architectural designs are brilliant - and the people are wonderful and warm, I’ve fallen head over heels in love with Saigon. I HEART YOU SAIGON!

Read Part 1 here.

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Farah Zulkefly, majoring in Journalism and Communications, is an omnivorous being who loves spending time in the depths of the ocean where humans can't talk with turtles and other reef inhabitants. She has a closet love for architecture and interiors but cannot draw to save her life.

Diary Entry Day 4: The Bright and Dark Sides of Saigon

 By Farah Zulkefly

My day began with Lochna’s phone alarm ringing non-stop. Over. And over. Again. “Ish ish ish Mak Cik ni!”  Unfortunately, Lo sleeps like a log so I knew it was time to haul myself out of bed and throw myself in the shower. We left our motel at 7.45 am and reached Chuong Trinh AIDS at 8.24 am. We were received by Dr Yeoh’s old friend Mr. Pham Thanh Van who led his group in song to welcome us all. Cyren then held a brief ice-breaking session where everyone had to say their names accompanied with a unique action. We stood in a circle. Cyren went first and introduced himself, then performed an elaborate stage bow. We reciprocated by saying “Hello Cyren” and imitated his bow. This went on until everyone in the circle had been introduced.  Mr Pham then conducted a brief info-session on the work they do with the Vietnamese people.

Chuong Trinh AIDS works with the country’s poor community, focusing on those living on the edge of poverty.  The organization also recently introduced a programme for domestic violence. They aim to empower women and educate them about their rights. An estimated two thirds of poor Vietnamese women suffer from domestic violence.

The session broke up into four groups, each led by a representative of Chuong Trinh AIDS. Our group, led by Mr Hoang went to ‘Ghost Village’, named as such because it was built on top of a cemetery. Ghost Village is situated in District 12 and is home to many of Saigon’s poor. Mr Hoang himself lives there. He invited us to his home for lunch. We were a bit reluctant at first as we did not want to impose upon him and his family, especially if it might be costly for them. We eventually agreed and contributed 20,000 Vietnamese dong each for ingredients. Bats and I also put in our share, but explained that we would not be eating for religious reasons (“tak boleh makan babi la kan”). While Mr Hoang’s wife prepared our meal, he took us to explore the village. 

An idea of how small the streets are

Many children were running about, playing with their neighbours. The curious ones walked along with us and even gamely posed for pictures. The villagers live in relative comfort. The quality of life under ‘poverty’ status showcases a bright side of communism. To be quite frank, it is not as dire as poverty in Malaysia and Indonesia. Ghost Village is made up of extremely narrow buildings. Most people do not have electricity and some of the smaller houses are slightly over a meter in width. All houses are two storeys high but not all buildings are on a one family basis. More than one family may live in a single house or on a single floor. We met a lady who earns only 30,000 Vietnamese dong a day and has to spend 20,000 Vietnamese dong on her daily rent.

Some Curious Kids

Mr Hoang also took us to visit a woman living with HIV. She has a son aged eleven years old and he is HIV negative. He helps her with her daily chores at home because her hands are slightly deformed, making it difficult for her to do simple tasks. Her husband passed away several years ago. She does not know where she contracted HIV as she does not know if her husband was HIV positive. Her theory is that she might have been pierced with a stray hypodermic needle while she was at work chopping trees. She gets medical support from the government and is also the head of a HIV support group. She told us that it makes her happy to be with other HIV sufferers, to educate and share her experience with them.

We continued walking through the village and stopped for a discussion and some jasmine tea at a small square somewhere in the bowels of Ghost Village. We sat down with Mr Hoang and two other ladies, (whose names I regretfully did not catch) and had a little Q&A session about the state of the village and other questions that sprang to mind. I am also “syiok sendiri” (proud) to announce that Mr Hoang liked our group very much saying that we were “friendly” and “cute”. Go team! Once we were done we followed Mr Hoang down a series of alleyways and suddenly we were back at his house. His wife was in the middle of preparing our meal. They were cooking halal food because of Bats’ and my ‘special food conditions’. We were very touched that they went out of their way to accommodate our needs. Hoang’s wife even made sure she used vegetable oil and not lard. How could we say no after that yo? She fried tofu with garlic and lemon leaves and made a traditional Vietnamese soup out of tamarind, fish, yam leaf stalks and bamboo shoots. We sat on the floor of Mr Hoang’s house in a circle. He served the rice in little bowls and we ate with chopsticks. It was THE best meal I had in Saigon so far and my Ghost Village teammates agreed with me. Nothing beats home-cooked food y’all! Mr Hoang told us that we were all eating as a family, and that really projected the community vibe of the village and showcased some true Vietnamese hospitality.

Mr Hoang helping his wife prepare our meals

We were officially done with our session after lunch, but we decided to go the extra mile and do a bit of exploring. We had asked Mr Hoang earlier if there were any places of worship within the village grounds and he told us that there were a few pagodas a few kilometers outside the village. We went to the Ty Quong pagoda, a Buddhist temple that like many others incorporates borrowed figures from other religions in order to encourage Vietnamese people to convert to Buddhism. The Pagoda had a huge gate with dragons, flanked by some Taoist-looking gods on the left and a scary looking demon on the right. They were gigantic and had red light bulbs for eyes. We entered the temple through the side entrance which had a stone arch adorned with statues. The temple walls and courtyard were suffused with a smattering of statues big and small here and there. Savvy?

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Farah Zulkefly majoring in Journalism and Communications, is an omnivorous being who loves spending time in the depths of the ocean where humans can't talk with turtles and other reef inhabitants. She has a closet love for architecture and interiors but cannot draw to save her life.

Architecture: A Historical Perspective (Pt 1)

by Farah Zulkefly

Vietnamese architecture has fascinated me since my first trip to Saigon. No two buildings are the same yet they share many similar traits. The influx of foreign powers has crept its way into everyday Vietnamese life. The varieties of styles reflect the influences of French, American and Chinese cultures. Architectural styles here can be categorized into a few major classifications: Chinese, colonial, vernacular and contemporary. This is the first of a two-part article. In this article, I will focus on the buildings we visited as part of our tourist-y activities.

The most prominent buildings in Saigon are the ones inherited through colonialism. On Day One, we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral, an intimidating structure of red brick and arches with a gigantic clock adorning its façade (kind of like my planet-of-a-pimple on the bridge of my nose between my eyes at the start of this trip).

The cathedral, is in fact a replica of its more recognized counterpart in Paris – though I suppose the hunchback, Quasimodo and his gypsy fling, Esmeralda aren’t likely to pop out from a crevice or shadows where walls are joined together. On a more factual note, it took three years to complete the building, with the materials used in its construction being imported directly from France. As Dr. Yeoh says “You all like imported stuff right?” But let us not depart from the fascinating subtle beauty embedded in every stone - and in some cases, unturned ones.

Though parts of the cathedral itself were damaged during the war, many of them such as tiles were replaced with new ones made in Saigon itself. The most imposing structure of the cathedral however, is the dominating but benevolent statue of the “Regina Pacis” more commonly known in layman’s terms as the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus! The statue arrived from France to Saigon on 16 February 1959.

We also visited the Re-unification Palace, christened as such because it was meant to signify the reunion of Northern and Southern Vietnam following the years of American military occupation in the country. The Vietnamese flag, which flies today on the highest pole of the Re-unification Palace stands as a proud symbol for the Vietnamese from the day they floored the accelerator of a tank and rammed it through the palace gates, effectively seizing control of the palace from its American occupants.  The tank still stands today - as a reminder of solidarity amongst the people - within the palace grounds. Besides functioning as a historical tourist attraction of sorts, the palace still has its purpose in contemporary Vietnamese politics. It was designed by the architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was both residence and office the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Sadly, we ran out of time as we got there after visiting hours. So I will describe what we saw on the outside, and what we didn’t see on the inside (briefly), which I was privileged to see in 2009. You game?

At first glance, the palace appears to be an apparition of Barack Obama’s backyard, albeit with a circular grassy courtyard with a fountain in the middle, framed by a semi-circle of Vietnamese flags. The structure itself is conglomeration of various rooms of various functions including staterooms, libraries and even underground war rooms, reminiscent of old CIA offices on American TV.

In view of these buildings, which set the benchmark in Saigon architecture, I will next be looking at the French influences that have been brought forward and absorbed into contemporary buildings that make up Saigon’s cityscape in the sequel to document the breathtaking architecture of Vietnam.

Part 2 follows here.

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Farah Zulkefly, majoring in Journalism and Communications, is an omnivorous being who loves spending time in the depths of the ocean where humans can't talk with turtles and other reef inhabitants. She has a closet love for architecture and interiors but cannot draw to save her life.