Category Archives: Saigon

Bonsai in Vietnam ~ They are Really Large

By Ron | Published March 18, 2011

Bonsai is an ancient Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese hòn non b?. While traveling in Vietnam, I expected to see bonsai, but the size of the plants was unexpected. They, for the most part, were huge. Most I saw were in the eight-handed or Imperial class (60 – 80 inches high) or the six-handed or Hachi-uye class (40 – 60 inches high.) The plants were on display in people’s front yards, as well as Buddhist Temples, and government buildings. Large sized bonsai are evident throughout the country from Hanoi in the north to Saigon and the Mekong Delta in the south. Many of the specimens were not well trained or cared for but the plants seemed quite content in their large pots and tropical setting. Interestingly, were not many bonsai in Cambodia or Laos.

The slide show below has two examples of Hòn Non Bô, the traditional Vietnamese art of making miniature landscapes, imitating the scenery of the islands, mountains and surrounding environment found in nature.

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Also posted in Asia, Halong Bay, Hanoi, Hoi An, Mekong Delta, Nature, Travel, Trees, Uncategorized, Vietnam | Tagged Asia, Nature, Travel, trees, Vietnam | Leave a comment

Valet Parking

By Ron | Published December 20, 2010

Valet Parking (click to enlarge)

Motorbikes are as much a part of Vietnam as rice. They are everywhere and serve a far greater purpose than mere transportation. Motorbikes in Vietnam are like a magic carpet as well as a peek into the owner’s personality. They are treasured like the prized possession they are and often reside in the owner’s living room for a deserved rest. But they earn their keep just as their four-wheeled brethren. With some very ingenious ropemanship a motorbike can carry as much cargo as a small pickup truck, such as computer equipment, building materials, or a huge load of fish or vegetables heading for the market. The bike is a two-wheeled family car easily carrying a family of three, four, or even five causally sharing a meal and chatting as they weave seemingly effortlessly through frenetic rush hour traffic. Young women in high heels and short skirts deftly maneuver through the swarm of traffic with just one hand while texting with the other.

About one of every three of Vietnam’s 86 million population has a motorbike, one of every two in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. All the more amazing when one considers that about one third of the population is too young to have a license!

Gridlock (click to enlarge)

The roads in the big cities are unbelievably clogged with the cycles resulting in the occasional but colossal gridlock. According to the World Health Organization eighty percent of the world’s traffic accidents take place in SE Asia and those accidents kill 33 people every hour. Traffic lights are generally nonexistent, not working, or ignored. Pedestrians are particularly vulnerable. Sidewalks are motorbike parking lots so pedestrians are forced out into street to compete with all of the other cycles, as well as, buses, trucks, and cars. To cross a thoroughfare the hapless walker must summon up all their courage, simply step off the curb and start across, eyes straight head. If one does not falter traffic will simply flow around.

Sidewalk Parking (click to enlarge)

But, to the uninitiated the synchronized ebb and flow of the moto traffic is a sight to behold. The traffic flows around all obstacles, whether a bus or pedestrians, like water flowing around rocks in a stream. It is truly mesmerizing and a spectator sport that can be watched for hours. There must be “rules of the road” and motorbike etiquette that are unknowable to the non-Asian.

Motorbikes (click to enlarge)

Also posted in Asia, Hanoi, Travel, Vietnam | Leave a comment

Postcard from Saigon, Vietnam

By Ron | Published November 4, 2010

Saigon is Vietnam’s largest city with ten percent of the country’s 8.7 million people. It seems that everyone owns a motor bike and is on the road 24 hours a day. While there are reminders everywhere, especially in the museums, that Vietnam is a communist country, free enterprise is alive and well. American pop culture influences are evident, especially with the young, and everyone seems to be young with the average age of about 30.