Old Phu Quoc airport redevelopment, the expansion of the current airport, the new urban area to support the APEC meeting, the ambitious Phu Quoc Metro, and hundreds of empty cookie-cutter shophouses and villas in fake European new urban areas. Phu Quoc is the largest island in Vietnam, covering an area of about 574 sq km […]
Construction Updates
Phnom Penh trip report (December 2025)
Flying into the new airport of Phnom Penh (and getting the reasonably efficient airport bus), part-time pedestrian walk adds some much-needed public space, interesting skyscrapers (ie not boring blue boxes), and fake Paris update. I visited Phnom Penh in December 2025, which was a year since my last visit. My previous trip involved getting the […]
Bangkok trip report (2025 edition)
The largest urban rooftop garden in Thailand, boring blue boxes (a panacea for the blight of boring blue boxes), the apartment where you can drive to your living room, the Chinatown new urban area (and a new Chinatown arch), Orange Line update, and building a floodwater tunnel under a canal. This is my annual Bangkok […]
Hanoi trip report: construction and metro updates
Construction and transport projects in Hanoi, including the demolition of the Shark Jaw building, Hanoi’s future “floating” opera house, demolition of the historic Post Equipment Factory, Vinhomes world-themed shophouses, West Lake’s fantasy Eurotown and groundscaper apartment, hope for the revival of the VietinBank tower, and metro construction updates. I was in Hanoi in October and […]
Da Nang construction update – 2025 edition
Da Nang and Hoi An to join forces, Japan’s Aeon Mall, Robert De Niro’s waiting (for his hotel to be built), the riverfront apartment boom, the resort coast, and would you still love Da Nang if the beach were gone? This is the annual construction update for Da Nang, Vietnam. This report includes notes from […]
Bangkok construction update (2024/2025 edition)
Another mall at Siam, the future “Shinjuku of Bangkok”, more classic hotels that have been lost, the South Sukhumvit Innovation District, and a mega project in Chinatown. This is the annual Bangkok construction update, where I visit the most prominent construction projects around the city. Bangkok is one of my most visited cities in Southeast […]
Phnom Penh construction report (2024 edition)
Heritage buildings update, the temple-shaped National Bank building, the fake Paris on Diamond Island, bad urban planning on the Tonle Sap riverfront, a new urban area rises on a disappeared lake, the bird nest towers, and booming BKK1. Phnom Penh construction and infrastructure report (December 2024).
Singapore construction update: 2024 edition
This is an observation of construction and urban development in Singapore from my visit in April 2024. Functional footpaths and drainage I arrived in Singapore via the shuttle train from Johor Bahru. I wrote a construction report for JB, and the biggest frustration about JB (and Malaysia in general) is how hard it is to walk in […]
Johor Bahru construction update – 2024 edition
An update on construction projects in Johor Bahru, including the RTS Link to Singapore. I previously visited Johor Bahru in 2022 to report on construction and transport projects. There are now plans to build a 3-line light rail system, and Johor has dreams of becoming the Shenzhen of Southeast Asia. I made a metro concept map that JB […]
Da Nang construction update – 2024 edition
Updates on construction in Danang, including current and stalled projects in the city and along the coast. I’ve been a regular visitor to Danang over the last decade, and I have been watching the city’s rapid growth. While tourism numbers are now recovering after the pandemic, numerous big projects around the city have not restarted […]
